“pretty similar”

• IrishBill
• 16 years ago
• Categories: articles, election 2008, election funding, john key, slippery, workers' rights
• Tags: cheese, kiwisaver

I noticed an interesting comment from Ferdinand in our Kiwisaver thread yesterday:

I signed up to Kiwisaver based on the 4% employer contribution being rolled out. If National cap that at 1% then I’m out of pocket by about $75,000 in contributions alone.

That got me thinking about that meaningless phrase John Key used to describe National’s position on Kiwisaver: “pretty similar”. WTF?

So I had a think about it. Key could mean “pretty similar” to the current situation of a 1% empoyer contribution or perhaps “pretty similar” to the plan to put it up to 2% next year.

Now if you are a worker on an average wage of $45,000 with 40 years of working life ahead of you then the first scenario means you lose about $140,000 in contributions and interest. If it’s the second you lose about $90,000.

That’s a lot of money so I’m not surprised Ferdinand is concerned about what Key means and I’m sure the other 629,999 Kiwis signed up for this scheme will be too.

With so much at risk you would hope National would be sending a clear message about where they stand but I guess that’s just not something they do.

Think about it: 630,000 people with up to $140,000 to lose each. That’s a lot of cheese.