Watched the “News” last night, sad evidence of the global depression coming home to roost in NZ as miners and rail workers went down the road. The thing that struck a chord was that nobody, politicians of either side, workers, bosses had any answer. They are all caught up in a paradigm that straightjackets their thinking and response. To quote Kunstler we have “no credible model of a postindustrial economy that would permit our accustomed comfort and convenience to continue as is” .
We need to find a credible model fast: the thing that is sad about the “left” is that they have no credible response to the crisis unfolding. The “Right” always ask “Where is the money coming from?” The “Left” assume the money merely needs redistribution. Meanwhile a plague afflicts both houses, one of myopia and lack of prescience.
That’s because the “right’ always know where the money is coming from – borrowing.
Both Labour and Green have generally been careful to say where the money is coming from, but the “where’s the money coming from” meme appears to be so entrenched that even commentators on The Standard are accepting it as valid. Why are detailed funding proposals only required from left parties? I cannot now recall which policies were being referred to, but doing only what really does provide a good return on investment for the Roads of “National” significance well covered one policy.
Of course by the time the next election comes around National may well have let a contract to do some of that building – it would not surprise me if they bought off some supporters by letting contracts in the lead up to the election. That does make it difficult for Labour/Green to commit to the detail of such matters before an election campaign.
This conversation will go no where useful. Kunstler and Greer would both agree that money is not a resource (unlike coal or steel or a machine shop) and in no way does it need to limit what needs to be done – unless you wish to continue to try and live within the insane monetary system set up by central bankers and the shadow banking system of debt based credit.
Maybe it’s we who need a good model. One thats gradual implementation doesn’t rely on them ‘getting it’. One that empowers us and leaves them the choice to participate or rattle around the dustbin of history for a while.
And we got one of them. Models I mean. Substantive democracy across all spheres of life including, crucially,the economy.
People seem to forget or not understand that the current model is working just great for the establishment and their objectives, which is why nothing is going to change, unless WE make it change!
Start with the monetary supply control issue, and work our way out from there..
Stop waiting for anyone inside the current system to act out, or even speak out, its not going to happen. WE will have to form our own response, think of Syriza in Greece as lines to think along.
Take control of the money supply, and we can begin to take control of our future, because currently its in the hands of people who do NOT care about us!
interesting insight into ‘moving people on’ from the coast muzza
they certainly do not want too many people living there and valuing the environment a round them
Muzza / Bill, agree with the “us” sentiments. Dimtri Orlov recently was talking about “sovereignty” and failed “states”. He talked about the western model of the state and how these constructs can become defunct, how some become lawless and ungovernable. As we watch Europe there are calls for the fragmentation of what were cogent modern states in Spain (Basque and Catalans favour an exit from Spain), Scotland (has a strong movement to separate from Westminster), the balkans and USSR have already fallen apart. Hungary has told the EU and the IMF (plus Monsanto) to take a running jump. Britains ratio of debt to GDP now exceeds Greece.
What I think we are witnessing is a fracturing of the financial imperial model with a reversion to localism. Its the “us” in action.
I get the feeling that the super country like the USA with states tied into the federal model and presidential leadership that is bound to be isolated from the major population of ordinary people living ordinary lives and hoping for living wages plus extra for a holiday, is not a good model.
Then I get this image of a sports team with their arms around each others shoulders buoying up each other, speaking their goals, touching and supporting each other. A small country like NZ could bond together and get most on board.
But we have at present a country where many prefer to separate themselves in splendid isolation. And that would have to change to get a cohesive aspirational society that has a place for everyone at their level of competence. We would have to all plan together, and be aware of others achievements and stick together not all being the same but sharing the same goals and taking interest in each other. We could not continue to drop out individually when we feel we’ve got to some financial and social level that elevates and isolates us in pseudo presidential fashion above the masses.
The present snobbery, self-satisfaction, superiority and disdain for those not at the level of the wealthy and elegant living class, cuts across ideas of being proud NZs together and making a good country for all.
What you say Prism is the hope I hang onto: that we are still small enough to be cogent. We might also consider in previous times of economic discord we habitually divide ourselves into the picket and Masseys cossacks.
Prism, yeah thats the stuff we need, but where is the turnaround going to come from, and what are people going to relate to, when they have only been told for decades that its all about number 1!
For mine, the turnaround can only come when there is a political entity which is formed of, and represents the people of NZ, all of them, but especially the workers, the vulnerable and those who do not see themselves as part of the establishment.
There are many more people in that club than the establishment, and that is what keeps them having to try and control the middle ground, that is why you can forget abotu Labour!
Bored, I do also hang onto the same hope as yourself, but the formation of what I refer to above has to happen soon, and has to come from pure people power. Anything less than that, and the hope will soon be gone.
There are many on here located in various parts of the country, who share more than enough brain cells, and capability to start getting together to nut something out.
I know that many here have their eggs in a basket with parties, but you are all wasting your energy. If people are part of the current system, there are very few who can be part of a new one, and the same applies to political parties, they have to go!
Get cracking people, join up, make contact with eachother, and start working on something which could be a game changer!
First thing needed is an agreement on what the top few “policy” issues would be..Ill start
muzza
Haven’t the Greens been attempting to do this? I belonged to Jim Anderton’s New Labour and went to meetings where a lot of old guys in home knitted cardigans and their wives, no doubt similar, were the main attendees.
Younger working class people I feel now identify themselves as middle class if they are working full time, and superior to the unemployed who are seen as lazy and happy to be dependent on others largesse. I don’t think many young people have any understanding of political reality at all and why there are growing numbers of long term unemployed. As long as they have a job and can drive their garden sheds to the mall, and set up the barbie with convivial company and lots of beer, then they’re sweet. That’s why Jokey Hen is so popular, he identifies to the public with barbies and drinking beer out of a bottle. He’s one of us they think. Textor Crosby PR stuff.
CV
Labour become tawdry, a has-been limping back into the fray after the 1984 pasting although it has managed to keep standing. But it has lost its vision, its feeling for ordinary people, too many fat-neck lawyers now. (Note Julia Gillard is an ex lawyer.) Lawyers understand the law, some understand how it shapes our lives unequally but hey can’t we have some other type without descending to Poorer Benefits.
And I was thinking of my original idea that having a list would allow many young pollies to learn the ropes and move up. But now I see that the old ones have worn a groove in their sheepskins so that can’t work. Perhaps part of Labour revitalisation would come if MPs and PMs in any party could only stand three times. Thinking of Hoover who I think was in his eminent position for 38 years and other USA long-term fossils, long terms can undercut democracy and new worthy representatives.
Muzza dismissed Jim Anderton as establishment and so apparently no good. It’s the thinking about policy and direction and methods surely that is most important. I just heard a UK interviewer with a Mexican man in USA and he was saying he would vote for Ronald Reagan if he was back. But she didn’t ask him why, what had he done for you that was so good?
Perhaps they have, but the Greens are still carrying perception baggage around with them, and frankly Jim Anderton is establishment anyway, so I would not be too put off by that turn out.
What you say is right about Key and those who “feel him”, but in many cases, again they want to put their vote somewhere, so they put it with who that feel represent them, because they are told its “your or them”.
The real problem is that politics seeks to drive a wedge between people and exploit differences in “class” , as you will appreciate, and we are consistantly told that its your kids shooling or the ” housing for bludgers”, grannys hip opertion or some “more money for bludgers”…
If NZ had control of its money supply then the ability to drive that wedge becomes much more difficult to achieve, because it becomes a case of education, health, housing, and looking after the vulnerable and everything else, is on the table, not being us as a weapon to divide us. That is a game changer, and people will get on board.
Key is not one of us, you, me or anyone who posts on this site that cares about this country, and the people in it, is one of us!
That is what people will get on baord with!
EDIT – CV, no we don’t have one, and yes people would leap all over it!
“Younger working class people I feel now identify themselves as middle class if they are working full time, and superior to the unemployed who are seen as lazy and happy to be dependent on others largesse. I don’t think many young people have any understanding of political reality at all and why there are growing numbers of long term unemployed. As long as they have a job and can drive their garden sheds to the mall, and set up the barbie with convivial company and lots of beer, then they’re sweet.”
The trouble is, they forgot as children they forgot they grew up in a household with a 4% Housing Corp mortgage and a Universal Family benefit, with Dad’s award wages more than enough to pay the mortgage, the bills, dinner and a little treat now and then. Back then, Dad’s wages were enough for Mum to stay home, ready with some milk and cookies when the kids come home, as well as a beaming smile.
Of course when the kids grew up, they swallowed the lies being fed to them by right wing politicans and the news media about how, before 1984 was a hell hole with strikes every 5 mins, margarine avalible only on a doctors prescription, and everything was expensive (while ignoring that at least if people had jobs and high wages, they would be able to afford them).
millsy
You paint nice nostalgic pictures. Everything wasn’t that good and cruisy when Mum worked at home looking after the kids and filling the biscuit tins with home baking. Mums wanted to be able to earn and contribute money to the household and not be just a dependent housebound mother disregarded by the male world. At first her income used to provide extras for the family and discretionary money with a nice frock for herself, now it just disappears on basic living costs.
NZs wanted to get on and better themselves but there was an attempt to break through a sort of economic see-saw, inflation bringing demands for higher wages with an annual repetition.
The model now is to pay below inflation so as it stays low. The theoretical side of playing with economics seems more important than its use as a tool in understanding the needs of individuals and what living wage provides for these. The lower wages are supposed to leave more funds for companies to invest and so bring more jobs. Well that cake hasn’t risen, looks like a new recipe is required to pay to produce Mum’s biscuits.
(Actually I have just been eating some Griffins biscuits – once a NZ company sold to USA NABISCO in the 1960’s and tossed from one firm to another since then. They are on a low price supermarket special of $1.99, it seems as if they have reduced the quality of ingredients so they can be super cheap. And the product has a legal shelf life, apparently, of nearly a year. No wonder they don’t taste the same as they once did. And these ones are produced in Fiji.)
CV – I don’t see why not, but then it’s not my site.
There are many capable, caring people who post,comment on here, and how many of those people use their vote on something which they know is not going to change.
How many of them want to vote becuse “its all we got”, and how many of them if focused in the right direction, could really pull together and make a huge dent in the current system. The time is right for exactly that sort of start up.
The intelligence, and by that I mean the academic and non academic intelligence, on this site is what personally keeps me coming back here, and knowing that there are so many people who clearly are thinking, and deeply aware that NZ is in real trouble, and want to help try to put it right. Imagine what could happen if the energy, capabilities and intelligence were harnessed, and put into action…
An organic “party” by genuine people, with altruistic intentions would be quite something, right.
Before any bullet point issues can be added – the very first action has to be the establishment of a constitution. I mean – the real McCoy for everyone. If that is not done, fractions will build and the harder the times the greater the possibility of a civil war.
As for an economic model, I belief that the idea of self responsibility is the right way to go. Equally, responsibility to the society as a whole. If exercised by everyone (!), there should be no poverty. However, I am absolutely against forcing people to behave, think and do as one group sees fit as this would be just as bad as the oligarchy we have now.
5 – Full employment. NB not silly neoliberal theory full employment = 2.5% unemployment. I mean, every NZer who wants a full time job paying at least $15/hr gets such a full time job and is held to performing to it.
Its more subtle than “the major political parties” being in the dustbin of history. It is the whole thinking and tautology, the entire mindset that has become redundant….yet “we” still slavishly adhere.
Here’s a model mr bored. Ban usury. All it does is sap the life out of everything. In fact, I don’t think I have ever heard anybody make out a good case for interest on money.
“In fact, I don’t think I have ever heard anybody make out a good case for interest on money.”
All you have to do is look at the growth of the modern economy, all of which has only been possible through borrowing capital. Borrowing has a ‘cost’, and the ‘cost’ is paid by money, which is charged as interest.
I’m with VTO: I fully understand money has a cost but usury was banned by the Church as a cardinal sin for a millenium in the West prior to this. Money was loaned with obligations (that’s a subtle but significant difference). Just think, in 750AD I give you 50 shekels hard silver….cant exactly fractionally bank a hard silver shekel. The end result today is that we have enabled with debt interest the creation of money out of thin air and in the process grown ourselves to the edge of an abyss…very clever but it has to stop and that’s what the planet is telling us.
Perhaps Lanth but the only way that the model has any sustainability is for the interest to be created at the same time as the principal. Otherwise what is being initiated is a cycle of perpetual tail chasing where growth is required. As soon as growth slows down or stops, the house of cards collapses.
But Lanthanide, you didn’t answer the question or make out a good case for interest on money. Fractional reserve banking is what has been responsible for the growth, which is different from straight up borrowing. And that ponzi scheme is now at its end point.
Further, you didn’t say anything about why interest cost is good, you just said interest is the cost.
Others have it right. Interest on printed money drains the lifeblood out of people and concentrates it in the hands of the lenders. This is simple mathematics.
The western money system is the problem, as it was always going to be. Unfortunately I suspect it will take massive upheaval to change it.
There’s nothing in it for you directly, financially. Plenty in terms off community advantages and networking for you (although of course that means nothing to someone like you).
Zero interest credit and money creation would become a primary function of the Sovereign once again.
How much have you lent people?
You seem to have lots of cash or so you say, I assume you have lent to many individuals and start up businesses.
Hows that working out for you?
Nationalize the banks pretty much makes your request moot BM!
No need for profit at that point, and then we can go about lending into areas which are beneficial to NZ.
Infrastructure, Eduction, Health, and so on
Getting it yet!
EDIT – I currently have a heap of cash out with people (no strings attached), and it feels great to be able to help them out. One day I may not be able to help people financially, (I only have a little anyway) but today I can, so I do. And the shoulder to cry on, and ear for listening, or some unbias, honest advise is always on offer, even if/when the money can’t be.
Taxpayer are carrying all the risk by borrowing for abroad anyway, and are on the hook for bailout of private institutions – South Canterbury Finance for example.
Why would you think it to be any riskier for the NZ government (taxpayer) to be funding our countries needs?
Saying we need a surplus to provide funds is like saying a private bank needs a profit to loan money…Its simply not true, a sovereign government can produce all the interest free funds it requires, with some help from the tax system to ensure that any over supply is mopped up, to keep inflation in check!
What we would require is leaders with vision, and integrity who cared about all people in NZ!
How do we lend out money if we’re not making a surplus?
The Reserve Bank issues the money by crediting KiwiBank’s operating account.
KiwiBank then takes over most of the lending activity in the country, pushing the Australian retail banks to drop their margins and their profits, or get out of the game.
So the taxpayer takes all the risk?
And the taxpayer gets all the rewards. It’s how true capitalism works, mate.
I guess the issue I see is that NZ is rather reliant on imports and trade to survive and unfortunately we do seem to be in the we need them more than then they need us camp.
Booting out the banks rather sends a hostile message to the trading community and I’m guessing there would be rather serious ramifications for doing that, like our currency dropping in value rather severely and probably
less trading opportunities.
As you know that could have rather serious flow on effects.
Personally though, I think Muldoon had the right idea with the think big projects keeping services in house is how all major businesses operate.
Less you sub out the more money you make.
Print more BM just like all the major trading blocks duh!
Thats why our Dollar is seriously over valued it should be around the 63 cent mark against the US.
But because we are one of the few countries that play the game straight we get ripped off by currency traders knowing we are not go to do anything while they abandon the de valuers and take safe haven in our silly policy of denial!
Booting out the banks rather sends a hostile message to the trading community and I’m guessing there would be rather serious ramifications for doing that, like our currency dropping in value rather severely and probably
less trading opportunities.
1) You wouldn’t boot out the banks – they would simply need to become more competitive in the deals that they give Kiwi consumers and Kiwi businesses, or they will be squeezed out of the market place. This is real competitive capitalism.
2) The currency dropping is something that both our farmers and our manufactured exporters would love. I don’t see a problem at all with a Kiwi dollar valued 20% less around the US$0.65 mark.
BM In reality if you were at Merrill Lynch when Shonkey was their you would only need 13,000 dollars to lend $500,000 out!
Senate investigators found that loans from ML were geared at 38 to 1
“Fractional reserve banking is what has been responsible for the growth, which is different from straight up borrowing. And that ponzi scheme is now at its end point.”
Lending and charging interest has been around for longer than fractional reserve banking. Certainly things were a lot different in 1600-1800 than they are now.
“Further, you didn’t say anything about why interest cost is good, you just said interest is the cost.”
People wouldn’t lend capital if there wasn’t anything in it for them. The way to compensate someone for borrowing their capital is to pay them interest. That’s why “interest cost is good”, because without it there wouldn’t be lending. If there wasn’t lending, the people with the capital would jealously keep it for themselves, leading to much less distribution of wealth.
“Others have it right. Interest on printed money drains the lifeblood out of people and concentrates it in the hands of the lenders. This is simple mathematics.”
Because no one has ever borrowed money from a bank, built a successful business and become wealthy from doing so?
“The western money system is the problem, as it was always going to be. Unfortunately I suspect it will take massive upheaval to change it.”
I don’t agree that the “western money system is the problem”, but I would agree that “the modern western money system is the problem”.
Government prints the money with no interest, spends that money into the economy to produce things (factories, roads, etc), taxes are then used to balance that spending.
The point with this circle is that there is no need for interest at all and it doesn’t fall down due to the private banks creating more and more money with interest that cannot be repaid. Amazingly enough, it also means that international trade can be minimised and that the economy can become sustainable neither of which can be done with an usurious economy.
And of course, the Government doesn’t even need to physically print the money required. It simply gets the Reserve Bank to electronically credit Kiwi Bank’s general operating account with it.
WThe “Right” always ask “Where is the money coming from?” The “Left” assume the money merely needs redistribution. Meanwhile a plague afflicts both houses, one of myopia and lack of prescience.
Bored
Yes Bored. But let a war break out – and “both houses” will find no end of money to prosecute it.
The depression was still on, populations around the world right up until the outbreak of hostilitities were being told “there is no money”. War broke out, and magically money was not an issue. $billions and $trillions of dollars were spent on mass slaughter, massive bodies of armed men were paid to be kept in the field for years producing nothing but destruction. Factories around the world mobilised to churn out machinery for war in massive amounts that creating nothing worthwhile at all.
Genunine productive capacity, (ie food, clothes, housing, transport) not related to the war effort was severely scaled back, or completely turned off.
Where did all this money come from?
Globally hardly any new productive capital was being created and any new wealth that was created, was also thrown into the war effort to be deliberately destroyed?
Yet there was no shortage of funding?
The war didn’t stop because anyone ran out of money to pay for it.
One side had to physically overpower and occupy the other.
Ask yourself this: How much has been spent by governments, both left and right in our completely pointless military engagement in Afghanistan?
It is a mantra that is drummed into us by politicians and newsreaders, we all know the words, we accept it, though it makes us feel uneasy and insecure.
“There is not enough money” for schools, and hospitals, and welfare, and pensions, and environmental protection, and climate change mitigation, etc, etc, etc.
But when there is a war, money is a bottomless bucket
How can this be?
To explain how it works
War is not the only thing that has been given a bottomless bucket of money.
The Banskters and Financiers have also cottoned onto the idea of an endless supply of money, directing huge amounts of fictional money to themselves to support lifestyles and incomes not even dreamed of by the Pharaohs.
—the size of the derivatives market is something like 20 times the value of all products produced on the planet.
I suppose this use of ‘money’ while not immediately as deadly and destructive as war also crushes down and sacrifices investment in the real productive wealth of nations ie real things like food, clothing, housing, transport.
It is when the banskters and the financiers use the power and influence this fictional money gives them to manipulate governments to bail them out with real funds that makes much less wealth available for hospitals and pensions or even maintaining basic public services.
Those at the controls genuinely do not care, and our government actions, and lack of them, show that what we call democracy, is little more than puppet theatre, where those we get to vote for are chosen for us, and answer to people who we do not get to see much of, Royal visits etc aside!
I suppose this use of ‘money’ while not immediately as deadly and destructive as war also crushes down and sacrifices investment in the real productive wealth of nations ie real things like food, clothing, housing, transport.
Indeed, and as more money is taken out of the system, (which is where the inequality comes from), the effects will become more devastating than any physical war ever was. The wars are simply the distraction to deflect attention away from the biggest threat to their lives, MONEY!
If anyone is interested, Foxnews if running a poll about whether teenagers should have access to birth control. At the moment “No — This is a parent’s responsibility, not a ‘nanny state’s.'” is running at about 84%. was 93%
Seems there is an internet campaign to drive the no vote down. http://polldaddy.com/poll/6557149/
I watched the parliamentary debate on the Marriage equality bill, and was appalled by the contribution by Hayes. There didn’t seem to be much subsequent comment, but I was pleased to come across this: http://www.nzfarmersweekly.co.nz/article/9529.html
Hayes is an odious relic, the effective tactic the hollowmen pulled off in 2011 was to hide the true nature of most of the MP’s from their electorates by keeping them well feed on the gravy train with firm orders to say and do nothing outside the neo liberal book of soundbites
Hayes is perhaps a closet Gay or maybe he had a warped childhood. He is welcome to his beliefs except not as an MP. Perhaps Hayes and Banks could get together and have a chummy pow wow.
I understand that some very conservative types found the bill disturbing – but Hayes lack of comprehension was amazing. That I can put up with – as someone said, parliament is meant to be representative of our population, and his views may well be shared by up to 1% of the population. The concerning aspect is however that he was arrogant enough to claim that his personal views were representative of those in his electorate. Clearly he had not spoken to many about his views, but had what is becoming a prevalent National electorate MPs that having been elected all his opinions must be shared by his electorate. Asset sales, anyone?
Ed 3 1 1 1
Quoting the views of your electorate is a regular appeal to authority used by pollies. There are so many things that could be considered for new policy, but not implemented as at present apparently because of anonymous requests to pollies that may consist of an idea from two or three Party seers over a glass of wine.
How sick I am of pollies saying that people – my constituents – concerned parents are wanting this or that and that the polly considers their wishes must be fulfilled. We heard that a lot connected with the move to National Standards, ie ‘parents have told me they want regular and easy reports’. So of course we must spend millions of dollars on this thin justification.
Someone in the GCSB has been caught spying on a New Zealand resident – which is illegal. The presumption is that they were passing information on to a foreign power. Which is espionage.
The Police Service and Crown Law are seriously compromised in this.
It’s a crisis . . .
. . . but this is all about Key covering his arse: – he’s subtle, nuanced and completely self-obsessed
I understand beneficiaries whose children dont attend school will have their benefits cut. Presumably this is because of the high value we place on schooling?
I know of families where both parents work and occassionally their shifts coincide making it impossible to have a parent at home to look after the pre schooler.
An older child stays off school to babysit.
I was in fiji for over a week stayibg at a high end hotel. I deliberately go during aussie and nz school term to avoid the noise of lots of children.
No such luck. It seems white middle class oz and nz deem it appropriate to remove their children from school for a week to spend seven days in a pool. If school is so important we will dock beneficiarieswhose children miss some school, why not just pass a law making it a crime to knowingly allow your child to miss school? That is, if the reason for docking bennies is REALLY because of the high calue we place on schooling…
Taking your kids out of school for holidays, be it skiing or an international trip is of educational benefit. Exposure to new cultures, geography, geology e.t.c.
Whilst allowing your kids to miss school in order to play video games, huff glue, burgle the neighbours…not so much
I completely disagree. Whilst a holiday at a Pacific resort might not have the same educational benefit as a Nepalese trek it still teaches the young an important lesson. If you enjoy this lifestyle then when you get back to school make sure you work hard in order to be qualified for a job that will allow you to afford it and not end up like the jealous whinging plebs on the Standard.
I suppose going to the Congo to watch primitive primates would be a good lesson in how far humans have developed over the apes and not just the biggest bully on the block can succeed!
“If you enjoy this lifestyle then when you get back to school make sure you work hard in order to be qualified for a job that will allow you to afford it and not end up like the jealous whinging plebs on the Standard.”
time off school, education suffers.
time off school spent looking at thing that require more time at school
when back to school you at deficit of education
things seen while having time off school now out of reach
change name to monkey and troll The Standard in frustration
alternatively,
time spent looking at thing that need education
time lost looking at thing easily reclaimed
if education time so easily reclaimed, no need to work so hard
teacher very good, system very good
anyone can get thing no matter the speed of their achievement
no need to travel since photograph or advert enough to know thing exist.
travel just element of lifestyle, no educative material
or maybe,
child go to hotel in Vanuatu
parents stoned and drunk
looks just like at home but sunnier
child no give a shit either way
grow up to be small minded
takes same perspective to all places.
and then,
monkey child see banana, no education necessary
monkey make noise, noise not reclaimed
monkey do shit,
no one care.
King Kong, your view on this is very illuminating and points to what you see as important in the world.
A trek across the wilds of Te Urewera would be equally, if not more, educational for a kiwi kid than a trek across the wilds of Nepal. The fact you think otherwise describes you.
In my experience the most well-rounded and decent people who live good, happy and fulfilling lives tend to be those with their feet on the ground, not constantly up in the air in some wretched 747. And as for being envious of trips to Fiji – you have got to be joking. Talk about boring.
Are you for real? And who is going to teach the kids the subjects they WILL NEED to enter University? Are you aware that outside NZ these kids do not stand a chance without a proper education?
I disagree. The difference in the workforce knowledge over the last 20 years is tremendous. Just spending the parents savings (which they may need themselves) will not do. Besides, knowledge is not just a chip to make money it is obtained to understand the world, to enjoy it and see the depth of it. Decisions are made by people of wealth – if they are dumb too then god help NZ.
You assume that they will want to help NZ – I doubt it, they’ll be scions of National-voting rich pricks. They will also have acquired the kind of private school, family, and social connections that unfortunately seem to make university education irrelevant.
Any experience of another country or culture – no matter how slight – is always going to stimulate the minds of children. Turning a blind eye to the epidemic of truancy, not so much.
It is really hard to understand why beneficiaries don’t get this, isn’t it King Kong. A small trip to even Australia should be able to be afforded by any family, and a quick trip around Europe should be possible at least once between the ages of 10 and 15. After all, an overseas holiday is really only a small amount more expensive than video games or glue . . . “Right”, King Kong?
Ed 5 1 2
Apart from the p.ss taking in reality beneficiaries have to tell The Department when they are going overseas. Doesn’t matter if they have scraped and saved to just get enough, they would probably be stopped from going because they have some unpaid fine or if they go, have their benefit stopped etc.
If you are unemployed you are supposed to be looking for work all the time, and that is your work, and you never get a holiday. If super is put off till 67 that means that you are likely to be on UB and the above constraints would apply to you.
Big Brother doesn’t let you to have a life, whether beneficiary or low wage earner and hates to think of you having enjoyment and pleasure except for that of blotting out with alcohol which is the government’s drug of choice. Govt keeps wages low as possible, and manipulates the economy by undermining NZ business with low tariffs so there aren’t local jobs servicing each other, ie making clothes, shoes in NZ, train parts, car parts, tractors and tractor parts, good honest work making our everyday needs.
Scrabble in the dust while we despise you is the attitude of today’s pollies.
Whilst allowing your kids to miss school in order to play video games, huff glue, burgle the neighbours…not so much
I agree about the glue, but burglary and video games are fine skills in the coming age. We just need to teach kids some ethics (eg don’t steal from your neighbours or people who can’t afford it), and how gaming skills can help them. Some education around how not to get caught, how to deal with the law, rights etc would be good too.
Of course NACT and/or Labour could do something useful about poverty, and then those kids could do something else instead. But if the rest of the country is going to use their poverty for their own benefit (and make sure it doesn’t change), then there is no reason why those kids shouldn’t be learning survival and resiliency skills. Or having fun.
Of course no one has ever broken the shackles of intergenerational welfare dependancy before so why bother.
Perhaps we are going wrong with the syllabus for these kids. Maybe instead of English, maths and science we could have punching your wife in the face (for boys), getting knocked up by multiple partners (for girls) and how to set up a drug distribution centre from your state house.
King Kong
Your education has been deficient too, all you have learned is to metaphorically punch people in the face. You view the people around you with tunnel vision. You are an example of the simple education that just teaches subjects not an understanding of how society and the world tends to work.
You get an A in smugness and also for callousness but will have to do a refresher course on your attitudes and how relevant to reality they are.
Well we will bring in some unqualified experts like Dirty old Don brash and he can show how to get away with multiple partners!
Then KK you would be the Token disadvantaged or disabled pupil!
We could bring in a few other examples of successful elites like those who ran bridge corp hujlich wealth management etc !
What is with stupid eggheads in control of everything? Can’t they think properly?
Spring Creek is being mothballed apparently because the price of coal has dropped. Yet Solid Energy is keeping the mine because of its confidence that the price will return in the future and all of the coal under there will be needed.
So why not spread out the mining over the booms and busts? Mine and store it (at lower cost) during the busts, and mine it and sell both it and the stores in times of boom. That way you keep a quality and stable workforce, you have shitloads of coal ready to sell when the boom times arrive again, and you simply smooth out the currently roughshod way in which the ‘leaders’ operate these things.
And if that approach does not work then best sell up the mine completely. I know plenty locals who will buy it if it has no value.
Storing coal is not that viable once coal is mined it oxidises and looses hydro carbons selling it for less than its worth would be more viable also keeping experienced underground miners on the job to get the mine up and running again will be much more difficult.
This option they have taken is a short sighted 3 monthly corporate reporting mode of operating a business Dumb by Dumb Government ie Tony Ryall and shonkey!
If we took the same approach to farming it would destroy our agriculture sector!
Bean brained bean counters again running a yoyo economy like the 1990’s
And tell me – how can anyone trust the government and authorities now. Credibility and trust has evaporated. Evidence…
1. GCBS blatantly breach the law and spy on locals, apparently at the behest of the US and its stormtroopers.
2. NZ Police invade locals houses on instruction of the USA’s FBI, who also then proceed to break our laws and remove evidence. Blatant breach.
3. Ecan elections get canned and postponed. Exactly like Bananarama in Fiji and the Communist Party of China.
4. An entire city’s CBD gets taken away from its owners.
5. An entire city’s schooling gets upheaved at the stroke of a pen.
6. US Sec of Defence comes over and thanks us for fighting their wars. Then says they want to station their stormtroopers here.
We should be very afraid. I think the time of goodness and innocence has completely passed NZ by. Those in power are corrupt and cannot be trusted. On top of that, govt departments such as Police and GSCB simply steam roll over laws to achieve their ends (the long held suspicioun now confirmed) such is the power they have.
That lack of trust is all part of the strategy as they are gambling the brush tars both sides of the house with the old ‘ bloody pollies they’re all the same, oh he looks a nice man and says such nice things my word yes I do want a brighter future etc…’
The opposition has to smash this govt rhetoric and chart a clear course away from the middle muddle as I believe people are seeing planet key for what is really is finally.
When an empire is in crisis history notes that a couple of things occur that indicate imperial reach is getting tenuous. First the empire insists the imperial model is fine: the vassal ruling classes are prone to demonstrations of and aping of their own overlords power over the local citizenry.
Second the imperial power promises to back up their perceived strength by offers of garrisons (unlikely to be delivered due to overstretch). Sounds familiar?
yeah I have plenty of good, sensible friends, who still think National are doing an OK (albeit not fantastic) job…particularly since they can’t see any real alternatives on the horizon.
PS and of course, our General Election voters are currently just 74% of the population.
NZ Police are announced as having provided wrong information in a sensitive case, to our secret squirrels thus making us look more like that banana republic that fatcats used to talk about before we became one, but without our favourite food, bananas. (Stats show us as biggest banana eaters in world.) Unreliable stat – but then so much of what we hear and see quoted each day is unreliable and mere opinion, that’s the NZ way today.
John Key is sometimes described in the MSM as a “businessman”. Being a “businessman” gives Key the right credentials for managing the NZ economy during a world financial crisis.
But in what sense has John Key actually been a businessman? Does any of his previous employment actually qualify for this description?
He owns shares in plenty of businesses but has never run one. And looking at the way he conducts himself in negotiations – the water rights issue being a good recent example, and there are others – he’d never be able to.
He has been employed to be a money trader, no more no less. He has since taken his gains and invested.
Money trader and investor.
John Key has, unless he is keeping it secret, never ever conceived an idea, designed it for reality, built it, sold it to actual people and had it used by the community for a useful purpose for a goodly period of time.
John Key is a businessman as much as Helen Clark was.
John Key IS a businessman BUT of the modern corporate mode. These are probably better described as courtiers and functionaries within organisations to which they usually have no ownership (or perhaps only that ascribed by “options” which are tradable remunerative obligations). Key in his “business” role ran a forex floor, a role where you risk your employment (but not your own money). It is akin to being a professional gambler of other peoples money.
Thanks for that everybody. I was familiar with his wikipedia resume, just wanted to check.
“Businessman” is probably a fair description according to the Oxford English Dictionary definition: “a man or woman engaged in trade or commerce, esp. at a senior level”.
However, he doesn’t appear to have actually started or owned his own business operation. More a senior cog in some large banking & trading firms. Hence he could not accurately be described as an “entrepeneur”.
In the middle of work
we start longing fiercely for wild greenery,
for the Wilderness itself, penetrated only
by the thin civilisation of telephone wires.
The moon of leisure circles the planet Work
with it’s mass and weight.-That’s how they want it.
When are on the way home the ground pricks up it’s ears.
The underground listens to us via the grass-blades.-
–
One Sunday I walk past an unpainted new building
standing before a grey wet surface.
It is half finished. The wood has the same light colour
as the skin on someone bathing.
Outside the lamps the September night is totally dark.
When the eyes adjust, there is faint light
over the ground where large snails glide out
and the mushrooms are as numerous as the stars.
-Tomas Transtromer
All our love and thoughts to the West Coast community during this unsettling time of change.
Anyone notice one Bradley Ambrose last night on Campbell Live as the cameraman for the project to get up close to an active volcano. The interview with him showed him to appear to a good adventurous nice bloke and not some devious demon. Surprised?
Ms Parata said the standards were aimed at raising “learner achievement” but also “raising teacher capability in the classroom”.
“Performance pay has been raised. I’m keen to see it located in a context of overall quality management in schools, not something as a silver bullet because it just isn’t.”
National standards could help schools understand who they needed to employ and to help set targets for teachers.
The Minister warned some time ago that she had further plans for Education and here she comes.
“performance pay by stealth” as teacher unions put it near the start of the Nat.Standards debacle.
I’m happy to publicly stand with teachers in my area for any actions etc. to fight this.
Looking back most of my teachers were doing their best with the kids, some better that others, but they all seemed to have a genuine interest in teaching.
Discipline was more of a problem for some teachers struggling to control a class of 30 teenage boys, some with real attitudes.
Teachers need more support.
A lot of it has to do with parenting and a teacher can’t control that right? If parents can’t raise one or two kids competently, how is a teacher suppose to deal with that human car wreck, while juggling a class of 20 -30 rowdy teenagers?
k p
The country as a whole doesn’t understand that people shape the life of the country, not the other way round. So we don’t help parents to do a good job, don’t hold up guidelines and set behavioural standards and provide amenities that nurture happy families.
But we do allow supermarkets to sell alcohol. The govts worry about party pills but not the late times that parties finish, when deaths, attacks and injuries most occur. Easy peasy, encourage people to continue to excess then blame them for being tempted.
The country wants parents to leave their kids home sick and go to work in some less important job than parenting but which is ‘paid’. And a country where money counts for more than people, and the hard job for parents bringing up children with good attitudes is disdained, then there are many parents and children who don’t get any good, just attitude.
“Labour leader David Shearer said it was incredible that the GCSB had not done its own checks on Dotcom’s residency. “It’s called the ‘intelligence’ agency.””
Aw, yeah, well, about that, um we a bit short of intelly..intulli…intelligints around here, give us a break, we can’t even find a person with intelligible elocution for our PM (…but that don’t matter too much, he speaks a pile of fiction anyway)
MUSt watching today – also like the fact that Grant Robertson still has a question on the John Banks saga. IMO Grant has scored much better hits on that issue than Shearer.
Grant Robertson’s questions to Key were probably the best asked in The House today. He basically managed to get Key to admit he’d read the Police Report into Bank’s campaign donations which he’s said he has no knowledge of.
With every unsympathetic response John Key makes towards new job losses, he is putting another nail in National’s coffin. I predict an embarrassingly low vote for National at the next election and years in oblivion for them trying to regroup.
Yeah well, I took it to be that scrappy piece of paper we saw which had Bill English’s signature on it. Proof that he had signed whatever he signed as John Key said he did.
Not sure either. Perhaps the point was that it is incredible that so many people knew about Dotcom the person and the impending raid/arrest and so many others knew about the stuff up over surveillance including the Deputy, yet the Head man knew nothing. Never heard of Kim Dotcom, nor the involvement of USA in activities in NZ. Wot????
Campbell may have been underlining this absence. I thought that segment stopped suddenly??? There may be more to be exposed. (Plus Question time was very subdued today and finished sooner than usual by about 15 minutes.) Huh?
I think you’re right, ianmac. Campbell seemed to say that all these people knew, but no-one told Key. Incredible is the word, used with its rightful meaning.
Yes, in Question time today, Peters pulled his punches. He asked a primary and a secondary or 2. I, and the Speaker, were expecting him to come in with another secondary – go for the punch line, I thought. But he just sat down.
But Prime Minister John Key says it’s too soon to lay blame.
“I just caution you as a journalist to be careful about inventing things that are great for a Tom Clancy story but not necessarily accurate in New Zealand,” says Mr Key.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if GCSB was following up a request direct from Washington and it may have bypassed Wellington entirely – we’ve seen similar things whereby our government seems to have no idea what our troops on detachment to the US in Afghanistan are doing.
It is hard to know if you are being serious or ironic CV.
I had thought you were a big supporter of US imperialism. Aren’t you a defender of the current Syrian regime, a place of CIA “Special Rendition” and torture generally?
In trying to extradite Kim Dotcom, subverting our secret security oganisations is the least of their crimes.
Just as the US authorities are doing everything in their power to extradite “alleged” internet pirate, Dotcom back to the US. The US authorities are doing every thing in their power to oppose the extradition of “convicted US human rights violators” back to Italy.
23 CIA agents convicted of civil rights violations by Italian courts and for violating Italian sovereignty in illegally abducting a Moslem cleric from Italian territory to a territory where torture is legal, in the notorious CIA practice known as “extraordinary rendition”. Had their case for extradition vigorously opposed by lawyers working for the US authorities.
Italy’s highest courts ruled that the extradition orders were legal.
This sentence proves that Italy is a state still under the rule of law. Today Italy’s top criminal court gave Abou Omar back his dignity.
In the same old criminal manner the US is expected to illegally defy the legal ruling of the Italian courts. But they expect us to honour their demands for the extradition of Dotcom without due process?
Will NZ courts have the courage to legally defy the US authorities, in giving Kim Dotcom “back his dignity” with a fair hearing?
Will our courts demand that the US authorities at the very least provide their evidence against Kim Dotcom. Or will he be delivered into the US gulag without a fair hearing, where like Bradly Manning, and many others, he could be held for years in prison without trial?
The government’s lawyer, John Pike, said the District Court and High Court do not have the power to order evidence to be disclosed in the extradition process being used. If the record of the case was thought it inadequate the process was for the judge at the extradition hearing to invite the government to add to the record.
But Paul Davison, QC, acting for Dotcom, said the extradition hearing – currently due to be heard next March – was the same as committing someone for trial. The government had to show evidence that, on the face of it, Dotcom and the others had a case to answer.
Dotcom would have “both his hands tied behind his back” if he had to go through the extradition hearing without knowing the evidence being used to back up the allegations.
As the Italian case shows, the US knows a lot about extraditing people with ‘their hands tied behind their backs’. In fact it is their preferred method of conducting cross border ‘justice’.
In another parallel with the case against Dotcom, Italian Secret Service Staff were also subverted by the US.
Italian Secret Service Agents are facing charges of breaking Italian law in illegally working with the US authorities to assist in the “extraordinary rendition” and subsequent torture of Abou Omar.
The Supreme Court also ordered New appeal trials for five Italian Intelligence Agents including Italy’s top two former military intelligence officers, Nicola Polari and his ex deputy Marco Mancini. Polari and Mancini had repeatedly been aquitted on appeal in the past, because of the State Secrecy Injunction…..
….For the first time ever in Italy truth has prevailed over state secrecy in court.
Press TV 21 Sept. 2012. 1.23 minutes into video.
GSCB agents here must be biting their nails, hoping against hope that their defence of hiding behind state secrecy to cover up their illegal activities is also ruled invalid by the New Zealand courts.
Teaching, at least in major cities, is also a profession in which minorities are heavily represented; when reformers argue that we need to take down teachers unions to give more opportunity to minority youth, the argument veers perilously close to “We need to destroy the black middle class in order to save it.”
As both policy and politics, the demonization of teachers unions is a dead end for improving American education. Working with, not against, teachers is the more sensible way to better our schools.,
We can see what charter schools is really about then!
Piece at a time they are taking away not only your future, but your childs too…
Well spotted muzza. Destroying the NZEI may be the underlying purpose here too? Funny thing is that the NZEI Branches often finds it hard to get a quorum to meetings. The only time teachers respond is when the welfare of kids is threatened or maybe teacher rights are being stripped. But everytime the current Minister speaks I listen for those underlying hints of teacher destruction.
Indeed ianmac, that just gotta break those unions, anyway they can, thats what its about…
PoAL, etc all the same thing, and what happens if the unions are done, TPPA comes in being, and pesky issues such as minimum wages are seen as “liabilities”..
Yeah, the global mondel is slavery, and NZ is firlmy in the radar, for those “lucky” enough to have a job.
The current mob of government, are beyond dangerous, and it begs the question…
The Reith Lecture on radionz tonight was about education in uk.
9:06 The Tuesday Feature: The Reith Lectures: The Rule of Law & its Enemies (F, RNZ)
Comes under Window on the World. You have to listen to BBC and search online for Reith and possibly Neil Ferguson to hear it. Quite feisty discussion.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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Watched the “News” last night, sad evidence of the global depression coming home to roost in NZ as miners and rail workers went down the road. The thing that struck a chord was that nobody, politicians of either side, workers, bosses had any answer. They are all caught up in a paradigm that straightjackets their thinking and response. To quote Kunstler we have “no credible model of a postindustrial economy that would permit our accustomed comfort and convenience to continue as is” .
We need to find a credible model fast: the thing that is sad about the “left” is that they have no credible response to the crisis unfolding. The “Right” always ask “Where is the money coming from?” The “Left” assume the money merely needs redistribution. Meanwhile a plague afflicts both houses, one of myopia and lack of prescience.
They really don’t have a good model.
That’s because the “right’ always know where the money is coming from – borrowing.
Both Labour and Green have generally been careful to say where the money is coming from, but the “where’s the money coming from” meme appears to be so entrenched that even commentators on The Standard are accepting it as valid. Why are detailed funding proposals only required from left parties? I cannot now recall which policies were being referred to, but doing only what really does provide a good return on investment for the Roads of “National” significance well covered one policy.
Of course by the time the next election comes around National may well have let a contract to do some of that building – it would not surprise me if they bought off some supporters by letting contracts in the lead up to the election. That does make it difficult for Labour/Green to commit to the detail of such matters before an election campaign.
This conversation will go no where useful. Kunstler and Greer would both agree that money is not a resource (unlike coal or steel or a machine shop) and in no way does it need to limit what needs to be done – unless you wish to continue to try and live within the insane monetary system set up by central bankers and the shadow banking system of debt based credit.
Maybe it’s we who need a good model. One thats gradual implementation doesn’t rely on them ‘getting it’. One that empowers us and leaves them the choice to participate or rattle around the dustbin of history for a while.
And we got one of them. Models I mean. Substantive democracy across all spheres of life including, crucially,the economy.
100% Bill!
People seem to forget or not understand that the current model is working just great for the establishment and their objectives, which is why nothing is going to change, unless WE make it change!
Start with the monetary supply control issue, and work our way out from there..
Stop waiting for anyone inside the current system to act out, or even speak out, its not going to happen. WE will have to form our own response, think of Syriza in Greece as lines to think along.
Take control of the money supply, and we can begin to take control of our future, because currently its in the hands of people who do NOT care about us!
interesting insight into ‘moving people on’ from the coast muzza
they certainly do not want too many people living there and valuing the environment a round them
Jokerman, thats because it all looks rather contrived to me whats going on.
If an outcome wanted was to remove people from any given area, then thats not too difficult to manufacture eh!
Muzza / Bill, agree with the “us” sentiments. Dimtri Orlov recently was talking about “sovereignty” and failed “states”. He talked about the western model of the state and how these constructs can become defunct, how some become lawless and ungovernable. As we watch Europe there are calls for the fragmentation of what were cogent modern states in Spain (Basque and Catalans favour an exit from Spain), Scotland (has a strong movement to separate from Westminster), the balkans and USSR have already fallen apart. Hungary has told the EU and the IMF (plus Monsanto) to take a running jump. Britains ratio of debt to GDP now exceeds Greece.
What I think we are witnessing is a fracturing of the financial imperial model with a reversion to localism. Its the “us” in action.
I get the feeling that the super country like the USA with states tied into the federal model and presidential leadership that is bound to be isolated from the major population of ordinary people living ordinary lives and hoping for living wages plus extra for a holiday, is not a good model.
Then I get this image of a sports team with their arms around each others shoulders buoying up each other, speaking their goals, touching and supporting each other. A small country like NZ could bond together and get most on board.
But we have at present a country where many prefer to separate themselves in splendid isolation. And that would have to change to get a cohesive aspirational society that has a place for everyone at their level of competence. We would have to all plan together, and be aware of others achievements and stick together not all being the same but sharing the same goals and taking interest in each other. We could not continue to drop out individually when we feel we’ve got to some financial and social level that elevates and isolates us in pseudo presidential fashion above the masses.
The present snobbery, self-satisfaction, superiority and disdain for those not at the level of the wealthy and elegant living class, cuts across ideas of being proud NZs together and making a good country for all.
What you say Prism is the hope I hang onto: that we are still small enough to be cogent. We might also consider in previous times of economic discord we habitually divide ourselves into the picket and Masseys cossacks.
Prism, yeah thats the stuff we need, but where is the turnaround going to come from, and what are people going to relate to, when they have only been told for decades that its all about number 1!
For mine, the turnaround can only come when there is a political entity which is formed of, and represents the people of NZ, all of them, but especially the workers, the vulnerable and those who do not see themselves as part of the establishment.
There are many more people in that club than the establishment, and that is what keeps them having to try and control the middle ground, that is why you can forget abotu Labour!
Bored, I do also hang onto the same hope as yourself, but the formation of what I refer to above has to happen soon, and has to come from pure people power. Anything less than that, and the hope will soon be gone.
There are many on here located in various parts of the country, who share more than enough brain cells, and capability to start getting together to nut something out.
I know that many here have their eggs in a basket with parties, but you are all wasting your energy. If people are part of the current system, there are very few who can be part of a new one, and the same applies to political parties, they have to go!
Get cracking people, join up, make contact with eachother, and start working on something which could be a game changer!
First thing needed is an agreement on what the top few “policy” issues would be..Ill start
1: NZ control of money issuence
#2 Balance import and export receipts.
.
3. Enact policies which rapidly concentrate ownership of everything on these islands into the hands of the people who live in these islands.
muzza
Haven’t the Greens been attempting to do this? I belonged to Jim Anderton’s New Labour and went to meetings where a lot of old guys in home knitted cardigans and their wives, no doubt similar, were the main attendees.
Younger working class people I feel now identify themselves as middle class if they are working full time, and superior to the unemployed who are seen as lazy and happy to be dependent on others largesse. I don’t think many young people have any understanding of political reality at all and why there are growing numbers of long term unemployed. As long as they have a job and can drive their garden sheds to the mall, and set up the barbie with convivial company and lots of beer, then they’re sweet. That’s why Jokey Hen is so popular, he identifies to the public with barbies and drinking beer out of a bottle. He’s one of us they think. Textor Crosby PR stuff.
No, I don’t think this is quite right. For starters, these people would love to identify with a solid, salt of the earth, working class based party.
Do we have one?
CV
Labour become tawdry, a has-been limping back into the fray after the 1984 pasting although it has managed to keep standing. But it has lost its vision, its feeling for ordinary people, too many fat-neck lawyers now. (Note Julia Gillard is an ex lawyer.) Lawyers understand the law, some understand how it shapes our lives unequally but hey can’t we have some other type without descending to Poorer Benefits.
And I was thinking of my original idea that having a list would allow many young pollies to learn the ropes and move up. But now I see that the old ones have worn a groove in their sheepskins so that can’t work. Perhaps part of Labour revitalisation would come if MPs and PMs in any party could only stand three times. Thinking of Hoover who I think was in his eminent position for 38 years and other USA long-term fossils, long terms can undercut democracy and new worthy representatives.
Muzza dismissed Jim Anderton as establishment and so apparently no good. It’s the thinking about policy and direction and methods surely that is most important. I just heard a UK interviewer with a Mexican man in USA and he was saying he would vote for Ronald Reagan if he was back. But she didn’t ask him why, what had he done for you that was so good?
Prism,
Perhaps they have, but the Greens are still carrying perception baggage around with them, and frankly Jim Anderton is establishment anyway, so I would not be too put off by that turn out.
What you say is right about Key and those who “feel him”, but in many cases, again they want to put their vote somewhere, so they put it with who that feel represent them, because they are told its “your or them”.
The real problem is that politics seeks to drive a wedge between people and exploit differences in “class” , as you will appreciate, and we are consistantly told that its your kids shooling or the ” housing for bludgers”, grannys hip opertion or some “more money for bludgers”…
If NZ had control of its money supply then the ability to drive that wedge becomes much more difficult to achieve, because it becomes a case of education, health, housing, and looking after the vulnerable and everything else, is on the table, not being us as a weapon to divide us. That is a game changer, and people will get on board.
Key is not one of us, you, me or anyone who posts on this site that cares about this country, and the people in it, is one of us!
That is what people will get on baord with!
EDIT – CV, no we don’t have one, and yes people would leap all over it!
“Younger working class people I feel now identify themselves as middle class if they are working full time, and superior to the unemployed who are seen as lazy and happy to be dependent on others largesse. I don’t think many young people have any understanding of political reality at all and why there are growing numbers of long term unemployed. As long as they have a job and can drive their garden sheds to the mall, and set up the barbie with convivial company and lots of beer, then they’re sweet.”
The trouble is, they forgot as children they forgot they grew up in a household with a 4% Housing Corp mortgage and a Universal Family benefit, with Dad’s award wages more than enough to pay the mortgage, the bills, dinner and a little treat now and then. Back then, Dad’s wages were enough for Mum to stay home, ready with some milk and cookies when the kids come home, as well as a beaming smile.
Of course when the kids grew up, they swallowed the lies being fed to them by right wing politicans and the news media about how, before 1984 was a hell hole with strikes every 5 mins, margarine avalible only on a doctors prescription, and everything was expensive (while ignoring that at least if people had jobs and high wages, they would be able to afford them).
Great comment.
Memory has been forgotten.
millsy
You paint nice nostalgic pictures. Everything wasn’t that good and cruisy when Mum worked at home looking after the kids and filling the biscuit tins with home baking. Mums wanted to be able to earn and contribute money to the household and not be just a dependent housebound mother disregarded by the male world. At first her income used to provide extras for the family and discretionary money with a nice frock for herself, now it just disappears on basic living costs.
NZs wanted to get on and better themselves but there was an attempt to break through a sort of economic see-saw, inflation bringing demands for higher wages with an annual repetition.
The model now is to pay below inflation so as it stays low. The theoretical side of playing with economics seems more important than its use as a tool in understanding the needs of individuals and what living wage provides for these. The lower wages are supposed to leave more funds for companies to invest and so bring more jobs. Well that cake hasn’t risen, looks like a new recipe is required to pay to produce Mum’s biscuits.
(Actually I have just been eating some Griffins biscuits – once a NZ company sold to USA NABISCO in the 1960’s and tossed from one firm to another since then. They are on a low price supermarket special of $1.99, it seems as if they have reduced the quality of ingredients so they can be super cheap. And the product has a legal shelf life, apparently, of nearly a year. No wonder they don’t taste the same as they once did. And these ones are produced in Fiji.)
Muzza: shall we register “THE STANDARD” as a political party? I’d join as a member 😀
CV – I don’t see why not, but then it’s not my site.
There are many capable, caring people who post,comment on here, and how many of those people use their vote on something which they know is not going to change.
How many of them want to vote becuse “its all we got”, and how many of them if focused in the right direction, could really pull together and make a huge dent in the current system. The time is right for exactly that sort of start up.
The intelligence, and by that I mean the academic and non academic intelligence, on this site is what personally keeps me coming back here, and knowing that there are so many people who clearly are thinking, and deeply aware that NZ is in real trouble, and want to help try to put it right. Imagine what could happen if the energy, capabilities and intelligence were harnessed, and put into action…
An organic “party” by genuine people, with altruistic intentions would be quite something, right.
Before any bullet point issues can be added – the very first action has to be the establishment of a constitution. I mean – the real McCoy for everyone. If that is not done, fractions will build and the harder the times the greater the possibility of a civil war.
As for an economic model, I belief that the idea of self responsibility is the right way to go. Equally, responsibility to the society as a whole. If exercised by everyone (!), there should be no poverty. However, I am absolutely against forcing people to behave, think and do as one group sees fit as this would be just as bad as the oligarchy we have now.
where do i sign????
4 – RBNZ Audit
5 – Full employment. NB not silly neoliberal theory full employment = 2.5% unemployment. I mean, every NZer who wants a full time job paying at least $15/hr gets such a full time job and is held to performing to it.
Where “THEM” includes the major political parties.
Its more subtle than “the major political parties” being in the dustbin of history. It is the whole thinking and tautology, the entire mindset that has become redundant….yet “we” still slavishly adhere.
Here’s a model mr bored. Ban usury. All it does is sap the life out of everything. In fact, I don’t think I have ever heard anybody make out a good case for interest on money.
“In fact, I don’t think I have ever heard anybody make out a good case for interest on money.”
All you have to do is look at the growth of the modern economy, all of which has only been possible through borrowing capital. Borrowing has a ‘cost’, and the ‘cost’ is paid by money, which is charged as interest.
I’m with VTO: I fully understand money has a cost but usury was banned by the Church as a cardinal sin for a millenium in the West prior to this. Money was loaned with obligations (that’s a subtle but significant difference). Just think, in 750AD I give you 50 shekels hard silver….cant exactly fractionally bank a hard silver shekel. The end result today is that we have enabled with debt interest the creation of money out of thin air and in the process grown ourselves to the edge of an abyss…very clever but it has to stop and that’s what the planet is telling us.
Perhaps Lanth but the only way that the model has any sustainability is for the interest to be created at the same time as the principal. Otherwise what is being initiated is a cycle of perpetual tail chasing where growth is required. As soon as growth slows down or stops, the house of cards collapses.
But Lanthanide, you didn’t answer the question or make out a good case for interest on money. Fractional reserve banking is what has been responsible for the growth, which is different from straight up borrowing. And that ponzi scheme is now at its end point.
Further, you didn’t say anything about why interest cost is good, you just said interest is the cost.
Others have it right. Interest on printed money drains the lifeblood out of people and concentrates it in the hands of the lenders. This is simple mathematics.
The western money system is the problem, as it was always going to be. Unfortunately I suspect it will take massive upheaval to change it.
Why would I lend you 500,000 dollars?
What’s in it for me, if I can’t charge you interest.
There’s nothing in it for you directly, financially. Plenty in terms off community advantages and networking for you (although of course that means nothing to someone like you).
Zero interest credit and money creation would become a primary function of the Sovereign once again.
How much have you lent people?
You seem to have lots of cash or so you say, I assume you have lent to many individuals and start up businesses.
Hows that working out for you?
Nationalize the banks pretty much makes your request moot BM!
No need for profit at that point, and then we can go about lending into areas which are beneficial to NZ.
Infrastructure, Eduction, Health, and so on
Getting it yet!
EDIT – I currently have a heap of cash out with people (no strings attached), and it feels great to be able to help them out. One day I may not be able to help people financially, (I only have a little anyway) but today I can, so I do. And the shoulder to cry on, and ear for listening, or some unbias, honest advise is always on offer, even if/when the money can’t be.
Maybe try it sometime!
So the taxpayer takes all the risk?
How do we lend out money if we’re not making a surplus?
Taxpayer are carrying all the risk by borrowing for abroad anyway, and are on the hook for bailout of private institutions – South Canterbury Finance for example.
Why would you think it to be any riskier for the NZ government (taxpayer) to be funding our countries needs?
Saying we need a surplus to provide funds is like saying a private bank needs a profit to loan money…Its simply not true, a sovereign government can produce all the interest free funds it requires, with some help from the tax system to ensure that any over supply is mopped up, to keep inflation in check!
What we would require is leaders with vision, and integrity who cared about all people in NZ!
The Reserve Bank issues the money by crediting KiwiBank’s operating account.
KiwiBank then takes over most of the lending activity in the country, pushing the Australian retail banks to drop their margins and their profits, or get out of the game.
And the taxpayer gets all the rewards. It’s how true capitalism works, mate.
I guess the issue I see is that NZ is rather reliant on imports and trade to survive and unfortunately we do seem to be in the we need them more than then they need us camp.
Booting out the banks rather sends a hostile message to the trading community and I’m guessing there would be rather serious ramifications for doing that, like our currency dropping in value rather severely and probably
less trading opportunities.
As you know that could have rather serious flow on effects.
Personally though, I think Muldoon had the right idea with the think big projects keeping services in house is how all major businesses operate.
Less you sub out the more money you make.
Print more BM just like all the major trading blocks duh!
Thats why our Dollar is seriously over valued it should be around the 63 cent mark against the US.
But because we are one of the few countries that play the game straight we get ripped off by currency traders knowing we are not go to do anything while they abandon the de valuers and take safe haven in our silly policy of denial!
1) You wouldn’t boot out the banks – they would simply need to become more competitive in the deals that they give Kiwi consumers and Kiwi businesses, or they will be squeezed out of the market place. This is real competitive capitalism.
2) The currency dropping is something that both our farmers and our manufactured exporters would love. I don’t see a problem at all with a Kiwi dollar valued 20% less around the US$0.65 mark.
Why lend at all?
BM In reality if you were at Merrill Lynch when Shonkey was their you would only need 13,000 dollars to lend $500,000 out!
Senate investigators found that loans from ML were geared at 38 to 1
Why would I want to borrow from you when I can borrow from the government at 0% interest?
“Fractional reserve banking is what has been responsible for the growth, which is different from straight up borrowing. And that ponzi scheme is now at its end point.”
Lending and charging interest has been around for longer than fractional reserve banking. Certainly things were a lot different in 1600-1800 than they are now.
“Further, you didn’t say anything about why interest cost is good, you just said interest is the cost.”
People wouldn’t lend capital if there wasn’t anything in it for them. The way to compensate someone for borrowing their capital is to pay them interest. That’s why “interest cost is good”, because without it there wouldn’t be lending. If there wasn’t lending, the people with the capital would jealously keep it for themselves, leading to much less distribution of wealth.
“Others have it right. Interest on printed money drains the lifeblood out of people and concentrates it in the hands of the lenders. This is simple mathematics.”
Because no one has ever borrowed money from a bank, built a successful business and become wealthy from doing so?
“The western money system is the problem, as it was always going to be. Unfortunately I suspect it will take massive upheaval to change it.”
I don’t agree that the “western money system is the problem”, but I would agree that “the modern western money system is the problem”.
It doesn’t need to be lent out.
Wrong. It just means that some people would end up with far too much money and nothing to spend it on.
Did you notice the inequality and the poverty?
You, like many, have failed to understand what the economy is for. It’s not to enrich a few people.
Government prints the money with no interest, spends that money into the economy to produce things (factories, roads, etc), taxes are then used to balance that spending.
The point with this circle is that there is no need for interest at all and it doesn’t fall down due to the private banks creating more and more money with interest that cannot be repaid. Amazingly enough, it also means that international trade can be minimised and that the economy can become sustainable neither of which can be done with an usurious economy.
And of course, the Government doesn’t even need to physically print the money required. It simply gets the Reserve Bank to electronically credit Kiwi Bank’s general operating account with it.
an easy way to ban interest would be for all of us to become muslim
They cheat somewhat – in order to make a prophet without charging interest, they receive equity in a non-monetary asset.
freudian slip much? 🙂
lol
A little comparative religion humour
next there will be riots in the middle east
luckily the western world including European countries are too advanced to have riots. You think.
+1
The unreality of money.
It is a mantra that is drummed into us by politicians and newsreaders, we all know the words, we accept it, though it makes us feel uneasy and insecure.
“There is not enough money” for schools, and hospitals, and welfare, and pensions, and environmental protection, and climate change mitigation, etc, etc, etc.
But when there is a war, money is a bottomless bucket
How can this be?
To explain how it works
War is not the only thing that has been given a bottomless bucket of money.
The Banskters and Financiers have also cottoned onto the idea of an endless supply of money, directing huge amounts of fictional money to themselves to support lifestyles and incomes not even dreamed of by the Pharaohs.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=8820
I suppose this use of ‘money’ while not immediately as deadly and destructive as war also crushes down and sacrifices investment in the real productive wealth of nations ie real things like food, clothing, housing, transport.
It is when the banskters and the financiers use the power and influence this fictional money gives them to manipulate governments to bail them out with real funds that makes much less wealth available for hospitals and pensions or even maintaining basic public services.
Well said Jenny.
Those at the controls genuinely do not care, and our government actions, and lack of them, show that what we call democracy, is little more than puppet theatre, where those we get to vote for are chosen for us, and answer to people who we do not get to see much of, Royal visits etc aside!
Indeed, and as more money is taken out of the system, (which is where the inequality comes from), the effects will become more devastating than any physical war ever was. The wars are simply the distraction to deflect attention away from the biggest threat to their lives, MONEY!
If anyone is interested, Foxnews if running a poll about whether teenagers should have access to birth control. At the moment “No — This is a parent’s responsibility, not a ‘nanny state’s.'” is running at about 84%. was 93%
Seems there is an internet campaign to drive the no vote down.
http://polldaddy.com/poll/6557149/
I watched the parliamentary debate on the Marriage equality bill, and was appalled by the contribution by Hayes. There didn’t seem to be much subsequent comment, but I was pleased to come across this:
http://www.nzfarmersweekly.co.nz/article/9529.html
Hayes is an odious relic, the effective tactic the hollowmen pulled off in 2011 was to hide the true nature of most of the MP’s from their electorates by keeping them well feed on the gravy train with firm orders to say and do nothing outside the neo liberal book of soundbites
Hayes is perhaps a closet Gay or maybe he had a warped childhood. He is welcome to his beliefs except not as an MP. Perhaps Hayes and Banks could get together and have a chummy pow wow.
I understand that some very conservative types found the bill disturbing – but Hayes lack of comprehension was amazing. That I can put up with – as someone said, parliament is meant to be representative of our population, and his views may well be shared by up to 1% of the population. The concerning aspect is however that he was arrogant enough to claim that his personal views were representative of those in his electorate. Clearly he had not spoken to many about his views, but had what is becoming a prevalent National electorate MPs that having been elected all his opinions must be shared by his electorate. Asset sales, anyone?
Ed 3 1 1 1
Quoting the views of your electorate is a regular appeal to authority used by pollies. There are so many things that could be considered for new policy, but not implemented as at present apparently because of anonymous requests to pollies that may consist of an idea from two or three Party seers over a glass of wine.
How sick I am of pollies saying that people – my constituents – concerned parents are wanting this or that and that the polly considers their wishes must be fulfilled. We heard that a lot connected with the move to National Standards, ie ‘parents have told me they want regular and easy reports’. So of course we must spend millions of dollars on this thin justification.
Someone in the GCSB has been caught spying on a New Zealand resident – which is illegal. The presumption is that they were passing information on to a foreign power. Which is espionage.
The Police Service and Crown Law are seriously compromised in this.
It’s a crisis . . .
. . . but this is all about Key covering his arse: – he’s subtle, nuanced and completely self-obsessed
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10836311&gallery_id=128095
I understand beneficiaries whose children dont attend school will have their benefits cut. Presumably this is because of the high value we place on schooling?
I know of families where both parents work and occassionally their shifts coincide making it impossible to have a parent at home to look after the pre schooler.
An older child stays off school to babysit.
I was in fiji for over a week stayibg at a high end hotel. I deliberately go during aussie and nz school term to avoid the noise of lots of children.
No such luck. It seems white middle class oz and nz deem it appropriate to remove their children from school for a week to spend seven days in a pool. If school is so important we will dock beneficiarieswhose children miss some school, why not just pass a law making it a crime to knowingly allow your child to miss school? That is, if the reason for docking bennies is REALLY because of the high calue we place on schooling…
Taking your kids out of school for holidays, be it skiing or an international trip is of educational benefit. Exposure to new cultures, geography, geology e.t.c.
Whilst allowing your kids to miss school in order to play video games, huff glue, burgle the neighbours…not so much
Fuck me you’re an assumptive bastard aren’t you. Brainless goon.
Holidays for swimming in resort pools or watching mickey mouse and donald duck does zip for education.
I completely disagree. Whilst a holiday at a Pacific resort might not have the same educational benefit as a Nepalese trek it still teaches the young an important lesson. If you enjoy this lifestyle then when you get back to school make sure you work hard in order to be qualified for a job that will allow you to afford it and not end up like the jealous whinging plebs on the Standard.
I suppose going to the Congo to watch primitive primates would be a good lesson in how far humans have developed over the apes and not just the biggest bully on the block can succeed!
“If you enjoy this lifestyle then when you get back to school make sure you work hard in order to be qualified for a job that will allow you to afford it and not end up like the jealous whinging plebs on the Standard.”
time off school, education suffers.
time off school spent looking at thing that require more time at school
when back to school you at deficit of education
things seen while having time off school now out of reach
change name to monkey and troll The Standard in frustration
alternatively,
time spent looking at thing that need education
time lost looking at thing easily reclaimed
if education time so easily reclaimed, no need to work so hard
teacher very good, system very good
anyone can get thing no matter the speed of their achievement
no need to travel since photograph or advert enough to know thing exist.
travel just element of lifestyle, no educative material
or maybe,
child go to hotel in Vanuatu
parents stoned and drunk
looks just like at home but sunnier
child no give a shit either way
grow up to be small minded
takes same perspective to all places.
and then,
monkey child see banana, no education necessary
monkey make noise, noise not reclaimed
monkey do shit,
no one care.
KK. Or end up just like you who is always appearing in these columns. Are you indeed projecting?
Funny enough I am writing this from beside the pool at the Sofitel in Denarau so in answer to your question…no.
And yet you can’t think of a single thing you’d rather do with your luxury poolside time than troll the standard.
What a sad little monkey you are.
King Kong, your view on this is very illuminating and points to what you see as important in the world.
A trek across the wilds of Te Urewera would be equally, if not more, educational for a kiwi kid than a trek across the wilds of Nepal. The fact you think otherwise describes you.
In my experience the most well-rounded and decent people who live good, happy and fulfilling lives tend to be those with their feet on the ground, not constantly up in the air in some wretched 747. And as for being envious of trips to Fiji – you have got to be joking. Talk about boring.
Giving the kids a resort holiday teaches them they need to work for that lifestyle, and gives them an objective to work towards?
Should we do the same for the currently unemployed?
Sounds like it would encourage “benefit dependency” to me…
EDIT dang, Ed beat me to it…
Maybe we could set up a charter school in Fiji!
That would teach the pupils how to run a dictatorship!
Are you for real? And who is going to teach the kids the subjects they WILL NEED to enter University? Are you aware that outside NZ these kids do not stand a chance without a proper education?
If their parents can afford to take them on so many holidays that it affects their education, I somehow doubt that they will be short of chances.
true.
I disagree. The difference in the workforce knowledge over the last 20 years is tremendous. Just spending the parents savings (which they may need themselves) will not do. Besides, knowledge is not just a chip to make money it is obtained to understand the world, to enjoy it and see the depth of it. Decisions are made by people of wealth – if they are dumb too then god help NZ.
You assume that they will want to help NZ – I doubt it, they’ll be scions of National-voting rich pricks. They will also have acquired the kind of private school, family, and social connections that unfortunately seem to make university education irrelevant.
But first do they have any idea of their own history, culture and civilisation.
Any experience of another country or culture – no matter how slight – is always going to stimulate the minds of children. Turning a blind eye to the epidemic of truancy, not so much.
It is really hard to understand why beneficiaries don’t get this, isn’t it King Kong. A small trip to even Australia should be able to be afforded by any family, and a quick trip around Europe should be possible at least once between the ages of 10 and 15. After all, an overseas holiday is really only a small amount more expensive than video games or glue . . . “Right”, King Kong?
I think you may have missed my original point.
that your Atavistic KK
Someone did the stuff quiz this morning
That Stuffed you aye
Ed 5 1 2
Apart from the p.ss taking in reality beneficiaries have to tell The Department when they are going overseas. Doesn’t matter if they have scraped and saved to just get enough, they would probably be stopped from going because they have some unpaid fine or if they go, have their benefit stopped etc.
If you are unemployed you are supposed to be looking for work all the time, and that is your work, and you never get a holiday. If super is put off till 67 that means that you are likely to be on UB and the above constraints would apply to you.
Big Brother doesn’t let you to have a life, whether beneficiary or low wage earner and hates to think of you having enjoyment and pleasure except for that of blotting out with alcohol which is the government’s drug of choice. Govt keeps wages low as possible, and manipulates the economy by undermining NZ business with low tariffs so there aren’t local jobs servicing each other, ie making clothes, shoes in NZ, train parts, car parts, tractors and tractor parts, good honest work making our everyday needs.
Scrabble in the dust while we despise you is the attitude of today’s pollies.
Whilst allowing your kids to miss school in order to play video games, huff glue, burgle the neighbours…not so much
I agree about the glue, but burglary and video games are fine skills in the coming age. We just need to teach kids some ethics (eg don’t steal from your neighbours or people who can’t afford it), and how gaming skills can help them. Some education around how not to get caught, how to deal with the law, rights etc would be good too.
Of course NACT and/or Labour could do something useful about poverty, and then those kids could do something else instead. But if the rest of the country is going to use their poverty for their own benefit (and make sure it doesn’t change), then there is no reason why those kids shouldn’t be learning survival and resiliency skills. Or having fun.
Of course no one has ever broken the shackles of intergenerational welfare dependancy before so why bother.
Perhaps we are going wrong with the syllabus for these kids. Maybe instead of English, maths and science we could have punching your wife in the face (for boys), getting knocked up by multiple partners (for girls) and how to set up a drug distribution centre from your state house.
Real skills for the future.
King Kong
Your education has been deficient too, all you have learned is to metaphorically punch people in the face. You view the people around you with tunnel vision. You are an example of the simple education that just teaches subjects not an understanding of how society and the world tends to work.
You get an A in smugness and also for callousness but will have to do a refresher course on your attitudes and how relevant to reality they are.
Prism – I thoroughly endorse this comment.
Well we will bring in some unqualified experts like Dirty old Don brash and he can show how to get away with multiple partners!
Then KK you would be the Token disadvantaged or disabled pupil!
We could bring in a few other examples of successful elites like those who ran bridge corp hujlich wealth management etc !
What is with stupid eggheads in control of everything? Can’t they think properly?
Spring Creek is being mothballed apparently because the price of coal has dropped. Yet Solid Energy is keeping the mine because of its confidence that the price will return in the future and all of the coal under there will be needed.
So why not spread out the mining over the booms and busts? Mine and store it (at lower cost) during the busts, and mine it and sell both it and the stores in times of boom. That way you keep a quality and stable workforce, you have shitloads of coal ready to sell when the boom times arrive again, and you simply smooth out the currently roughshod way in which the ‘leaders’ operate these things.
And if that approach does not work then best sell up the mine completely. I know plenty locals who will buy it if it has no value.
Storing coal is not that viable once coal is mined it oxidises and looses hydro carbons selling it for less than its worth would be more viable also keeping experienced underground miners on the job to get the mine up and running again will be much more difficult.
This option they have taken is a short sighted 3 monthly corporate reporting mode of operating a business Dumb by Dumb Government ie Tony Ryall and shonkey!
If we took the same approach to farming it would destroy our agriculture sector!
Bean brained bean counters again running a yoyo economy like the 1990’s
The Chinese are taking West Coast coal and dumping it at sea to stockpile. It keeps indefinately that way.
You might think they have manipulated the coal price to buy more for less.
Centrally planned economies cannot strategically forward plan like that. Really, they can’t. At all.
And tell me – how can anyone trust the government and authorities now. Credibility and trust has evaporated. Evidence…
1. GCBS blatantly breach the law and spy on locals, apparently at the behest of the US and its stormtroopers.
2. NZ Police invade locals houses on instruction of the USA’s FBI, who also then proceed to break our laws and remove evidence. Blatant breach.
3. Ecan elections get canned and postponed. Exactly like Bananarama in Fiji and the Communist Party of China.
4. An entire city’s CBD gets taken away from its owners.
5. An entire city’s schooling gets upheaved at the stroke of a pen.
6. US Sec of Defence comes over and thanks us for fighting their wars. Then says they want to station their stormtroopers here.
We should be very afraid. I think the time of goodness and innocence has completely passed NZ by. Those in power are corrupt and cannot be trusted. On top of that, govt departments such as Police and GSCB simply steam roll over laws to achieve their ends (the long held suspicioun now confirmed) such is the power they have.
That lack of trust is all part of the strategy as they are gambling the brush tars both sides of the house with the old ‘ bloody pollies they’re all the same, oh he looks a nice man and says such nice things my word yes I do want a brighter future etc…’
The opposition has to smash this govt rhetoric and chart a clear course away from the middle muddle as I believe people are seeing planet key for what is really is finally.
When an empire is in crisis history notes that a couple of things occur that indicate imperial reach is getting tenuous. First the empire insists the imperial model is fine: the vassal ruling classes are prone to demonstrations of and aping of their own overlords power over the local citizenry.
Second the imperial power promises to back up their perceived strength by offers of garrisons (unlikely to be delivered due to overstretch). Sounds familiar?
The terrible truth is that nearly half of our voters do trust this Government (and authorities).
yeah I have plenty of good, sensible friends, who still think National are doing an OK (albeit not fantastic) job…particularly since they can’t see any real alternatives on the horizon.
PS and of course, our General Election voters are currently just 74% of the population.
NZ Police are announced as having provided wrong information in a sensitive case, to our secret squirrels thus making us look more like that banana republic that fatcats used to talk about before we became one, but without our favourite food, bananas. (Stats show us as biggest banana eaters in world.) Unreliable stat – but then so much of what we hear and see quoted each day is unreliable and mere opinion, that’s the NZ way today.
John Key is sometimes described in the MSM as a “businessman”. Being a “businessman” gives Key the right credentials for managing the NZ economy during a world financial crisis.
But in what sense has John Key actually been a businessman? Does any of his previous employment actually qualify for this description?
He owns shares in plenty of businesses but has never run one. And looking at the way he conducts himself in negotiations – the water rights issue being a good recent example, and there are others – he’d never be able to.
He is absolutely not a businessman.
He has been employed to be a money trader, no more no less. He has since taken his gains and invested.
Money trader and investor.
John Key has, unless he is keeping it secret, never ever conceived an idea, designed it for reality, built it, sold it to actual people and had it used by the community for a useful purpose for a goodly period of time.
John Key is a businessman as much as Helen Clark was.
Correct, his work history is here I like it in german especially their vocab for politics.
Oppositionsführer …….. excellent !
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Key
“Oppositionsführer” All hail or hale or heil. 🙂
.
. . . and, for ten internets, name one business which John Key has worked for and which is still in operation?
John Key IS a businessman BUT of the modern corporate mode. These are probably better described as courtiers and functionaries within organisations to which they usually have no ownership (or perhaps only that ascribed by “options” which are tradable remunerative obligations). Key in his “business” role ran a forex floor, a role where you risk your employment (but not your own money). It is akin to being a professional gambler of other peoples money.
@ Bored
…yeah, and wouldn’t it be good if more NZers cottoned onto this sad fact… :(
Well, the time line does suggest that he helped trash the NZ economy back in 1987 by manipulating the exchange rate.
Thanks for that everybody. I was familiar with his wikipedia resume, just wanted to check.
“Businessman” is probably a fair description according to the Oxford English Dictionary definition: “a man or woman engaged in trade or commerce, esp. at a senior level”.
However, he doesn’t appear to have actually started or owned his own business operation. More a senior cog in some large banking & trading firms. Hence he could not accurately be described as an “entrepeneur”.
In the middle of work
we start longing fiercely for wild greenery,
for the Wilderness itself, penetrated only
by the thin civilisation of telephone wires.
The moon of leisure circles the planet Work
with it’s mass and weight.-That’s how they want it.
When are on the way home the ground pricks up it’s ears.
The underground listens to us via the grass-blades.-
–
One Sunday I walk past an unpainted new building
standing before a grey wet surface.
It is half finished. The wood has the same light colour
as the skin on someone bathing.
Outside the lamps the September night is totally dark.
When the eyes adjust, there is faint light
over the ground where large snails glide out
and the mushrooms are as numerous as the stars.
-Tomas Transtromer
All our love and thoughts to the West Coast community during this unsettling time of change.
blank cheque!
http://rt.com/news/nz-intelligence-investigation-dotcom-810/
spot the oopsie by RT.
(Even though there are far bigger issues, i bet that stings a little)
Anyone notice one Bradley Ambrose last night on Campbell Live as the cameraman for the project to get up close to an active volcano. The interview with him showed him to appear to a good adventurous nice bloke and not some devious demon. Surprised?
Who needs WETA to produce the Cracks of Doom?????? Bradley saw the real thing up close.
Thought there might be a bit more angst here about the Solid Energy lay-offs. Are people not bothered because it’s coal?
From DomPost
National standards results could have a role in assessing the performance of teachers, Education Minister Hekia Parata says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington-schools/7724200/Standards-may-aid-rating-of-teachers
Well that didn’t take long.
Yes Dv and further:
The Minister warned some time ago that she had further plans for Education and here she comes.
Parata wouldn’t know quality management if it hit her in the face.
“performance pay by stealth” as teacher unions put it near the start of the Nat.Standards debacle.
I’m happy to publicly stand with teachers in my area for any actions etc. to fight this.
Looking back most of my teachers were doing their best with the kids, some better that others, but they all seemed to have a genuine interest in teaching.
Discipline was more of a problem for some teachers struggling to control a class of 30 teenage boys, some with real attitudes.
Teachers need more support.
A lot of it has to do with parenting and a teacher can’t control that right? If parents can’t raise one or two kids competently, how is a teacher suppose to deal with that human car wreck, while juggling a class of 20 -30 rowdy teenagers?
well said KP
k p
The country as a whole doesn’t understand that people shape the life of the country, not the other way round. So we don’t help parents to do a good job, don’t hold up guidelines and set behavioural standards and provide amenities that nurture happy families.
But we do allow supermarkets to sell alcohol. The govts worry about party pills but not the late times that parties finish, when deaths, attacks and injuries most occur. Easy peasy, encourage people to continue to excess then blame them for being tempted.
The country wants parents to leave their kids home sick and go to work in some less important job than parenting but which is ‘paid’. And a country where money counts for more than people, and the hard job for parents bringing up children with good attitudes is disdained, then there are many parents and children who don’t get any good, just attitude.
IMO, Not so much the country as the capitalists. They want as many people as possible working for them so that they become richer and have more power.
What about international or intergenerational standards for Ministers to see if they really make the grade to lead….
So Key wasn’t to blame he was in the USA watching his son play softball. Bill English signed off on the surveillance and forgot to tell him. Talk about dissing your mates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10836388
believe this you believe anything, Blinglish apparently takes the fall for ShonKey, but…
English signed for the pm AND he didn’t tell him!!!
Especially about the indemnity as that is a fiscal budget issue that could stuff the surplus target.
Really odd.
Surely the surveillance must have been carried out prior to the raid in January, whats the deal with signing it off in August. Retrospective approval?
>>Retrospective approval?
Surely that is not legal.
Nactional seem to be suffering from collective amnesia as usual!
Dementia ,Alzheimer’s!
Or just dishonesty and lies?
Ha!
“Labour leader David Shearer said it was incredible that the GCSB had not done its own checks on Dotcom’s residency. “It’s called the ‘intelligence’ agency.””
Aw, yeah, well, about that, um we a bit short of intelly..intulli…intelligints around here, give us a break, we can’t even find a person with intelligible elocution for our PM (…but that don’t matter too much, he speaks a pile of fiction anyway)
Quite a few Questions re GCSB – in todays Question Time:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/2/f/3/00HOH_OralQuestions-List-of-questions-for-oral-answer.htm
MUSt watching today – also like the fact that Grant Robertson still has a question on the John Banks saga. IMO Grant has scored much better hits on that issue than Shearer.
Grant Robertson’s questions to Key were probably the best asked in The House today. He basically managed to get Key to admit he’d read the Police Report into Bank’s campaign donations which he’s said he has no knowledge of.
With every unsympathetic response John Key makes towards new job losses, he is putting another nail in National’s coffin. I predict an embarrassingly low vote for National at the next election and years in oblivion for them trying to regroup.
More secret recordings of Mitt Romney:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5i3F0YnkP0&feature=relmfu
Hoot! Done very well. Politicians be very afraid.
haha…nice one. I like the Herman Cain one too
I think the country knew that we need to make sacrifices but the stupid way national has gone about it defies belief.
+1 @captain hook
Mr Banks signed a document without “knowing” its contents.Not accountable.
Mr English signed a document without “knowing” its contents. Not accountable.
OK everyone?
And Campbell Live 7pm, claims that they will have some exclusive information regarding Bill English and the GCSB.
OK just watched that. What was the new info?
I don’t really know, felix. But it’s meant to be in the content of English’s document/letter.
Yeah well, I took it to be that scrappy piece of paper we saw which had Bill English’s signature on it. Proof that he had signed whatever he signed as John Key said he did.
Not sure either. Perhaps the point was that it is incredible that so many people knew about Dotcom the person and the impending raid/arrest and so many others knew about the stuff up over surveillance including the Deputy, yet the Head man knew nothing. Never heard of Kim Dotcom, nor the involvement of USA in activities in NZ. Wot????
Campbell may have been underlining this absence. I thought that segment stopped suddenly??? There may be more to be exposed. (Plus Question time was very subdued today and finished sooner than usual by about 15 minutes.) Huh?
I think you’re right, ianmac. Campbell seemed to say that all these people knew, but no-one told Key. Incredible is the word, used with its rightful meaning.
Yes, in Question time today, Peters pulled his punches. He asked a primary and a secondary or 2. I, and the Speaker, were expecting him to come in with another secondary – go for the punch line, I thought. But he just sat down.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/1/b/f/50HansQ_20120925_00000003-3-Government-Communications-Security-Bureau.htm
Key also issued a warning to the press today, as shown on TV3 news tonight. He said it very carefully:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Too-soon-for-blame-over-Dotcom-spying-says-Key/tabid/1607/articleID/270535/Default.aspx
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if GCSB was following up a request direct from Washington and it may have bypassed Wellington entirely – we’ve seen similar things whereby our government seems to have no idea what our troops on detachment to the US in Afghanistan are doing.
And that is a scenario all too awful to even consider. Hail our colonial masters.
It is hard to know if you are being serious or ironic CV.
I had thought you were a big supporter of US imperialism. Aren’t you a defender of the current Syrian regime, a place of CIA “Special Rendition” and torture generally?
Oh yes, you’re always good friends of the US right up until the time you aren’t. Saddam Hussein, and many others, found that out the hard way.
In trying to extradite Kim Dotcom, subverting our secret security oganisations is the least of their crimes.
Just as the US authorities are doing everything in their power to extradite “alleged” internet pirate, Dotcom back to the US. The US authorities are doing every thing in their power to oppose the extradition of “convicted US human rights violators” back to Italy.
23 CIA agents convicted of civil rights violations by Italian courts and for violating Italian sovereignty in illegally abducting a Moslem cleric from Italian territory to a territory where torture is legal, in the notorious CIA practice known as “extraordinary rendition”. Had their case for extradition vigorously opposed by lawyers working for the US authorities.
Americans oppose extradition of convicted felons.
Italy’s highest courts ruled that the extradition orders were legal.
In the same old criminal manner the US is expected to illegally defy the legal ruling of the Italian courts. But they expect us to honour their demands for the extradition of Dotcom without due process?
Will NZ courts have the courage to legally defy the US authorities, in giving Kim Dotcom “back his dignity” with a fair hearing?
Will our courts demand that the US authorities at the very least provide their evidence against Kim Dotcom. Or will he be delivered into the US gulag without a fair hearing, where like Bradly Manning, and many others, he could be held for years in prison without trial?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/technology/7706772/Dotcom-in-court-for-documents-appeal
The signs are not good.
As the Italian case shows, the US knows a lot about extraditing people with ‘their hands tied behind their backs’. In fact it is their preferred method of conducting cross border ‘justice’.
In another parallel with the case against Dotcom, Italian Secret Service Staff were also subverted by the US.
Italian Secret Service Agents are facing charges of breaking Italian law in illegally working with the US authorities to assist in the “extraordinary rendition” and subsequent torture of Abou Omar.
GSCB agents here must be biting their nails, hoping against hope that their defence of hiding behind state secrecy to cover up their illegal activities is also ruled invalid by the New Zealand courts.
Clarke and Dawe on the GCF.
The presumably numbers-driven educational reformers are highly selective when it comes to which numbers they take seriously. For years, many have touted charter schools (which usually are not unionized) as the preferred alternative to (unionized) public schools
We can see what charter schools is really about then!
Piece at a time they are taking away not only your future, but your childs too…
Well spotted muzza. Destroying the NZEI may be the underlying purpose here too? Funny thing is that the NZEI Branches often finds it hard to get a quorum to meetings. The only time teachers respond is when the welfare of kids is threatened or maybe teacher rights are being stripped. But everytime the current Minister speaks I listen for those underlying hints of teacher destruction.
Indeed ianmac, that just gotta break those unions, anyway they can, thats what its about…
PoAL, etc all the same thing, and what happens if the unions are done, TPPA comes in being, and pesky issues such as minimum wages are seen as “liabilities”..
Yeah, the global mondel is slavery, and NZ is firlmy in the radar, for those “lucky” enough to have a job.
The current mob of government, are beyond dangerous, and it begs the question…
“Are they actually Kiwis, or even human beings”?
The Reith Lecture on radionz tonight was about education in uk.
9:06 The Tuesday Feature: The Reith Lectures: The Rule of Law & its Enemies (F, RNZ)
Comes under Window on the World. You have to listen to BBC and search online for Reith and possibly Neil Ferguson to hear it. Quite feisty discussion.
And yet another video about the way banks create money.