Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, May 27th, 2012 - 2 comments
Adding to the canon of reasons and commentators on why you don’t sell your assets (particularly to pay for your maintenance) is an excellent article on The Guardian. It is an article exhorting the countries of the Arab Spring to resist Western countries pressure to implement neo-liberal economics in the name of ‘freedom’. It cites …
Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, May 26th, 2012 - 46 comments
National don’t have faith in Kiwis, or our skills and education, our Kiwi ingenuity. Nope, they think the only way to wealth is farming – which can’t be expanded, tourism – which provides low value jobs, and resource exploitation – of oil, gas and minerals unfound. They’re banking on us hitting the jackpot, because they can’t think of any real way of providing a future for our country.
Written By: - Date published: 2:15 pm, May 25th, 2012 - 13 comments
The Government have been pushing a line that Christchurch is holding us back as an economy. The poor people of Christchurch are to blame for all our woes apparently, with their earthquake. We shouldn’t blame National, just Cantabrians.
But it’s not true.
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, May 23rd, 2012 - 17 comments
The Service and Food Workers Union is launching a campaign for a living wage at 12 o’clock today.
[Update: Campaign site]
Written By: - Date published: 5:05 pm, May 22nd, 2012 - 30 comments
Don’t blame Greece: if you change nothing, nothing changes. National’s problems are their own to solve, but they don’t have the guts to look at the big problems in New Zealand’s economy. 0.6% growth in total over the last 3 years – less than population. But National only tinkers and distracts, as our brightest and best head to Aussie.
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, May 21st, 2012 - 12 comments
National have become a very adept PR machine. While not adept at running the country, they’ve become great at running statistics. John Key was pushing things a little too far with his lines that unemployment rising to 6.7% showed an improved economy and that Europe electing anti-austerity leaders showed their austerity policies were right, but …
Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, May 18th, 2012 - 42 comments
Austerity is reducing the opportunities for social mobility, for reducing income inequality, for a fair society. The increased class sizes, the removal of Adult and Community Education, the removal of Training Allowances, and many more things National are doing in the name of “austerity” are undermining our society.
Written By: - Date published: 3:36 pm, May 16th, 2012 - 11 comments
There are 72 days to the Olympics, which is what many people are counting down to – but the planet will be much more interested in the Rio+20 conference in 36 days. This is the chance for world leaders to put global society on a sustainable path.
Written By: - Date published: 2:33 pm, May 9th, 2012 - 33 comments
Ever since I went to his Fabian lecture in February, I’ve been meaning to write about Rick Boven’s last major work before leaving the NZ Institute to its Business Roundtable merger. It’s a major piece of thinking, and a piece he can be proud of signing off with. He charts an uncertain future – one …
Written By: - Date published: 11:21 am, April 27th, 2012 - 9 comments
The Finance and Expenditure Select Committee got to hear 30 more submissions – all opposed – on the MOM bill. 1400 submissions, almost all against, but no sign the Nats are listening. Big March in Auckland tomorrow to shout it louder.
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, April 25th, 2012 - 14 comments
Steven Joyce’s personal fiefdom of Economic Development, Science and Innovation, Building and Housing, and Labour is confirmed. Now for the redundancies…
Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, April 24th, 2012 - 5 comments
The Finance and Expenditure Select Committee hearings into National’s “Mixed-Ownership Model” Bill (aka Asset Sales) have begun in Wellington, with the vast majority of the more than 600 submitters to the select committee process opposed.
Written By: - Date published: 12:33 pm, April 20th, 2012 - 46 comments
Will our children think of the welfare state, the tiger and the rhino as part of a mythologised Arcadia?
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 pm, April 19th, 2012 - 23 comments
David Shearer’s delivered his second “Vision” speech. It’s good to hear he wants to lead a government that tackles inequality, wants proper jobs rather than casualised ones and our kids earning or learning.
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, April 18th, 2012 - 44 comments
David Shearer’s created an easy way to send John Key a message about selling the law to SkyCity. Here’s your chance to tell John his plan to inflict harm on the community to increase the profit of SkyCity is stupid.
Written By: - Date published: 2:43 pm, April 12th, 2012 - 14 comments
As National tell us they can’t afford the pittance required for parental leave, they also announce that they will continue to wear the multi-billion dollar cost of farmers’ emissions by deferring their entry into the ETS. That’s us, the tax-payers, subsidising Fonterra.
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, April 11th, 2012 - 27 comments
Hidden away at the end of this story, hidden away out of most media view, hidden away from Housing New Zealand, and from society… ordinary people being shafted by National’s cuts.
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, April 10th, 2012 - 4 comments
Ruth Richardson has forced every subsequent policy to be sized up for ‘fiscal responsibility’. I’d like them to be sized up for ‘social responsibility’ and ‘environmental responsibility’ as well.
Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, April 9th, 2012 - 4 comments
The Law Commission is reviewing trial process. Can we have a fairer justice system?
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, March 30th, 2012 - 54 comments
Friday 13th (April) – a scary day as submissions close on 2 major government bills. Make sure you get your submissions in on the Mixed Ownership Model Bill and the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill.
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, March 27th, 2012 - 20 comments
German corporations’ boards are half employee representatives. This has stopped outsourcing, short-term executive thinking, outrageous executive/director pay and can only have improved worker relations. Their economy is sustainable and powering ahead out of the financial crisis through innovation and productivity. Could such an idea catch on here?
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, March 24th, 2012 - 42 comments
The government has introduced their welfare changes to parliament. In addition to making mums of 1 year-olds seek paid work in addition to raising children, it introduces private companies profiting from unemployment misery with welfare to work schemes. The UK has been trying this for a couple of years – let’s look at how that’s going…
Written By: - Date published: 5:52 pm, March 22nd, 2012 - 31 comments
Last night was the North Shore meeting of Labour’s Organisational Review, going around the country this month.
Written By: - Date published: 4:40 pm, March 14th, 2012 - 11 comments
Tomorrow morning, 7.30, livestreaming on labour.org.nz
Written By: - Date published: 5:57 pm, February 17th, 2012 - 39 comments
Paula Bennett, in her rush to action, has a Green Paper that intends to create a White Paper that may result in some legislation that she hopes will help “vulnerable children”. But, much as National have spurned attempts from other parties for a non-partisan action on child poverty and looking after our nation’s children, we …
Written By: - Date published: 1:40 pm, February 14th, 2012 - 18 comments
You may have noticed the ads about The Standard for the MMP Review that the Electoral Commission announced yesterday.
Now’s your chance to have your say on what MMP will look like in the future.
Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, February 8th, 2012 - 19 comments
The UN High Level Panel on Global Sustainability has delivered a report about creating a future that’s sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. Our government and political parties should be looking at it and measuring themselves against it.
Written By: - Date published: 6:43 am, February 7th, 2012 - 218 comments
The Herald looks like it has an excellent series this week, on Auckland: A city divided by income. It’s an issue that has been waiting to be examined in the local context in more depth. It’s been quite a big issue in the UK for a while, with The Spirit Level making an impact before …
Written By: - Date published: 12:56 pm, January 31st, 2012 - 89 comments
We’ve been told about how bad poverty is here, and how bad it is for our future by the excellent Inside New Zealand documentary – but will it take an outside view to wake us from our slumber?
If so then Christians Against Poverty‘s John Kirkby is willing to provide it for us.
Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, January 27th, 2012 - 31 comments
Income inequality is one of the major issues of our time, and is being discussed globally. But our government doesn’t appear to be listening. Now a new organisation is aiming to raise awareness of the issue, and pressure our politicians to do something about it.
Written By: - Date published: 2:42 pm, January 18th, 2012 - 23 comments
There’s a documentary on BBC World Service about the Wealth Gap – how the top 0.1% keep earning more and more. Looks worth a listen…
Comments