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Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 3rd, 2010 - 20 comments
Due to the discrepancies in the spread of knowledge the free-market is irrational but there is no doubt that we, collectively, have the needed information to make more rational decisions. The problem that occurs is that neither the knowledge nor the tools to help make rational decisions on that information are readily available. Is there a tech solution?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:45 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 21 comments
To find out who it is, click here.
Will this individual’s personal file be read out in Parliament by Paula Bennett?
Will this beneficiary’s sex life be investigated by WINZ as grounds for disqualification?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:55 pm, August 28th, 2010 - 26 comments
“Yes, I breached those orders, because they were bullshit, and should never have been made!” That’s what you could have – should have – said. That was the apparent basis for your whole seemingly-crazy crusade. But you denied the charges. Then refused to appear in the witness-box. You made it abundantly clear that the entire exercise was all about getting noticed.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:00 pm, August 28th, 2010 - 6 comments
Bryan Walker at Hot Topic looks at the large scale renewable energy projects that are being developed in various countries around the world. The contrast with the dated approach to energy from Gerry Brownlee is quite striking. That has been described as “The Government’s energy strategy prioritises drilling and mining for more oil and coal, while providing virtually no stimulation for the development of renewable energy and clean technology. It … makes no attempt to set measurable emissions reduction targets.”
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:49 am, August 28th, 2010 - 14 comments
In a culture where the only heroes seem to be sports stars and comic book characters it’s important to remember those whose have fought for the rights of workers.
Earlier this month, one of these heroes, Jimmy Reid, died.
He is a man who passing should not go unmarked.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 7:52 am, August 24th, 2010 - 16 comments
There have been a lot of complaints that Murray McCully is useless as our offshore representative and shows a complete lack of vision. Stop complaining.
John Black shows you what the alternatives could be…
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:59 am, August 23rd, 2010 - 28 comments
National Standards have been slated by all of the education and assessment experts in New Zealand as being fundamentally flawed. Anne Tolley’s recent admission that she has failed to find a way to ensure that League Tables (the most educationally damaging aspect of the National Standards policy) will be avoided is the final straw for principals around the country.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:15 pm, August 22nd, 2010 - 86 comments
The other day, National Party pollster David Farrar had a rant against alcohol experts that boiled down to ‘who cares what the science says! We’re in charge now and booze barons are on our side. Go back to your books, dorks!’.
Big Dog responds:
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:27 am, August 22nd, 2010 - 9 comments
John Black cartoons John Keys success from childhood to Prime Minister. It has been good for him. It is not so good for anyone else.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:29 pm, August 18th, 2010 - 68 comments
There really isn’t any doubt about this any more, the free-market ideology put forward by the Chicago School of Economics (and the Austrian school) and slavishly followed by National, Act and Labour is predicted on fully informed individuals making rational choices. But individuals just don’t have enough knowledge to know what is best and the market as a whole is irrational as a result.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, August 17th, 2010 - 6 comments
When John Steinbeck said “No one wants advice – only corroboration†he could well have been describing the numerous working groups the Government has established in many areas of significant economic and social policy. Too lazy to spend its nine years in opposition developing a detailed policy prescription, National now picks groups to tell it what it wants to hear.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:40 pm, August 17th, 2010 - 20 comments
In the last seven days a triple-conjunction of political portents has publicly demonstrated just how bankrupt of imagination and policy this current government truly is. The lack of direction and paucity of creative ideas is breath-taking. A “caretaker-government” would be a polite euphemism in this context.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:15 pm, August 17th, 2010 - 45 comments
The legacy of the Maori Party should not be waving the seabed and foreshore legislation in the air like Neville Chamberlain and rejoicing at the sop given by the Machiavellian elite – not while another child lies dying of a brain injury. The Minister for Maori Affairs should not be working to save illegal buildings on a gang HQ when Maori children are being abused at a sickening rate.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:04 am, August 17th, 2010 - 10 comments
Believing that a law suit will make climate change disappear is up there with believing the king can turn back the tides (which poor, maligned Canute was trying to disprove, btw). Nonetheless, the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, which appears to know little about the climate and less about science, is giving it a go. Nick S takes a more detailed look at the issue.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:21 am, August 15th, 2010 - 21 comments
More often than not we discuss politics and the economy only within the boundaries of current political structures.
But these structures can only offer limited democratic participation.
Perhaps the answer for the left is to embrace movement politics.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:38 pm, August 7th, 2010 - 9 comments
After half a government term of insisting that NACT had an economic plan, it has been ‘misplaced’. The full plan, said by informed sources to have been found in a brief case (along with a pie and a men’s magazine) and written on the back of an old rental expenses claim form, reveals that the government expects significant economic development will be lead by the construction of a single national transport infrastructure, namely a National Cycleway.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:45 pm, August 6th, 2010 - 77 comments
This guest post quotes the statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller in Germany after World War II about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power. The comparison to NACT policies towards the education sector is striking.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:00 am, August 1st, 2010 - 81 comments
Chris Carter’s bumbling attempt at a coup has pushed the question onto the tip of everyone’s tongue – can Labour win the 2011 election? And can Phil Goff be the one to lead them to victory? But 24 hours can be a long time in politics, and a year is a very long time indeed. The biggest mistake Labour could make now would be to get into leadership battles.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:10 am, July 29th, 2010 - 27 comments
Final of a series by Guest poster Blue.
The boy who wanted to make a million dollars and be Prime Minister has got his wish. The livelihoods of 4.3 million New Zealanders are on the line for his big gamble on New Zealand’s future.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:49 am, July 28th, 2010 - 25 comments
Sixth of a series by Guest poster Blue.
John Key is not always the affable everyman he appears to be. There’s a solid streak of bully in him not uncommon in people who crave power.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:41 am, July 28th, 2010 - 2 comments
During the election the National Party packaged up its policies so as not to scare voters. The 90 day probationary period was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses. Either the original justifications still hold true, hence undermining any argument to extend the scheme, or the original justifications were rubbish from the very start.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 26th, 2010 - 7 comments
Fifth of a series by Guest poster Blue.
A Prime Minister refusing to front their government’s Budget is practically unheard of. But John Key avoids being asked any hard questions, possibly because he doesn’t know how to handle them?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:46 am, July 26th, 2010 - 15 comments
Remember when John Key used to talk about the “underclass”. Much recently of course John Key’s policy direction has been more about pandering to the wealthy elite, so you don’t hear so much from John Key about his concerns for the underclass anymore. But worries about the underclass still concern some people.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, July 25th, 2010 - 6 comments
Fourth of a series by Guest poster Blue.
Honesty, transparency and trust were central planks of Key’s 2008 election bid. However the ‘Key wriggle’ was well on the way to becoming a signature dance move
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:30 pm, July 24th, 2010 - 5 comments
The NZSTA is supposed to represent its members – School Boards of Trustees. Instead they have become little more than a conduit of Minister Tolley’s National Standards propaganda.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:36 am, July 24th, 2010 - 17 comments
Third of a series by Guest poster Blue. Now looking at John Key – The Salesman.
An old post of Marty G’s on the Standard says “One of the stories from John Key’s days as a currency trader is that he was always more of a salesman than an analyst.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:13 am, July 24th, 2010 - 20 comments
Second of a series by Guest poster Blue. Now looking at what drives John Key.
The biggest clue is how when he was younger, his aim in life was to ‘make a million dollars and be Prime Minister’.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:56 am, July 24th, 2010 - 40 comments
This series by guest poster Blue has a look at John Key now that we know a bit more about him.
Our PM is a marvel of modern physics – with any issue he manages to appear to be on both sides of the fence at the same time.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:16 am, July 23rd, 2010 - 16 comments
Why would someone in MFAT feel the need to interfere in the Australian election by leaking to the Australian media? I’ve been accused of conspiracy theories in the past but this leak seems all too convenient when National’s old mates Crosby Textor are up against it in Aussie.
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:33 am, July 21st, 2010 - 6 comments
In the 2008 election campaign, National carefully packaged up its policies in such a manner as not to scare voters. One of the policies John Key was very careful to frame was the 90 day probationary period for new workers, rightly called Fire at Will. This removal of rights for working people, he explained to us, was for two specific reasons. It was targeted toward people on the margins of the employment market and only applicable to small businesses (less than 20 workers).
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 7:20 am, July 17th, 2010 - 9 comments
Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully says “we don’t need to have winners and losers here” but he has had to bow to the decision of the ARC to keep at least one of the sheds on Queen’s Wharf. While this may appear to be a change to the construction of “Party Central” it is …
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