capitalism

Categories under capitalism

Crony Capitalism and Chorus

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, October 2nd, 2013 - 50 comments

The Axe the Copper Tax campaign has stepped up a notch with the release of a peer review of the original analysis that the tax would cost Kiwis $600 million.  The review states that the original methodology was sound and the findings conservative.  The issue itself has galvanised opposition from some of the Government’s most staunchest friends.  This is probably the first Standard Post ever to rely on comments from the Herald, the NBR, David Farrar and Matthew Hooton to justify a claim that this Government is engaged in the most basic form of Crony Capitalism.  Yes things are that bad for the Government.

The cleaner & the ugly face of National

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, September 27th, 2013 - 164 comments

Imagine that your job was to clean 130 toilets every day. Imagine the grinding unpleasantness of it. Imagine the horrors some disgusting person would regularly leave for you to deal with. Imagine you do that for just above the minimum wage, barely enough to support your family, far from enough to live a real life. And imagine seeing one of the people whose shit you clean sneer at you.

“Predistribution”: From Miliband to Cunliffe

Written By: - Date published: 10:11 am, September 23rd, 2013 - 41 comments

Ed Miliband got the idea of pre-distribution from Jacob Hacker. Cunliffe has followed.  Can “pre-distribution” underpin a new direction for the left in NZ: one relevant to the challenges of the 21st century, especially in countering the too wide inequality gap & re-instating social democracy?

Cunliffe’s not so shabby question: broadband costs

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, September 18th, 2013 - 41 comments

The MSM largely reported on Cunliffe stumbling over the word Chorus in his first question yesterday to PM Key.  But Key’s answers and later replies to the media, indicate corporate-friendly, cronyist manipulations and dodgy phone advice. [Update: Coalition for Fair Internet Pricing]

The bankster memorandum

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, September 9th, 2013 - 160 comments

John Key honed his skills as a speculative banker. As PM, this casino capitalist has undermined democracy, & promoted international corporate interests, while beneficiaries & workers are brutalised, inequalities enhanced and NZ’s economy & sovereignty damaged.  Does one Labour leader contender have his number measure?

UBI. (Universal Basic Income).

Written By: - Date published: 11:58 am, September 5th, 2013 - 232 comments

The concept of UBI has a long history in New Zealand.

Of course, we already have a UBI for those over 65.  Which has been extremely successful at eliminating poverty amongst the elderly, at a very moderate cost by international standards.

Enough for us all, but they want it all for themselves

Written By: - Date published: 7:37 am, September 2nd, 2013 - 180 comments

The howls of outrage from the Right elite were predictable. Robertson and Cunliffe promising a living wage for all government workers, are they crazy? Decent pay for cleaners? That’s not what their granddaddies fought for. It was predictable but it still makes you angry. These are the same people who cheered when the elite got billions in tax cuts. These are the people we have to throw out of power.

Syria et al.

Written By: - Date published: 5:09 pm, August 29th, 2013 - 311 comments

Sometimes the most complicated and complex situation becomes clear when viewed from a simple and obvious perspective.

Why I electorate vote Cunliffe: op ed

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, August 23rd, 2013 - 138 comments

I wasn’t going to express my opinion on the upcoming Labour leadership selection process. However, the usual right leaning MSM hacks seem to have been following the current Labour caucus leadership in naming Robertson as the frontrunner. This is my op ed testimony for my frontrunner, the MP for my electorate: Cunliffe.

Losing your job

Written By: - Date published: 11:42 am, August 23rd, 2013 - 73 comments

David Shearer is not the only one to lose his job this month. It’s quite a list, when you add it up…

Mighty Big Gamble on Mighty Big Gift

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 pm, August 20th, 2013 - 19 comments

Hey John, how much public money are you going to pay the wealthy to “buy” our assets? (And how just desperate are you…?)

Selling your privacy

Written By: - Date published: 4:07 pm, August 12th, 2013 - 16 comments

Good piece by David Fisher on selling your privacy. Don’t worry citizens consumers, it’s nothing personal. It’s just business.

This is/is not democracy

Written By: - Date published: 1:05 pm, August 12th, 2013 - 106 comments

The Nats’ PR-managed conference stifled democratic debate & bright ideas, and diverted from significant issues.  Armstrong attempts to talk it up, while exposing Key’s win-at-all-costs ruthlessness. Meanwhile: speakers announced for democratic meeting to Kill the GCSB Bill [Updated – Hagar also speaking]. [Update: Gordon Campbell – ‘Nanny National‘]

“The problem gambler”: Key & SkyCity

Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, August 8th, 2013 - 10 comments

Brand Key – CEO of NZ Inc, speculator, gambler, spinmeister – epitomises the “neoliberal revolution”.  Gambling & other consumerist addictions are blamed on the individual. A court case against SkyCity shows the contradictory links between gambling, smoking, corporate influence & “insatiable consumerism.”

Another $30 Million to prop up Meridian sale

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, August 8th, 2013 - 55 comments

John Key just spent another $30 Million of tax payer’s money to prop up his privatisation ideology.

Hypocrisy in the House: GCSB Bill

Written By: - Date published: 10:11 am, August 7th, 2013 - 46 comments

The debates during last night’s filibuster if the GCSB amendment Bill exposed the hypocrisy of John Key, and hangers on Peter Dunne and John Banks: as seen in  the videos of the speeches by Goff, Cunliffe and Peters.

John Key’s big movie love

Written By: - Date published: 12:44 pm, August 2nd, 2013 - 10 comments

A recent  report claims there is little economic benefit from tax payer funding for big overseas movies. Key’s damaging love of big Hollywood corporates is seen in the complex of Hobbit laws, intellectual copyright, secret TPP negotiations, & the Kim Dotcom-GCSB-Vance saga.

Waking up the fourth estate

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, August 1st, 2013 - 39 comments

Is this what it takes to wake up the fourth estate so they truly fulfill their role to speak truth to power?  Andrea Vance is mad as hell about the “hacking” of her phone records.  Press freedom and all our democratic rights are in danger.  Stop the GCSB Bill!

The magical world of New Zealand’s, Neo-Liberal right wing.

Written By: - Date published: 6:06 am, August 1st, 2013 - 83 comments

It has been obvious that some people live in a different world than the rest of us. One where Chicago school economics, work! One where you save the village by blowing it up! One where global warming can be stopped, Canute like, by legislation. One where dropping wages and giving everything to bloated financiers, makes […]

Speculation

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 pm, July 30th, 2013 - 143 comments

I know many of the liberal left don’t like or can’t accept the thought that banning non-residents from speculating on residential property in NZ is in any way xenophobic. Thankfully, from my perspective at least, the liberal left doesn’t speak for the whole of the left. Thing is, this banning of foreign investment is similar […]

The non-resident property speculators are….?

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, July 30th, 2013 - 50 comments

An NZ Herald Editorial exposes John Key’s politically motivated spin against Shearer’s housing policy, but also takes some swipes at the “left”. Gower misleads, by repeating Key’s “anti-Asian” smears, supported by the eg of a website targeting South African property speculators.

Contactless cards: capitalism thrives, customers lose

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 pm, July 28th, 2013 - 36 comments

Contactless (“wave and go”) features are becoming a compulsory feature for credit and debit cards.  Hi-tech equipment can pilfer from such cards as people pass by.  Plus other problems.  But, they ensure banks and merchants make more money.

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 28th, 2013 - 64 comments

Nicky Hager’s investigative journalism explains why the government uses state surveillance against investigative journalists, academics and political activists.  Jane Kelsey explains why spying is used to prevent legal activities, democratic processes and NZers speaking truth to power.

A conservative view on low wages.

Written By: - Date published: 11:33 am, July 25th, 2013 - 37 comments

It is a national evil that any class of Her Majesty’s subjects should receive less than a living wage in return for their utmost exertions… where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad and the bad by the worst; …

Turing – so much more …

Written By: - Date published: 4:26 pm, July 23rd, 2013 - 52 comments

Alan Turing may get a pardon from the UK government.  Turing made major contributions to the development of computing and maths, but was also subjected to damaging surveillance, suspicion and dehumanisation because of his sexuality.  Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?  How to promote digital democracy?

Don’t let them be sidelined: Surveillance Bills

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, July 22nd, 2013 - 38 comments

Let’s not sideline the GCSB and related surveillance Bills.  It’s about democracy, and against further consolidation of the power of the international, “neoliberal” corporate elites.  Nation wide demos this Saturday; public meeting in Auckland this Thursday evening. Phil Goff resists, but bends a little too far. [Update]  Protest poster

Outsourcing: Scamming the system

Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, July 19th, 2013 - 23 comments

A new report on the UK government’s outsourcing of public sector work is damning. Necessary and basic work to fulfill individual and social needs, (eg social security, unemployment, health care, education) is being “gamed” and scammed by monopolistic private contractors. Key’s government favours outsourcing to private profiteers.

Even Treasury slammed SkyCity stitch up

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, July 18th, 2013 - 58 comments

Yesterday, National released hundreds of pages of documents on the SkyCity deal. They paint the picture of a government that locked itself politically into getting a deal and locked in SkyCity as the only option then was surprised when SkyCIty screwed them for everything it could get. Even the far from bleeding hearts at Treasury said it wasn’t worth the cost.

John Key, Crosby & corporate lobbyists

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, July 16th, 2013 - 40 comments

Joining the dots: David Cameron is under fire for his links with lobbyists for big tobacco & big oil, via his link with Lynton Crosby.  John Key, with links to Crosby Textor, has also bowed to big tobacco. Networks of Influence.

The long reach of “5 Eyes”: Not in our name!

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, July 12th, 2013 - 66 comments

Eric Holder’s connections with New Zealand’s justice system and GCSB is justified by linking international surveillance with transnational organised crime and crimes by citizens: 5 Eyes’ (alleged) defence of democracy, reaches into homes via “domestic terrorism”,  (sexual) violence against women & children, and child pornography.

The big issues: GCSB, Dotcom

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, July 5th, 2013 - 61 comments

Bill English diverts attention from questions about Key’s prior knowledge of Dotcom, saying it is not a BIG ISSUE.   Trustworthiness, undermining democracy, misuse of GCSB surveillance in collaboration with foreign powers, blurring commercial cyber-security with national security – just some of the BIG ISSUES covered in the GCSB hearings.