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A few thoughts on paying your bills

by Whaleoil on May 30, 2007

I tell you I am heartily sick of the ongoing wailing and gnashing against Mercury Energy. Now I could be partisan and blame it all on the government as mercury is a SOE and clearly they are being overly rapacious in collecting their due monies, however the talk back comment and opinion in the papers is such that the debate is quickly descending into farce.

To blame Mercury Energy for the death is akin to protesting that Foodtown, Coutdown, Woolworths and PaknSave are complicit in  our dreadful child poverty stats. After all they should know that kids are starving and therefore let their parents off paying for groceries.

See how farcical the argument becomes when individual responsibility for ones own life and decisions is somehow abrogated to some amorphous organisation, in this instance Mercury Energy, but often the Government.

I still fail to see how any organisation is somehow responsible for the health of someone who doesn't pay their bills. Clearly the family didn't value the life of their mother enough to pay the bills so why should the company out of the goodness of its heart care more than the family members.

I know, I'll get slammed for this thinking, more so for writing it, but it has to be said, else we descend our society to farcical depths in the pursuit of a no fault society and a government knows all and cares all and pays all society.

 Ultimately responsibility lies with the individual and sad though it is, it was the mother herself that decided that songs sung by her sons would be better than dialling 111 for some assistance. there were so many things not done by this family and only one thing done by Mercury Energy I fail to see how they can be held accountable.

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  • sumarau393

    You have said it all – it has indeed become another New Zealand soap opera of "who's to blame".  The real question is: why was an ambulance not called immediately the mother became distressed?  Therein lies the answer.

     

     

  • Adolf Fiinkensein

    I'm just waiting to see the contractor and mercury have a field day with successful libel and slander actions against all sorts of MSM, other identifiable idiots like Tony Milne and all the others who have screamed blue murder. Look out for some rapid editing of blog posts thoughout the land.Laughing

  • Seamonkey Madness

    Christ, my grandmother (or my mother on her behalf) calls the ambo if she feels the slightest chill. What the hell would it have taken for the family in this case to do it? Hung, drawn and quartered? Decapitated?

     

    Jeez the MSM love a storm in a teacup.

  • http://gpollard.wordpress.com Gabriel Pollard

    I completely agree with you on most of those points. Only one thing caused the death, there were many ways to have prevented it.

  • JohnMacc

    Ideally, yes pay the power bill.  But once the power was cut off, wtf was happening in that house?  Nobody thought to take her to a hospital or call an ambulance?  Was it too much for any of the family to go next door with an extension cord?  

  • http://duckenvy.blogspot.com duckenvy

    Unfortunately this ridiculous over reaction has not been confined to the New Zealand blogosphere spreading worldwide, and with every politician imaginable including the Prime Minister commentating negatively on Mercurys actions. Granted some one made a bad call, and is now lying about it. Was it the contractor who we know nothing about except he is a Pacific Islander himself and used his discretion not to turn the power off the previous day, or was it the family who made any number off bad calls.

  • Adolf fiinkensein
  • Adolf fiinkensein

    At last the truth comes out.   She was dieing of cardiomyopathy and had stopped taking her medication which was keeping her alive.  Her death had NOTHING whatever to do with the loss of power.  The phone also had been cut off so the power company had been unable to talk to the family by phone.  What a disgusting and disgraceful fiasco perpetrated by the Antique Media, particularly RAdio Left Wing which ran this as it's lead story for FIVE WHOLE DAYS, piggybacked by a grasping PM desparate for any photo opportunity.  Notice how National has kept right out of the fray.  This will come back to bite the brainless lefties on the arse.