Author Archive
As much as possible for the underclass
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, February 9th, 2011 - 8 comments
The PM has obviously been stung by the surge of negative publicity generated by the TV3 piece on the residents of McGehan Close. The revival of this particular piece of exploitative hypocrisy risks tarnishing the sacred Key brand. Can’t have that. So Key is trying to convince us that the Nats have done “as much as possible” for the underclass…
The productivity lie
Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, February 8th, 2011 - 24 comments
The Nats have upped the minimum wage by 25 cents. An increase of 1.9% that doesn’t even keep up with inflation of 4% and is thus a minimum wage cut. On cue a tame economist opines that wage growth can only happen if we achieve productivity growth first. The only problem with this excuse is that over the last several decades productivity has grown significantly, and wages haven’t followed…
Kiwi dream RIP
Written By: - Date published: 1:36 pm, February 7th, 2011 - 34 comments
Owning your own home was the foundation of the “Kiwi dream”. Now it seems that we’ve let that dream slip further out of reach than almost anywhere in the world. Houses in Auckland are less affordable than in New York. Demand in the rental market is far outstripping supply. What should the government be doing?
Waitangi Day
Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, February 6th, 2011 - 24 comments
The too big to fail myth
Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, February 5th, 2011 - 33 comments
All over the globe we the tax payer recently got stuck with a bill for trillions of dollars to bail out banks that were “too big to fail”. Or were they? One country, Iceland, went against the trend, and let its banks go under. What happened next?
Is the 90 day trial “working”?
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 4th, 2011 - 66 comments
The NZIER recently popped up with a study purporting to show that the “90-day trial period” (the fire at will bill) is “working”. The study and its conclusions have since been widely quoted. Unfortunately the conclusions are a load of nonsense. NZIER have committed the amateur hour mistake of seeing the cause that they want to see.
Extreme weather: Yasi
Written By: - Date published: 6:02 am, February 3rd, 2011 - 23 comments
By the time this is posted Yasi will have hit Australia. There will be massive damage, and probably loss of life. Most New Zealanders will have friends or family in Australia, perhaps in the areas affected. I’m sure our thoughts are with our cousins over the ditch. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change. We should all make whatever preparations we can.
Principles
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, February 2nd, 2011 - 45 comments
So John Key has flip flopped and decided to rule out working with Winston Peters again. He’s trying to portray that as a principled decision, about running an “aspirational” government. So why did he need to spend so many months working out what his principles are? No, it’s a political decision. Key thinks he can squeeze a little more milage out of flogging the dead horse that is Winston Peters.
Bunch of bankers
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, February 2nd, 2011 - 13 comments
In America a federal enquiry has now confirmed what we already knew. The 2008 financial crisis was an “avoidable” disaster caused by multiple failures of regulation and good old fashioned greed. If we don’t make some fundamental changes it is all going to happen again…
Economic recovery despite the Nats
Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, February 1st, 2011 - 44 comments
Pundits looking to talk up the economy are hopeful that things will improve in 2011. National have done more harm than good, but there some encouraging signs too, arising from external factors such as high food prices, and returns on old investments such as NZ Super. The NZ economy will eventually recover. Not because of the Nats, but in spite of them.
An argument for hope?
Written By: - Date published: 6:03 am, January 31st, 2011 - 24 comments
It’s crunch time for humanity and for our current way of life. Ever since the failure of the Copenhagen summit on climate change I have been less than optimistic about the outcome. So the Christmas break was a good time to read Here on Earth: An Argument for Hope by Tim Flannery. An argument for hope was exactly what I was looking for…
Student freedom
Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, December 22nd, 2010 - 109 comments
National and Act are attacking student unions. The cover story is freedom of association, but it’s bollocks, freedom of association is already protected. Without the unions students will still have to pay. But they will lose the rich social and cultural heritage of the unions, lose the learning experiences that the unions provide, and lose their independence. Hey students – does that sound like a good deal to you?
Democracy Under Attack!!!
Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, December 21st, 2010 - 22 comments
I couldn’t let the last of the year slip away without a fond farewell to the good old Electoral Finance Act. Last week the government passed its replacement legislation. It tweaks some thresholds, but retains the principles and much of the substance of Labour’s EFA. But this time there is no “Democracy Under Attack” campaign. I wonder why…
Write your own headline
Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, December 20th, 2010 - 46 comments
“PM plays power games with President Obama” reads the headline! Sounds exciting doesn’t it? Alas. The actual events described are somewhat pathetic. Key went personally begging for a photo op but the President of the US was too busy doing stuff that mattered. I think I could have written a much more accurate headline. I’m sure you can too…
Wikileaks NZ cables
Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, December 19th, 2010 - 53 comments
Odd timing as everyone powers down for Christmas, but The Herald has published the NZ Wikileaks cables. A rather far fetched attack on Clark (covered by Eddie yesterday), the Nats breaking promises and misleading Parliament. But if that’s the worst in the cables then I’m guessing that politicians on both sides, past and present, will be vastly relieved.
Christmas gifts
Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, December 18th, 2010 - 5 comments
Perhaps, like me, you have left your Christmas shopping to the last minute. Fear not – help is at hand! Here’s a roundup of some real gifts that you might give this Christmas.
Stupid news makes you stupid shocker
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, December 17th, 2010 - 50 comments
Several studies have now shown that those who watch Fox News are significantly more misinformed than those who don’t. Well there’s a surprise! Not. Serious question though, can we have both a free media and a requirement for minimum levels of accuracy and balance, or are those options mutually exclusive?
Merry Christmas from NZ
Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, December 17th, 2010 - 15 comments
Tax cuts busted
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, December 16th, 2010 - 67 comments
Tax cuts don’t cause growth, and even some of the right wing commentators are starting to admit it. The Nats’ tax cuts aren’t “broadly neutral” either, and that is why the deficit is blowing out. National’s one and only economic policy is busted. Now what?
The dead and the living
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, December 15th, 2010 - 37 comments
As a government and as a country we honoured the Pike River dead, as was right and proper. But now the hard part starts. What are we going to do for the Pike River survivors? The families who lost loved ones. The fellow workers who have now lost their livelihood.
Children in poverty
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, December 15th, 2010 - 207 comments
Child poverty is on the rise again. My question to the National government is simple. What are you going to do to reverse this trend and lift children out of poverty? It’s your watch. What are you going to do?
Desperate hypocritical muckraking
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, December 14th, 2010 - 16 comments
Key has been very busy defending sacked Minister Pansy Wong. He has been desperately ignoring the calls for an Auditor General’s investigation as the cracks in the whitewash report on her illegal spending continue to grow. But Key is very quick to call for the Auditor General to investigate a single solitary billboard.
Key out of touch on taxes
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, December 14th, 2010 - 37 comments
Do you feel better off after the great tax swindle? Two recent surveys have shown that the significant majority of us do not. John Key has expressed his surprise at our ingratitude. But the numbers tell the story. Most of us don’t feel better off because we aren’t better off. The only surprise is that John Key is so completely out of touch as to fail to understand this.
Key on welfare
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 pm, December 13th, 2010 - 68 comments
Interesting piece by Sue Bradford over at Pundit. If the quote attributed to John Key is for real, it’s a shocker: “If we cancelled welfare to 330,000 people currently on welfare, how many would starve to death? Bugger all.”
Cancun another non event
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, December 13th, 2010 - 13 comments
The UN climate change talks at Cancun, Mexico, are finished. There were some positives, but not on the big issues. Reduction targets are still voluntary and still too low. We’re still on a catastrophic collision course with the laws of physics.
Politician of the year?
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, December 11th, 2010 - 55 comments
After parading his prejudices about for a bit, John Armstrong lauds Key as “politician of the year”. Key is popular yes, but is he actually effective? Is he a good leader? It won’t surprise you to learn that my answer is a resounding no. Care to convince me that I’m wrong? Go ahead — make your case…
Time for Turia to go
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, December 11th, 2010 - 65 comments
Labour has opened the door on cross party negotiations to achieve a true consensus on the foreshore. But Tariana Turia is too locked in to ancient personal hatreds to do anything but reject the offer. In doing so she has become a huge obstacle to progress on the very goals that she claims to support. It’s time for Turia to step down.
Flip flopping on the beach
Written By: - Date published: 11:02 am, December 10th, 2010 - 38 comments
The usual suspects are accusing Labour of “flip flopping” on its position on the foreshore and seabed. You have to admire their bare-faced gall eh?
Armstrong on the constitutional review
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, December 10th, 2010 - 41 comments
John Armstrong pulls no punches on the constitutional review, the second time in recent history that he has called the government a disgrace. Add it to the ever growing list of outrageous behaviour from the Nats. Is this the worst government for democracy in the history of NZ?
No closure on the foreshore
Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, December 9th, 2010 - 49 comments
For a while it looked like the Nats’ Marine and Coastal Areas Bill was going to represent a successful and enduring solution to the foreshore debate in NZ. But Maori support evaporated. Now the new Bill has suffered a further massive blow to its credibility. Labour is pulling its support…
Ten ways to beat our snowballing debt
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, December 9th, 2010 - 70 comments
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