Archive for July, 2011
Goff launches procurement policy
Written By: - Date published: 7:08 am, July 21st, 2011 - 48 comments
While Key is monkeying around in LA achieving nothing, Labour is pushing ahead with policies that will take this country forward. Last night, Phil Goff announced the party’s procurement policy at a meeting of Kiwirail Hillside workers, who have just experienced the results of government contracting that ignores wider economic impacts on the country.
Open mike 21/07/2011
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 21st, 2011 - 70 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Nats drop 5% in Roy Morgan, Left surges
Written By: - Date published: 8:28 pm, July 20th, 2011 - 110 comments
TV1’s poll on Sunday was supposedly curtains for CGT, so what does it mean that the latest Roy Morgan has the Nats down 5% and the Left in striking range of an upset win? It means don’t draw instant conclusions linking one poll to one policy (although it must be tempting when you’ve spent $30K getting the numbers) – watch the trends.
Job cuts at CYF
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, July 20th, 2011 - 51 comments
Guest poster David Clark at Red Alert has broken news on job cuts at Child Youth and Family. Front line staff will go – yet another broken promise from National.
Two wise monkeys
Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, July 20th, 2011 - 16 comments
Stayed up to watch the Murdochs testifying before a House of Commons committee. They didn’t know a thing about phone hacking. They were let down by those under them. Rupert said it was “the most humble day of my life”. That would be right; Murdochs don’t do humble. It will be a totally new experience. The highest point of drama was the right hook administered by Rupert Murdoch’s latest wife Wendy Deng on the protestor who stuck a shaving-cream pie in Murdoch’s face. There were no smoking guns, but what we may have witnessed was the beginning of the end of the Murdoch dynastic dream. Good riddance.
Brownlee’s dirty little deal
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, July 20th, 2011 - 12 comments
I/S has revealed how Gerry Brownlee handpicked the “independent” body that is meant to monitor the use of his CERA powers. He appointed Jenny Shipley to the panel and got her $1000 a day, three times the usual pay. Brownlee said the extra was needed to get the people he wanted. But the chair says money didn’t enter into it for him.
It’s what’s inside that counts
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, July 20th, 2011 - 7 comments
Rupert Murdoch got a pie in the face today. But it was only shaving foam. To really do the job, you need special ingredients.
The $10b hole in National’s budget
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, July 20th, 2011 - 61 comments
Things are going from bad to worse for Steven Joyce. Labour has released its estimate of the cost of lost dividends by 2025 if National’s asset sales plan goes ahead: $9.7b. All omitted from National’s budget. Labour has challenged National to concede the numbers or provide its own. Instead, Joyce’s excuses just show he doesn’t understand accounting.
The problem is not in the schools
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, July 20th, 2011 - 90 comments
According to a recent report, disadvantaged NZ youth are at the “bottom of OECD league”. The report recommends various interventions in schools. The recommendations completely miss the point, because the problem is not in the schools, the problem is in society.
Open mike 20/07/2011
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 20th, 2011 - 105 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Caption contest
Written By: - Date published: 1:25 pm, July 19th, 2011 - 38 comments
If you’re pissed off about how much you’re paying to fly your to LA PM to eat pavs, you’re just envious.
Steven Joyce strikes out
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, July 19th, 2011 - 21 comments
Associate Finance Minister Steven Joyce has dealt his government’s economic credibility a serious blow by attacking Labour’s costings of its fiscal plan and getting his own numbers wrong. David Cunliffe looks to be enjoying himself as he rips Joyce apart on Red Alert, in the Herald, and in the Dom. So much for Joyce’s dreams of succeeding English as Finance Minister.
A try hard in America
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, July 19th, 2011 - 43 comments
Key’s off on holiday again. 5 days of taxpayer-funded travel and the only real meeting will be half an hour with Obama. But first, he’s in LA solely to have dinner with Warners. Value for our money eh? Key’s more excited about standing in the Oval Office so he can pretend to be powerful than achieving anything solid from his time in the US.
Inflation, growth, hard times
Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, July 19th, 2011 - 30 comments
Back in October 2010 the Nats were quick to claim credit for low inflation. No doubt they will be just as quick now to accept the blame for inflation at a 21 year high.
Open mike 19/07/2011
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 19th, 2011 - 89 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Yet more dodgy Nat numbers
Written By: - Date published: 6:56 pm, July 18th, 2011 - 61 comments
If you’re a blogosphere regular, you’ll have noticed that recently every monkey with a copy of the Fountainhead and a crush on John Key has been spouting the line that the top 10% of taxpayers pay 71% of net tax. Sounds incredible, eh? That’s because it’s not credible. It’s more cheap tricks from the Nats.
The straw that broke the Randian hero’s back?
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, July 18th, 2011 - 63 comments
I’ve been thinking about that lawyer Casey Plunket who threatened to leave for Australia over Labour restoring the 39% top tax rate at the stratospheric threshold of $150,000. It means a couple of thousand more tax for the wealthiest Kiwis. Would anyone really move countries over that? Do we need the kind of people that would?
Caption contest: Off on holiday again
Written By: - Date published: 9:16 am, July 18th, 2011 - 41 comments
Bad poll but not for CGT
Written By: - Date published: 6:29 am, July 18th, 2011 - 138 comments
The latest ONE News / Colmar Brunton poll is bad for Labour, and not great for the Left. But it isn’t a verdict on Labour’s CGT proposal – the polling period finished before the policy was announced.
Apparently the undecided in this poll was 14%. I wonder why that was missed out of the reporting?
Open mike 18/07/2011
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 18th, 2011 - 31 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
More dodgy Nat numbers
Written By: - Date published: 10:23 pm, July 17th, 2011 - 102 comments
The Nats can’t tell us how much their asset sales policy will cost in lost dividends and sales costs, yet they’ve magicked up some numbers with all kinds of dodgy assumptions that supposedly show Labour’s tax package doesn’t add up. Well, I suppose they would know something about borrowing for tax cuts but their attacks on Labour aren’t credible.
Imperator Fish: Why CGT will kill us all
Written By: - Date published: 12:55 pm, July 17th, 2011 - 33 comments
The 90% of New Zealanders who don’t trade shares or own a second property suddenly wake up to the horror of a capital gains tax
Monckton not worth debating
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, July 17th, 2011 - 74 comments
Local climate change deniers want to organise a debate featuring visiting “celebrity” Christopher Monckton. I’m all for scientific debate of course. But you can’t have such a debate with Monckton, because he’s a serial liar.
The final installment, coming Nov 26th
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, July 17th, 2011 - 50 comments
More nice work from Greg Salmond… Better add ACC to that list.
Hey, where is Key lately?
Open mike 17/07/2011
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 17th, 2011 - 111 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Were NACTs planning CGT themselves?
Written By: - Date published: 4:15 pm, July 16th, 2011 - 113 comments
After two weeks of contradictory, panicked lines from National, the Right’s official critique of Labour’s CGT is “it’s a hodge-podge”. The Right, including Bill English and Don Brash, aren’t saying CGT is bad, they’re saying Labour’s CGT isn’t comprehensive enough. Why, then, don’t they campaign on a more comprehensive one? Maybe they were going to.
Distasteful
Written By: - Date published: 10:40 am, July 16th, 2011 - 47 comments
DPF thinks that comparing Lockwood Smith to a KKK member is “a pretty disgusting smear”. Could this be the same DPF who ran a billboard campaign comparing Labour government politicians to brutal dictators?
Game theory
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, July 16th, 2011 - 15 comments
In a comment yesterday on Eddie’s post ‘CGT or asset sales? Which do you prefer?‘, Matthew Hooton wrote “Where do I tick “I want both”?” Except for Nat sycophants, most righties acknowledge the need for a CGT. What should they do? Well, a little game theory shows that such a rightie should vote for a Labour-led government, this one time.
Go Gillard!
Written By: - Date published: 7:54 am, July 16th, 2011 - 30 comments
I’ve been impressed with Labour on both sides of the ditch lately. Here of course Phil Goff’s Labour party has moved very boldly on the CGT. But across the ditch in Oz, Labor leader and PM Julia Gillard is fighting an even tougher battle on carbon pricing. Go Gillard!
Open mike 16/07/2011
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 16th, 2011 - 54 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
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- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 7 January
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“Next year is going to be a tough year for me, because I’m going to have to make some very, very difficult decisions,” Education Minister Erica Stanford says.That means cuts. Or at least replacements.“This is the problem in education: we never stop doing things.”This leads to a disjointed system, where ...3 days ago
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- Daily crossword, Monday 6 January
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- Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 6 January
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-title { font-size: 1.2em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles .entry-meta { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; margin-top: 0.5em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-meta { font-size: 0.8em; } .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .avatar { height: 25px; width: ...3 days ago
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