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Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 5:01 pm, June 22nd, 2025
Jack Tame becomes a paleontologist digging up evidence of pre-historic economic world-views. After one catastrophic financial meteor after another such views have been consigned to pre-history and we have, surely, moved on. Willis - like Bill English - is ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 12:49 pm, June 3rd, 2025
You are correct - words are not adequate. I also agree that using the word genocide creates a distraction. Agree, also, with your highlighting of Sudan. In the end, the feudal scale of civilian deaths in the sealed territory by an advanced, modern society ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 11:24 am, June 2nd, 2025
It is so hard to watch and be aware of and it's getting worse. The situation for people in Gaza is getting much worse and no-one appears slightly interested in stopping it. How does this happen? Is this why we have domestic violence within our societies - ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:36 am, May 30th, 2025
This is what I like to call Keynesian economic reality. You can't reduce government spending when the economy is weak because if you do it will cause a recession. Something the government almost achieved last year. They have a belief that falling economic ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 9:21 am, May 28th, 2025
You can also look to Milei in Argentina and Rachel Reeves in the UK - all these governments are following an almost identical playbook - all about reducing the size of government in the economy using varying degrees of ruthlessness.Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 1:54 pm, May 15th, 2025
Correct but that argument needs to be won again from an economic perspective - it is not even on the radar in NZ.Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 11:12 am, May 15th, 2025
I wish someone in politics - any where in the world - would include an MMT perspective in their economic policy. At the core of MMT is understanding the mechanics of the 'fiat currency monetary system' and the fact that 'taxation does not pay for ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:14 am, March 2nd, 2025
No. That is a weak article. The cost of the ferry debacle is probably going to exceed the original $3 billion for 2 larger, rail enabled ferries plus portside infrastructure upgrades. Now we are going to get 2 smaller ferries - I predict these will cost ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 11:58 am, February 9th, 2025
Don't worry - we are no longer a country that says 'no' to economic projects especially if it's FDI from Oz!Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 12:25 pm, January 13th, 2025
CoC (and the right generally) are masters of political strategy and I think it's not too hard to see what that strategy is: Create a culture war issue: The Treaty Principles Bill and the many other attacks on Māori are intended to radicalize the Māori ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 9:20 am, January 12th, 2025
Your article highlights the great paradox of democracy. If you are voted out by the electorate in favor of parties that decimate your legislative achievements, push the economy into recession and stagnation, slash spending on health and transport ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 9:54 am, December 2nd, 2024
Not just EV's - generation of electricity is also transitioning towards renewables - solar in particular. But solar - like EV's - is cheap and does not provide labor intensive returns to the generators. Australia is 30% rooftop solar NZ is 2%. WA is ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:50 pm, October 21st, 2024
Democracy - voters chose this government and it's nasty anti Maori, anti public sector rhetoric. NZers - of their own free will - elected a government that stated in advance that it was going to slash public services and remove unemployment as a mandated ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 2:35 am, October 21st, 2024
Great analysis and article.Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 5:07 pm, September 28th, 2024
I agree. NZ voters made this choice consciously and they don't seem to mind the consequences. There is a cruel streak in democratic politics that this government has tapped into very effectively.Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 2:13 pm, September 28th, 2024
He made a promise to landlords as well - electorally the government has calculated no significant risk in shafting the lower South Island on health infrastructure. Those accessing health care, like the disabled, are a minority whose needs can can be ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 12:54 pm, September 28th, 2024
Interesting approach by the government. Not surprising, really, given that they were elected on a clear anti-public sector platform and lower taxes. Put aside the impact on peoples health - I don't think people vote on the basis of their public health ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:30 am, August 31st, 2024
That's not how it works - the number of high profile media personalities with sharp tongues and cruel words will dominate the media and political narrative. Each time a NZ Council holds a referendum on Maori wards all kinds of organizations will come out ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:08 am, August 31st, 2024
This is a political trap. The government is gearing up to use Maori to divide the NZ electorate. These councils and their Mayors will now become targets for well funded and well organized media platforms and right wing activists - exactly as intended by ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 12:33 pm, July 30th, 2024
Anyone follow UK politics? - astonishing to hear new Labour UK Finance Minister sounding almost identical to our right wing NZ government. Unfunded spending commitments, hidden budget overspends, inherited financial disaster etc all blamed on the previous ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 2:44 pm, July 28th, 2024
The weakness of democracy is its capacity for pointless cruelty against the most vulnerable at the behest of the majority. These types of policies have to be very careful to target those with minimal options to fight back. The disabled, the unemployed, ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 6:38 pm, July 16th, 2024
This has all been done before in the UK and it has very little impact on voting behavior. In 2010 the UK government started a program of austerity and underfunding across the public service - including health. That government was able to win 2 more ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:53 am, June 21st, 2024
In a democracy you can easily get away with causing hardship and deprivation to a minority - whether that's the disabled, beneficiaries, nursing graduates, nature conservationists or Cancer patients. You might get a bit of bad PR when you do this but the ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 10:22 am, June 10th, 2024
The brilliant Gary Stevenson - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dY7eBjqsA8Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 5:06 pm, May 5th, 2024
At any given point in time a minority of the voting public is directly impacted by declining access to properly funded health care. If you look at what has been done to the NHS in the UK with the full endorsement of the voting public then you see how it ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 2:11 pm, May 5th, 2024
I caution the optimism that a nasty, brutish and unkind government can not last more than a term. In a democracy, economically marginalizing minorities can be a very electorally successful strategy. It feeds a powerful narrative of justified cruelty ...Written By: Champagne Socialist - Date published: 11:52 am, April 21st, 2024
And yet. When the next election comes around . . . If you want a template of what is happening look to the UK. Despite a decade of horrific austerity UK voters have returned the Conservatives to power over and over. Performative cruelty is an exceptionally ...In the 2004 film Downfall (Der Untergang), which portrays Hitler’s last days in a Berlin bunker, he says that if the German people are weak they deserve death. It is a view from philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who argued that conflicts are won by those with the strongest will. ...
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