Written By:
notices and features - Date published:
5:30 pm, July 3rd, 2017 - 99 comments
Categories: Daily review -
Tags:
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
How important a news article was it to report Jacinda’s wedding surprise?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11885146
Beautiful clip, genuine, unrehearsed and real. Love it.
Meanwhile the outgoing PM continues to look awkward on his social media feed, his americas cup clip was an epic fail.
It wasn’t which is why it was reported. It helps distract from the undermining of society that the capitalists and their government are engaging in.
Voters like politicians who can emote with conviction and truth.
And do policy.
No other party has anything close to her for that combination.
If you like a bit of John Michael Greer – JMG – new site up http://www.ecosophia.net/
And I do enjoy JMG. Thanks.
Over half of Kiwis think politics and the economy are rigged against them
Thing is, they’re right. The economy is rigged to benefit only the rich. That’s why the poor are getting poorer and all the benefits of our developing economy are going to the rich.
And then there’s this interesting lie:
45% may disagree with the statement “the country is in decline” but that is not the same as agreeing with the way we’re going.
How is the economy rigged?
NZ is one of the easiest countries to go into business for yourself, I think these idiots are confusing buying a house and the money required to get on the property ladder with the general economy.
Fuck, people are stupid.
So many idiots ! Maybe it’s lead poisoning.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/03/lead-exposure-in-nz-cities-linked-to-lower-iq-report.html
/shrug
I’m running a genius level IQ.
Sorry, ahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaha.
Delusional.
You’re a perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect:
You’re too stupid to recognise your ignorance.
in conjunction with your humility and modesty?
I’m an arrogant bastard and always tell the truth. Did you not get that from my fairly explicit name?
DtB has been commenting here for many, many years. I’ve read possibly thousands of comments, and participated in hundreds of exchanges with Draco. While we have different opinions and outlooks, I do not recall a SINGLE instance of abuse, acrimony or intellectual dishonesty.
And I know what my IQ is. I happily estimate DtB is a good 10 pts higher than me. So yes if Draco states genius levels of IQ, I accept that as a statement of simple fact.
And if others feel threatened by that, it would have been smarter not to have made it so obvious.
I second that…
DTB is able to cut through the chaff and get to the nitty gritty using as few words as possible. There are few people here or anywhere else who have that ability. It is something to envy and admire at the same time.
Running it into the ground.
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-03072017/#comment-1347668
The economy is rigged so that only the rich can do anything. If anyone else wants to do anything they have to go through the rich and they’ll demand their pound of flesh to make them richer while ensuring that the person who does the work remains poor.
And it may be easy to go into business for yourself but for the majority of people that won’t work. They won’t have the resources to do anything for starters nor for getting the necessary word out that they’re open for business and then the competition, especially from Big Business, will destroy their business and they’ll lose everything.
All those builders out there are specifically prevented from working together and yet any business is allowed to own any other business which results in The Four Companies that own the 147 companies that own [nearly] everything.
Now, if you’re going to keep saying that that’s not rigged then you’re delusional.
What load of bullshit you’ve got no idea.
Come on fella engage that genius level IQ and put it to use, a man of your intellectual horsepower should have no issue getting together a few mill at least.
I’ve got experience (Yes, I’ve actually started a business or two) and research on which to base what I say.
https://www.thebalance.com/succeed-in-starting-a-business-2947253
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller
https://hbr.org/2014/02/research-serial-entrepreneurs-arent-any-more-likely-to-succeed
All you’ve got is a failed ideology.
So why the lack of success Mr Genuis? what’s the problem?
Lack of resources and being taken for a ride by capitalists.
Yep always every one else’s fault eh Draco, you just sit back and keep pontificating that Marx is answer even though you deny this with a few tweaks , I am happy that you been a student for ever and Secure in your belief that your perceived business failures was every one else fault as people failed to see your genius keeps you grounded
The Wall St titans are your example of success right? Positive thinking is all you need… and a total lack of morals.
I didn’t say that it was everyone else’s fault – I said it was the fault of the system that prevents people having access to the resources that they need to be innovative and it does that so that a few people can be rich and powerful.
And the research that’s coming out now actually shows that and shows that it can only get worse.
It’s called marketing you dopey fuck.
If you ain’t got the coin to develop your idea you pitch it and sell the concept to the people that do.
Genius my arse.
You should check out the Kruger-Dunning effect:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect 😉
Just proving my point:
You really are stupid BM.
I think it’s you clowns suffering from that, not me.
Come on BM, chill out. After all, it is not yet 23 Sep.
Interesting how the RWs operate in tandem. Like a bunch of fruit flies with a sweaty bit of fruit. I’m trying vinegar detergent and fruit. Seems to work with those peskies – don’t know about on the blog.
I think it’s called “entanglement”.
Do you mean we get caught up in trying to straighten politics as in the saying ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we stoop to deceive’?
Or something along those lines.
Many Lefties have come across this and indeed some have called it “spooky” as it appears to violate some laws of cause & effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement 😉
. . . . when first we practise to deceive.” Walter Scott
Missed that one …
Spooky
100% Draco. One of the top rated comments on the Stuff article:
RIGGED
“NZ is one of the easiest countries to go into business for yourself,”
What does that have to do with it? For many people that aren’t going into business for themselves, things are grim. Not being able to afford rent is a result of how the economy is being managed, and lots of other people are doing very well out of that. You don’t care, many people do.
Nothing gets handed to you on a plate weka.
There’s a lot of avenues people in NZ can pursue if they want to make a success out of life.
Sure, you may not succeed but there are no barriers to getting in the game and giving it a go.
Sure, but by your own admission not everyone can succeed at this. There are reasons for this beyond personal failings. In other words, stand on the backs of others and do well that way. Which is exactly what the original comment was about. The people whose backs are being stood on have had enough and are starting to point out the flaws in the system.
Whose backs are getting stood on? what do you mean?
You work for someone you get paid for that work, do people expect more than that? is that not enough?
of course it’s not enough when you don’t get paid enough to live on. There’s only so many hours in the day BM, and money doesn’t grow on trees. Most people understand the fundamental laws of physics.
People get paid what they’re worth.
You have no skills you get fuck all, you get skills you get paid more.
That’s how it’s always worked, the only thing that’s changed is people’s expectations.
People that want a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget are always going to be disappointed.
No they don’t.
If the people doing the work were paid what they were worth then there’d be no profits for the bludging shareholders.
That’s simple maths that even an idiot like you should be able to understand.
Most employees are a cog in the machine easily replaced.
BM’s simply being a wind-up. You generate no respect for your stupid outbursts, BM; none whatsoever.
the shareholders are even more easily replaced. In fact, we don’t need them at all – the business would still go on without them.
Whereas, we do need the workers without whom the business would grind to a stop.
“Most employees are a cog in the machine easily replaced.”
Thanks for proving our point, rofl.
“People get paid what they’re worth.
You have no skills you get fuck all”
This doesn’t really explain all those unskilled managers sitting in offices around the country.
“You work for someone you get paid for that work, do people expect more than that? is that not enough?”
Not even close, BM. Your world view is desiccated and crimped. Real people know that work should be lively, not lifeless. Your view is the very problem we describe here, day in, day out, but you can’t see it for looking. Pointing the way for you is as rewarding as p*ssing into the wind.
The people who aren’t doing the work are getting infinitely more than the people doing the work.
You are, of course, here supporting that bludging and the failed system that not only allows it but encourages it.
+1 NZ is one of the worst countries in terms of getting ahead.
Yes there are barriers. Lots of them.
One of those barriers is often that they or their parents lost moey or resources the last time they “gave it a go”, lost, and now righties blame them for “poor choices”.
It’s cruel to encourage people to take gambles with their careers and then judge them for losing on those gambles.
+1
Yep, it’s going to be interesting to see if New Zealand’s underbelly shows itself this election.
507 adults in the sample.
No statistical difference in responses between generations.
Not convincing.
was it an online poll?
Heh. Despatches from Gitmo: according to a detainee there,
RT is fake news, propaganda, it’s weird how they love Trump
Kellyanne is Skeletor
Sessions is an ass hat
Trump is an idiot…
http://www.thedailybeast.com/gitmo-detainees-get-russian-propaganda-from-us-military
Tip No. !0.
Vote for a Labour/Green bloc government that will put a 5c-10c cost on supermarket bags in supermarkets that, according to the UK experience, will reduce plastic bag use by 80%.
Income from the plastic bag levy can be directed to any number of charities-cleaning up the beaches and oceans around NZ would be a good start.
Or shop at Pak’n Slave where bags already cost 10c 😀
Plastic bags are useful, they make great bin liners.
Just design them to biodegrade after six months.
Durable bioplastics are a better option according to this guy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-szaky/bioplastics-and-the-truth_b_8954844.html
I agree with that.
Why aren’t single-use (or, in BM’s case, double-use) plastic bags or even plastic wrap regulated to be biodegradable? Give it a requirement to be broken down inside a year or two. If the cost is onerous shops will charge for it themselves or switch to paper, and a major source of environmental plastic is eliminated.
This counts for other items, too – unless there’s a reason for it to last longer than five years, make it mandatorily biodegradable. That’ll sort plastic bottles, “disposable” nappies, ice cream cartons, frozen goods packaging… we’re making stuff that lasts hundreds of years in order to wrap something we’ll eat in a few weeks, and meanwhile we include irreparable planned obsolescence into larger items that consumers would prefer lasted for decades. Go figure.
Fuck, I sound like a goddamned hippie. Steak tonight, methinks 🙂
+111
What makes you think we have the tech to replace plastics with biodegradable plastics?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable_plastic
And if we can’t do that then we go back to using paper and cardboard.
afaik it’s not very straight forward. Biodegradable and degradable are different things, and biodegradable doesn’t mean it will break down in a compost or on a beach or in the ocean. Some ‘biodegradable’ plastics need special industrial incinerators. They’re a problem for the current recyclers because you can’t recycle them with other plastics. So if you don’t have the industrial incinerator they have to go in the landfill.
As with recycling shopping bags and glass and much else in NZ, we’re not big enough to make it financially viable under the capitalist system so it gets sent off shore and is often dealt with badly there. In the case of bioplastics I expect most are currently being send to the dump where they won’t biodegrade.
Things like takeaway containers, that’s possible to make from things like cornstarch, but it’s still a different product than plastic e.g. it will go soggy over time, you can’t use it for liquids etc. But most things currently made from plastic aren’t that easy to make from compostable bioplastic.
This is another good example of why industrially-based lifestyles are a problem. We need to stop using so much shit, and make what we do use reusable.
It’s not inventing faster-than-light drive. We know pretty well how to synthesise polymer chains and how they will behave. If the current biodegrade temperature is too high, I suspect that it’s for want of development investment rather than technical difficulty – why search for a substitute for something or already negligible cost?
Even without polymers we can go back to glass, cardboard or tin. At least glass and tin sink, rather than acting as fish and turtle lures.
yes, I’m just pointing out that the whole we can get plastic to disappear thing isn’t as straight forward as we might think. I’m happy to go back to other less problematic materials but there are still limits to growth. Even with optimal recycling of metals and glass there is wastage. Better to reduce and reuse as much as possible.
I tend to be more in favour of the less problematic materials and full recycling for most places we use plastics.
Plastic bags need to be biodegradable and compost-able simply because recycling them, ATM, is technically difficult.
Sure, but I’ve just pointed out that we don’t have the ability to make compostable plastic bags.
Already been invented. Just need to work out where to get the negative energy from now.
lol I’ll pick some up from the dairy.
I meant actually invented, not still theoretical.
😛
I suppose it’s an interesting question: When does the invention take place? When the theory is postulated or when someone builds a practical working model from the theory?
or what if someone builds a practical working model but never does anything with the theory or the model, like Heron’s steam turbine?
Oh, we have the tech alright. Even testing facilities to establish the exact level of biodegtadability or compostability.
Have a look at my comment here. It’s not very straightforward.
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-03072017/#comment-1347670
I’ll vote for that BG
What ever happened to the old school thick, matt, brown paper bags? They were the best, strong enough to line the bin if needed, usefully enough to line a cake tin or use with an iron to get wax off the carpet.
Mum would wash out the plastic bread and frozen vege bags and reuse them and the glad wrap too, thanks Mum 😀 you’ve always been a stellar example. Times have changed, sad how reliant humanity has become on oil.
Hmmmm…
Hemp paper bags… bi product… of what we should be growing, bast fibres… perfect application for use. Massive untapped potential just waiting for action in order to solve many problems. Change of government please, legalise it.
We use only “old school thick, matt, brown paper bags” at our environment centre in Riverton, Cinny. Plastic’s a thing of the past in progressive centres like ours.
Coolies, the Riverton Enviro Centre is on to it 😀
Those paper bags are so great, I remember being a preschooler and we would make masks out of them at playcentre, cut out some eye holes and get out the crayons, no suffocation issues either lolololz.
Kleensaks 😉
Interesting that we used to have the ability to process rubbish that wasn’t wet. I’m trying to remember how we did that. Pre-recycling, so tin cans were washed and squashed but presumably not sopping wet. All vegetables scraps went in the compost.
If they’re bad enough to attract a levy, they’re bad enough to be banned. A levy is just cynical revenue raising.
That’s too hard and will never fly Gabby. Maybe later, when we have got 80% not using the bags and the habit is disappearing, we can move towards a total ban.
Paso a paso…..
Just like with CFCs.
From Checkpoint:
Why is Palantir in New Zealand?
It seems Palantir has an office in each of the Five Eyes major cities – Washington, London, Toronto, Canberra and Wellington. According to a senior Palantir staffer:
Palantir is all about classified work driving good decisions based on ultra fast analysis from around the world. [I paraphrase slightly]
I might be prepared to accept that if it wasn’t for the fact it’s founder is a supporter of… and a member of… the inner cabinet of a mentally deranged US President and he is also on record as stating that women should never have been given the vote.
Data mining NZ citizens for the Bilderbergers ?
Today, I saw a seal (you may be interested).
https://robertguyton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/07/seal-visits-riverton.html
Cool. How often do you get seals there?
Rarely, these days. This one’s been visiting over the past three weeks and is sometimes seen feeding on trout; lying on it’s back, feasting large, according to the retired sailor living in a house that overlooks the estuary, he watches every morning over his coffee. Dolphin visits used to be relatively common-place, but are rare now also; what’s happening? Are wild creatures becoming disenchanted with us humans and our insensitive ways? Hell yes! The last family of dolphins to visit the river and estuary here; a pod of Hectors, were harassed by goons on jet-skiis. I despair. Briefly. I side with the dolphins; the goons (us) must change, or all is lost. In any case, this guy’s here now and seems to be happy. There’s a historical account of otters in the river here, but to me, it’s just been a case of mistaken identity. This guy’s behaviour was very otterish.
Lord, don’t get me started on jet skis (bring on Peak Oil I say).
Your estuary has dairy farms in the catchment I assume. Maybe the sea creatures don’t like the vibe now.
lol
How do you surprise the guy who’s looked back and had every human in existence in his field of view?
Trump makes even someone who’s walked on the moon raise his eyebrows and check to see if anyone else heard what potus just said.
This guy’s face when he realises what he’s actually going to be talking about on camera is priceless too.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/white-house-reaction-trump-cnn-tweet-martha-raddatz-thomas-bossert-wwe-body-slam-2017-7?r=US&IR=T
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201849735/shelf-stackers-feel-singled-out-as-unskilled-immigrants Really, Jason Witihira, really?
“The hours of work or the time of work, [immigrants] aren’t questioning, whereas the New Zealand residents don’t want to start at three in the morning, or don’t want to finish at 12 at night.”
New Zealanders have an expectation of a certain level of employee rights, Immigrants, having experienced little in their own country, don’t.
Why should anyone, immigrant or not, be paid the minimum wage for having to work such unsociable hours?
Besides, I really doubt the claim that it’s only immigrants who apply for these jobs. Employers prefer them for the very reason stated above.
The ‘Key Model’ of autocratic kleptocracy has great appeal to far-right numpties chafing under better constitutional controls:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/03/first-dog-on-the-moon-decodes-tony-abbotts-completely-unwanted-policy-manifesto
Abbott is doing to Turnbull what Rudd did to Gillard except tony gets to use murdochs soapboxes to make it nice and public.