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| note the street light |
a momentary lapse of reason...
My dad has always said that you learn the most from your mistakes...
This past weekend I flew from Dunedin up to Auckland to explore the North Island a bit.
This past weekend I flew from Dunedin up to Auckland to explore the North Island a bit.
My plan was to drive from Auckland up to Cape Reinga, which is at the top of the North Island, where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, I only made it to the purple pin.
The story begins here, at around 1:00 pm NZT. Notice that there is a road that goes to the beach, just west of Waipapakauri. That road goes north along the coast until it picks back up on State Highway 1 just south of Pukenui.
At this point I was excited that I could drive on the beach and did not consider any of the following:
- I was by myself
- My cell phone was almost dead
- Rental car companies forbid driving on the beach
- The tide
As I came to the end of the pavement, I looked to my right and was taken back by the fact I could drive onto the beach. I stopped for a second, looked around and then turned right onto the sand...
...onto the soft part of the sand, and got stuck immediately. Two fine gentleman (mid 20s, one was quiet, one more a bit talkative, both helpful) came by a few moments later and pushed me out. I drove out onto the harder part of the sand (because the tide was low) and continued north on the beach (toward the purple pin).
Looks awesome, right?
I did not see the turn off to get back onto SH 1, and because I was having such a good time cruising along the beach, I didn't notice until I reached the purple pin. This was about 21 miles from the original turnoff and 10 miles from the imaginary turnoff that I never saw. I realized that I had gone too far when I saw this island and I couldn't go any further, so I turned around. I managed to snap a picture of this fisherman, who we will refer to as redneck Shawn Michaels.
As I was traveling south on the beach (roughly 2:00 pm at this point), I noticed the tide was starting to come in. I had to drive further up the shore to avoid the water, ran into some soft sand, and got stuck again. Luckily, a few moments later, redneck Shawn Michaels was heading back up the beach and helped me get out. I headed back down the beach, cruising along, but still had to avoid the incoming tide. I hit soft sand again...
...and got stuck really good this time. Notice the tide had come up to the car this time. I had 6% battery left on my phone and made a call to the police to try and get a tow truck. I lost service while on the phone with them. With 2% battery left, I decided to google a tow truck. I found a number and called it but the woman informed me that they were no longer a tow truck company, but she could get me a number for one. As she was saying that, my phone died. At this point I had come to realization that I was going to have to be responsible for totaling this car due to water damage, with respect to the incoming tide. I got my camera bag out of the car, and started walking south.
After about a mile, a man and his dog came driving up the beach in a lovely four wheel drive. He pulled me out of my predicament and to a harder part of the sand, away from the incoming tide. He took off down the road and reminded me to wait for the tide to go out. This was about 3:30 pm. After sitting there for awhile, the tide managed to come all the way up to the car and I was stuck again. Because the sand was hard, I was able to dig out behind and in front of the wheels and throw some beach grass around the tires to soak up some of the water. I rocked myself back and forth between first gear and reverse to get myself out and backed up further on the sand away from the tide...
...this was about 4:30 pm. As I waited for the tide to go out, I did manage to catch the sun sizzling into the ocean (about 5:30 pm).
To give you an idea what was around me, I jumped up on a sand dune and took this:
Yeah. Nothing.
At around 6:30 pm, the tide went out far enough for me to brave the journey back down the shore. I drove the 20 miles back to the original turnoff with the wipers on, in the fog and salt water splashing everywhere. At the same time trying to stay on the wet sand, trying not to go into the water and doing my best to stay as far from the dry sand as possible. At 7:30 pm, I touched the pavement.
Make no mistake about it, I was scared shitless.
This morning I ran the rental car through a car wash and returned it and all seemed ok. When I got back to Dunedin, I got a call from the rental car company. The employee told me he had to speak to his boss about what to charge me for cleaning the car. At about 5:00 pm today I received an email from said employee:
Dear Aaron,
Further to our discussion earlier I have attached photographs of the
underside of the car. As you can see there is sand everywhere and most
importantly there is a huge risk of corrosion as you were by the Ocean. Our
Workshop manager has been cleaning the car for most of the day and is
worried about further corrosion in the future. He has also stripped the
brakes and suspension for cleaning.
This is very serious and as such I have consulted with my General Manager as
to what should be charged out to you. This is strictly against our terms and
conditions and you were informed of this on signing for the rental car and
as such you are liable for a damage excess of (insert high dollar amount here) which I have charged your credit card.
Furthermore we have incurred losses as the car cannot be hired out until we
are satisfied it is safe and in good condition to do so.
Kind regards,
Paul
Further to our discussion earlier I have attached photographs of the
underside of the car. As you can see there is sand everywhere and most
importantly there is a huge risk of corrosion as you were by the Ocean. Our
Workshop manager has been cleaning the car for most of the day and is
worried about further corrosion in the future. He has also stripped the
brakes and suspension for cleaning.
This is very serious and as such I have consulted with my General Manager as
to what should be charged out to you. This is strictly against our terms and
conditions and you were informed of this on signing for the rental car and
as such you are liable for a damage excess of (insert high dollar amount here) which I have charged your credit card.
Furthermore we have incurred losses as the car cannot be hired out until we
are satisfied it is safe and in good condition to do so.
Kind regards,
Paul
So what did I learn? Some of this seems obvious.
- Follow the terms and conditions of a rental car
- Do not drive a rental car on the beach
- Do not drive a two wheel drive vehicle on the beach
- Do not drive on the beach without checking the tide
- Do not drive many miles into the middle of nowhere while being alone
- Always have a cell phone charger in the car
health care
I don't know quite enough about New Zealand's system to even begin to determine if it is better than the US, but there are some interesting points.
As far as I can understand, New Zealand has no-fault accident coverage. If I'm at McDonald's and I slip and fall, legally I am not allowed to sue McDonalds, because my health expenses are covered by the government.
Why that is good: You can't sue for so much money that it buys you that new truck. You wouldn't even have a case here.
Why that is bad: It removes the incentive to be safe and everyone has to pay for someone's accident regardless who is at fault.
On a side note about Medicare and Medicaid in the US:
For anyone that doesn't know, Medicare is health care for those over 64 or are permanently physically disabled (there are a couple more special cases). Medicaid is for people with low income (and other special cases).
Did you know that..
Medicare costs the US $554 billion per year and Medicaid cost $438 billion per year.
That total is $992 billion (a nice chunk of the total US budget).
Medicare and Medicaid pay about 57% of all patient bills for hospitals, doctors, drugs and other care. The government provides the majority of health care in the US.
There are approximately 45 million Americans with Medicare and 58 million with Medicaid. There are also about 6 million Americans enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.
There are about 44 million Americans living in poverty.
There are about 40 million Americans over the age of 64.
Ok so according to the above numbers, Medicare covers an average of about $12,311.11 per person, per year. Medicaid covers an average of approximately $7551.72 per person, per year. That's about $1025 per month for Medicare and about $630 per month for Medicaid.
Since these programs are responsible for 57.6% of all health care payments and 97 million people are enrolled in these programs, we can assume that the remaining 215 million Americans are paying for 42.4% of the health care bills ($998 billion, since Medicaid is only partially funded by the federal government). That's an average of $4641.86 per person, per year.
That's about $387 per month.
So..
If you are on Medicare, you receive an average of $1025 per month for care.
If you are on Medicaid, you receive an average of $630 per month for care.
If you aren't, you pay an average of $387 per month for care (or your health insurance does)
Medicaid is mostly income based.
It is important to note that Medicaid is actually larger than noted above. The above figures are only what the federal government spends on Medicaid, which is about 57% of the total Medicaid amount (also state funded).
Medicaid currently assists nearly 60% of those in nursing homes.
And sadly, Medicaid currently covers about 37% of all childbirths in the US.
That tells me that at least 37% of people cannot afford to have a baby.
Today's lesson: condoms are cheaper than babies
As far as I can understand, New Zealand has no-fault accident coverage. If I'm at McDonald's and I slip and fall, legally I am not allowed to sue McDonalds, because my health expenses are covered by the government.
Why that is good: You can't sue for so much money that it buys you that new truck. You wouldn't even have a case here.
Why that is bad: It removes the incentive to be safe and everyone has to pay for someone's accident regardless who is at fault.
On a side note about Medicare and Medicaid in the US:
For anyone that doesn't know, Medicare is health care for those over 64 or are permanently physically disabled (there are a couple more special cases). Medicaid is for people with low income (and other special cases).
Did you know that..
Medicare costs the US $554 billion per year and Medicaid cost $438 billion per year.
That total is $992 billion (a nice chunk of the total US budget).
Medicare and Medicaid pay about 57% of all patient bills for hospitals, doctors, drugs and other care. The government provides the majority of health care in the US.
There are approximately 45 million Americans with Medicare and 58 million with Medicaid. There are also about 6 million Americans enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.
There are about 44 million Americans living in poverty.
There are about 40 million Americans over the age of 64.
Ok so according to the above numbers, Medicare covers an average of about $12,311.11 per person, per year. Medicaid covers an average of approximately $7551.72 per person, per year. That's about $1025 per month for Medicare and about $630 per month for Medicaid.
Since these programs are responsible for 57.6% of all health care payments and 97 million people are enrolled in these programs, we can assume that the remaining 215 million Americans are paying for 42.4% of the health care bills ($998 billion, since Medicaid is only partially funded by the federal government). That's an average of $4641.86 per person, per year.
That's about $387 per month.
So..
If you are on Medicare, you receive an average of $1025 per month for care.
If you are on Medicaid, you receive an average of $630 per month for care.
If you aren't, you pay an average of $387 per month for care (or your health insurance does)
Medicaid is mostly income based.
It is important to note that Medicaid is actually larger than noted above. The above figures are only what the federal government spends on Medicaid, which is about 57% of the total Medicaid amount (also state funded).
Medicaid currently assists nearly 60% of those in nursing homes.
And sadly, Medicaid currently covers about 37% of all childbirths in the US.
That tells me that at least 37% of people cannot afford to have a baby.
Today's lesson: condoms are cheaper than babies
World education rankings
This is an interesting article I found about how high school students scored in reading, math and science in different countries. The US ranks 14th in reading, 25th in maths (in British english they say "maths" instead of "math"), and 17th in science. New Zealand ranks 4th in reading, 7th in math and 2nd in science. I'm not sure what they are doing differently.
Capital gains tax
I had a thought about capital gains tax. I don't think there should be a capital gains tax on your main house or even a second house. Most people with a second home have it as a vacation home, not as an investment property. However if you are trying to make money selling houses, and that is your main source of income, you should probably be taxed like the rest of the working public.
The US is actually going through a major capital gains tax reform.
I'll start by explaining that there are two types of capital gains, in the eyes of the US government. A long term property is sold after a year of purchase and a short term property is sold within a year of purchase.
Up until 2007, short term capital gains are taxed in your respective tax bracket. If you were in the bottom two tax brackets (10% and 15%), long term gains carried a 5% tax. A 15% tax was given to those long term gains for individuals in the other tax brackets.
From 2008-2012, all short term capital gains are taxed the same as previously stated. Long term gains for individuals above the 15% bracket are also taxed the same. Interestingly, if you fall in the bottom two tax brackets, your capital gain carries a 0% tax until 2012. If you are married that is under $68,000. If you sell your house before 2012, you have zero capital gains tax.
Starting in 2013, all of that changes.
The tax brackets are no longer 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35%.
The 10% and 25% brackets will be eliminated. New brackets will be 15, 28, 31, 36 and 39.6%.
As before, all short term gains are placed into the respective tax bracket. Long term gains will be taxed 10% for the 15% bracket and 20% for all other brackets.
Here is the wikipedia link if you would like to read it yourself.
Here is a good link on the current debt problem.
The US is actually going through a major capital gains tax reform.
I'll start by explaining that there are two types of capital gains, in the eyes of the US government. A long term property is sold after a year of purchase and a short term property is sold within a year of purchase.
Up until 2007, short term capital gains are taxed in your respective tax bracket. If you were in the bottom two tax brackets (10% and 15%), long term gains carried a 5% tax. A 15% tax was given to those long term gains for individuals in the other tax brackets.
From 2008-2012, all short term capital gains are taxed the same as previously stated. Long term gains for individuals above the 15% bracket are also taxed the same. Interestingly, if you fall in the bottom two tax brackets, your capital gain carries a 0% tax until 2012. If you are married that is under $68,000. If you sell your house before 2012, you have zero capital gains tax.
Starting in 2013, all of that changes.
The tax brackets are no longer 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35%.
The 10% and 25% brackets will be eliminated. New brackets will be 15, 28, 31, 36 and 39.6%.
As before, all short term gains are placed into the respective tax bracket. Long term gains will be taxed 10% for the 15% bracket and 20% for all other brackets.
Here is the wikipedia link if you would like to read it yourself.
Here is a good link on the current debt problem.
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