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ChineseKiwi
Second Thought
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Comments by "ChineseKiwi" (@ChineseKiwi) on "Second Thought" channel.

In Australia, there are mandatory pension contributions that are *on top* of wages. It is currently minimum 10.5% of wages, going up to 12% by 2025. Every worker gets this, even fast food workers. This is then invested by an investment company and portfolio of your choice. Iceland, the Netherlands and Denmark have similar schemes. It is more in reality the US being 50 years behind the times. Again. Ironically, as a lot of this is invested into US equities, it is Americans indirectly paying for these citizens' retirement via their stock prices and dividends.
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And because of that, the FDA recently has approved importation of those generics from China. This is more a case of over reliance on one supplier.
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@TheOfficialArthurMorgan or both extremes bad, middle good mmmmmk. You are literally using the Internet based on socialism based things like net neturality, and open source software, set regulations and standards and freeware. Try again. - Also a badly led government command economy with a LOT of corruption and financial mismangement in Venzuela isn't 'socialism'.
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Meanwhile in Australia, one of the Labor Party's policies is to get rid of the significant consultant glut and hire cheaper full time government workers. They are favoured to win the election this upcoming weekend.
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that is illegal.
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@darksid007 Been there, done that. Australian pension fund returns have averaged 8.9% return in premixed 'high growth' portfolios the last 29 years, including a -21% drop in 2008 due to the Global Financial Crisis.
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Yep. I so could have easily been born an American in Miami if my Dad took up a job as a seafood chef at a casino there. He had the choice between Miami; Sydney, Australia and Christchurch, New Zealand. He chose Christchurch because that's where his friends were. Looking back, hindsight being 20/20, Sydney (when he immigrated in the mid 80s) would have been the best choice but Christchurch is far from bad. I would be broke and/or dead in the US because of the lack of universal healthcare.
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Canada is USA-lite for ALOT of things in reality.
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@리주민 which was an absolutely disgusting act. We voted them out for a reason. That said, it wasn't "before you get any benefits".
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@MajorPickleSwag they are more than compensated well. Australia is the direct opposite of the US wage law wise.
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Remember your ancestors crossed the Bering land bridge to seek a better life. Seeking a better life is human.
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Gonna need some sources bro. This gonna be good.
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@Freerunemem see my post. It's fine if you are looking at 35-45 year horizons. And you nominate who gets the funds when you pass away.
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Nothing to do with population. PER CAPITA. Know what that means.
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Only it isn’t. The numbers have been crunched. In Australia, literally the best place in the world for solar, even if you make an unrealistic scenario of a 90% renewables generation share (thus more batteries required) by 2030, it still has a cheaper total generation cost than fossil fuels. Also concentrated solar says hi regarding night power.
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@jLL-r9s Also the "American Left" has proven to be socially progressive, but economically conservative e.g. the American left's hypocrisy surrounding housing policies as shown by Johnny Harris and the New York Times' video on it, both far from right wing.
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11:52 - Yeah, China really isn't. There have massive systematic problems there as well, such as the current ponzi scheme of real estate "investment" collapsing. Evergrande was the biggest but definitely not the only one, and the over reliance on Australian natural resources to fuel this real estate bubble and to literally power homes as most of China's electricity is still coal and global coal prices has rocketed this year, compounded by politically motivated banning of Australian coking coal, used to make steel, grinding the Chinese economy to a halt as electricity generators were designed to only process this Australian coal as Australian coal is the most refined and best quality in the world. Within China, despite the system, there are many protests about this, out of desperation, such as a massive loss of money in these failed real estate 'investments' or well, people are cold and can't afford heating.
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1) This is not how collective bargaining works around the world. I can explain it in detail if you wish.
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Second Thought forgot a BIG BIG elephant in the room: Why do you think like universal healthcare and education is gated behind the armed forces in the US, when it isn't anywhere else?
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@josandg today actually ha!
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Nuclear takes 10 years to build on average (IEA stats), is a nightmare to decommission cost wise, with an average cost of US $330 million and that if there is few complications, otherwise if there are, try towards $1 billion. In 2013 dollars. It actually needs to be near a water source as well. Not to mention, like fossil fuels, uranium is a globally traded commodity that is subject to world demand and geopolitical whims. Not to mention the bridging of waiting for the nuclear power plant to be built means often more bridging with more expensive fossil fuels, significantly negating any economic or environmental benefit. And even with closed cycle nuclear, it still produces waste that needs to be stored for 500 years. At least. Nuclear is not a cure all and the best and cheapest option literally depends on geography and national grid generation design are designed as such.
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And governments around the world are giving incentives as such. Australia’s main source of renewable generation is literally rooftop solar feeding back into the grid
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Only that is false. In reality, American insurance companies approve or deny FAR more
2
@TheofficialDropthatbeat that isn't how stocks work. Do you know what dividends are? They are literal payouts **of profits**. Ignorance of a thing isn't just a right wing thing. Not to mention it isn't just stocks, but investments into say infrastructure or commercial property if you want.
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@jLL-r9s thus why investment companies do the investing for you. The ones involved in investing pension contributions are highly regulated in Australia. Please read my post properly.
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@darksid007 profits are actually, for better or worse, higher than ever and You have ethical investment options. You can also think of this as the more diversified, less riskier "workers owning the means of production" as well, as it's literally other workers' money being invested.
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@uhohhotdog it is very different. It is mandatory and on top of wages unlike 401k, it is not employer tied like 401k, if you move jobs, you can stay with the same management fund, more portfolio options, more diversification in those options, far harder to get out, Australian ones often come with insurance.
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He never said it was. However organised collective power is always more powerful than an single individual.
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The US Army and its generals has stated that it did not need more tanks but Congress bought them anyway. At least twice. You literally have billions of dollars of tanks sitting in warehouses. Second Thought didn't mention the savings closing unused bases with no operational or strategic value either. You can literally have a MORE powerful and cheaper armed forces but the military industrial complex won't allow it. US military secrets have been stolen via the hacking of third party contractors who skimped on IT security. There is a reason why China and Russia have state owned military companies.
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Criticising a system does not mean all of the system is bad. Less stupid.
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or because they should be held to a higher standard as they have money to reform and do things properly.
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hard evidence or this gets the hose - yours, rest of the world. The stats (apart from the obvious fascist leanings) show Trump was terrible. I assume you actually read the climate change report.
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@der_ludo5460 The government pay really well and has has decent benefits such as more employer contributions towards your pension fund. There will still be the need for contractors time to time but not because they need to fake the numbers in regards to staff numbers to satisify a fake goal budget wise like it often is.
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brainwashing essentially.
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leftist? It is literal hard facts.
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you can afford universal healthcare...in the military. Notice how it is gated behind that? It is coerced national service.
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Germany literally have made it work. You know there are real time generation stats these days right? Germany was still dumb shutting down their nuclear for political reasons but Germany literally halves their generation cost when the renewables crank up
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tbh, you should contact Second Thought about your story and whether he is interested in it.
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Yes and no. But what is agreed upon is European colonisation was devastating. The reality was more complex and you cannot lump different Australian Aboriginals groups together in this context as each group had it's societal values. It is like saying "European culture". Some Australian Aboriginal groups were more egalitarian than others and on different aspects.
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Also there was ALOT of of established trade between each other.
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Another one: Most of the people that is owned by private hands in England are descendents from William the Conqueror's army, who invaded in 1066. OLD MONEY IS VERY REAL.
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this is not how anything works. Deflation is literally worse and causes more problems than high inflation.
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@nunyabusiness8538 I’m literally sourcing from the IEA and IAEA smart one 👏🫢😂
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@nunyabusiness8538 means nothing. Generation cost does.
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@nunyabusiness8538 the International Nuclear Agency is a lobbyist for renewables? You hit your head somewhere? 😂
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@fabianodendrella5526 1) it is 10 years on average based upon IAEA data. 2) 45% of uranium comes from Kazakhstan. Uranium spiked in price during their protests 3) every energy generation infrastructure has an end of life 4) that small amount of waste still has to be stored for 500 years. At least.
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@fabianodendrella5526 1) reserves are one thing, actual extraction are another. You know this as of course, it needs to be profitable to do so. All this indicates is a lot of those reserves aren’t and in order to be, uranium prices have to increase, which negates the point of nuclear. 2) technically it could go 80 years, but so can early 90s cars, but they cost far more to run. Extending the life of a nuclear power station is US $500 million to a $1 billion per GW per 10 years. 4) I said. 500 years. At least. The thing is with other waste you can isolate them much more easily and cheaper. What matters is economics in the end, not pure technical strength. There’s a reason why thorium reactors aren’t a thing yet, despite it being far technically better than uranium.
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The punishment is time and restriction of freedom of movement and things you can do for a set period of time. Like it should be.
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The thing is, taking care of the crisis IS PROFITABLE. Here's a line that should shock you if you are from the US: "Packed shopping malls and bumper consumer spending (in Australia) seem unbelievable in the context of the worst pandemic in 100 years. But boosted savings from working at home, government assistance and reduced travel have primed households to splurge at Christmas." - Australia had record spending at Xmas because it was safe to do so.
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@DavidJBradshaw everywhere that has decent Sun, like South west USA has similar numbers. It is ALWAYS about geography. Nuclear is not a cure all
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@DavidJBradshaw rooftop solar is a thing. Most of Australia’s is actually that via government subsidies. Also I assume you know how the North American grids work.
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actually you would if you look at the root causes of things that cause public safety issues, particularly in the US vs the rest of the world.
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Or having the state PAY YOU to invest in solar energy via solar panel subsidies. However, as stated here, after those come from China, with very dodgy practices on both the mining and production side. But so does oil and coal so pick your poison due to capitalism
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It always has been since the 18th Century. It isn't anything new.
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@jLL-r9s commercial property has been profitable for years. There is shareholder regulations in the US as well. Remember commercial property can be things like shopping mall complexes, commercial buildings. Also it is often invested into infrastructure. I know this is a socialist channel, but ignorance of the reality of things isn't just exclusively right wing. You can lean extremely left and misrepresent the factual reality too with the same pitfalls.
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@jLL-r9s to a point. The Overton Window in functional democracies limits this to how much the public can tolerate before they are voted out. The US, with systematic gerrymandering, is not one.
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@jLL-r9s also it isn't a "temporary fix", it is literally an aspect of Ordoliberalism. Look it up.
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@jLL-r9s pension funds do not invest in residential housing as in reality, commercial property has far higher and more steady cash flow. Malls are still very popular despite online shopping in many countries as it wasn't an oversaturated market pre online shopping like the US.
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@jLL-r9s you know how collective bargaining power works in labour unions? Guess what collective money of lots of workers does? The same thing. See Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund as an example of this. Very large Australian pension funds have influenced boardroom decision making too.
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@Freerunemem or you do both. Also it is proven that people cannot be trusted to save for retirement and be responsible for it thus why it is mandatory. Also you cannot trust companies to raise wages 10%. Nor it it policble. Pension funds don't invest in FOMO stocks. They aren't Wall Street Bets. Look up say "Australian Super fund holdings" and look at the holdings of different portfolios of different companies. It is highly diversified.
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@jLL-r9s they don't own half the companies or stockmarket however. Also there's a Vox article that explains it's more complicated than that and is misleading.
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@jLL-r9s as stated misleading once again as those 10% are often made up of investment companies that people buy into e.g. via ETFs like Vanguard. Elon manipulating shitcoins is not the same.
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@jLL-r9s you actually investigated and understood it instead of buying into clickbait headlines right?
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@jLL-r9s Even Elon cannot tank the S&P500 with a single tweet.
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@jLL-r9s but they don't own half the stockmarket or companies. And as stated, investment companies would own the underlying stock, but you often buy into their portfolios thus that misleading stat regarding stock ownership. This is literally the same with pension fund investment companies. And they can invest that money into other investment companies to invest that money for them.
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@jLL-r9s yes, once again, large investment companies people buy into, not individuals.
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@jLL-r9s Large investment companies such as Vanguard, State Street. You can do it right now via their ETF offerings. As stated, ignorance of how a thing works or misunderstanding of how a thing works isn't just a far right thing. These Pension fund investment companies and Sovereign Wealth Funds are literally the modern, less riskier version of "workers owning the means of production" as it's literally worker's money being invested.
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@jLL-r9s basically it means nothing if the factory the workers own goes bust and it's better to diversify to lessen risk.
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@Tasmantor In reality, tassie, you don't know how good the system is. Is it perfect? No, but it is BY FAR one of the better systems in the world and significantly addresses the issues brought about in this very video by Second Thought.
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@jLL-r9s "most etfs are you speculation" - Are you serious? How is a workers co-op of one business less risk than an index fund or a portfolio of hundreds of companies like an index fund or a pension fund holdings is? Not to mention good luck investing in infrastructure or commercial property just by yourself as a worker without an investment company grouping your money with other people I'm for workers co-ops but also know basic maths. And judging one year over a 30-45 year horizons like pension funds are is a joke. As I have stated before, over 29 years, Australian pension fund portfolios in premixed "high growth" portfolios have averaged a 8.9% pa returns, including a -21% drop in 2008 due to the Global Financial Crisis. You and I know that last paragraph but it doesn't suit your bias.
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@jLL-r9s as stated, you own nothing if the workers co-op factory goes broke. Combine this with the probability of small business failure rates over the first year, five years and 10 years..... It is literally FAR higher risk via basic Maths.
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@jLL-r9s look at the ETF holdings of companies or pension fund company holdings. They don't invest in FOMO companies. It is still simple maths that investing in an extremely high number of companies, and often with premixed Australian pension fund portfolios, infrastructure and commercial property as well, is far lower risk than one company. You cannot beat simple probability and diversification. Yes "it's debts are paid first", forgetting if the debts outweigh the assets, you get nothing. Regardless, it doesn't best simple Maths. We live in the real world, not idealism. And as stated, it is disingenuous to judge a 30-45 year horizons on 1 year.
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@jLL-r9s your grandfather has a far different horizon than a 25 to 30 year old. In his situation, a financial adviser of the pension fund company would have helped him though it, not to mention the wide open "loophole" tax breaks he gets in Australia on his pension fund contributions when he hits 60. Or that for people retiring now, they only withdraw a small amount for everyday living (typically 3-4%) and change it to a more conservative portfolio. Unfortunately your grandfather didn't have a mature industry surrounding this to assist him like the modern Australian system. As stated, I love how your ignore the fact of, once again, Australian pension fund "high growth" portfolios averaging 8.9% pa returns over 29 years, including a -21% return in 2008. Is 29 years not a decent sample size, particularly as the (US) deregulation started in the early 90s, helped cause the GFC, then it got re-regulated. Also they are not all in equities, unless you customised it and want to be. Not to mention the vast amount of shifting goalposts you have done throughout this.
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@jLL-r9s you know he didn't have to (nor is it recommended) to sell all of it at once and more draw on the funds as a pension paid on whatever frequency like wages are. Either your systems are utterly horrible that you don't have pension drawing schenes like that or you once again, avoid that 29 year stat. The Australian stockmarket has averaged 5% pa returns over 130 years. Things have happened in that time. Despite the turbulence, Australian pension funds are still in the positive of 2.2 percent in 'high growth' portfolios from May 2021 to May 2022. You forget the highs of easy money in 2020 and it smoothing out. This is nothing like 2008. You are either disingenuous, ignorant or both.
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@jLL-r9s Also dude, the alternative is literally worse as summed up by Second Thought and simple maths regarding probability. It's fun and games calling out a thing is bad, but you actually got to offer a viable alternative.
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@hejiranyc and on top of wages.
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@TheCoralie87 they do, if they are contracted by an external party as an individual. A sole trader with a ABN doesn't. (aka business tax number for those non Aussies)
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Everyone outside the US: "Oh, surely the cartoons aren't that bad or that blatantly propagandic" After watching: "OMG, NO, IT IS, RUN, RUN!!! ARGH!!!" - That said, who would fall for this level of obvious propaganda?
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I would love for you to do a COVID-19 response comparison video - I am more than happy to help with how we do things 'down under' in Australia and New Zealand with hard data and experiences as well :)
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or you should know the difference between a social democracy and authoritarian state economies
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less Cold War propaganda.
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@Humble420ful as stated, you don't see the difference between a social democracy and an authoritarian state run economy. Social democracies = Australia, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway
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@Humble420ful Name an oligarch in any one of those countries. And they don't rely on it *at all*. Allies are only allies **DUE TO MUTUAL BENEFIT*. the US contributes very little to NATO vs. the rest of Europe and in reality, the US needs German bases more than Germany needs the US.Germany is centre of US NATO and also African operations. Less stereotypes, more actual reality.
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@Humble420ful the closest to an oligarch (i.e. rich business person who gets themselves into central/ federal government) was Clive Palmer in Australia...and he was laughed at. All of the mentioned countries literally have more systematically democratic voting systems than the US too. Educate yourself and stop parroting slogans.
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@Humble420ful look up what MMP and STV voting systems are. And how they are kind of more democratic than the US's
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@Humble420ful they don't ask for it at all. The US only participates in it due to mutual benefit. Stop the stereotypes and myths and educate yourself on the reality. Read up on the hard reality on the US military industrial complex and how the US Armed Forces can be more powerful, more efficient AND cheaper but chooses not to due to lobbying.
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@Humble420ful Irony of foreigners knowing more about the realities of the US than many Americans isn't lost.
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@Humble420ful choosing to keep tank factories open, when Army Generals state they don't need anymore, costing the taxpayer FAR more money than literally paying the laid off worker's wages for doing nothing is super efficient.... As is $125 billion in admin waste or the money maintaining bases that have no strategic or operational value anymore..... Or military secrets being stolen off third party military contractors because they want the military industrial complex gravy trai and skimp on security. Why do you think all other countries' military development is in-house?
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@Humble420ful and it does as a whole. Features of Social democratic systems such as strong social welfare, universal healthcare and strong labour laws give citizens as a whole better life outcomes and these are measured. Stop the Cold War propaganda labelling and actually think about it.
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@Humble420ful by the way, it costs society less too, both societally and actual taxpayer dollars wise.
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even then if you look into it, the US armed forces are grossly inefficient and can be even stronger and more secure *for cheaper* but the military industrial complex don't want that. The Snowden leaks, in which he was part of a third party company, is a clear example of this insecurity , as well as the many hacked and stolen secrets because the contractor skimped on IT security. There's a reason why Russia's and China's military development companies are owned by the government.
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I wouldn't brag about Europe handling it well.... (from Australia here).
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or talking about one bad doesn't diminish another bad ok?
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or y'know, try a bigger picture and not just anecdotal evidence.
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@vinny9988 stop it with the name calling. In reality, giving more welfare INCREASES the chance of getting a job as you have better mental health and since the poor spend all of their money, it CREATES more jobs too. Also PAY your workers. Would you work for the same conditions? No. Grow up.
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yaaa ignoring the link between poverty, economic downturn and blue collar crime.
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The information is declassified i.e. They don't mind you knowing. Think about that.
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And the Indian supplier the supplies 1/2 the genetics to the US was caught with contamination issues *and literally shredding documents stating their dodgy QA issues* Rampant capitalism is bad enough. We don’t need additional propaganda like this.
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@coonhound_pharaoh read my posts as separate topics eh
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it's the Youtube algorithm.
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only you can afford it....behind military service. Notice that?
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Nuclear takes 10 years to build on average (IEA stats), is a nightmare to decommission cost wise, with an average cost of US $330 million and that if there is few complications, otherwise if there are, try towards $1 billion. In 2013 dollars. It actually needs to be near a water source as well. Not to mention, like fossil fuels, uranium is a globally traded commodity that is subject to world demand and geopolitical whims. Not to mention the bridging of waiting for the nuclear power plant to be built means often more bridging with more expensive fossil fuels, significantly negating any economic or environmental benefit. And even with closed cycle nuclear, it still produces waste that needs to be stored for 500 years. At least. Nuclear is not a cure all and the best and cheapest option literally depends on geography and national grid generation design are designed as such.
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@dedvi yes, it called a closed cycle reactor. That uses recycled nuclear. They already exist. They still produce waste that cannot be reprocessed further and still needs to be stored for 500 years. At least.
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and the thing is, foreigners outside NA see Canada is 'US lite' in quite a few ways really e.g. your horrendous telecommunications sector.
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or...both are wrong.
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Try since 1973. Look up real wages (wages minus inflation), house prices, university/college prices. Wind it back even more for the Vietnam War.
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yes, it's called a social democracy. Just people you're ignorant of basic concepts... Germany, Netherland, Finland, Norway, Australia....
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or you want better and it can be better.
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@meghbhalerao5208 Only it really really isn't. Stop being so naive. it is acculumation of capital.
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And the most well known criminologist in New Zealand is Greg Newbold, an ex career criminal and like Larry, been in jail and served their time before reforming. Perspectives from the inside, both in prison and the criminal underworld, that only they can tell and understand.
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Nuclear takes 10 years to build on average (IEA stats), is a nightmare to decommission cost wise, with an average cost of US $330 million and that if there is few complications, otherwise try towards $1 billion. In 2013 dollars. It actually needs to be near a fresh water source as well. Not to mention, like fossil fuels, uranium is a globally traded commodity that is subject to world demand and geopolitical whims. Not to mention the bridging of waiting for the nuclear power plant to be built means often more bridging with more expensive fossil fuel, significantly negating any economic or environmental benefit. And even with closed cycle nuclear, it still produces waste that needs to be stored for 500 years. Nuclear is not a cure all and the best and cheapest option literally depends on geography.
1