capitalism

Categories under capitalism

Meanwhile back on Planet Earth

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, October 5th, 2012 - 18 comments

It’s now clear that National are unfit for office anywhere but Planet Key. Which is unfortunate, because here on Planet Earth, things aren’t going so well. We need new ideas, we need action, we need results. We aren’t going to get them from National.

Of Hollywood, Hobbits & NZ-US politics: Episode II

Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, October 4th, 2012 - 66 comments

As Key heads off to the US to promote the NZ film industry, I look back at the Hobbit union-busting case and the issues it raised. Will Key’s latest mission to Hollywood, boost the economy, increase jobs and provide benefits to the NZ film industry? Or will it actually undermine the NZ’s economy and democracy, further Americanising NZ’s culture along with it?

Keep informed on the TPP

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, October 2nd, 2012 - 4 comments

“TPP Watch” has a shiny new web site, with great resource and events coming up. Check it out.

The modern religion

Written By: - Date published: 9:53 am, October 1st, 2012 - 10 comments

‘Business Business Business’ is the endless chant from the Nat’s business will be our savour, all business is good of-course. Bad businesses, well they will go out of business, generally because they cant compete or are poorly managed, but mostly not before they have stolen all your savings, which in the case of a good bad business you will never have any chance of recovering.

Austerity vs. stimulus

Written By: - Date published: 1:15 pm, September 27th, 2012 - 53 comments

The UK and USA make for interesting case studies in their differing responses to the global recession.  A pity that NZ followed the wrong leader.

“Work” and the false economy of Bennett’s welfare reforms

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 26th, 2012 - 102 comments

Bennett’s reforms aim to cut the costs of government spending on welfare.  But what this means is that more of the necessary caring and service work in NZ will be unpaid, or underpaid.  It doesn’t mean people will necessarily work harder or longer, and that they aren’t making a significant contribution to society and the economy.

They’re trying to build a prison/for you & me to live in

Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, September 21st, 2012 - 16 comments

National is celebrating the creation of 1300 jobs (only 300 permanent) with a prison. How many more prisons would they have to build to reverse the increase in unemployment under their watch and create 65,000 permanent jobs? Only 217. It’s ironic that the only job creation the free-market loving Nats can trumpet is a government-paid for prison.

Joint Statement on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, August 22nd, 2012 - 74 comments

A press release that is well worth reprinting verbatim.  The Green parties of NZ, Australia and Canada speak out about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

Would you buy shares in…

Written By: - Date published: 9:28 am, August 18th, 2012 - 42 comments

Mighty River, when its water use rights are in doubt? Meridian, when its deal with its largest customer is in question? Solid Energy, when it is reviewing all its operations due to the high dollar? Genesis, when Meridian could flood the market with cheap power if its deal with Rio Tinto falls through, and a future government is likely to sharply increase the cost of its emissions from Huntly?

Greens put pokies deal on ice

Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, August 17th, 2012 - 3 comments

The Greens’ successful call for an Auditor General’s probe into the Government’s pokies-for-convention-centre deal with SkyCity has stalled the negiotations – despite the Nats’ claims it wouldn’t derail their attempt to sell our gambling law. No meetings have been held since the A-G’s investigation began two months ago. With any luck, it’ll push out the legislative timeline past the 2014 election.

Replying to cancer-mongers

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, August 16th, 2012 - 23 comments

The Australian Government has won a Supreme Court case on its plain packaging law. The tobacco companies are now planning to take it to the WTO. I hope Gillard responds to the law suit with a letter along the lines of: “Dear Cancer-mongers, Consider yourselves lucky we don’t nationalise your assets and pass a law to have you arrested for corporate homicide. Go fuck yourselves. Regards, Julia.”

Libor and the rotten heart of capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 11:09 am, August 8th, 2012 - 30 comments

The Libor banking scandal has grown into a full fledged international crisis. Just another example of the rot at the heart of capitalism.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, July 29th, 2012 - 1 comment

My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring).  This week: hiding tax, growing up neo-liberal and Syria.

Rorts

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, July 23rd, 2012 - 59 comments

One law for the rich, another for the poor.

“Free” market? No: Tournament

Written By: - Date published: 1:56 pm, July 18th, 2012 - 50 comments

Many modern companies are now operating markets of their own, but they’re not “free” as claimed. Rather there is only one possible purchaser of your labour, leading to a tournament of who is able to accept the lowest pay and conditions. This isn’t even capitalism, but we’re letting them get away with it.

“Opportunistic”

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, July 18th, 2012 - 47 comments

I don’t know which is stranger, a currency-trading capitalist denigrating people for maximising their economic opportunities, or claims dating back to The Treaty being passed off as somehow superficial.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, July 15th, 2012 - 5 comments

I’m going to try and put up a piece each Sunday of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring).  This week: the bread & butter line, bankers, racism and the corporate speak of John Key.

After Five Years: Report Card on Crisis Capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 2:48 pm, July 11th, 2012 - 27 comments

A compelling summary of the mess that capitalism has got us in to. Reprinted with permission from Truthout.org. Read it!

Australia’s sweatshop

Written By: - Date published: 10:29 am, July 7th, 2012 - 69 comments

The Nats have given up on catching up with Australia, and are content for us to become their low wage sweatshop instead. Their cheerleaders think it’s a great idea.

I beg to differ.

Choices, choices: waste at Pukekohe

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, July 6th, 2012 - 56 comments

You know how the Government is so skint, and absolutely much get back into surplus by 2014/15, that it has cut education at every level, cut conservation, cut home insulation, cut Kiwisaver, cut Working for Families .. etc etc. They even created a new super-ministry to cut costs. And what’s the first action of Mobie Dick? $2.2 million sunk into Aussie V8s.

What is “progress”?

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, July 5th, 2012 - 22 comments

If “two-income families are increasingly worse off than single-income families were a generation ago”, then something is seriously wrong with our definition of “progress”.

Paul Reynolds takes the money and runs

Written By: - Date published: 11:14 am, July 4th, 2012 - 41 comments

$20 million. That’s how much Paul Reynolds pocketed during his disastrous 5 years as CEO of Telecom. You could have employed dozens of teachers and nurses over that period for that money. Instead, it all went to one man as the company he headed went down the toilet. What a broken system capitalism is. The kicker: the $1.75m goodbye gift, on which he got a $100,000 tax cut. Nice.

Sunday Reading

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, July 1st, 2012 - 1 comment

I’m going to try and put up a piece each Sunday of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn’t fit in anywhere (no linkwhoring).  This week: Feminism, capitalism & resource depletion.

Heroes of capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, June 30th, 2012 - 24 comments

Banks engaged in market fixing. What a surprise. No doubt someone will be held to account…

A poor investment

Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, June 28th, 2012 - 60 comments

Now the legislation to sell our assets has passed, the question on lefties’ minds is whether it’s more principled to refuse to buy them or to spend the money to ensure they don’t get sold offshore.

What’s not getting a lot of attention is whether they’re actually the great investment our Prime Minister keeps insisting they are…

Privatisation bill passed

Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, June 26th, 2012 - 239 comments

They’re quite literally selling our country down the river.

It’s for efficiency

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, June 26th, 2012 - 10 comments

Now we learn that directors’ fees are set to double after National sells or assets. Who pays for the fat-cats to get twice the cream for the same work? We do. Through higher power prices. It’s just another cost of privatisation that we all pay – despite the fact that Treasury reckons 95% of us won’t buy shares. No wonder 100,000 of us have signed the referendum petition already.

What’s in the TPPA?

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, June 24th, 2012 - 44 comments

While we the public distract ourselves with trivia like car crushing, and focus on other important matters like asset sales, the TPPA which is quietly unfolding in the background is actually the most important ongoing political issue.  It has potentially disastrous implications for our sovereignty and our future.

Endless greed

Written By: - Date published: 11:09 am, June 24th, 2012 - 57 comments

It’s sickening to see rich ministers and columnists saying ‘of course we need to green the economy’ and then turnaround and promote fossil fuel extraction and agricultural intensification – things that will ultimately wreck the environment and the economy that is built on it. The truth is, we’re a hugely wealthy country already – it’s just most of the wealth is with the endlessly greedy elite.

I am the Markets

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, June 23rd, 2012 - 12 comments

“Markets have become increasingly concerned that the austerity programmes in the eurozone are causing a vicious circle of recession”, and “Markets were confused by mixed messages from European capitals”. I have only one word of reply: Bollocks. Did anyone phone me to ask how I, The Markets, was feeling about these subjects? Did they hell!

Darkhorse: Subsidising “capital markets” through asset sales

Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, June 20th, 2012 - 26 comments

Darkhorse writes amazingly insightful economic pieces on his ‘How Daft’ blog (the title gives you a clue as to what he thinks of the current state of affairs). The neoliberal experiment has been an abject failure by any rational measure. And there are alternatives. Darkhorse has given us permission to syndicate his posts, the originals are here.