Written By:
notices and features - Date published:
5:30 pm, September 24th, 2019 - 28 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.
WEAG recommendations..?
Is anyone aware of any lobby groups or similar that are pushing for all the recommendations to be adopted? There are a couple of us down here (Wgtn) but we would like to network with others.
Child Poverty Action Group?
Auckland Action Against Poverty?
Sorry, I'm on my phone so can't link….but I recall there was a piece on RNZ about a combined effort to advance the WEAG recommendations.
Sadly, This Lot have made a commitment to Middle NewZild…just like the Previous Mob, and the Lot before them…
Thanks Rosemary!
No luck so far with AAAP after several emails and in person contact. Bugger.
Will try CPAG – good thinking – but being child focused, which in my opinion is not the most disadvantaged group (that would be long term disabled), I doubt they are all that concerned with desperate beneficiaries desperate to retire so they can better afford their costs.
Sadly, again, Labour has a history of choosing to pretend that long term and non- ACC disabled will simply go away if they are ignored.
They don't give a shit about these groups….never have, never will.
CPAG produced a paper about how disability impacts a family…seriously affects deprivation.
Onya, A, for persuing this. Respect.
Thanks!
I hope we get some traction.
Hannah and Chloe might be worth talking to https://twitter.com/Hannah_McGNZ/status/1176319764743897089
Cheers!
winners & losers…'all done in the..best possible taste'.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/23/hedge-funds-win-big-from-short-selling-thomas-cook-shares
Coming soon to a theatre …near you.
https://youtu.be/9RZSTx9khWw
Well that pretty much covers it
Fark…is that for real?
Obviously the "ad" itself isn't real, but yeah. They already did a limited trial roll out in certain areas and tout it as a success. However those given the card mostly don’t have any drug/gambling issues and it’s just an inconvenience (sometimes it completely stops their life eg can’t get on a bus) that humiliates people just trying to get by.
A Current Affair has done some stuff on this
lol…know the Honest Australien Gov is not real…but was surprised theyd gone this far though did find a couple of pieces about it…wouldnt be surprised to find it proposed for here in the near future,
Quite disturbing especially the Ministerial powers associated
You never know who is out their lobbying for some shit to be inflicted on the poor and powerless for profit
Remember, China can't compel companies to put back doors and shit in.
/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/23/china-to-place-government-officials-in-100-companies-including-alibaba.html
Another quick TV show heads up.
Just finished watching a six parter called The I-Land. Well worth a watch if you've got some free time and brain cells to rot. A bit like lost at first, then a few twists turn up, and then the kicker at the end.
The I-Land
I watched the start and liked the Lord of Flies hat tip, even a bit Jose Farmer River books, will go back and watch til end. Just finished those Criminal shows and Top Boy, also recommend Money Heist (the first series anyway, it gets a bit unoriginal after that) & Narcos too (the Asian one is coming and it's gonna be brutal).
I think if you haven't written it off by the end of episode two, which you shouldn't as it's well written and acted, three will be a big wtf and it gets even better from there.
I did watch the second episode and yeah, def twists and turns, will keep watching. I had written it off because the beautiful actors, but maybe that's part of the plot. Cheers for the heads up.
Negative interest rates in Europe are social poison.
ECB has ruined business model of German banks, which borrow money short term & lend long term. Banks can no longer earn money w/flat yield curve: maturity transformation business is dead. Commerzbank shares dive in tandem w/2s10s yield spread.
https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article200679662/Banken-Das-Geschaeftsmodell-mit-dem-Zins-ist-tot.html?wtmc=socialmedia.twitter.shared.web … via @welt
***Rough English translation:***
The cash cow bank lending model is dead, buried by the European Central Bank (ECB).
The coup de grace came at the recent meeting. As ECB President Mario Draghi squeezed the negative interest rate for banks even deeper.
The ECB will restart its bond purchase program in November. This time, without a time limit. Thus, the monetary authorities have permanently chained the long-term interest rate at a low level and cut the profit opportunities of the financial sector to a level that isn't sustainable. For a long time, institutions have made good money from the difference between long-term and short-term interest rates.That time is now over.
In 2016, Commerzbank employed more than 50,000 people. CEO Martin Zielke wants to close one-fifth of the 1,000 branches and even wants to part with an important source of income including his Polish subsidiary MBank. The workforce should be reduced to around 38,000 by the end of 2020.
The sale of Mbank is a desperate attempt at salvation.
In terms of stock market value, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are now loosely hanged even by more regionally active institutions from Norway and Sweden.
Even the once proud Landesbanken is a restructuring case. This is a dangerous development.
<snip>
Historically, banks made money out of time. If time no longer has a price, because there is no more interest, nothing can be earned. Ten-year Bunds yielded around 1.5 percentage points more than two-year issues in historical terms. Currently, the difference is just under 0.2 percentage points.
In the multi-billion loan portfolios, the institutions are losing a lot of money due to ECB policy. Accordingly, the shares of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have fallen in sync with the interest rate differential.
Japan has had negative interest rates for some time and institutions have been unable to earn anything for two decades with time. The JP Morgan analysts' conclusion: Interest margins could continue to shrink and continue to weigh on the earnings side.
"The negative interest rate policy of the ECB is ruining the financial system and is a socio-political poison," says Frank Kohler, CEO of Sparda-Bank Berlin. The financial system is absurd if we have to explain to the children that money has a negative value – and thus debt is good, because you may not have to repay everything.
Facebook deconstructed in Project Voldemort dossier.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/snap-detailed-facebooks-aggressive-tactics-in-project-voldemort-dossier-11569236404
i read a war-story the other day – that i wd like to share..
it came from a book by john clarke/fred dagg..and he used it to illustrate the nz sense of humour…it's a true story..
(plus he said it 'should square the shoulders of every kiwi'..and i agree..)
the setting is ww2 – trieste in northern italy..
the kiwi soldiers had liberated the town/had done all the fighting..
but the americans are running the war..and decide to have a victory parade thru the town..
it is pointed out to them that the kiwis had done all the fighting – so surely they should lead the/any parade..
but the americans decided their marines wd lead/do the parade..
so..comes the day of the parade..
the americans lead the parade – proudly brandishing their banner – with their motto:
'second to none'..
and then behind them came the much more rag-tag kiwi soldiers..
holding up as their banner – a bed-sheet –
– with 'none' written on it..
Spineless fucker.
Less than a week after his impressive electoral achievement, the head of the largest Knesset faction, Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz, conceded his right to be the first to try and form a coalition government. The explanation given by “party sources” for this concession is that Gantz prefers to wait for Netanyahu to try first and fail.
Regrettably, this lame excuse is unconvincing. This move looks like a capitulation without a fight, an admission that the right wing’s long-standing tactic of delegitimizing parties representing Arab society succeeded. Gantz was apparently worried over being portrayed as someone who “depends on the votes of anti-Zionist, terror-supporting Arab citizens,” as the Joint List is described by right-wing politicians and journalists.
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/israel-election-results-gantz-capitulates-netanyahu-1.7890333
Of course HRC was the warmonger.
/
https://twitter.com/marcgarlasco/status/1176274118469201925
https://twitter.com/marcgarlasco/status/1176274126648090626
Pretty illegal, Boris.
Yes, I know that illegal is not the same as unlawful, before the Thesaurus police arrest me.
Unlawful, void and with no effect. Parliament has not been prorogued.
https://twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/1176431580803416064
https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/1176433134419816450
https://edition.cnn.com/uk/live-news/boris-johnson-supreme-court-ruling-dle-intl/index.html
To paraphrase Sean Plunket: 'Anyone else feeling for Boris Johnson?'
Can Johnson survive?
No justification for taking action with such an extreme effect has been put before the court. The only evidence of why itwas taken is the memorandum from Nikki da Costa of 15thAugust. This explains why holding the Queen’s Speech to open a new session of Parliament on 14thOctober would be desirable. It does not explain why it was necessary to bring Parliamentary business to a halt for five weeks before that, when the normal period necessary to prepare for the Queen’s Speech is four to six days. It does not discuss the difference between prorogation and recess. It does not discuss the impact of prorogation on the special procedures for scrutinising the delegated legislation necessary to achieve an orderly withdrawal from the European Union, with or without a withdrawal agreement, on 31stOctober. It does not discuss what Parliamentary time would be needed to secure Parliamentary approval for any new withdrawal agreement, as required by section 13 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The Court is bound to conclude, therefore, that the decision to advise Her Majesty to prorogue Parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating or preventing the ability of Parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification.
[….]
This Court has already concluded that the Prime Minister’s advice to Her Majesty was unlawful, void and of no effect. This means that the Order in Council to which it led was also unlawful, void and of no effect and should be quashed. This means that when the Royal Commissioners walked into the House of Lords it was as if they walked in with a blank sheet of paper. The prorogation was also void and of no effect. Parliament has not been prorogued. This is the unanimous judgment of all 11 Justices
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2019-0192-summary.pdf