For the last week, all you’ve been hearing about in the tech news is about how exciting the new Apple announcement is going to be. Will Apple release a netbook? Will Apple bring the price of their current computers down to reasonable levels? Will Apple introduce Blu-ray onto their computers?
In the end, no. This huge Apple announcement was that the Macbooks are now going to have an aluminium case rather than plastic, and the Macbook Pros are going to have an integrated GPU and a discrete Nvidia GPU too. Ooooo. So, there’s no netbook, there’s not much of a price drop, there’s no high definition video unless you take it yourself or stream a high definition trailer from Apple’s website, and now there’s no Firewire port.
Oh, and there’s now no option for an anti-glare screen. Yes, your portable computer’s screen can be unviewable in the places where you want to use it, and will inevitably attract unsightly fingerprints.
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The world economic problems have caused the loss of everyone’s superannuation, at least for a few years. Think about that for a second. Doesn’t that seem wrong to you?
We lend this money to the superannuation funds because they promise that they will take care of the money until we really need it. They go and put this money into the stock market, which is an upmarket form of gambling. The stock market collapses and the money is lost. People who were going to retire now can’t, because the superannuation company no longer has their money.
Imagine if you lent some money to a friend who promises to pay you back by the date your rent is due. On the agreed date, you go to him and ask for your money. He says “I had your money, and I went to the races to put it on some horses, but all the horses I backed lost. I’ve lost your money.”
You would tell him that he should have used HIS money to gamble with, not your money. You’d chastise him for being so irresponsible and for putting you in the difficult position of not having enough cash to pay the rent, when he knew that you’d be needing your money at this time. You’d be right.
AS I SPEAK, YOUR MONEY IS STILL GOING TO YOUR IRRESPONSIBLE FRIEND.
Doesn’t it make you think that the way we’ve been doing this has been completely wrong? Sure, the superannuation people might have some good days at the races, but in the hard economic times when you need the money more than ever, the whole field will be scratched and you’ll lose it all.
And guess what? The government MANDATES this. If you are employed full-time, your employer MUST contribute to your super fund. If it wasn’t the law, almost everyone would still contribute to their super funds through part of their salary, but you’d at least have the choice of trusting your own money to yourself.
It’s wrong, isn’t it? We have been wrong all these years.
Oh what a lovely recession.
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