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Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:30 am, September 5th, 2010 - 32 comments
Almost as an aside, Matt McCarten has announced that he has the “killing kind of cancer” in his column today. Matt is one of the lions of the Left. His union, Unite, has defied the skeptics to become a real success story. Temp and low-paid workers have found an avenue for collective action, and learnt they can win. Matt makes it clear he’ll never flinch from fighting for the workers. Good on ya, mate, we’re with you.
Written By: The Standard - Date published: 6:00 am, September 5th, 2010 - 19 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:16 pm, September 4th, 2010 - 49 comments
Where are the Greens and Labour on the South Canterbury Finance issue? Just looking at the sheer politics of the situation, this is something they should be all over. There is enormous public anger at the way National was willing to magic up $1.7 billion of taxpayer cash for its rich mates while services are being cut. This should be the tipping point, when the Left seizes the public mood for its economic vision but where’s the leadership?
Written By: lprent - Date published: 2:49 pm, September 4th, 2010 - 13 comments
New Zealand is one of the oddest places geologically (Japan is similar) in the world because of our position between two plates and because we are at the twist where the plates change how they interact with each other. But the position of the Christchurch earthquake is a long way from the plate boundaries. Highly Allochthonous has a look at the mechanism of the quake.
Written By: lprent - Date published: 9:26 am, September 4th, 2010 - 108 comments
The Christchurch earthquake was a shallow high magnitude earthquake close to a urban population centre. That is the disaster scenario for planners. It is a disaster, but not a major disaster. The enforcement of building regulations ensured that the city took damage, but survived largely intact.
Written By: The Standard - Date published: 6:00 am, September 4th, 2010 - 56 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Written By: Tammy Gordon - Date published: 3:39 pm, September 3rd, 2010 - 44 comments
Whatever flimsy and tattered remains of Labour-lite which National used to disguise itself at the 2008 election has well and truly disappeared. Thank goodness we can now call a spade a spade. National is making its priorities crystal clear to the public. On a week when up to 500 elderly or disabled people in the …
Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 1:33 pm, September 3rd, 2010 - 15 comments
Important issues:
jobs, wages, public service cuts, Supercity & ECAN, national savings, climate change
Not important issues:
how we get a figurehead Head of State
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 3rd, 2010 - 31 comments
Due to the discrepancies in the spread of knowledge the free-market is irrational but there is no doubt that we, collectively, have the needed information to make more rational decisions. The problem that occurs is that neither the knowledge nor the tools to help make rational decisions on that information are readily available. Is there a tech solution?
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:31 am, September 3rd, 2010 - 48 comments
20,000 more Kiwis’ jobs are at risk as commercial building construction grinds to a halt. The Greens have a plan to divert money from low-quality spending on motorways to high benefit to cost spending on housing that will save those jobs and give Kiwi families a better standard of living. That’s the kind of visionary economic leadership we need. We’re not going to get it from National.
Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:11 am, September 3rd, 2010 - 32 comments
According to Maurice Williamson, we’re all racist. Our concern with foreign investment has nothing to do with the economy, we just hate the Chinese.
Written By: The Standard - Date published: 6:00 am, September 3rd, 2010 - 24 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 11:12 pm, September 2nd, 2010 - 23 comments
Over the next few weeks the nats and other vested interests will try to muddy the waters over the SCF bailout.
This sophistry is designed to distract from the massive transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
And why shouldn’t they try this tactic? It worked for asset sales two and a half decades ago.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:46 pm, September 2nd, 2010 - 11 comments
A few people have made a hell of a lot of money off the South Canterbury Finance collapse and bail-out. Are these the same people behind the mystery company that was created just three weeks ago and wants to buy SCF for $1.57 billion? Whether it’s been an organised plan or just lone sharks attracted by blood in the water, the result is the same: the rich win, we lose.
Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 1:34 pm, September 2nd, 2010 - 5 comments
Few stories that have slipped through the cracks are bothering me:
Whatever happened to Tolley’s diplomatic squad investigation? What about Coldplay’s damages for when National stole ‘Clocks’? And Bennett’s apology to Fuller? And that mysterious company in the Caymans that bought Key’s shares? And why was Worth really sacked?
Written By: Guest post - Date published: 11:45 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 21 comments
To find out who it is, click here.
Will this individual’s personal file be read out in Parliament by Paula Bennett?
Will this beneficiary’s sex life be investigated by WINZ as grounds for disqualification?
Written By: r0b - Date published: 10:02 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 5 comments
Barack Obama declared the U.S. combat mission in Iraq officially over on Tuesday but said he would not take a “victory lap”. No victory? That’s quite an understatement…
Written By: Bunji - Date published: 8:11 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 48 comments
National don’t understand macroeconomics. As such they are inflicting massive and unnecessary harm, with high unemployment and a long time until recovery.
Written By: The Standard - Date published: 6:00 am, September 2nd, 2010 - 24 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:48 pm, September 1st, 2010 - 27 comments
Many argue English should never have extended the deposit guarantee to South Canterbury Finance in April, or question whether the terms of the guarantee called for the pay-out. Then there’s the stink around the payment of SCF bonds. One thing’s for sure, the Nats didn’t need to spend $20 million on foreign depositors – they did it to try to kill the issue faster. Plenty of meat for Labour. Will they bite?
Written By: r0b - Date published: 5:44 pm, September 1st, 2010 - 82 comments
What next for The Standard? You’re our readers, so you must like something that we do. And you probably have some ideas on what we can do better. So tell us! How best to build The Standard into a community and a voice for the left wing of NZ politics?
Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 12:33 pm, September 1st, 2010 - 12 comments
Key says his personal relationship with Obama (met the guy twice) means he can call him. Don’t think it’s your winning grin mate. Think it’s because you’re PM of New Zealand. Anyway, this ain’t a game of collecting phone numbers, John. You’ve got to deliver something concrete. How’s that free trade deal coming?
Written By: r0b - Date published: 11:47 am, September 1st, 2010 - 33 comments
Bill English came pretty close to admitting that the Nats are “relaxed” about our current high unemployment. Phil Goff came out swinging…
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:17 am, September 1st, 2010 - 7 comments
Key says that teachers are “disconnected from the real world” for wanting a pay rise that will barely beat inflation. This from the same guy who promised higher wages. The same guy chucked half a billion dollars this year alone on the taxpayer credit card for tax cuts for the rich. The only people disconnected from the real world are those who think skimping on education and health will take this country forward.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 7:38 am, September 1st, 2010 - 75 comments
Serious questions are being asked why South Canterbury Finance was allowed to join the extended retail deposit guarantee scheme in April given that its financial problems were well-known and its credit rating was downgraded just weeks later. Bill English says it was a ‘line call’, one that’s just cost us at least $600 million. It’s not the first ‘line call’ English has stuffed up.
Written By: The Standard - Date published: 6:00 am, September 1st, 2010 - 31 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:30 pm, August 31st, 2010 - 51 comments
Funny how quickly John Key and Bill English found that spare $1.7bn for wealthy investors after all that talk about how we should be tightening our belts.
It’s shows exactly where their priorities are.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:49 pm, August 31st, 2010 - 9 comments
The government is canning it’s already too-small and ill-directed Community Max programme. $40 million was a pathetic amount that created, at best, just 3,000 temporary jobs when quarter of a million Kiwis are jobless. And, due to lazy policy-making all the Key government probably ended up doing was subsidising jobs that would have been created anyway.
Written By: Bunji - Date published: 11:00 am, August 31st, 2010 - 9 comments
National’s big election promise in 2008 was to close the wage gap with Australia. They’re failing, as our wages fall behind theirs under National’s economic mismanagement and employer-centric policies.
But there are some who are doing better than others in the pay stakes:
Union members.
Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:30 am, August 31st, 2010 - 92 comments
South Canterbury Finance is on the brink of collapse. The plan appears to be for the government to purchase the bad loans from the company at twice their book value, giving SCF the cash it needs to get back on its feet. That’s a dumb idea. The owners of SCF have taken huge profits in the good times, they can’t be allowed to pass their losses on to the rest of us now and continue as if nothing happened.
Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:28 am, August 31st, 2010 - 34 comments
According to John Key, teachers who want to maintain reasonably class sizes and free flu vaccines are disconnected from the real world. That would be the real world of hanging out with the Queen and spending $1.5bn on finance companies I guess. What a dick.
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