Author Archive

I Owe My Soul….to the Company Store

Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, July 23rd, 2010 - 66 comments

The words of this old song date back to the 1800’s when dominant and rapacious employers in small company towns would require their employees to purchase essentials from a ‘company store’. And because the employee was so badly paid, inevitably they would run up steep tab simply to keep their family fed and clothed. In […]

Free Market Failure

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, February 27th, 2010 - 56 comments

It’s time for the National Party to issue an abject apology to the nation… for the 1992 Building Regulations that directly led to the astounding public crisis we now face. Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson told the Weekend Herald the official $11 billion figure – which experts believe is half the true cost – […]

The Great Giveaway

Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, January 31st, 2010 - 83 comments

From where I’m sitting the Left will never be back in power, not because they will never win elections, but because the power game is over. The nation state as we know it is being slowly dismembered before our eyes, the leviathan of globalisation has one flank firmly grasped, while rapidly discohering communities of self-interest […]

Good Old Fashioned Solidarity

Written By: - Date published: 3:41 pm, November 1st, 2009 - 27 comments

Matt McCarten writes a fine opinion piece in today’s Herald. He hits four main points: 1. The neo-liberal dismantling of NZ’s egalitarian society ideal in the 80’s and 90’s. 2. The new subservience of the State to corporate interests. 3. Dramatic increases in productivity over the last 30 years that have been almost entirely captured […]

Let them drink… bottled water.

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 2nd, 2009 - 4 comments

Not surprised to see that the Government has confirmed the Drinking Water Subsidy Scheme is being put on hold and reviewed. The subsidy aims to improve drinking water supplies in small communities of under 5000 people, and improve life for the 9% of the population whose current supply is sub-standard. Those of us living in […]

Rape and Pillage

Written By: - Date published: 11:14 am, August 29th, 2009 - 51 comments

The Conservation Minister, Tim Groser is quoted today: “If you can extract wealth from that [conservation land], that’s what we should do.” Stuff and goes on to label any opposition to this clear intent as ’emotional hysteria’. While it was obvious that Brownlee was indulging in dishonest double-speak with his ‘stocktake’ earlier this week; we […]

Bridging the Big Ditch

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, August 20th, 2009 - 22 comments

Mr Key is off in Australia this week promoting further measures to bind the two countries into a single economic market, and slash red tape on trade, investment and business, and to shape the two economies into a force that can team up to position themselves for the world after the global economic crisis.. Well […]

Unassailable Evidence

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 8th, 2009 - 101 comments

Inaugural Lectures are very traditional University events; held these days to permit outstanding researchers to present an overview of their work to the wider academic community and public. Last night Prof. Tim Naish delivered a clear and decisive verdict about human induced climate change; the evidence is unassailable. Held in the very formal surrounds of […]

Break the Power of Money.

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, June 14th, 2009 - 30 comments

For some weeks our media has been distracted by various sideshows. Worth, Swineflu, Mt Albert, Flight 447 and of course David Bain, have all in turn captured our national psyche… but meanwhile the most pressing political issue, the global fiscal crisis, grinds on with little comment. The crisis response more or less worked. Historians will […]

1600 Dead Again

Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, May 17th, 2009 - 34 comments

Each year and every year, around 1600 New Zealanders die prematurely because we live in cold damp houses. This “excess winter death rate” is four times higher than the road toll. They die, most especially the young, unwell, disabled and elderly, of respiratory illnesses, strokes and heart attacks because far too much of our housing […]

‘Bout that gurgling sound…

Written By: - Date published: 2:31 pm, April 24th, 2009 - 53 comments

The average house in New Zealand should be worth about 3.5 times the average household income. (3.5 * $48k = $168k) The historic long-term rental return on most residential property was about 10%. Current rents for a typical 120m2, three bedroomed home in an average suburb is somewhere in the range of $12-16,000 pa…. ie […]

Too Big to Fail

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 pm, April 10th, 2009 - 28 comments

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is one of those rare thinkers who has the priceless ability to express complex ideas in ways that are immediately accessible and concrete. I’m going to shamelessly quote and derive from a very recent article he’s written in the Financial Times. It’s so good I’m going to take each one of the […]

Ominous Trickles before the Flood

Written By: - Date published: 5:35 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 13 comments

The attack on democratic local government is taking shape in the public domain. 1. Hide was not made the Minister of Local Govt for nothing. Radical changes are planned and National chose an ACT Party frontman to deflect public reaction. The Bill about to be introduced, and likely passed, to ‘cap rates at the rate […]

Compare and Contrast

Written By: - Date published: 4:32 pm, April 5th, 2009 - 4 comments

Prior to the last election our fearless MSM media uncritically repeated Key’s ‘NZ Sucks’ Crosby/Textor attack lines, framing an historically unremarkable rise in emigration, as evidence of Labour’s failure and general perfidy. Lots of examples abound, this being fairly typical. Of course since November emigration numbers peaked in January (and have fallen since in line […]