Archive for February, 2009

Employer opposes wage increases – shock!

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, February 11th, 2009 - 33 comments

Yesterday I expressed concern about Unite’s referendum on indexing the minimum wage to two-thirds of the average wage on practical grounds while strongly supporting the idea in principle. Today in its editorial the Herald takes exception to the principle, complaining that such a move, even phased in over a three year period, would deny people […]

Question Time open thread

Written By: - Date published: 3:46 pm, February 10th, 2009 - 49 comments

Due to popular demand, here’s an open thread for discussion of today’s Question Time. Knock yourselves out.

Sockpuppet of the right

Written By: - Date published: 1:10 pm, February 10th, 2009 - 13 comments

After yesterday’s early release of Roger Douglas’ Orewa speech set for 6pm this evening one of our (bafflingly tenacious) readers has sent us this: It seems this sockpuppet beat that sockpuppet to the punch.

Minimum wage rise a small but important victory for the Left

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, February 10th, 2009 - 20 comments

Great, through concerted pressure the Left managed to force a 9-cent an hour real increase in the minimum wage from National/ACT. A 9 cent an hour real increase is not much but it’s a hell of a lot better than freezing the minimum wage at $12 an hour and letting inflation eat it as National/ACT had planned. The decision […]

On the minimum wage referendum

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, February 10th, 2009 - 46 comments

The Unite Union has reacted to the Government’s miserly adjustment to the minimum wage by initiating a referendum on tying the minimum wage to two-thirds of the average wage. The principle behind the referendum is a good one. Indexing the minimum wage to 66% would be a huge step towards making sure our lowest paid […]

More than words

Written By: - Date published: 11:20 am, February 10th, 2009 - 33 comments

I see the Maori Party has come out saying the increase in the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour isn’t enough, and that they still support both a $15 an hour minimum wage and a tax-free bracket up to $25,000 (about the full-time minimum wage income). Pity they didn’t do something about it when they […]

Ironically, nothing ever goes right for Roger

Written By: - Date published: 5:35 pm, February 9th, 2009 - 62 comments

Roger Douglas has his big debut speech tomorrow night in Orewa. He’s been working hard and sucking the (tax payer funded) parliamentary library resources dry to get it right. The speech, which promises to restart the neoliberal revolution, is embargoed until he delivers it to a breathless crowd tomorrow night. You can read it here. […]

Control group

Written By: - Date published: 5:04 pm, February 9th, 2009 - 38 comments

I’ve got to admit there are days I wonder whether the National Party really have swung leftward. I mean I know they are a party of spin and I know they have enacted some nasty rightwing legislation but when I see them putting the minimum wage up, dancing with drag queens and hobnobbing with iwi […]

Trying to live on 500K/yr in NYC

Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, February 9th, 2009 - 9 comments

President Obama wants to set US$500,000 as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money. From Boing-Boing: The lead story in today’s New York Times Styles section is all about the tremendous difficulties that executives at bankrupt companies receiving public bailouts will face if their salaries are capped at only $500,000. For example, […]

Labour calls for $13 minimum wage

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, February 9th, 2009 - 34 comments

Phil Goff has come out strongly in anticipation of today’s minimum wage announcement from the Government with a call for an immediate increase to $13 an hour, rising to $15 over three years. As he points out, if National only increases the minimum wage from $12 to $12.50 an hour as the DoL suggests, that […]

Es ist mein teil

Written By: - Date published: 12:46 pm, February 9th, 2009 - 28 comments

This year, the economy will shrink (at least) 1%. At the same time, the population will grow 1% (at least, growth may be stronger due to expats fleeing the UK). So, there’s going to be at least 2% less to go around (on top of a 2% reduction in GDP per capita last year). Now, […]

Just a little respect

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, February 9th, 2009 - 7 comments

David Farrar has a wee post where he laments that he is rarely credited when he breaks stories that are then picked up by the media. We have the same thing happen to us. We broke the story on the minimum wage – that National/ACT was planning a freeze, despite the Department of Labour recommending […]

Who cares if it’s just PR?

Written By: - Date published: 10:09 am, February 9th, 2009 - 34 comments

There is a rumour in the Dom Post and the Herald that the minimum wage will be announced today and the Nats are going to increase it to either $12.50 or $12.40 depending on whether it’s Fairfax or APN you’re reading. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was true as John Key knows full well […]

Thoughts with our neigbours across the Tasman

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 pm, February 8th, 2009 - 10 comments

It doesn’t seem appropriate to write a detailed post on the horrific fires raging across in Australia. But at the same time I wanted to acknowledge the tragedy that is continuing to unfold. Keep strong, our thoughts are with you.

In for a penny

Written By: - Date published: 3:15 pm, February 8th, 2009 - 44 comments

Key’s old arm cast has sold for $18,500 on Trademe. The money will go to the Fred Hollows Foundation to help blind people in the Solomon Islands. Great, a fair old dollop of money raised for a worthy cause. But let’s not stop there. A large number of people bid large amounts for two things of […]

Right desperate to sully Clark legacy

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, February 8th, 2009 - 39 comments

When John Key was elected he was wise enough to be magnanimous in victory, acknowledging Helen Clark’s considerable skill and integrity throughout her term as one of our longest serving Prime Ministers. Since that time however, Key’s underlings have begun another death by a thousands cuts campaign – this time on the public’s memory and […]

Interesting speculations

Written By: - Date published: 11:58 pm, February 7th, 2009 - 24 comments

The Sunday Star Times will probably have an article out tomorrow about the possible nomination of Helen Clark to the position of head of the UN Development Programme. David P Farrar over at Kiwiblog leaked the story this afternoon. The position came up at short notice. As Helen put it in a txt (I asked) […]

Sanctimonious tall poppy cutter.

Written By: - Date published: 3:38 pm, February 7th, 2009 - 32 comments

There is no doubt that the Granny crew were hurt when their own ‘poll’ showed that people considered Helen Clark was the greatest living kiwi. It says a lot about the mean-spirited attitudes at the Herald that they didn’t consider that politicians were possibilities for the greatest living Kiwi. You get the impression that they’d […]

Rainbows tame Waitangi

Written By: - Date published: 2:25 pm, February 7th, 2009 - 7 comments

Gosh what a difference a few years can make when it comes to symbols of national identity. Not so long ago National had a leader happy to springboard off dog-whistling race-divisive carping about the Treaty Grievance Industry in speeches and billboards. More recently National campaigned on abolition of the Maori seats, at least until it became […]

The praiseworthy and the pitiful

Written By: - Date published: 1:35 pm, February 7th, 2009 - 3 comments

The praiseworthy and a pitiful is a weekly compilation of some of the comments we’ve seen around the traps that warrant some response, whether praise or criticism, whether for the substance of what has been said or the quality of the rhetoric. David Haywood’s piece on what would happen if the Herald had a ‘your […]

Lowering his standards ever lower

Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, February 6th, 2009 - 59 comments

Just when Farrar had made me happy, as I explain in this post, and had even been quite funny in his retort, he goes and reminds me I should never put anything past him. Today, he’s attacking the welfare system by running a post about a invalid beneficiary who he reckons can’t be an invalid […]

Employment numbers have both good and bad news

Written By: - Date published: 4:04 pm, February 5th, 2009 - 23 comments

The new employment data for the December quarter are out and they’re surprising reading. Now, the media will grab hold of the headline unemployment figure. At 4.6%, it’s up from 4.2% in the September quarter and brings the number of unemployed over 100,000 for the first time since 2003, which is about what everyone expected. But what you have to […]

Govt to sell your kids junk food

Written By: - Date published: 1:17 pm, February 5th, 2009 - 102 comments

Education Minister Anne Tolley has just put out a press release announcing the following: ‘As part of the National Government’s commitment to reducing compliance for schools, I have decided to remove the clause in National Administration Guideline (5) which states ‘where food and beverages are sold on schools’ premises, to make only healthy options available’. […]

Half truths

Written By: - Date published: 12:36 pm, February 5th, 2009 - 10 comments

Across the Tasman Kevin Rudd has announced a huge recovery package. Here at home, National is merely tinkering around the edges. Key’s standard response to this criticism is that ‘his’ package puts us amongst the top few countries in the world in terms of spend to GDP. Someone needs to ask him how much of […]

Always look on the bright side

Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, February 5th, 2009 - 22 comments

Clown incites lawbreaking.

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, February 5th, 2009 - 56 comments

Clown Rodney Hide is the Minister of Local Government. He is also the lead clown of the long-time opposition circus that is the ACT party. It appears that he has the two roles confused. He is advocating that people ignore the law on gaining building permissions. Local governments enforce those building regulations. Those regulations are […]

Better than nothing

Written By: - Date published: 2:37 pm, February 4th, 2009 - 28 comments

I’ve just had a read of John Key’s speech today announcing measures to help small and medium businesses through the recession. And my first reaction is ‘that’s it?’ 5% less provisional tax, whoopie. At the end of the year you get back any excess you’ve paid or have to pay any underpayment. At the end […]

Does that make sense?

Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, February 4th, 2009 - 10 comments

I know when I write a post that if two statements in the post seem to disagree someone will quickly point out the apparent logical inconsistency to me and I’ll either have to explain it or fix it. Which is all well and good. So, I thought I would do the same for Vernon Small […]

DPF and Whale make me happy!1!

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, February 4th, 2009 - 26 comments

There’s been a story that I have been dreading having to respond to because it is so low, dishonest, and despicable. Truth be told, I expected to see it by now on Whaleoil or Kiwiblog. And I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised. In not touching this story, they’ve proven themselves a step above The Truth*, […]

Fonterra set to simmer

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, February 4th, 2009 - Comments Off on Fonterra set to simmer

Lawyer Stephen Price has rubbished Fonterra’s claim that the Chinese sub judice status of the Sanlu case prevents Fonterra releasing documentation of their communications. Price also doubts any discussion of the issues here would influence the outcome of Sanlu Chairwoman Tian Wenhau’s appeal. The criticism comes after Fonterra claimed it advised Sanlu only 0% melamine was acceptable […]

A view from the coalface on RMA reforms

Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, February 4th, 2009 - 13 comments

Our guest RMA expert, offers an analysis of National’s proposed changes to our resource management framework: National’s phase one RMA review document looks good at a first glance, but after a detailed look fish hooks, and the right-wing agenda, are more and more evident. The phase one review is clearly set up to bulldoze through big development […]