capitalism

Categories under capitalism

Litigation and equal pay – a history of the 1950’s equal pay campaign

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, August 28th, 2018 - 3 comments

Forward In 2016 I wrote the below dissertation as part of my History Honours degree at Victoria University.  This dissertation explores the 1950s equal pay campaign, and specifically looks at the Jean Parker Case. Jean Parker was a PSA member employed at IRD, who like Kristine Bartlett 60 years later, won a landmark equal pay legal […]

Censorship

Written By: - Date published: 2:07 pm, August 23rd, 2018 - 13 comments

It seems that if you’re the right person, harbour the correct thoughts, have the right connections, and you don’t like whatever the political opinion, news or information that’s floating about is, then you can get it banned.

Elizabeth Warren and Accountable Capitalism

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, August 21st, 2018 - 22 comments

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is proposing a law change that would require US corporations to consider its workers and community in company decisions and prevent political donations from being made unless 75% of shareholders agreed.

Finkelstein on Dame Hodge

Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, August 18th, 2018 - 58 comments

“…if any – if any – of the rules that are now being implemented in the Labour Party have any meaning whatsoever… the first person who should be booted out of the Labour Party is Dame Hodge.” – Finkelstein.

A Thousand Words

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, August 11th, 2018 - 139 comments

…in a single graph.

Propaganda Wars.

Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, August 10th, 2018 - 30 comments

No-one reading this blog would willfully offer support to an ideology that’s killing people, right?

Who protects us from water companies?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, August 10th, 2018 - 78 comments

New Zealand seriously needs a water regulator. Something that will show that each catchment can withstand having that much taken out of it, and that it is being sold for a fair price, and ensures everyone has access to beautiful-quality water.

We need more radicals coming here

Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, August 9th, 2018 - 68 comments

We need more radical voices again here. But it’s like MMP has turned us once again into the passionless people. It always looks like “hate speech” when you hate it.

Guest post: The end of Neoliberalism – What went wrong?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, August 7th, 2018 - 172 comments

The Left predicted the death of neoliberalism after the global financial crisis of 2008.  But since then inequality has increased and new right nationalism is on the ascendancy.  How should the left respond?

The Pied Piper

Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, August 6th, 2018 - 32 comments

If we’re living in a global village, is the name of the village Hamelin?

Let them fall

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, August 3rd, 2018 - 105 comments

We’ve seen a fair few construction companies go under or get close to it recently.

Corporatism.

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, August 1st, 2018 - 44 comments

Hand in hand with “compassionate liberalism”.

A right, Left problem

Written By: - Date published: 1:17 pm, July 24th, 2018 - 78 comments

A post suggesting that the traditional descriptive lens of “left and right” isn’t up to capturing current political realities.

Brexiting the EU

Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, July 24th, 2018 - 75 comments

In the United Kingdom Theresa May is facing a confidence threatening Brexit crisis, the organisers of the Vote Leave campaign are facing prosecution, and an opinion poll suggests that a significant proportion of the electorate are willing to shift right to achieve a hard Brexit.

The UN is shocked by NZ’s child poverty rates

Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, July 22nd, 2018 - 89 comments

Earlier this year the United Nations expressed shock and concern at New Zealand’s rates of child poverty, homelessness, incarceration and violence.  What is this Government doing to address these issues?

Julian Assange; Journey’s End?

Written By: - Date published: 10:14 am, July 22nd, 2018 - 165 comments

Is Julian Assange about to be arrested? Equador looks set to evict the accused rapist and capitalist tool from its London embassy.

Government with a plan

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, July 22nd, 2018 - 46 comments

Labour and New Zealand First Ministers under the first term of the sixth Labour government sitting in the Cabinet office.

The polls are great. Top work. But I’m getting worried about the entropy of this government already. Matthew Hooten and Karl Marx agree with me.

My Little Eye…

Written By: - Date published: 10:28 am, July 21st, 2018 - 17 comments

Something beginning with…wtf?!

Is Matthew Hooton becoming a socialist?

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 am, July 20th, 2018 - 41 comments

Occasional Standard reader Matthew Hooton has written a cogent column on industrial relations in which he realises and accepts that wages for ordinary workers are too low.

In Short…

Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, July 14th, 2018 - 49 comments

A post puzzling over our collective state of mind in the face of incredible danger and suggesting the only course of action we can take. Covering our eyes and blocking our ears isn’t it.

There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech

Written By: - Date published: 6:48 pm, July 11th, 2018 - 186 comments

There’s never been Free Speech and that’s not actually much of a problem according to Te Reo Putake, who is no stranger to the downside of Saying Things.

Progress.

Written By: - Date published: 5:21 pm, July 8th, 2018 - 10 comments

I don’t pay much attention to news channels these days, and realise this will have been all over the place in the shape of headlines and lead stories. So I’m sorry for simply echoing that which is already being amplified, but hey…

Smile!

Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, July 7th, 2018 - 98 comments

The extent and limits of current politics.

Apparently Labour was to blame for the global financial crisis

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, July 5th, 2018 - 65 comments

These sorts of debates do my head in. Essentially because they are so removed from reality that anyone with any sense would know that Labour was not responsible for the last global financial crisis.  But apparently the opposition spokesperson does not understand what happened in 2008. Does this seem a bit harsh? Well it is […]

Arses and Elbows

Written By: - Date published: 11:35 am, July 1st, 2018 - 50 comments

Deserving workers and undeserving workers in the public service.

updated

Flying Kites.

Written By: - Date published: 2:34 pm, June 26th, 2018 - 21 comments

If we can’t see the wood for the trees, shouldn’t we simply step back a bit and look again?

A Question from a Room.

Written By: - Date published: 6:02 am, June 19th, 2018 - 113 comments

Take a look around the room you’re in. Or if you’re out and about and reading this on some mobile device, then take a look around the next room you enter. Closely.

Let’s Build a Hospital!

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, June 14th, 2018 - 19 comments

…on reclaimed land. (Dunedin) – because water features are nice things to have.

Liberalism Uber Alles

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, June 13th, 2018 - 32 comments

If the political class think liberalism has failed, then why is it that the process of killing off NZ Post is approaching completion?

New World Disorder.

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, June 12th, 2018 - 45 comments

Liberalism was meant to be the New World Order and even (so the briefly celebrated  Fukiyama reckoned anyway) an End to History. Big stuff then. But it seems the placid and complacent consensus is fraying round the edges.

Killing Them Softly With…

Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, June 11th, 2018 - 48 comments

In New Zealand there is sufficient evidence to show that poor peoples’ lives are cut short because of poverty related  poor nutrition. While food banks are alleviating the worst impacts of hunger, their kindness may well be contributing to the problem. Food poverty is a systemic issue and requires a systemic response, a response that successive governments are able to avoid while charities continue to provide a buffer for the system.