class war

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More pay for them; bigger bills for us

Written By: karol - Date published: 1:09 pm, April 4th, 2013 - 24 comments

Ryall has announced that Might River Power top brass will be receiving massive pay rises, in relation to the sale of the powercos. The directors have multiple positions, and questions have been raise about the past of one or two of them. They benefit; we pay.

Good for the goose

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 7:04 am, April 2nd, 2013 - 90 comments

As you know, the Right says more money incentivises harder work. John Key felt he wasn’t working very hard when he first became PM on a net $250,000 a year, so he gave himself tax cuts and pay rises worth $100 a day. Just look at the results! But I’m confused: why’s he cutting our pay with youth wages, higher Kiwisaver, and higher student loan repayments?

How austerity is destroying Britain… coming soon near you

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:23 am, April 1st, 2013 - 79 comments

A raft of Tory policies have been dismantling the British welfare state: bedroom tax, privatising the NHS: NZ’s NAct government is following the same pattern of slyly changing small things, adding up to major changes that are ultimately socially & economically destructive.

Tax cuts – because it worked so well last time

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:47 am, March 29th, 2013 - 190 comments

The ideological loonies advising the government want us to go even further down the stupid and damaging path of income tax cuts. Surely even the Nats have too much sense to listen this time.

The wage gap and the productivity lie

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 11:42 am, March 28th, 2013 - 23 comments

New figures show that the wage gap with Australia is still increasing. National has nothing to offer but useless policies and excuses, while the captains of industry trot out the old productivity lie again.

Benefit reforms trigger surge in DPB births?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:58 am, March 25th, 2013 - 120 comments

National, the party of beneficiary bashing that has lead a crusade against parents on the DBP, appears to have triggered a surge of new births to DPB parents.

NRT – National: Restoring discrimination

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 1:57 pm, March 23rd, 2013 - 7 comments

I/S at No Right Turn on youth rates…

Who was then the gentleman?

Written By: Michael Valley - Date published: 12:24 pm, March 21st, 2013 - 36 comments

When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.

Punitive, anti-beneficiary Bill- opposition needed!

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:28 am, March 20th, 2013 - 48 comments

The Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill second reading is first up on the provisional order paper for today. It is a further step in Paula Bennett & NAct’s vicious, punitive, bennie-bashing campaign. MPs are urged to vote against it!

Hide confused on underclass

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:06 am, March 17th, 2013 - 61 comments

Remember the “underclass”? John Key pretended to be concerned about them for a while as a gimmick for the 2008 election. Thanks to Matt McCarten, Rodney Hide has been reminded of their existence. He then goes on to diagnose the wrong problems and the wrong solutions (of course). I’m sure that Standardistas can do better…

The Brits are smarter than us

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 9:41 am, March 11th, 2013 - 44 comments

All sorts of bad polling news for the British Conservative government, as the Brits lose faith in the politics of economic austerity.

Recommended viewing

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:47 pm, March 8th, 2013 - 24 comments

In 2002 a television crew from Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTÉ happened to be recording a documentary about Chávez when a coup was staged against him.

Highly recommended.

Spoiled brats running MRP

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 4:41 pm, March 7th, 2013 - 21 comments

No surprise to find that Mighty River Power bosses are behaving like spoiled brats – that’s pretty much what they are.

Chavez: 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013

Written By: karol - Date published: 11:21 am, March 6th, 2013 - 231 comments

Chavez was too young to die, but he is a significant figure in South American politics. A controversial figure in Venezuela, the full story has yet to be written of his contribution to his country, his impact on the left & world politics.

Welfare is not a pissing contest

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:37 am, March 3rd, 2013 - 154 comments

Why must we turn welfare, an important safety net and part of the social fabric / contract of our country, into a stupid pissing match about a minister’s “reputation”?

“Minister for Small Things”

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:37 am, March 1st, 2013 - 51 comments

Yesterday, David Cunliffe,on Peter Dunne’s Student Loan Amendment Bill, & the related inter-generational swindle, labelled Dunne as “Minister for Small Changes” & “for Small Things”. Dunne further showed his support of the “neoliberal” swindle, with a couple of tweets on non-residents buying NZ property, smearing the Greens as racist.

Derisory minimum wage

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:42 am, February 27th, 2013 - 90 comments

The minimum wage should be at least $15 per hour. A living wage is estimated at $18.40 per hour. So what have the Nats done? Raised the minimum wage by $0.25 per hour to $13.75. It’s a derisory increase. Even their own supporters think so.

Towards a more inequal New Zealand

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 7:41 am, February 27th, 2013 - 30 comments

The average CEO got a 10% pay rise last year. The average worker got 2.6%. Minimum wage workers will get 1.9% – a 25 cent an hour token gesture. And 30,000 fewer of us have jobs than a year ago and are not earning at all any more. And now we learn the finance sector sucked $440m more out of us last year – a total of $4 billion. No wonder the planes to Aussie are full.

Hobbit emails show Jackson’s dodgy dealings

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 4:01 pm, February 26th, 2013 - 315 comments

The government has released the Hobbit documents. The Ombudsman ordered them to. The full release is available at stuff and what stands out (apart from the insistent and narcissistic tone of every film industry correspondent) is the fact that Peter Jackson himself noted the “do not sign” advice from the union was being called off. TWO DAYS before he went public with his “evil union” story.

Nats’ fossil fuel bet & culture of excess bankrupted Solid Energy

Written By: James Henderson - Date published: 7:05 am, February 22nd, 2013 - 164 comments

A look at Solid Energy’s books highlights the diseased culture of the corporate elite in this country and National’s failed bet on fossil fuels. The blistering pace that executives’ ridiculous paypackets rose at shows a culture of pocket-lining in the company. The massive expansion of liabilities in the lignite bet, which has crippled the company, was part of National’s fossil fuels strategy.

Think tanks & global-local networks

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:52 am, February 20th, 2013 - 25 comments

George Monbiot exposes how well-funded right wing ‘think tanks’ and individuals operate through networks including the AEI, IEA & Koch. These have links to the NZ Initiative (BRT & NZ Institute). The coming DailyBlog may help challenge such influential networks and their destructive ‘neoliberal’ politics.

What killed Ken Callow?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 7:25 pm, February 18th, 2013 - 13 comments

The CTU wants to raise awareness of the effect of market pressures on working conditions and workplace safety. What killed Ken Callow?

“There is Power in a Union”

Written By: karol - Date published: 9:16 am, February 18th, 2013 - 80 comments

Unions have been under concerted attack for several decades. Though weakened, they still produce results for workers. NZ Teachers’ Unions act on sound research, aiming to provide a quality and fair education system for all Kiwis. Global federations are campaigning against anti-worker corporates, like DHL.

The elite’s excuse for opposing a living wage

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 11:52 am, February 15th, 2013 - 66 comments

Don’t you love hearing the rich say the working poor can’t have more pay? The faux concern that higher wages cost jobs from the same people who support huge executive pay packets and tax cuts? If you really believed higher wages meant fewer jobs, you would cut the CEO’s pay in half, not dick around over a few dollars an hour for real workers.

Irony overload as English calls some bosses greedy

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:20 am, February 15th, 2013 - 22 comments

Irony meters everywhere pegged their meters as Bill English accused some bosses of being “greedy”, and not paying their staff enough. Hey Double Dipton – those greedy bosses? – they’re just following your example…

$18.40 an hour to live, not just exist

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:01 am, February 14th, 2013 - 89 comments

The Living Wage Coalition has released the results of their research, calculating that a wage of $18.40 is needed for workers and their families to have a decent life and participate in society. About 40% of workers currently earn less. The pressure is now on bosses of businesses and public bodies to pay the living wage or explain why they deserve a decent life but their workers don’t.