Author Archive
Ten years later
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, September 12th, 2011 - 156 comments
Ten years after the September 11th 2001 attacks, the world is sitting in a fragile state. The ‘War on Terror’ may have finally got its man but at what cost? The Middle East is more unstable than ever. Democratic revolts are succeeding in some places but brutal regimes are more powerful than ever elsewhere. And the US’s power has been broken.
March to Save Factory Farming
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, September 9th, 2011 - 17 comments
Wishing Chris Carter well
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, September 8th, 2011 - 23 comments
Chris Carter’s egocentric valedictory earlier this week didn’t exactly cover him in glory. Whether it should ever have gotten to this point is another matter. It’s interesting to review the evolving views of Standard authors on the issue. Did Carter do this to himself or did mismanagement from the leadership escalate the situation?This guest post takes the second view.
The incredible generosity of IHC workers
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, September 8th, 2011 - 8 comments
IHC workers won a lengthy court battle to have the work they do overnight (so-called ‘sleepover’ shifts) recognised as work worthy of the minimum wage. The $300m in backpay they were due would have bankrupted IHC. The government, so keen to bailout corporate mates, refused to help. Now, the workers have given us, taxpayers, a $200m break on their debt.
Why an apology should be delivered to the Urewera 18
Written By: - Date published: 7:25 am, September 8th, 2011 - 22 comments
Four years ago we were told tales about military style training camps, terrorism, Molotov Cocktails, firearms etc. Police laid charges and put people’s lives through hell. Now, four years later, they can’t prove any of it. If you or I were put through what they were put through we’d expect, and deserve, an apology. Why should it be any different for them?
Analysing the lists
Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, September 5th, 2011 - 38 comments
There’s plenty of good posts around already on National’s election list, how its dominated by white men and there’s very little room for new blood. But just how bad is their list? I thought I would do a comparison of the ethnic and gender balance of the National, Labour, Green, and ACT lists. Judge for yourself.
NZ must introduce a capital gains tax, sooner or later
Written By: - Date published: 12:41 pm, September 2nd, 2011 - 29 comments
The wealthy elite in Europe are now joining Warren Buffett in these calls for higher taxes for the rich (including CGT), why? Maybe it’s because they know the truth, they know that the world is likely to enter another global recession, and they know the risk this will bring to social cohesion, which they rely on for maintaining the lifestyle they enjoy.
Heatley to resign (again) over eviction debacle?
Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, September 2nd, 2011 - 17 comments
National promised to get tough ‘undeserving’ state house tenants. (always someone to get tough on when maintaining the privileges of the elite) The first targets were 3 women and their kids, judged guilty by association with their partners who were charged with burglary (the charges were dropped). 2 years and $1m wasted and the government has given up.
The new political battleground
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, August 30th, 2011 - 23 comments
Rijab looks at how social media can be a useful tool for political parties but how it also needs to be used carefully, lest it come back to hurt you. Red Alert and Frogblog are very free, with MPs writing what they want and relatively loose moderation, whereas NationalMPs is insipid and tightly controlled – who has taken the smarter course?
Ocean Acidification
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, August 29th, 2011 - 32 comments
We know that our carbon pollution is damaging the climate – making the atmosphere warmer and less stable – but it also makes the sea more acidic. Ocean Acidification means the aquaculture industry could be in big trouble by the middle of the century, not to mention the rest of the fishing industry. But the government blithely ignores the problem.
Promoter Statements
Written By: - Date published: 1:19 pm, August 25th, 2011 - 71 comments
The “authorised by” promoter statement has become a political tool. Intended to prevent anonymous campaigns, now political parties, particularly National, try to find materials that are unambiguously from another party but lacking a promoter statement and try to get them defined as election ads. There’s no democratic principal there, just gotcha politics.
Angry Old White Man Party to attack young people
Written By: - Date published: 12:19 pm, August 25th, 2011 - 42 comments
Angry Old White Man Party (ACT) Leader Don Brash is to launch another attack on young people. It’s strange that this once significant and principled party has sent its dying days picking the on the young. The latest stupid idea is to remove the minimum wage for under 20s altogether and cut spending to cut taxes that the rich pay.
Academic quality under attack
Written By: - Date published: 1:29 pm, August 24th, 2011 - 24 comments
As National’s spending cuts come home to roost, tertiary managers are trying to save money by cutting professional development expenditure. Sandra Grey of the Tertiary Education Union’s guest post explains how this has an insidious effect in driving down the quality of our academics and encouraging them to leave the country.
Hoping for a positive campaign
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, August 19th, 2011 - 22 comments
An interesting opinion piece by Tim Watkins can be found on TVNZ; he offers a stark reminder to the public that National are toying with our democratic ideals, and suggests that voters would be wise to remember the consequences of a returned National Government. He discusses the impact of the World Cup on our democratic process
Nats: you didn’t have a job, you’re not really unemployed
Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, August 18th, 2011 - 36 comments
In a desperate and heartless attempt to spin their way out of their awful record on jobs, National is getting surreal. First, there’s Bill English claiming that the job you used to have under Labour wasn’t a real job. Then, you’ve got John Key saying that you’re not really unemployed now. I guess it’s all in you imagination. Don’t look to National for help.
Buffett calls for rich to stop class war
Written By: - Date published: 2:04 pm, August 16th, 2011 - 53 comments
Today Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest man in the world, has come out demanding his mega-rich friends play a part in the American economic recovery. He is recognised as one of the smartest and most successful investors alive, his words should not be dismissed lightly, especially as we approach our own election and grapple with the issue of tax reform.
The kids aren’t alright
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, August 15th, 2011 - 64 comments
What are the baby-boomer elite doing to our kids? Our rulers, drawn from the selfish generation, have taken more and more of the world’s wealth for themselves, wrecked its environment, and failed to invest. Now, with National in power, they’re asking the young to pay off their debt. And when the kids get pissed, the elite doles out repression.
Cuts for you, tax cuts for Brash
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, August 11th, 2011 - 56 comments
ACT’s Spending Cap Bill is coming to Parliament. It would cap government spending and only let it grow each year by inflation and population growth. At first blush, and assuming that you don’t want the government to do anything it doesn’t do now, this might seem like a way to maintain current services without adding more. But reality ain’t that simple.
London riots: a guest post
Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, August 10th, 2011 - 229 comments
A standard reader based in London has sent us this account of the riots.
Good to get some of the context the UK media doesn’t seem to want to talk about…
Myth busting – reducing agricultural emissions
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, August 8th, 2011 - 60 comments
We commonly hear the vested interests (Fed Farmers, National, Fonterra) saying that agriculture should continue to get a 100% subsidy on its greenhouse emissions because there’s no way for farmers to reduce their pollution aside from producing less. That’s rubbish. In fact, as BR shows, agriculture is already producing more value for less pollution.
Joyce and corporate handouts
Written By: - Date published: 11:38 am, July 28th, 2011 - 105 comments
National has handed Telecom a new monopoly to replace its old one. As landlines go the way of the Dodo, fibre optic cable is the new natural monopoly, and we’re learning that Steven Joyce was talking to Telecom as far back as 2009 to ensure they go the lion’s share of the government handouts for fibre and a virtual monopoly in the market.
Who grows better? Labour or National?
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, July 22nd, 2011 - 89 comments
Under the last Labour-led government the GDP per capita rose 15.6%. Under John Key’s National, it has fallen 1.9%. ‘Ah but Labour was just lucky and Key has just been unlucky’, say the righties. The data, however, shows conclusively which party has the best record on growth.
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.
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.
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.
Don Brash: Hypocrite on CGT
Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, July 14th, 2011 - 17 comments
It would appear that Don Brash has ideals – and when politically required, he has other ideals.
In fact he has so many ideals that his viewpoint on a Capital Gains Tax appears to veer all over the political landscape especially in his latest press release on CGT. At a guess his only real objection to a CGT is that he is not the person proposing it.
Taxpayers
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, July 14th, 2011 - 35 comments
According to Gareth Morgan, “all income should be taxed if it is a fair income tax”. So where are taxes coming from right now? Well increasingly more of it is being paid by wage and salary earners, and less by businesses. Hopefully a capital gains tax will partially redress that imbalance.
Australia: screaming backwards with CGT
Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, July 13th, 2011 - 57 comments
Russel Norman put a dagger into John Key yesterday in question time asking whether a series of national and international economic authorities really wanted to “put a dagger through the heart of growth” with a CGT. Key can waffle and whine all he likes, but he can’t avoid the truth of Australia’s enviable growth record with CGT.
Economic Management
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, July 13th, 2011 - 34 comments
We can expect a lot of economic rhetoric in the lead up to November from our political leaders. What does history suggest with respect to two key economic indicators: production and employment?
A real plan to save the world does exist
Written By: - Date published: 10:17 am, July 12th, 2011 - 112 comments
A feasible plan to power 100 percent of the planet with complete renewables exists. This plan excludes Nuclear and Biofuels, which the Scientific American authors of this plan also considered to be ultimately unsustainable technologies as well. Instead this plan revolves around Wind, Water and Solar – WWS
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