Archive for October, 2012
Research-based opinions
Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, October 11th, 2012 - 63 comments
Bill English on quantitative easing: “There are big risks with it and it is just barmy to suggest that in an economy growing at all that you would do it”. So, are the countries that are using QE to push up our currency growing? EU: -0.3% (14 of the 27 member states are growing), US: 2.1%, Switzerland: 0.6%, Japan: 3.3%. So, yes, countries use QE while growing – and it lets their businesses undercut ours.
Selling New Zealand: 100% Muddle-Urf
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, October 11th, 2012 - 18 comments
Why is John Key backing the flagging tourist industry as a major export earner for NZ’s future? His trip to Hollywood was partly about using the Hobbit to promote NZ as a tourist destination. Why is the government so fixated on attracting more US tourists?
White Wash Paper
Written By: - Date published: 8:19 am, October 11th, 2012 - 10 comments
Paula Bennett “can’t find the time” to appear on Morning Report this morning. The release of her White Paper on Vulnerable Children is – as she puts it – “one of the biggest and certainly most significant changes that will be in my time as minister.” So why doesn’t it include any action on Child Poverty? And why is she running from the hard questions? Our government ministers seem to have forgotten about accountability to the voting public.
Lab+Greens move well clear of National in latest poll
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, October 11th, 2012 - 98 comments
The Key effect is over. That’s the conclusion you draw from the latest Roy Morgan poll. It shows National down to 41.5% and Lab+Green surging to 47%. The last time National polled consistently in this range was before Key became leader. Now Key’s no longer an asset, it’s only a matter of time before he’s a liability. The Collins and Joyce Factions will be sharpening the knives.
Open mike 11/10/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 11th, 2012 - 98 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…
Jon Stewart for President
Written By: - Date published: 11:39 am, October 10th, 2012 - 9 comments
Did you see the Jon Stewart vs. Bill O’Reilly mock presidential debate – “The Rumble in the Air Conditioned Auditorium”? Is it too late to get Stewart on the ticket for November?
Does Key give a damn any more?
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, October 10th, 2012 - 29 comments
My old man, a casual observer of politics, said the other day: “John boy doesn’t look like he wants to be there anymore”. I reckon he’s right. Except when he’s doing photo-ops, Key looks ever more grumpy and aloof. No wonder he’s spending so much time overseas. No wonder he’s making such bad decisions like betraying his promise to the Pike River families.
Key’s growing Dotcom problem
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, October 10th, 2012 - 29 comments
People don’t just vote for politicians because they like their policies. Just as important are trust and perceived competence. Key’s policies were never popular. He won on the other two – particularly trust. That’s why the Dotcom saga is so ruining for him. As more details of what Key knew or should have known come out day by day, perceptions of Key’s competence and trust in him plummet.
Tony Abbot: misogynist and hypocrite
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, October 10th, 2012 - 160 comments
It really was a pleasure last night watching the most obnoxious weasel in aussie politics, Tony Abbott, getting done over by a fired up Julia Gillard. She was pointing out that his sudden calls against sexism and misogyny could be better applied to himself. Then she spent glorious minutes detailing exactly why Tony Abbott was the last politician in Austrailia who could throw dirt using these charges.
Two paths diverged
Written By: - Date published: 6:44 am, October 10th, 2012 - 16 comments
So, we know what Key’s utopia is: golf, holidays, no jobs, and, um, no toilets. But where are the Nats’ economic policies heading? Fast forward 20 years: low-skill, low-pay, ununionised, foreign-owned, volume-based extractive industries, rather than value-added manufacturing, massive current account deficit … it’s a disaster waiting to happen. Fortunately,there’s an alternative.
Open mike 10/10/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 10th, 2012 - 69 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 give the middle finger to Kiwi workers
Written By: - Date published: 1:41 pm, October 9th, 2012 - 60 comments
When foreign companies want hand outs, John Key says ‘ how much?’ But there’s no such concern for Kiwi workers.
Young people need work – National gives them a pay cut.
40,0000 manufacturing jobs lost – Key turns a blind eye.
Manufacturing jobs: youth wage and benefit ‘merry’-go-round
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, October 9th, 2012 - 18 comments
The government spinning that there is no crisis in manufacturing and jobs. Meanwhile, they are extending menial youth wages, and large numbers of beneficiaries are merely shunted onto other benefits. [Update] Links to an article on the policies announced, to opposition responses, and to statements from Union organisations.
Manufacturing crisis
Written By: - Date published: 9:53 am, October 9th, 2012 - 19 comments
If I was at the manufacturing crisis summit this Friday, and if John Key was showing up rather than spending his time on Planet Key and claiming that manufacturing is doing “extremely well”, I would ask him this: How come when Hollywood calls, you drop everything and go; how come you arrest Dotcom for them and give them $50m a year; but when Kiwi jobs are bieng lost, all you have to offer is denials and the cold shoulder?
Mr Wrong
Written By: - Date published: 7:51 am, October 9th, 2012 - 32 comments
No wonder Key’s losing his credibility. He just keeps on getting it wrong.
- 24 Sept: I wasn’t briefed on GCSB’s spying on Dotcom. Yes, he was.
- 28 Sept: there’s no need for a Police investigation into the GCSB. Yes, there is, say Police.
- 4 Oct: It’s highly unlikely I’ll discuss Dotcom in Hollywood. He discussed Dotcom in Hollywood.
- 5 Oct: I won’t offer incentives to Hollywood. He offered them more incentives.
- 8 Oct: Intervening in the currency is “whacky”. Governments are intervening in all the free-floating currencies, except a handful of third world countries – and us.
- 8 Oct: There’s no crisis in manufacturing. 40,000 lost manufacturing jobs say otherwise.
Key’s snub to unions and workers
Written By: - Date published: 6:37 am, October 9th, 2012 - 99 comments
National promised us an “unrelenting focus on jobs” and delivered record highs in unemployment and emigration. Now Key is refusing to even attend a Union jobs summit, because on Planet Key everything is just fine. The unwillingness to admit that anything is wrong is just blind arrogance.
Open mike 09/10/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 9th, 2012 - 114 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…
Hollywood Rules
Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, October 8th, 2012 - 76 comments
In another slippery John Key u-turn, after his mission to Hollywood ‘sweeteners’ are now on the table. Key is bending over to let US-based conglomerates extend their dominance in NZ, in support of their own interests and values.
Herald promotes cheating and tax evasion
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, October 8th, 2012 - 223 comments
I was surprised this weekend to see The Herald come out with a strongly stated piece in favour of cheating and tax evasion.
Govt defends tax haven
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, October 8th, 2012 - 31 comments
So, it turns out that our ‘foreign trusts’ regime is being exploited so that billionaires from developing countries can avoid tax in their countries. We’re a tax haven. And the Government sees nothing wrong with that. It’s legal, so it’s OK. Yes, we’re helping a foreign elite avoid paying their fair share and rip off poor people, but hey, this is a National Government – that sounds like paradise to them.
Lessons from abroad
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, October 8th, 2012 - 12 comments
John Key likes to reference Singapore as a model for New Zealand. He’s meeting their PM today. Obviously, we can’t move New Zealand to the world’s busiest shipping route but what else can we do to emulate Singapore’s economic success? Singapore hasn’t sold its SOEs – it has built them into a massive investment fund. And it doesn’t let its currency raise to kill its exporters – it intervenes.
Open mike 08/10/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 8th, 2012 - 85 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: no plan, no hope to offer
Written By: - Date published: 9:06 pm, October 7th, 2012 - 8 comments
I turned on the news hoping to see the Nats’ rebuttal of the Greens’ detailed plan to protect Kiwi manufacturing like our competitors are doing. Instead, I saw a smirking fuck who has overseen the loss of 40,000 manufacturing jobs say ‘the high dollar’s good’. Joyce actually says a over-valued dollar is a good thing. ‘Flat-screen tellies are cheaper! Pity you don’t have a job to buy one!’
A Sunday treat for everyone except Fran O’Sullivan
Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, October 7th, 2012 - 27 comments
Parasitic blogger takes on Very Important Columnist who does Real Journalism Work to bring to her readers Informed and Insightful Commentary on The Issues That Really Matter.
Greens call for new tools, QE to save jobs
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, October 7th, 2012 - 328 comments
40,000 manufacturing jobs gone in four years. Manufactured exports in free-fall. Tourism revenue collapsing. If that’s not a crisis, what is? Why is the government going to do? Nothing. Nothing. On Q+A, Russel Norman put forward a solid proposal: lower the OCR, new tools to stop housing booms, and quantitative easing to pay for Christchurch […]
Affordable Housing: the way forward?
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, October 7th, 2012 - 29 comments
There is increasing concern about New Zealand’s housing situation, with an escalation in homelesssness, people living in totally unacceptable conditions, and the lack of sufficient affordable housing stock.Update: Government close to unveiling plans for “cheap” housing on city fringe and ‘brownfield’ sites.
More jobs on the line as Nats fails to act on the dollar
Written By: - Date published: 7:19 am, October 7th, 2012 - 59 comments
40 jobs in a hi-tech business repairing jet engines are set to be lost. The business’s profits are being slaughtered by the high dollar. The Bluff smelter could close – 900 jobs directly on the line, plus thousands more in the local economy – as Rio Tinto can’t make a profit with the dollar so high and aluminum prices down. How much longer will we do nothing?
Open mike 07/10/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 7th, 2012 - 67 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…
Fabian seminar – LHR & Work Safety
Written By: - Date published: 1:07 am, October 7th, 2012 - Comments Off on Fabian seminar – LHR & Work Safety
Hazel Armstrong will deliver the second presentation in the Fabian Light-handed regulation series on Monday night 8 October in Connolly Hall in Wellington at 5:30pm. It is very timely in the light of the current review of work safety. Hazel’s presentation will use deregulation in rail as a case study. Its a salutary story. All are welcome to attend.
Helen Kelly talks about the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety
Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, October 6th, 2012 - 4 comments
CTU President Helen Kelly talks about the Government’s Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety and the need for as many workers as possible to make a submissions and give the Government a real, on-the-ground picture of health and safety in the workplace.
From cock-up to cover-up
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, October 6th, 2012 - 49 comments
The narrative that the Government has tried to sell, and which has been largely accepted to date, is that the GCSB’s illegal spying on Dotcom was a cock-up. They claimed that Key wasn’t briefed, when he was. The Nats also claimed only a change in immigration law in 2009 protected Dotcom. Now, we know that’s rubbish. Cover-up it is.
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- Award-Winning Musician Ria Hall Announces Candidacy For Mayor Of Tauranga
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- Southland stream life wiped out by single contaminant dump
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- GCSB foreign spying capability under scrutinyThe Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...6 days ago
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- Winston Peters gives China speech amid legal drama and AUKUS questionsThe Foreign Minister spoke about the NZ-China relationship amid lingering questions about the AUKUS security alliance . ...1 week ago
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- Live Winston Peters gives China speech amid legal drama and AUKUS questionsThe Foreign Minister was speaking at the New Zealand China Council while questions linger about the AUKUS security alliance . ...1 week ago
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- New Treasury Paper On The Productivity SlowdownThe world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...1 week ago
- The prison slushy story is back, baby, and it’s less nutritious than everWhat’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it. Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...1 week ago
- Winston Peters receives legal letter from Bob Carr after defamation threatBob Carr has confirmed his intention to take legal action against the NZ First leader. ...1 week ago
- Legal action and bullying allegations: Peters and Genter knock government agenda off its perchBob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...1 week ago
- New law looks to shake up insuranceThe Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs says insurance laws are too complicated and change is long overdue. ...1 week ago
- Winston Peters' comments about former Australian minister 'unstatesmanlike' – L...David Parker says he has never heard a current minister speak about a senior, retired politician from another country in such a way. ...1 week ago
- Where is she now? Sally ClarkIn 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...1 week ago
- Pay equity taskforce disbanded, 'no longer required' – MinisterThe government is being accused of "misdirected priorities" after it disestablished the pay equity taskforce. ...1 week ago
- How bad at reading are New Zealand children?There are more bad readers among our 10-year-olds, but the picture has improved for teenagers, international testing has found. ...1 week ago
- Knocked Up, American Pie, the Bean movie: A brief history of NZ music in Hollywood To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...1 week ago
- Why I told a cop about my lasagne and what it’s got to do with the mediaPeople trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin. Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...1 week ago
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