Daily Review 28/09/2016

17 comments on “Daily Review 28/09/2016 ”

• Comments are now closed

1. Draco T Bastard 1

   28 September 2016 at 5:54 pm

   Homeownership beyond middle income Aucklanders – Twyford

   New figures show that even middle income Aucklanders are finding themselves unable to afford to buy a first home as National’s housing crisis rolls on, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

   “New data released by interest.co.nz shows that the lower quartile selling price in Auckland, the average for the lowest end of the market, has just hit $695,600. That’s an increase of 53 per cent compared to what it was just three years ago.

   “What this means is that a middle class family with two earners on the average wage would need to save for 8 long years in order to be able to afford a home even in the lowest end of the market.

   “This news comes just days after it was revealed that 78 per cent of people currently renting cannot afford a deposit on the average New Zealand home.

   “This data shows clearly how much of a fiasco National’s housing policy has become. Under this Government, middle New Zealand is missing out and even people on decent incomes are unable to afford a home. National is turning a blind eye as the Kiwi dream of home ownership slips away.

   “Labour’s plan to build more affordable homes and crack down on the speculators who are driving up the price is the only way to address the housing crisis,” says Phil Twyford.
   • Muttonbird 1.1

     28 September 2016 at 6:41 pm

     There’s votes in this. A lot of them.

     Housing will be the election issue so who better to drive the campaign than Twyford who knows inside-out National’s weak points on this.

     Housing will be the election issue because the current government will have done absolutely nothing between now and then, short of promoting their ineffectual ‘Comprehensive Plan’.
     • Macro 1.1.1

       28 September 2016 at 8:24 pm

       “Look at the end of the day I full confidence in my ministers they are doing a really good job in a complex situation which is so complex I can’t understand it – but I have not read the report, and have nothing to do with it anyway, but they seem to be doing a really god job and if I don’t support them they will want my job – so there u have it. And I can find an expert who will tell you that too. Acshully at the end of the day it was all Labours fault anyway. Pulla Benefit is pulling all the levers and I’ll send a bottle of my famous Pinot Noir to every new house buyer in 2030. So nothing to see here, its all good.
       Now does any anyone want a photo of me holding a cute puppy?
       A cute kitten??
       Swallowing a dead rat???
       Oh look over there a Panda!”
       • Chris 1.1.1.1

         29 September 2016 at 12:04 am

         I couldn’t believe it when Bennett said to Campbell that “it’s a really tough issue, you know, and it’s the most vulnerable that get hit the hardest.” And then when Campbell asked her whether the huge debts to Work and Income people ended up with to pay for emergency housing, around $80k etc, would be wiped, Bennett said “oh no, that’s what *they* signed up for, so no, we won’t be looking at that.”

         These fuckers are unbelievable.
         • Wensleydale 1.1.1.1.1

           29 September 2016 at 11:59 am

           You have to give Bennett credit for her absolute, jaw-dropping shamelessness. This is a woman who would routinely bag the National Party for putting the screws on students during her time as the Welfare Officer at Massey University, and yet here she is, big shit-eating grin on her face, saying, “Yes, I know how dreadful it is to be homeless, desperate and living in miserable penury, but fuck those peasants! They can bloody well pay their debts!”

           If there was a Nobel Peace Prize equivalent for hypocrisy, Bennett would be a shoe-in.
2. marty mars 2

   28 September 2016 at 7:19 pm

   I’m sorry but I think this campaign is weird and not in a good way.

   “Holt was in Queenstown over the past three days with Green Party co-leader James Shaw promoting the launch of the party’s latest campaign, #LoveSnow, aimed at protecting the winter and the industry that goes with it from global warming.”

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/84689703/hayley-holt-helps-green-party-shawup-views-on-climate-change-in-queenstown

   protect the winter from global warming??? what does that even mean. protect the industry from losing money – I know what that means – I really think this hasn’t been thought through but then again maybe this is one of the best signposts for the greens positioning now.
   • weka 2.1

     28 September 2016 at 10:43 pm

     Doesn’t sit well with me either (god knows what the carbon footprint of the ski industry is) but I’m guessing there’s an element of desperation in it. They’re having to find ways to get people to wake up and having taken the path of not trying to scare people awake, they’re looking to the middle classes to start making connections, making it real in their own lives. Maybe.

     It’s not about beating up the [ski] industry,” Shaw said. “It’s about connecting the message around climate change with people’s daily lives.

     “What we’re saying is it’s actually happening to us, it’s happening now and there is something we can do about it.

     “We want New Zealand to move faster on it.”

     Don’t know what they think we can do. I’d have thought skiing is pretty fucked from here on out because of the time lags. Maybe it’s about mitigating the fuckedness, let’s at least save some of the snow.
3. Draco T Bastard 3

   28 September 2016 at 7:47 pm

   Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs

   It’s as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working.

   The answer clearly isn’t economic: it’s moral and political. The ruling class has figured out that a happy and productive population with free time on their hands is a mortal danger (think of what started to happen when this even began to be approximated in the ‘60s). And, on the other hand, the feeling that work is a moral value in itself, and that anyone not willing to submit themselves to some kind of intense work discipline for most of their waking hours deserves nothing, is extraordinarily convenient for them.

   We have Labour’s Future of Jobs but even that seems to be more about ensuring everyone is working 40+ hours per week than reducing the number of hours needed to work.
   • pat 3.1

     28 September 2016 at 10:09 pm

     we are yet to see the outcome of Labours “Future of work” study, but I suspect your assumption will be correct…..unsurprisingly.
   • Incognito 3.2

     28 September 2016 at 11:37 pm

     Interesting article but I didn’t really like it.

     The first paragraph starts with “John Maynard Keynes predicted” and the second one with “Keynes’ promised utopia”; I sense bias & subtle manipulation but this might have been unintentional (sub-conscious?).

     Anyway, IMO it was also one-sided by omitting the social and psychological benefits of working.

     It also ignored the Precariat; many people have to work longer and harder just to make ends meet and this has very little to do with consumerism and “distribution of sushi, iPhones, or fancy sneakers”, for example.

     If you look at the average work load you’ll see that particular in the Netherlands they are well on the way of approaching Keynes’ “15-hour work week”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time

     I think that Labour’s Future of Work does acknowledge the complexities of these issues, which is also why it raised the UBI. It’s shame that this initiative seems to have gone very silent …
     • Draco T Bastard 3.2.1

       29 September 2016 at 10:17 am

       The first paragraph starts with “John Maynard Keynes predicted” and the second one with “Keynes’ promised utopia”; I sense bias & subtle manipulation but this might have been unintentional (sub-conscious?).

       From what I can make out if we weren’t trying to export ourselves to wealth and being a trade dependent economy we actually could be working less while having more. As Keynes predicted. Our productivity is actually that high.

       Anyway, IMO it was also one-sided by omitting the social and psychological benefits of working.

       Actually, he did. He pointed out, quite rightly IMO, the damage that these BS jobs are doing to people:

       This is a profound psychological violence here. How can one even begin to speak of dignity in labour when one secretly feels one’s job should not exist? How can it not create a sense of deep rage and resentment.
       • Incognito 3.2.1.1

         29 September 2016 at 11:04 pm

         I agree that David Graeber rightly and correctly bemoaned those “BS jobs” but that’s nowhere near the same as pointing out the obvious benefits of working, of being (!) in a fulfilling job, is it? Odd reverse logic that would be indeed.

         Given the choice between less hours and more toys and pleasures, we’ve collectively chosen the latter.

         The sizeable and growing Precariat does not have a choice as such; these people are barely surviving in our current society. It sounds a little like an argument (“choice”) a RWNJ would use here on TS 😉 Perhaps the key word here is “collectively” …

         It wasn’t a bad article but from a Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics I was expecting a wee bit more balance and multi-perspectivity; that’s all. You think I’m expecting too much?
4. fender 4

   28 September 2016 at 9:02 pm

   Skiing/snowboarding is great fun/exercise. Guess it takes industry to cater with the high numbers of people interested. Industry means livelihoods for many. But you’re right it does seem a little weird and to me lame. I like the concept of continuing to enjoy the weather we’re accustomed to but that’s surely unrealistic now that the changing climate and weather patterns are becoming apparent. Sentimental longing wont be any use in the ride ahead now that we’ve let the disaster out of the bag.
   Having the launch in the ripoff town where many workers can’t even afford to live is pretty gross too.

   Edit: was meant to be a reply to Marty Mars!
5. Richard Rawshark 5

   28 September 2016 at 9:33 pm

   I thought I said the other day no more pictures of Cameron Slatter, Farrar or Key, it makes me feel sick, especially when they are talking like that.

   Thoughts of the day. The police knocked at my door today. Strange I thought, what the hell do they want, well apparently one of the neighbours had his chainsaw pinched off the front step the other night. Immediately I thought, who leaves there chainsaw on their front step, but heck who am I to judge, Had a polite convo had I heard anything etc and then left.

   What I did think after wards, was well, my, my, the police actually are investigating stuff again. It’s kind of a good feeling, good on em, and thank god.
6. Manuka AOR 6

   28 September 2016 at 9:43 pm

   The entire state of South Australia is without power:
   http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/09/28/super-cell-storms-hit-sa
   All of South Australia is without power as a massive thunderstorm sweeps across state.

   SA Power Networks have confirmed the entire state has lost power and social media users have reported losing power as the storm began to his shortly after 4pm, South Australian time.

   http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-in-the-dark-south-australias-major-power-outage-20160928-grqmn2.html
   The entire state of South Australia is currently without power, with the region in the grip of what could be one of the most extreme weather systems to hit in 50 years.

   SA Power Networks has confirmed the mass blackout via Twittersaying the unprecedented outage was caused by an “upstream supply” failure.
   • Wensleydale 6.1

     29 September 2016 at 12:03 pm

     Repeat after me:

     Weather patterns are perfectly normal. This is not an anomaly. Everything is fine. Everything is great. Vote Liberal. Malcolm Turnbull is the saviour of mankind.
7. pat 7

   28 September 2016 at 10:25 pm

   “Do they understand what they have signed? Plainly they do not. Governments such as ours, now ratifying the Paris agreement on climate change, haven’t the faintest idea what it means – either that or they have no intention of honouring it.”

   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/27/fracking-digging-drilling-paris-agreement-fossil-fuels

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS