Archive for February, 2013

$18.40 an hour to live, not just exist

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, February 14th, 2013 - 89 comments

The Living Wage Coalition has released the results of their research, calculating that a wage of $18.40 is needed for workers and their families to have a decent life and participate in society. About 40% of workers currently earn less. The pressure is now on bosses of businesses and public bodies to pay the living wage or explain why they deserve a decent life but their workers don’t.

Poll of polls looking good

Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, February 14th, 2013 - 137 comments

Yesterday’s Roy Morgan poll looks good for Labour, but individual polls are noisy. Much more importantly, better measures such as the Pundit poll of polls are also looking good for the political Left. Let’s see Labour and the Greens extend their lead to establish a clear majority, without NZF or any other party holding the balance of power…

Open mike 14/02/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 14th, 2013 - 78 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…

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Written By: - Date published: 5:40 pm, February 13th, 2013 - 50 comments

Child Poverty, a high exchange rate and suppression of free speech. It’s that National Government again.

Economic crime

Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, February 13th, 2013 - 35 comments

White collar crime – fraud and tax evasion – is in the news again with a new report on the impact. The costs are estimated as several Billion per year. Meanwhile the Nats put all their energy into demonising and chasing $22 Million in welfare fraud.

Government report card: poverty, jobs, housing – FAIL!

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, February 13th, 2013 - 22 comments

The Salavation Army “State of the Nation” report is out today, and, as Metiria Turei says, it makes depressing reading.  It describes a nation of increasing inequalities, with those on low incomes, and their children, being hit particularly hard.

Our international shame

Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, February 13th, 2013 - 192 comments

It’s not often I agree with Judith Collins but when she describes Richard Prosser’s racist filth as an “international embarrassment” I couldn’t agree more.

Open mike 13/02/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 13th, 2013 - 115 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…

Bully Banks

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 pm, February 12th, 2013 - 25 comments

Good for Damien O’Connor. He’s calling for an enquiry into possible mis-selling of interest rate swaps to farmers. Good for Fairfax’s Rob Stock too, who has written extensively about this issue in the Sunday Star-Times. In Britain, it’s a huge story; their Financial Services Authority has said that more than 90% of these interest rate derivatives could have been mis-sold. Compensation is going to be paid; the only question is whether it will be in the millions or billions.

Just get the f*ck out

Written By: - Date published: 7:50 pm, February 12th, 2013 - 126 comments

Prosser, just f*cken resign. There’s no place for the likes of you. You’ve been elected purely to make up numbers for Peters. And you couldn’t even do that without being a disgusting bigot. You’re not the only rightwinger playing up race fears. Hooton claims Indonesia will invade due to climate change. Key tells scary stories of made-up boat people. But you’re the worst. Just go.

A living wage: living with dignity edition

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, February 12th, 2013 - 49 comments

The concept of a living wage is one that just makes good sense to me.  A wage should be enough to live on, right?  Because it’s a wage?  Because what’s the point if it doesn’t?

Bomber, Tumeke and the next step…

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, February 12th, 2013 - 65 comments

Bomber Bradbury today steals The Pope’s limelight by announcing that he is stepping down from Tumeke. But fear not Lefties – it’s for a good cause…

February 14 – One Billion Rising

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, February 12th, 2013 - 31 comments

Never mind Valentines Day. This February 14 is One Billion Rising…

John Key discovers the usefulness of Yellow Peril

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, February 12th, 2013 - 146 comments

Bad jobs numbers and a succession of collapses of major businesses weighing your government down? You need: distraction! How about an old classic from the New Zealand politician’s playbook – the Yellow Peril! Passed on by Seddon and Peters, Yellow Peril’s now being wielded by John Key as he talks of vague, unsubstantiated threats that boatloads of Indonesians are heading for our shores.

Open mike 12/02/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 12th, 2013 - 174 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…

Key Living Wage: “A matter for them”

Written By: - Date published: 5:49 pm, February 11th, 2013 - 26 comments

John Key, as expected, failed to take any sort of lead – or even fast following – on the Living Wage campaign. It’s “a matter for them” – businesses and workers – not something for a mere Prime Minister to be interested in. He thinks it’s nice if businesses pay more as they can afford it, but obviously doesn’t see higher wages as a priority.

Caption competition

Written By: - Date published: 4:20 pm, February 11th, 2013 - 46 comments

key-gillard-300

The green economy

Written By: - Date published: 12:28 pm, February 11th, 2013 - 90 comments

There’s a lot of talk about the benefits of moving to a green, sustainable economy but details on what that looks like in practice in New Zealand are often frustratingly thin. Greenpeace is releasing a report – The Future is Here – that puts meat on the bones. The main thing is getting us off expensive, polluting, imported oil and on to clean, local energy.

Save the Family Court

Written By: - Date published: 10:20 am, February 11th, 2013 - 8 comments

The Government’s Family Court Proceedings Reform Bill is receiving submissions until this Wednesday, 13 February.  This Bill needs drastic alteration, as it puts the Family Court out of financial reach of many of those who most need it, reduces needed rights to legal representation, and forces those who’ve been experiencing violence into inappropriate mediation as it’s cheaper.  Best we all submit against it…

Missive to a parasite

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, February 11th, 2013 - 25 comments

Convicted fraudster and Herald columnist Damien Grant says ‘good riddance’ to manufacturing in his latest piece. A lower dollar would make his next smartphone more expensive, he says. When not in jail, Grant’s a receiver. Things are good for him at the moment. But, I’ll tell him this: even carrion birds ultimately need a healthy herd to scavenge off.

The failure of economic austerity

Written By: - Date published: 8:54 am, February 11th, 2013 - 18 comments

As one writer sums it up – “no austerity has helped any economy”. So why do we carry on with this failed ideology? Perhaps because, while it does nothing for the vast majority of people, it helps make the super-rich even richer…

For a living wage

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, February 11th, 2013 - 175 comments

The living wage campaign is announcing this week the results of its study into the pay that a family needs to afford the basics for a decent life in New Zealand. It’ll be around $18-$20 an hour, which is more than 40% of workers get. I look forward to the proposal receiving strong support from the parties of the Left – the Left has always said a well-paying job is better than welfare.

Open mike 11/02/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 11th, 2013 - 86 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…

Hatin’ on the left

Written By: - Date published: 8:45 pm, February 10th, 2013 - 432 comments

So Trevor Mallard thinks it’s smart to stick the boot in to Russell Norman for linking to an article about using the printing of money as a tool of monetary policy. Well it says a lot more about the state of the Labour Party than anything else. It just goes to show what happens when […]

Xtra email compromised?

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, February 10th, 2013 - 17 comments

In the last 12 hours I’ve had robo-spam email from 4 different friends, all with xtra email accounts. Is anyone else seeing this?

Key loses war on P

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, February 10th, 2013 - 55 comments

In 2009 Key personally declared “War on P”. Predictably, it’s now clear that he lost. In this, as it seems in all matters, John Key is all promise, no deliver.

Open mike 10/02/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, February 10th, 2013 - 165 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…

De-regulation, de-democratisation

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, February 9th, 2013 - 26 comments

Is it just me or does the argument for a four year term of Parliament look a lot like the argument that’s presented for deregulation? It’s the same dropkicks who say that government needs to get out of the way of business to create jobs who are saying that the people need to get out of the way of government and let it govern with less ‘regulation’ in the form of elections.

What are they afraid of?

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, February 9th, 2013 - 68 comments

Once again Big Film threatens NZ to do as it’s told, or they will take their toys and go home. Specifically, they don’t want negotiation documents released under OIA. Makes one wonder just what is in these documents. What are they afraid of do you think?

To intervene or not to intervene, that is the question…

Written By: - Date published: 9:26 am, February 9th, 2013 - 27 comments

Frank Macskasy at Frankly Speaking looks at who does get generous government assistance – and who doesn’t. “This isn’t governance. This is economic decline by a thousand cuts.”

Community Service

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, February 9th, 2013 - 70 comments

Greenpeace activists were fined and ordered to do Community Service – for serving the global community by protesting about Climate Change & the oil industry.  Others get honours like knighthoods for services that are damaging for the majority in the community.  Misplaced values? [update] RNZ interview with Lucy Lawless.