Bottoms up, Bill
Written By:
- Date published:
12:03 pm, March 1st, 2009 - 15 comments
Categories: scoundrels -
Tags: bill ralston, recession
It’s said that, once upon a time, Bill Ralston had a social conscience. He still claims to be a leftie at heart. If ever proof were needed that he’s become just another rich, detached elitist it’s this:
“Before we all collectively slit our wrists it’s worth pointing out that unless you are a director of a finance company, a car dealer or property developer the chances are you will come through this recession without too much damage. Just don’t try to sell your house now and realise the loss.”
Yeah, tell it to working class, Bill. The working class, up to 9000 of whom have lost their jobs since National came to power, while many others endure reduced hours. Oh, you forgot the working-class existed, eh, Bill?
Oh, and Bill: “The Government’s task for the next 900 days is to look competent, appear to be trying its best to help those who do get in trouble.” Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a government that doesn’t just “look competent” but is competent and doesn’t “appear to be trying its best” but does its best. Actually, more than that, actually does well.
Need I add that your beloved “Crusher” Collins actually overstepped her ministerial warrant in attacking Barry Matthews, failed to have him resign, and that she hasn’t even presented a policy on boy racers, let alone crushed any cars?
I guess for an old liberal turned elitist, appearances are all that matters, eh? You’ll be able to keep sipping your chardonnay in luxury no matter how bad things actually get.
“Woo-hoo” indeed.
15 comments on “Bottoms up, Bill ”
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- Working for Families gets cost of living boostPutting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...4 days ago
- Post-Cabinet press conferenceMost weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...4 days ago
- Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrappedThe Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...5 days ago
- NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in GazaNew Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...1 week ago
- Condolences on passing of Henry KissingerForeign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...1 week ago
- Backing our kids to learn the basicsEvery child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...1 week ago
- US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through tradeI would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber. I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...1 week ago
- Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, AucklandGood morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States. This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...1 week ago
- India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic PriorityGood morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...1 week ago
- Coalition Government unveils 100-day planPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...1 week ago
- New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade AgreementA significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...2 weeks ago
- Israel’s AI can produce 100 bombing targets a day in Gaza. Is this the future of war?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bianca Baggiarini, Lecturer, Australian National University Last week, reports emerged that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are using an artificial intelligence (AI) system called Habsora (Hebrew for “The Gospel”) to select targets in the war on Hamas in Gaza. The system has ...42 mins ago - Frank and far-reaching: Senate report recommends shake-up of the way freedom of information is handl...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Johan Lidberg, Associate Professor, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University The most significant recommendation in the Senate inquiry report on the functionality of the Commonwealth FOI system is this: move the federal Freedom of Information (FOI) function from the Office ...57 mins ago
- Week in Politics: New government survives first Question Time
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- The Amalgamated Workers Union Calls On The Government To Give Fair Pay Agreements A Fair Go
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- Australia’s first mobile cooling hub is ready for searing heat this summer – and people who are ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Currie, Professor of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Heatwaves are a major public health hazard. Socially disadvantaged people are especially exposed to extreme heat and other impacts of climate change. Many people experiencing homelessness – more than 120,000 ...6 hours ago
- Free Speech Union Releases Briefing To Incoming Government, Outlining Key Areas Of Policy To Protect...The Free Speech Union has sent 14 Cabinet Ministers a comprehensive Briefing to the Incoming Government, outlining five key areas of policy that the Government must address in order to protect and expand Kiwis’ speech rights. We look forward to ...6 hours ago
- Interislander ferry upgrade: Finance Minister warns of cost blowoutFinance Minister Nicola Willis says she has already met twice with KiwiRail bosses over a "major cost blowout" in the project to replace the Interislander ferries. ...6 hours ago
- National Trying To Rewrite History By Removing App Tax Website And Press ReleaseThe Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the National Party to front up to consumers who will face 15% higher prices for some services from the likes of Uber, Airbnb and food delivery apps after their app tax U-turn rather than trying to erase all ...8 hours ago
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- A Cowardly, Anti-Palestinian Parliamentary MotionThe parliamentary motion passed today , a full two months after Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians began, says: "Express grave concern at the ongoing violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, unequivocally condemn ...9 hours ago
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- Listen: The real cost of the smoking excise tax
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- GCSB Minister Judith Collins condemns Russian cyber attacksNew Zealand is joining other nations, including Britain, in condemning Russian government malicious cyber-attacks. ...10 hours ago
- GCSB Minister Judith Collins condemns Russian cyber attacksNew Zealand is joining other nations, including Britain, in condemning Russian government malicious cyber-attacks. ...10 hours ago
- Ryan Bridge to host Three’s new 7pm showWith The Project wrapping up last week (you can read Duncan Greive’s excellent reflections on that here), Warner Bros Discovery has announced broadcaster Ryan Bridge will host a brand new current affairs show for Three. The currently unnamed show will focus on live news and interviews and is a return ...10 hours ago
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- Councils are opening the door to tiny houses as a quick, affordable and green solutionSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hing-Wah Chau, Course Chair in Building Design & Senior Lecturer in Built Environment, Victoria University Soaring rents and home prices, increasing mortgage stress, record immigration and a growing population are fuelling a housing crisis and increasing homelessness. In the face of this ...10 hours ago
- I’m an expert in diplomatic gift giving. Here are my 5 top tips for the best Christmas present exc...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Happé, Graduate researcher in art history and material culture studies, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock As we get closer to Christmas, your family will probably have some kind of gathering. You will reunite with people who you might not ...10 hours ago
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- Home Brew back with first album in over a decade and slot at LanewayAfter an 11 year hiatus, legendary Aotearoa hip-hop group Home Brew are back today with their first new album in over a decade, Run it Back, and will continue that reunion at Laneway Festival in February. Breaking their indefinite hiatus, Run it Back comes off the back off the 2023 ...11 hours ago
- MPs settle into new roles as parliament cranks back into actionThere may be less than a fortnight left in the political year, but politicians seem determined to make the final days count, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Question time is ...12 hours ago
- Literacy, numeracy tests as NCEA requirement 'detrimental' to learnersA leading education researcher warns new high-stakes NCEA literacy and maths tests could do more harm than good. ...12 hours ago
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- City deals can drive Auckland to international levels
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- The ‘troubled-teen’ industry and conflicts of interest in Family CourtOpinion: Courts are halls of justice, but they are also well-financed institutional purchasers of goods and services, outsourcing much of their work to private consultants and contractors, including lawyers, advocates, psychologists, social workers, and drug counsellors who earn their living from court contracts. Though there is nothing inherently wrong ...14 hours ago
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whats that old saying. If you not a leftie in your 20’s you dont have a heart. If your not a rightie in your 30’s you dont have a brain. Well, some people develop at different speeds, just took Bill a wee bit longer thats all.
It’s what ex-lefties say when they’ve accumulated a degree of wealth and power for themselves and, unsurprisingly, find the idea of social and economic equality isn’t quite as appealing as it used to be.
Poor old Bill. Caught in an alcoholic haze wreathed in cigarette smoke, unsure of his beliefs, and now not everyone believes what he says. Shame on you Steve. Why kick a man when he is down?
sweety, that’s a Churchill quote. The man had a way with words but he was also a life-long conservative, member of the English elite, and an arch-imperialist.
More broadly, just because something sounds good or is a cliche doesn’t mean it’s correct.
Funny I was quite right wing in my 20’s and as I accumulated some wealth in my 50’s I’ve gone all leftie.
Maybe Redbaiter is right, and I have neither a heart nor a brain… hehe.
sounds like a trip to the Wizard of Oz is in order.
“If ever proof were needed that he’s become just another rich, detached elitist”
no further proof required for some time now, ever since his displays of how to ‘manage’ at TVNZ
“just because something sounds good or is a cliche doesn’t mean it’s correct”
SP, you’ve just destroyed the entire right-wing Intellectual Justification Program
Especially pernicious is Bill’s last paras.
So Bill is willing to hack to pieces the political accord on Superannuation, and “nick” the funds (his words) just so as he can have his tax cut now. Equally disgraceful as Armstrong.
What is it that gets into these cosseted ex journo’s synapses that makes them able to babble in-fucking-cessantly about what ‘they’ (meaning ‘us’, absent (or in spite of) polling data), will think, do, and want?
Once they find themselves in possession of the journalistic real estate of a weekly column, so many of them start writing this way. I think it’s revealing that the ‘they he writes about are those that are going to actually get a $20 tax break. For those, the funding of super in the future may well be an abstract. Will most people be getting $20 a week? I forget, but I’m betting: ‘no’.
In any case, it’s also a prime fucking example of the fate of professional political scribes privileging the game of politics over the substance. It’s all bloody horse race, what will it look like, who will ‘win’ the week. God forbid that someone with a week to write 1000 words should bother getting on the fucking google, having a read, a sit, a spliff and a ponder and actually coming up with something to say that is either, relevant, interesting, or enlightening.
FFS, I’d settle for a column with analytical content that could not in fact have been written and published in any damn week for the last dozen dozen years.
“Politician faces choices, some policies might be popular, here’s what that is I reckon, but who cares because it’s not important if you don’t think about it.’
Yeah well. Fuck a doodle doo to you too, Billy-bob.
Steve – “who have lost their jobs since National came to power” is really a bit pathetic.
Now you might not be TRYING to imply that National is the cause of the job losses, maybe it’s just your reflex reaction…?
I don’t think that is implied at all, jimbo.
Is “Bottoms up” a big gay out day slogan? I feel rather ill Bill.
another sickener was the advice from Dr Brash on RadioNZ last week, that we must all start “living within our means”. Easy to do on your money, Don, not so easy for many others.
The rich telling the poor to tighten their belts is a disgusting spectacle.
That’s not all that bad advice actually, when you hear that people have been living on 113% of their salary/wage in the last decade or so, augmented with ever increasing amounts of credit.
Obviously not the case when you’re talking about people buying necessities, but in defence of Brash (ye gods, what am I saying) he’s right – when you’re refinancing your house as its value increases to get the extra $50k cash in hand for a holiday, car and a tv, and pay off the credit card from the last time you refinanced, you’re doing something wrong.
Didn’t hear the radio piece, but I’d hope that’s how said advice was intended to be interpreted.
(Dear Don, I hereby resolve to not get consumer goods on HP in future…)
My favourite quote from the National PR piece, I mean, Ralston’s political analysis: “There appears to be an inner cabinet consisting of (Key), Bill English, Steven Joyce, Simon Power, Gerry Brownlee, Murray McCully and Tony Ryall.”
A New Zild under the thumb of that white, middle class, (mostly) heterosexual group is truly terrifying. Thank god this government will crumble into a heap of in-fighting over the next two years…