Author Archive

Nats step to the right with ACT

Written By: - Date published: 3:52 pm, November 16th, 2008 - 109 comments

As we predicted, National has used a confidence and supply agreement with ACT as a vehicle for its true right-wing agenda. National has given a wide range of concessions to ACT, far more than is necessary to gain ACT’s already pledged support. Together, they amount to a far more rightwing policy program than National promised. […]

Time for a Green New Deal

Written By: - Date published: 6:46 pm, November 15th, 2008 - 34 comments

With a masterful awareness of the import of his actions, President Roosevelt termed his economic program to lift the US out of the Great Depression ‘the New Deal’. Laissez-faire capitalism, whereby the ‘invisible hand of the market’ ruled, had failed to fulfil the conditions of the social contract (a fair distribution of wealth between capital […]

Chainmail

Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, November 14th, 2008 - 43 comments

Thanks to the two people have mailed election leaflets authorised in my name back to me. And such lovely messages you’ve attached to them. Glad to see you’re so in favour of free speech. Of course, sending intimidating or threatening messages through the mail is an offense, which could explain why, despite me putting my […]

Playing clever but playing with fire

Written By: - Date published: 12:49 pm, November 14th, 2008 - 56 comments

On one level, the Maori Party’s dealing with National is smart work. Key needs to look inclusive even though he doesn’t need the Maori Party’s support to govern. In return, the Maori Party can cement its future by getting the Maori seats entrenched through a government bill, rather than hoping a private members’ bill gets […]

Unions offer better option for Kiwisaver changes

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, November 14th, 2008 - 26 comments

The unions have proposed an alternative to National’s plan to slash Kiwisaver in half. If Kiwisaver has to be cut, and with National/Act in power it will happen one way or the other, then I prefer the union plan. As it stands now, you contribute 4% of your gross earnings, your employer matches that 4% […]

The first test

Written By: - Date published: 2:55 pm, November 13th, 2008 - 192 comments

Michael Cullen has released the latest economic and fiscal update, the one Key commented on in today’s papers but which he refused to reveal the details of to the public. Basically, it’s pretty bad news. How Key is responding or, rather, not responding to this first test is even worse news. Since the Pre-election economic […]

Cuts, three of the same kind

Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, November 13th, 2008 - 36 comments

From Stuff: Mr Key said New Zealand had a significant advantage over other countries because official cash rates set by the Reserve Bank were high. “If that weaker scenario is anything like what it could be, then you will see significant rate cuts in New Zealand.” Oh Christ. It was bad enough when he was […]

Threshold

Written By: - Date published: 4:06 pm, November 12th, 2008 - 117 comments

[I’ll just preface this post by saying I have no love for Winston Peters’ politics and I’m happy to see New Zealand First out of Parliament but, then, I would also be happy to see National out of Parliament and, surely, we shouldn’t base an electoral system on particular outcomes for particular parties, rather, on […]

To do list

Written By: - Date published: 1:20 pm, November 12th, 2008 - 66 comments

Getting elected is easy if you promise people the world and tell different audience different, contradictory things. It’s especially easy when you’ve got the media whole-heartedly on your side. Governing is a bit tougher though. Those same commentators who thought it was great fun regurgitating your latest attack line will also find it great fun […]

Goff and King to lead Labour

Written By: - Date published: 3:03 pm, November 11th, 2008 - 96 comments

As has been widely reported, Phil Goff is set to take the leadership of Labour with Annette King as deputy leader. We’ll hear all kinds of nonsense about how this is a shift to the Right. Rubbish. We are not going to see Labour try to be National-lite. First, while the leader of National essentially […]

How to stimulate the economy

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 11th, 2008 - 9 comments

During the debate over the economic stimulus package in the US earlier this year, Moody’s produced a model that shows which stimulus options result in the most increase in GDP per dollar of government spending/tax reduction. I’ve highlighted the three options that are relevant to NZ (the Bush tax cuts are remarkably similar to the […]

Designer needed

Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, November 10th, 2008 - 4 comments

A couple of mates of mine are working on a new left-wing project and are in need of some design help to get it off the ground. It sounds interesting and should be a bit of fun, so if you’re a leftie with design skills and you’re happy to donate a bit of your time […]

08wire signs off

Written By: - Date published: 2:55 pm, November 10th, 2008 - 8 comments

As a kid at a decile two high school in under National in the nineties, the one thing I did get a good education in was heavy metal. So, I appreciate 08wire setting their final video to the great Metallica ballad ‘Nothing Else Matters’. You’ve done fantastic work, see you in 2011, if not before.

Campaign to save MMP underway

Written By: - Date published: 2:19 pm, November 10th, 2008 - 79 comments

The Right hates MMP. The old system, FPP, advantaged the Right by about 1.5% according to this study. In 1978, 1981, and 1993 the Right governed despite the Left having more support. Under FPP, National was the ‘natural party of government’ and that has changed under MMP. So, the National/Act government plans to have a […]

Onward

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, November 10th, 2008 - 31 comments

I am incredibly proud to have worked with some many great people during the election campaign, and to know that many times more put in the hard work as well to defend what we believe in. Organisations like Both Eyes Open, Drinking Liberally, and The Standard have shown it is still possible to build grassroots […]

What will happen with the specials?

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 pm, November 9th, 2008 - 25 comments

There are about 240,000 special votes still be be counted. That’s about 11% of the vote in total. Special voters include large numbers of students and late-enrollees, which tends to favour the Left. Last election, Labour and the Greens together took 45.8% of the first count and 51.4% of the specials, ending up with 46.4% […]

Musical interlude for John

Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, November 9th, 2008 - 12 comments

I’m a money lender I have fortunes upon fortunes Take my hand for tender I am tortured, ever tortured And if you don’t love me Let me go

Making the decision

Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, November 7th, 2008 - 56 comments

Have you still not decided who you’ll vote for? The final poll shows the race between a National/ACT/United Future or a Labour/Green/Progressive/Maori government is neck and neck, so your choice matters. Here is some advice and tools that may help: When choosing who to vote for there are three things you should consider: policy – […]

What a National/ACT Govt would mean

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 7th, 2008 - 44 comments

National/ACT would would implement several major policies: – it would weaken work rights. You could be fired without justification in the first 90 days of a new job if your employer employs fewer than 20 people. – wages for low wage workers would fall. National would not increase the minimum wage and it would weaken […]

The fundamental question

Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, November 7th, 2008 - 45 comments

The fundamental question of politics is how the wealth of society should be divided among the members of society. We live in a capitalist society. That means it is the people who own the capital (businesses, factories, farms) who own the things that are made and get to choose how to divide the wealth between […]

Key the opposite of Obama

Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, November 7th, 2008 - 23 comments

Supports a Woman’s Right to Choose This is abortion rights. John Key was asked about abortion rights in the debate and he lied as usual. From I/S’s post: Last year in Parliament two failed amendments were attempted trying to replace the government’s status quo nominees with anti-abortion ones. One attempted replacement was a doctor who […]

Key used Nat research unit to search for smear on Clark’s husband

Written By: - Date published: 10:12 am, November 7th, 2008 - 47 comments

After weeks of griping about dirty tactics, it has been revealed in the NBR that Key ordered the tax-payer funded National Party research unit to rake over the records of Prime Minister Clark’s husband Peter Davis’s academic grants looking for a smear. Clark revealed the attempted smear in an interview on AltTV. ‘In June this […]

Endorsements

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, November 7th, 2008 - 41 comments

Steve Pierson: Greens – I want a more left-wing Labour-led government. The Greens’ work rights and environment policies are better than Labour’s and these are the two issues that matter most to me. The Greens will keep Labour moving in the right direction. Tane: Greens – because we need a strong Green influence in the […]

Election day

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 7th, 2008 - 26 comments

On election day, we won’t doing any posting until the polls close. We will lock off comments, as well, until then. As the results come in, we will have live blogging from guest poster Julie Fairey and any other Standardista who feels like it. On election day, not only vote yourself but go down to […]

Down to the wire

Written By: - Date published: 7:09 am, November 7th, 2008 - 30 comments

The last polls are out, except for Roy Morgan, which will presumably be out later today. Here are how the blocs sit (assuming 7 seats for the Maori Party. If they get just 4, the majority to govern will drop by 2 and the Left bloc will drop 3, giving bigger leads to the Right): […]

Key to work rights activist: you’re an idiot

Written By: - Date published: 4:14 pm, November 6th, 2008 - 97 comments

You know, you can fly around acting all presidential if you like in a cheap attempt to wow the press gallery but that doesn’t make you the Kiwi Obama. Obama, for one, is a big proponent of work rights and raising the minimum wage. Key is not. His party’s vague work rights policy looks like […]

More unemployed but more employed too

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, November 6th, 2008 - 14 comments

Unemployment has risen to 4.2%, the first time in four years it has topped 4%. That’s lower than the experts expected, they thought the rate would blow out to 4.5% or more. But that’s the power of a full employment policy. Because we’ve had such low unemployment for so long, employers are reluctant to lay […]

Shock revelation: Taper is Wellington Leftie

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, November 6th, 2008 - 99 comments

The secret taper has revealed himself as Kees Keizer, a leftie from Wellington. I spent quite a bit of time yesterday encouraging Keizer to tell his story, preferably to The Standard or the Herald (more credible), and he steadfastly refused. So imagine my surprise when I see a three page article of him talking to […]

Context

Written By: - Date published: 6:43 am, November 6th, 2008 - 10 comments

Yesterday morning on Sunrise, John Key was moaning that there is no context to the latest secret agenda tape, where Bill English praises the war in Iraq and criticises Bill English’s ‘moralistic’ approach to international relations. Key is right, context helps us undestand information better. Luckily, Scoop’s library keeps every media release, so we can […]

Clark makes it 2 from 3

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, November 5th, 2008 - 79 comments

The debate was Clark’s. The format and tone suited her. Her softer approach, which showed us the person behind the role was very good. In fact, I would say that was the best I have ever seen her. At times, Key seemed tacked on to a Clark interview (be interesting to she if she actually […]

Fact checkin’ 3

Written By: - Date published: 7:18 pm, November 5th, 2008 - 87 comments

Good debate so far, addressing the issues and the policies, rather than the politics, which the other two debates have been focused on. From looking at Key so far it seems he might drop the lies. oops. spoke too soon. Key: People are leaving for Australia in absolutely record numbers Lie. For the third time […]

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