Government with a plan
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8:00 am, July 22nd, 2018 - 46 comments
Categories: benefits, capitalism, class war, Deep stuff, democracy under attack, economy, Economy, election 2017, Financial markets, grant robertson, infrastructure, jacinda ardern, jobs, Keynes, labour, Politics, poverty, socialism, welfare -
Tags: karl marx, matthew hooton
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.
Governments usually start with a whiz and a bang and gradually subside from there. We forgot to start.
Even Prime Minister Helen Clark, while democratizing New Public Management with bunches of partially-elected Boards, still launched the huge Growth and Innovation Framework, and other initiatives expanding the reach of public policy into investment capital through Kiwisaver and NZSuperfund.
But with this Ardern-led government, we started with lots of tax transfers, unguided and incoherent engagement with major capital, and yet even with major expansive engagements with real estate capitalism they are running out of steam.
Back in the day I could roll out my Adorno and my Habermas pretty easily. Now it’s getting a bit rusty, but in this moment we need to step back and get the big mental machinery rolling again.
In 2008 or ’98 or ’78, after every good crisis-scale economic throat-clearing, Marx gets rolled out to explain how the system will fuck itself up. Today our national pathologies are more chronic than thanatic.
Since the late 1970s, median household income in New Zealand, adjusted for inflation, has stagnated for the bottom 60 percent of the population, even as income for the richest New Zealanders has soared. Corporate profits are at their highest levels since the 1960s, yet corporations of any note are taking those profits offshore rather than reinvesting them locally. We remain one of the very, very few states left in which democracy is active and hasn’t been massively hollowed out and replaced with technocratic elites who plane across the globe unbounded much by time or border. We still vote.
Thanks for voting, but in New Zealand you can fill the Temuka Memorial Hall with the people who own 75% of the country and still have the back four rows of seats empty.
Karl Marx, of course, would not be surprised. He predicted that capitalism’s internal logic would over time lead to rising inequality, chronic unemployment and underemployment, stagnant wages, the dominance of large powerful firms, and the creation of an entrenched elite whose power would act as a barrier to social progress. Eventually, the combined weight of these problems would spark a general crisis. Yet somewhere between crisis and revolution, Karl Marx and Matthew Hooten diverge; revolution just ain’t happening.
Marx believed the revolution would come in the most advanced capitalist economies. Instead, it came right out of the energised proletariat in Russia and China. There, communism ushered in authoritarian government and economic stagnation. Social democrats like myself from developed economies treated our regular crises as a kind of necessary perpetual binge-purge cycle. But today, as developed economy incomes get skinnier and more malnourished, the winners instead are distended versions of militarized states freed from previous Marxist capture, namely: Russia and China.
Despite the genocidal disasters of the Soviet Union and the countries that followed its model, Marx’s theory remains one of the most perceptive critiques of capitalism ever offered. Better than most, Marx understood the mechanisms that produce capitalism’s downsides and the problems that develop when governments do not actively combat them, as they have not for the past 40 years. Marxism is still useful in part for making sense of New Zealand today.
What makes Marx acutely relevant today is his economic theory, which he intended, as he wrote in Capital, “to lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society.” And although Marx, like the economist David Ricardo, relied on the flawed labor theory of value for some of his economic thinking, his remarkable insights remain.
Marx believed that under capitalism the pressure on entrepreneurs to accumulate capital under conditions of market competition would lead to outcomes that are palpably familiar today. First, he argued that improvements in labour productivity created by technological innovation would largely be captured by the owners of capital. “Even when the real wages are rising,” he wrote, they “never rise proportionally to the productive power of labor.” Put simply, workers would always receive less than what they added to output, leading to inequality and relative immiseration.
Second, Marx predicted that competition among capitalists to reduce wages would compel them to introduce labor-saving technology. Over time, this technology would eliminate jobs, creating a permanently unemployed and underemployed portion of the population.
Third, Marx thought that competition would lead to greater concentration in and among industries, as larger, more profitable
firms drove smaller ones out of business. Since these larger firms would, by definition, be more competitive and technologically advanced, they would enjoy ever-increasing surpluses. Yet these surpluses would also be unequally distributed, compounding the first two dynamics.
Marx made plenty of mistakes. He had little idea how well the state would refine itself to enable politics to tame markets after crises, putting officials in power who pursued a range of social democratic policies without damaging the economy. He really had no idea how war-accelerated mechanization would expand the entire purpose of the state or enable multi-state mechanisms. The postwar rise of the social compact made it seem as if that Marx was wrong about the ability of capitalist economies to satisfy human needs, at least material ones.
Our postwar boom was uneven to start with, and lingers still in diminished form. It declined with the stagflationary crisis of the 1970s, when the preferred economic policy of Western social democracies — Keynesian state management of demand — seemed incapable of restoring full employment and profitability without provoking high levels of inflation. Sure, Muldoon comes to mind, but so does Holyoake and Holland, Clark and Key, the Todds and the Fletchers and the Goodmans; restoring profitability by curbing inflation, accepting state to large corporation codependence, not particularly strenghtening organized labor, and accommodating unemployment. Brian Easton has written several good tomes on this relationship.
While the rich made bank from the late 1980s, our little country has proved incapable of replicating the broad-based prosperity of the mid-twentieth century. It marked instead in New Zealand a long recovery since the late 1980s characterised by uneven real estate booms, sluggish commodity dependence, and inequality. This sharp divergence in fortunes has been driven by, among other things, the fact that increases in productivity no longer lead to increases in wages in most advanced economies. (What has saved us as we went through these ideological full-waxings was Australia simply absorbing our excess labour during the tough times, providing us with capital to accelerate our boom times, and providing us with customers and markets throughout. Australia is still our actual government).
If the postwar boom made Marx seem obsolete, recent decades have confirmed his prescience. Marx argued that the long-run (remember the long run?) tendency of capitalism was to form a system in which real wages did not keep up with increases in productivity. This insight mirrors the economist Thomas Piketty’s observation that the rate of return on capital is higher than the rate of economic growth, ensuring that the gap between those whose incomes derive from capital assets and those whose incomes derive from labor will grow over time.
What Marx failed to get is the purpose of the modern state; to stabilize society by forming policy around capitalism, to make it more comprehensible, more rational, providing new languages and legislative and frameworks and redistributive structures making it more generous in its ends than just reifying capitalism self. It is a constant task.
Competition and lawlessness has driven down labour’s share of compensation by creating segments of the labour force with an increasingly weak relationship to the productive parts of the economy—segments that Marx called “the reserve army of labour,” referring to the unemployed and underemployed. Here Marxian analysis stumbles in our current state, where headline unemployment is staying low and reduced to pockets among the completely disorganized and the young. Our system is calm because state redistributions are increasing again, and there are no threats or agitators of any note, anywhere.
Wages haven’t risen. Unionism hasn’t increased. The state has not increased the sophistication of its engagement with capital. With the Ardern government, nothing structural has changed at all. Other than through the willfully incoherent Shane Jones, its will to do so is palpably declining by the day.
Business was supposed to be working on the obsolescence of labour. On the high end, the consulting company McKinsey estimates that 30 percent of the hours worked globally could be automated. These losses are still expected to be concentrated among unskilled segments of the labor force. Prior to the election Grant Robertson worried about the same thing, but the economy remains fully ready to absorb them. Here, business worries that the state doesn’t want to engage and doesn’t have a plan for them.
Research by the economist David Autor and his colleagues suggests that the rise of superstar firms may help explain labour’s declining share of national income across advanced economies (do check him up). Through a New Zealand lens, that means a group of massive companies dominated prices and supply chains both to labour, and to their consumers, to near-oligopolistic scale, in nearly every industry. As our own (relative) superstar firms have become more important to our economy, workers have suffered across the board.
Marx’s overall worldview left little room for politics to mitigate the downsides of capitalism. As he and his collaborator Friedrich Engels famously stated in The Communist Manifesto, “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” He’s only right because our state appears nearly unwilling anymore to do so.
In the late 1990s, good thinkers like David Porter and David Skilling toiled hard on how to get New Zealand government to re-engage usefully with clusters of industry and with labour, and good hard-headed Ministers like Jim Anderton were up for it. Their legacy here is surprisingly small and uneven (Skilling moved to Singapore, where his thinking is fully simpatico with a really active and empowered state engaging with industry), but that’s mostly because the second term of the Clark government just starved it to death.
Today, the question of whether politics can re-engage local capitalism remains open. Especially in New Zealand, the Labour-led government is doing as little as possible to upset the New Public Management school of Board-dominated governance, with only occasional and limited reforms of existing Ministerial structures. Few boards have been refreshed. Few judges have been renewed. Almost no departments or structures are in train to be altered in any legislative sense (The only new Ministry formed under this government is a very, very small one designed to get the state to dig out men who died in a coal mine – a pretty dark Marxian joke by itself). Measured by the will to engage or tame it, capitalism appears to have overwhelmed our politics, democratic or otherwise. Perhaps the postwar decades of a near-perfect balance for the majority will be seen as fleeting.
Yet this is not the only narrative. An alternative one would start with the recognition that the politics of capitalism’s golden age, which combined strong unions, Keynesian demand management, loose monetary policy, and capital controls, delivered a lot for a long time but could not deliver an egalitarian form of capitalism forever.
Other narratives are possible. The normal state of capitalism is one in which, as Marx and Engels wrote in The Communist Manifesto, “all that is solid melts into air.” This dynamism means that achieving egalitarian goals will require new institutional configurations backed by new forms of politics.
Like all social democratic governments, that is the task this government has yet to set itself, taking all sectors of New Zealand society with it. There’s a strong sense that this government is neglecting capitals’ leaders, displacing the social sectors’ leaders with delayed ‘reviews’, leaving any environmental engagement solely to the leader of a very small support party, and otherwise using budget surpluses to keep the crowds happy by chucking the political equivalent of hot meat pies to the crowd.
National’s solution has been to buttress the welfare state’s redistribution of income with a redistribution of capital assets, so that capital worked for everyone. The Bolger and Key governments selloff of shares of key public assets into the local share market sought to help achieve that. The ‘stakeholder capitalism’ vision was not state ownership but a broad property-owning democracy in which wealth was more equally distributed because the distribution of productive capacity was more equal. The outcome of that set of sales did not achieve this. Nor had it achieved it under Prime Ministers David Lange or Jim Bolger. You can ask them at the Temuka Memorial Hall.
The one massive intervention this government has a chance to really tame is real estate capitalism inherited from Brownlee in Christchurch to Twyford in Auckland. Not the same as engaging across government no sirree, but a pretty damn big sector of our kind of capitalism. HLC is turning into a suburban juggernaut rolling over the bourgeoise niceties enshrined in the Unitary Plan. And yes, it will deliver at scale.
But if a Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn-type programme were ever to see the light of day in taming markets and revitalizing social democracy for the twenty-first century, it will not be with the politics of the past. As Marx recognized, under capitalism there is no going back.
Here instead under Prime Minister Ardern is a small managerial state with little inclination to become any stronger, no intellectual or ideological framework to decide how to shape and redirect our kinds of capitalism, and – housing excepted – a residual sense that its ambitions are slow and can only get slower.
Sure, we don’t need a vision. Maybe even a plan’s too much to ask. Just clear, hard engagement across government would be a start.
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- How Long Does It Take to Build a Computer?Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...6 days ago
- How to Put Your Computer to SleepSleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...6 days ago
- What is Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT)?Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...6 days ago
- iPad vs. Tablet Computers A Comprehensive Guide to DifferencesIn today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...6 days ago
- How Are Computers Made?A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...6 days ago
- How to Add Voice Memos from iPhone to ComputerVoice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...6 days ago
- Why My Laptop Screen Has Lines on It: A Comprehensive GuideLaptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...6 days ago
- How to Right-Click on a LaptopRight-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...6 days ago
- Where is the Power Button on an ASUS Laptop?Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...6 days ago
- How to Start a Dell Laptop: A Comprehensive GuideDell laptops are renowned for their reliability, performance, and versatility. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just someone who needs a reliable computing device, a Dell laptop can meet your needs. However, if you’re new to Dell laptops, you may be wondering how to get started. In this comprehensive ...6 days ago
- Bryce Edwards: Serious populist discontent is bubbling up in New ZealandTwo-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released ...6 days ago
- How to Take a Screenshot on an Asus Laptop A Comprehensive Guide with Detailed Instructions and Illu...In today’s digital world, screenshots have become an indispensable tool for communication and documentation. Whether you need to capture an important email, preserve a website page, or share an error message, screenshots allow you to quickly and easily preserve digital information. If you’re an Asus laptop user, there are several ...6 days ago
- How to Factory Reset Gateway Laptop A Comprehensive GuideA factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...6 days ago
- Gaza: Aotearoa Must Support Independent Investigation into Mass GravesTe Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...40 mins ago
- Release: Working together on consistent support for veterans this Anzac Day
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...2 days ago - Release: Penny drops – but what about Seymour and Peters?Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...2 days ago
- Another ‘Stolen Generation’ enabled by court ruling on Waitangi Tribunal summonsTonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...2 days ago
- Release: Budget blunder shows Nicola Willis could cut recovery fundingIt appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...3 days ago
- Further environmental mismanagement on the cards
The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment. ...3 days ago - Release: RMA changes will be a disaster for environmentThe Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...3 days ago
- Release: Labour supports urgent changes to emergency management systemLabour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...3 days ago
- Release: Labour calls for New Zealand to recognise PalestineThe Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...4 days ago
- Release: Three strikes law political posturing of worst kindThe Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...4 days ago
- Release: Government cuts unbelievably target child exploitation, violent extremism, ports and airpor...Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...4 days ago
- Three strikes has failed before and will fail againResurrecting the archaic three-strikes legislation is an unwelcome return to a failed American-style approach to justice. ...4 days ago
- Release: Environmental protection vital, not ‘onerous’The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...4 days ago
- Ferris – Three Strikes targets those ‘too brown to be white’The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...4 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts doctors and nurses in hiring freezeCuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...7 days ago
- Fast-track submissions period must be extendedThe Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...7 days ago
- Release: Progress on climate will be undone by GovtNew Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...7 days ago
- Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect themNews that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...1 week ago
- Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunchesMore essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...1 week ago
- Oranga Tamariki cuts commit tamariki to state abuseTe Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...1 week ago
- Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals billThe Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...1 week ago
- Government throws coal on the climate crisis fireThe Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...1 week ago
- Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project insteadCancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priorityA laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...2 weeks ago
- Te Pāti Māori to visit Queensland to strengthen ties with Māori in AustraliaTe Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...2 weeks ago
- Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful lawThe Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homesThe National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on mediaThe action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...2 weeks ago
- Landlord Government leaves little hope for rentersThe Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...2 weeks ago
- Opportunity to build a more sustainable economyGreen Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...2 weeks ago
- Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust pastA significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...2 weeks ago
- Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environmentNew Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to GovernmentTens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention OfficeLabour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...2 weeks ago
- CCC issues warning over further climate delayToday’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...3 weeks ago
- Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...3 weeks ago
- Luxon targets are lousy example of leadershipIf talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...3 weeks ago
- Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt prioritiesMinister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...3 weeks ago
- Anzac Commemorative Address – NZ National Service, Chunuk Bair
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...19 hours ago - Anzac Commemorative Address – Dawn Service, Gallipoli, TürkiyeMai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...1 day ago
- PM announces changes to portfoliosPaul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...2 days ago
- New catch limits for unique fishery areasRecreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...2 days ago
- Minister welcomes hydrogen milestoneEnergy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...3 days ago
- Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment BillThe coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...3 days ago
- Overseas decommissioning models consideredOverseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...3 days ago
- Release of North Island Severe Weather Event InquiryEmergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...3 days ago
- Justice Minister to attend Human Rights CouncilJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...4 days ago
- Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facilityAssociate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...4 days ago
- Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...4 days ago
- Government to introduce revised Three Strikes lawThe Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...4 days ago
- New diplomatic appointmentsForeign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...4 days ago
- Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and SomaliaNew Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...4 days ago
- Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho CollectiveMinister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...5 days ago
- Supporting better financial outcomes for KiwisThe Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...5 days ago
- Trade relationship with China remains strong“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...5 days ago
- PM’s South East Asia mission does the businessPrime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...6 days ago
- $41m to support clean energy in South East AsiaNew Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...7 days ago
- Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder listThe Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...1 week ago
- Judicial appointments announcedAttorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...1 week ago
- Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in SingaporeEducation Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...1 week ago
- Value of stopbank project proven during cycloneA stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...1 week ago
- Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visitForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...1 week ago
- Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac DayScience, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...1 week ago
- Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the PhilippinesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...1 week ago
- Government commits $20m to Westport flood protectionThe Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...1 week ago
- Taupō takes pole positionThe Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...1 week ago
- Cost of living support for low-income homeownersLocal Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...1 week ago
- Government backing mussel spat projectThe Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...1 week ago
- Government focused on getting people into workBenefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...1 week ago
- Clean energy key driver to reducing emissionsThe Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...1 week ago
- Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forwardThe Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...1 week ago
- Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic PartnershipPrime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...1 week ago
- Government consults on extending coastal permits for portsRMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...1 week ago
- Inflation coming down, but more work to doToday’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...1 week ago
- School attendance restored as a priority in health adviceRefreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...1 week ago
- Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sectorOceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...1 week ago
- Opinion: It’s time for an arts and creative sector strategyI was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...1 week ago
- Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International CongressAssociate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...1 week ago
- The Friday Poem: ‘Cereal giving’ by Robin Peace
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...1 hour ago - The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending April 26The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38) A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...1 hour ago
- Te Rūnanga O Ngāti Whātua Welcomes Commissioner's Decision Regarding Awataha Marae
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...2 hours ago - We reconstructed landscapes that greeted the first humans in Australia around 65,000 years ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes. Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...2 hours ago - What do we lose when our old suburbs disappear?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, Parramatta Photo: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...2 hours ago
- Does fighting inflation always lead to recession? What 60 years of NZ data can tell usSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImages fatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...2 hours ago
- After spending $700,000 on pins for Covid-19 workers, department now cutting costs
A government office that set aside millions for lapel pins for pandemic workers is now looking to cut back on spending. ...3 hours ago - ‘A hell of a lot of fun’: Our reviews of Chris Isaak’s dazzling Auckland showThe ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...3 hours ago
- The Week in Politics: Days of drama and demotionsAnalysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...3 hours ago
- Hear me out: All I want is a TrueBliss T-shirtTara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...5 hours ago
- Solemn ANZAC dawn service at PNG’s Isurava battle memorialPNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...5 hours ago
- Political editors panel: A reshuffle and the fast trackListen - RNZ's Jo Moir and NZ Herald's Claire Trevett dissect the demotion of two ministers and the PM's response on Morning Report. ...6 hours ago
- After-hours clinics on verge of collapse in some regionsOverworked GPs have signalled they can no longer cover, while funding is falling short. ...6 hours ago
- Oranga Tamariki Axes Specialist Māori Roles, Weakens Commitment To Te Ao MāoriThe PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...6 hours ago
- China’s money only goes so far – Kokoda shows why history binds PNG and Australia in a far deepe...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...6 hours ago
- We spoke to young people about sexual consent. They understand the concept, but don’t always ask i...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in Sex & Sexuality, La Trobe University BAZA Production/Shutterstock Sexual consent has been a major focus in Australia for the past few years. In early 2022 the federal government mandated consent education in ...6 hours ago
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It’s under whelming for sure. Seems to be no plan in many areas aside from let the existing BS of self regulation and ticket clipping carry on.
Not even a decent critique of the damage they inherited being banged on about ad nauseum to fill the void.
I wonder how aware they are of the totality in terms of crumbling infrastructure around NZ that national and it’s local govt cronies perpetrated over 3 terms of kicking many cans down potholed shoulderless roads.
That in itself is a massive issue for the short-medium term but I don’t see any rethink of that broken model of local/central govt.
Whist I agree with the sentiments of your comment, I would like to promote an alt view to “hat national and it’s local govt cronies perpetrated over 3 terms of kicking many cans down potholed shoulderless roads.”
Both the 99 and 08 govts. were similar in a few major aspects :
They had a highly competent, stable senior leadership (in that the direction they followed)
For 2 terms, both had laid the foundations to do something special, but both decided to continue in their 3rd term of “steady as she goes”, and in doing so missed the opportunity to place NZ in a position for the future. Be that future proofing our infrastructure, protect the environment, solve the then emerging housing issue (and the flow on effects that this has caused) and to use your phrase kicking cans …
NZ was worse off, due to both 3rd terms of the Labour 05-07 and Nats 14-17 govts. And the weakness resulting of what was left of both defeated parties following the election loss, and their inability to hold the govt to account.
Doing something special by your definition was flooding NZ with offshore tax haven and other funds which hoovering up the property it was causing to escalate and assets they were stripping.
Banking 101 playbook stuff which is what shonky and his cabal did in 08 all the while ignoring the infrastructure impacts and knock on effects of the ‘have money, come on down’ approach.
99 inherited the Shipley/Richardson beating NZ had taken whereas key/blinglish in 08 had net zero crown debt after Cullen/Clark laid foundations, righted the ship which they duly went about gutting, underfunding and selling off.
Not at all, read the comment !!!
THEY LAID THE FOUNDATIONS TO DO SOMETHING SPECIAL, is not the same as what you said I said !!!!!
TC 100% correct.
This Governmenrt need bold policies not setting up the ‘avisory group crap’ yet again as National did; – by using ‘private ‘consultant advisors’ through MBIE; – as that agency has inbreed idiots running it.
A couple of fundamental flaws with your precis.
Both Marx and Keynes imagined a world of limitless growth and even without that restriction Kalecki foretold of the reaction of capital to a reducing share of the output.
The abnormal growth enjoyed post WW2 until the mid seventies can be truly seen as the result of the exploitation of cheap mobile energy (oil) and production processes developed for industrialised warfare to enable an unprecedented manufacturing and consumption boom…that was the source of massive increases in productivity.
It ended when the price of that cheap energy doubled overnight. Manufacturing lends itself to productivity growth, services not so much…and advanced economies are largely service economies.
Interestingly NZs “stagflation” in that period under Muldoon occurred with a debt to GDP ratio akin to todays….and we havnt improved our balance of trade since.
Autors argument that we have and will create demand for unknown goods and services ignores the limitation of resources (much as Marx and Keynes) and in such a world we will have to choose where those resources (and their externalities) are best used, removing the luxury of creating demand for demands sake.
This NZ Government (and all governments) face a near impossible task….how do we design an economy (thats part of a whole) that provides for all demands, with diminishing resources and growing expectations?
We are going to have to choose carefully what are needs and what are wants……and that is going to cause one hell of a shit fight.
I thought the OP was excellent overall.
You wrote:
In the OP:
I disagree with the OP that there is no framework to ‘design’ an economy as you describe. The (our) current system wasn’t ‘designed’ either and it kind of grew ‘organically’ and has delivered many things.
Rather than tinkering with the current system, e.g. a little more focus on socio-economic outcomes such as inequality and a little more focus on the environment and so-called sustainability, we need to try something new, something that has not been done before.
This will require taking risks, trying out new things (prototypes), testing, failing & rejecting (!), and stepwise improvements. Nothing gets designed from scratch in one go and certainly not life in human society; it is an ongoing process of change & evolution that will take (many?) generations. It most definitely is not an academic, rational & logical, or intellectual exercise!
There are plenty of new and exciting progressive ideas to try out. Agreed, as such there is no cohesive framework and structured targeted approach. Such “intellectual and ideological framework” will be formulated later, when things are becoming clearer, by ‘prescient visionaries’ who are finely attuned to what’s going on and subsequently by intellectuals/academics and pundits in no particular order 😉
The current system (AKA the Devil we know, BAU, or status quo) cannot and will not last even though it has delivered much and is still functional, by and large, although its obvious flaws have also become evident. The time scale by which change will occur may be a lot longer/slower than some of us would like though but change is inevitable and happening as we speak …
our current system was by and large designed, and any move away from it will require design and goals. unless you subscribe to chaos….and as noted if we (NZ) decide such a step change we also need to consider compatibility with the rest of our trading partners, unless we intend isolationism, and unless it is to be imposed by an authoritarian regime it needs to be supportable by mandate….and that is likely the most difficult aspect. not so much the mechanism but the politics.
There are alternative paths but I wouldnt be advocating for them nor do I believe would the bulk of the electorate, and waiting for some ethereal organic solution at some indeterminate future date is as appealing as BAU..and neither will we be provided the time.
And isnt that the role of political parties in a democracy?
well habermass became a christian and marx said I am not a marxist so beware of words masquerading as reality. there is more at stake now as the world plunges head on into mass extinctions and global warming caused by political pandering to the gross desires of consumers. lets have new theories about that!
Meanwhile the National Party has used and NZ media is willing and inviting, to Australian right wing commenters to put their oar in to help in influencing voters against Labour. I think the Australian government has just enacted something intended to keep foreigners out of their politics.
We have seen an inter-country thing of interns working for the left or right in Australia, and I suppose vice versa as if they are the same breed. This can lead to a lot of supposedly informed antipathy and sour comment for years as they mature into their narrow area of self-satisfaction. We don’t want Oz jtypes joining in the haranguing of NZ with their hostile banshee caterwauling. This behaviour must have some negative affect on our polls when it is mischievous or damaging comment whether from NZ or Oz tyros.
Brigitte Morten is a Senior Consultant for Silvereye. Prior to that she was a senior ministerial adviser for the previous National-led government, and an adviser and campaign director for Australia’s Liberal Party.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/361672/top-demise-shows-fate-of-vanity-parties
RNZ 8:08 am on 13 July 2018
TOP demise shows fate of vanity parties
…People generally join political parties because they want to be heard, want to have a say on policy and want to have a sense of ownership of making it better. A party built around a dominant central figure – like Gareth Morgan – fail to provide people in the long term with that ability.
You might be willing to be the one that sets out the morning tea for a while – but in the long term if you don’t have a sense of ownership over the clubrooms as ‘your club’ you are unlikely to continue to do so.t
Some of her points might be salient. But we don’t need cynical comment from Australia to tell us these. And calling TOPS a vanity party dismisses the earnest effort that Gareth Morgan made to introduce fresh practical workable ideas into the morass of failed policy dragging us down. Ultimately he messed his own nest and the left didn’t take to his ideas which seemed too narrow. But they were ideas and they put some mental fuel into some seized-up brains. It was a very useful exercise for NZ citizens which he primarily funded himself. So Australian commenter talk about your own Pauline Hanson ever present over the Ditch? Now there is Vanity!
Vanity working on a weak head, produces every sort of mischief.
Jane Austen
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jane_austen_399068?src=t_vanity
greywarshark,
yesyou are right, Labour need to take bback the public media now as National have ‘hijacked TVNZ and RNZ to spout National Party policy,
Then we need labour to do this instead; – and fire “clueless Clare Curran”who allowed this to happen, as minister of broadcasting she must be a national party plant..
A Govt. not based heavily on rorting ( in somewhat opposition to the prevailing neo-lib ruling class & it’s conventional wisdom) is something to be thankful for these days. There’s not much else to be said for otherwise it’s a rather big can of worms eh ? !
NZ1st!
One of the most thoughtful OP’s here for sometime Ad. I’d recommend everyone read it a second time and address the points.
Karl Marx, of course, would not be surprised. He predicted that capitalism’s internal logic would over time lead to rising inequality, chronic unemployment and underemployment, stagnant wages, the dominance of large powerful firms, and the creation of an entrenched elite whose power would act as a barrier to social progress.
Marx’s observations were nothing new; inequality has been a feature of all developed human societies for all of recorded, probably deeper, history. Capitalism merely amplified the problem, while playing a large role in solving the poverty problem, it exacerbated the inequality issue. In that Marx was right; but his cure has fallen catastrophically short. Or as the well known quote goes “right solution, wrong species”.
There are three broad ways we can address inequality, one is to address the obvious symptoms using tools such as legislation and education to maximise equal opportunities; progressive taxation and redistribution to flatten out the income gaps, and investing in social and physical infrastructure to widen access to the wealth and benefits of the economy. All these are classic left-wing responses at a state level.
Another approach is to counter the natural tendency for the power elites to corruptly entrench themselves, with broad-scale labour and social movements such as Unions. Again a classic left-wing response at a social level, but not immune to it’s own concentrations of power and corruption.
The idea that is percolating around in my head is that the element missing here is the idea of a left-wing response to inequality at an individual level. Now we cannot nor should not attempt to make all people equal in terms of outcome. We are all different for good reasons. Some people will always have more wealth, status and power than others. The crucial question is … what do they do with it?
Historically this response was mediated by a religious ethic, the core idea that indeed “I am my brother’s keeper”. It manifest as both philanthropy and charity, both of which have and still do contribute a great deal. In lefty-liberal circles both of these are typically sneered upon because both were associated with wealthy donors controlling and imposing an agenda on their generosity. The mere association with wealth tends to taint all charitable acts as self-serving in some form.
But we can look past this. There is the biblical ‘Parable of the Talents” telling how a master who gave three of his servants a sum of money before leaving on a journey. On his return he asked each what had been done with it. One had buried it safely and returned the sum intact to his master; the second had invested some cautiously and showed a modest return, while the third showed a handsome return.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_talents_or_minas
It’s a story with many interpretations; but it has some key features. One is that the master gave the money with no conditions other than the expectation the servants would be wise stewards of it. It also makes it clear, we are all different and will respond differently to the same opportunity. But most crucially in my mind, it tells us we are expected to do something useful and responsible with the chances we are given. The two servants who took their opportunity and invested it with other people and in the community were rewarded. They were not just the recipients of the money, they in turn extended it to others and as a consequence not only improved total welfare but also reduced inequality.
Of course the money is also a metaphor for the whole of our lives; it asks the question …. what are we living for? In pure evolutionary terms we tend to seek wealth, status and power for reproductive purposes; it’s a strategy deeply embedded in our genetic hard-wiring. But we are also the first post-Darwinian species, our software may be constrained by the biological CPU it must run on (at least for the time being) … but we do get to socially construct new purposes for our lives.
And in my view at least, maybe for the first time in all of our deep evolution, we can realistically start to contemplate the idea that the purpose of our lives is to be responsible for ourselves and to be of service to those around us. This is how we can all attain to excellence as a legitimate expression of our own unique selves, and at the same time link to each other in a way that is both supportive, constructive and mitigates inequality across the whole of society.
OK so it’s a Sunday …. bite me 🙂
Having just come out of Mass a couple of hours ago, I still can’t always tell if the Parable of the Talents is from Supply Side Jesus or Demand Side Jesus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc-LJ_3VbUA
Cheers RedL it’s good the stretch the legs sometimes with a longer piece.
Having just come out of Mass a couple of hours ago ..
If religion is the opium of the Masses ,is OPM( other peoples money) the religion of the few?
I hesitated on whether to use this parable or not. On one level it could be pointed to a justification for much despised idea of ‘trickle down economics’. In it’s defense you could argue the problem with that theory was that at each level people tended to hoard or ‘bury’ their wealth, rather than use it constructively.
Al Franken of course rightly caricatures this. (Incidentally ‘camel’ was crappy translation of the Greek word for ‘thick rope’, but the critter with humps is more visually entertaining.)
Still I’m unconvinced there is anything fundamentally wrong with the idea of ‘standing on your own two feet’. After all from a position of utter deprivation you really are of no use to yourself nor anyone else.
Hmmm, the way I read this it is strangely at odds with your outstanding comment @ 6 and I agree with Ad (@ 6.2) that that is worthy of a post in its own right.
We seem to forget that we haven’t and won’t always stand on ‘our own two feet’. Babies & infants, the sick, the elderly, the displaced (i.e. refugees or earthquake victims), for example, cannot stand on ‘their own two feet’.
A paraplegic (e.g. Christopher Reeve) or a long-term coma patient (‘brain-dead’, e.g. Terri Schiavo) also have something useful to offer us and provide an opportunity to bring the best out in us, to help and support and to care for one another. During the reign of neoliberalism the individual-collective duality has moved away from integration and transcendence but this inevitably will swing around.
In an economic-materialistic sense we, the 99%, can barely ‘stand on our own two feet’, most of the time. We try to keep our heads above water and try pulling others back up to surface; it’s an ongoing battle ‘for air’. Meanwhile, for the 1% the sun always shines bright and they make hay, lots of it.
Psycho-spiritually almost all 100% of us are hovering under/near the waterline and still crawling in the mud. The few ‘enlightened’ ones that get cast higher up onto ‘dry land’, by accident of ‘sheer luck’, find themselves in absolute awe of their new experiences yet unable to formulate these to the wriggling biomass still stuck in the mud; they wouldn’t listen and trust/believe them anyway (if this reminds you of Plato’s Cave Allegory you are correct; https://thestandard.org.nz/the-accidental-bodyguards-of-capitalism/).
In other words, it’ll take time …
I’ve no quibble with any of your excellent response above. Unquestionably the degree to which we can all take responsibility for our lives is a huge variable. You nail it here:
In an economic-materialistic sense we, the 99%, can barely ‘stand on our own two feet’, most of the time. We try to keep our heads above water and try pulling others back up to surface; it’s an ongoing battle ‘for air’.
Absolutely I get that; it’s why I keep returning to inequality as the core issue. And what you are saying here touches directly on why it is so very difficult to grapple with.
Ultimately we have to use strategies that work in the worst case scenarios; the kind of god awful hell that people who’ve hit rock bottom face on a daily basis. And at a bare minimum that means ‘standiing on your own two feet’ to the extent that you can. And then reaching out to help those nearest to you.
RedL your response is a post in itself – why not reframe it and offer it up?
My quandary with the “left-wing response to inequality at an individual level” is that it needs exceedingly empowered and anointed individuals to break out. Jesus regrettably didn’t have a good theory of the state either – and not that great a theory on collective action.
But.
What gives me hope for New Zealand most of all is that we are a relentlessly entrepreneurial people, and we adapt fast, and many of us do have an unsatisfied hunger for excelling ourselves to the limit that pushes us out of here overseas.
So far that’s not been knocked out of us by the enervating arms of our state.
So on that note I prefer the parable of the mustard seed as a metaphor of relentless self realization amidst tough constraints.
I’m afraid that government, in its zeal to obtain the desirable features of capitalism, has been too quick to accommodate the wishes of various corporate entities without considering the impact on those a left party is supposedly impelled to serve.
A recent example would be the Wellington bus drivers – the new government has been active in arranging to move people off the dole and into work – but this has been to some degree at the expense of existing drivers, and the overall effect is to at least temporarily depress wages in that sector. No wonder the corporates cooperated.
Likewise, Phil Twyford’s flagship housing program is hollowed out by the use of substantial amounts of cheap migrant labour instead of training locals. Looks like a short term fix eh. But it’s not. There’s a crisis of skilled labour in construction because successive governments let the industry deskill. You can get away with it for a while, while you have a supply of experienced foremen to keep the newcomers to standard. But when they retire you’d better have new ones coming through, and you don’t get them by driving down wages and conditions with cheap foreign labour.
Christchurch is a fucking mess from cowboy construction and the lies told at various levels to keep it in business. This is the future for NZ if the model continues, together with increasingly expensive inspection and permitting regimes that try to contain the damage. It’s about time NZ governments moved away from disastrous short term fixes and aimed at steady reliable systems. Like the ones they pissed away with Rogergnomics.
The polls are great? We are in second place with simon f-ing bridges led nation in first (i know its mmp but still nothing to bloody celebrate) and our bffs the greens have been polling at 5% and everyone knows they always get 2% less than what they poll.
I perform 4 times a week to crowds of over 100 and most of the crowd will be in their early to mid 20s. I also ask do we have any jacinda fans in the room i used to get massive cheers for her name now a couple unsure wooos.
Jacindas not the rock star she was among the youth because people know this government is full of shit and so do i. A government of change? HA! A government of tweaks at best.
The next election is an election based on tax reform and labour has never won a debate on tax. The only thing labour has going for it is nationals hopelessness.
Noone believes we will do anything meaningful on poverty, homelessness,mental illness or housing and what we have done is mere tweaks, empty promises and pretty speeches about change that isn’t coming, dont go roynd the country promising systemic change and then deliver national party budgets and tweaks.
I was so excited about this government and now i do t care if it gets reelected, like moat of my generation.
I’m inclined to agree, it seems there are real limits to what left-wing govts can achieve by fiddling with the macro settings at a state level. Govt is an important element of positive change, but manifestly insufficient by itself.
It’s like we have to do some work ourselves.
Agree with much of what you say, Cynical jester, but even a lost Labour are a hell of a lot better than an on task actively pillaging National party! It’s a bitter pill to swallow but after a decade of Natz, I’m still very relived they are finally gone for a bit.
And it’s those aged in their 20’s who will get the most effects from bad government policy so they need to vote the best available option, which used to be Green.
‘Not caring’ for millennial’s is not a wise option.
Cynical Jester, Your audience has a 7 minute concentration span…. 6 weeks is too long!!
You could be correct Jester. I wonder if Jacinda will be NZ’s Obama. A great communicator but no real change. As you say, mere tweaks. Keep NZ Inc happy. BAU.
+1 all this under Rogernomics… trickle down never occurred.
“Since the late 1970s, median household income in New Zealand, adjusted for inflation, has stagnated for the bottom 60 percent of the population, even as income for the richest New Zealanders has soared. Corporate profits are at their highest levels since the 1960s, yet corporations of any note are taking those profits offshore rather than reinvesting them locally.”
Yet still no adjustment to help keep corporate profits in NZ and to ‘shock horror’ put in policy to increase the bottom 60% of population… it’s getting worse with new ways to pay below even minimum wages aka ‘dependant contractors’ ahhh that should be an employee. Or the bin rates of fruit picking to be stuck in the 1980’s… while business tells everyone they can’t find people? These jobs used to be good for the unemployed and students!
Liam Dann in the NZHerald has just posted on New Zealand falling in global rankings as an innovation leader.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12091676
I’m not prepared to go down the full path of targeted v untargeted industry assistance as a debate. It’s a whole post in itself.
But if ever there were a warning that good economic conditions and great polls are precisely the wrong time to not bother with a really strong set of country-wide engagement initiatives, the stats from Liam Dann are bracing.
Fine blaming the previous government, so long as your own plan is far better and more effective.
They better be.
We need to recognize the actual political seeds of our present day problems with income inequality and excessive housing costs, this is actually primarily caused by wages not keeping up with asset price inflation.
A couple of articles on where the left (in France) took its neo-liberal turn, and which policies it needs to actually rehabilitate to leave this course.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39842
“That political reality was too stark for the public to accept and necessitated a smokescreen being erected to disassociate the rising unemployment from macroeconomic policy choices.
The rising unemployment was reconstructed by the political and bureaucratic spin-doctors as a ‘structural’ problem reflecting a failure of individuals to be self-reliant and assiduous in job search and skill development.
A bevy of securely employed and highly paid economists pumped out a massive number of ‘research’ papers, which served to give authority and legitimacy to this ideologically tainted and empirically bereft view.”
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=39846
This criticism could probably have been leveled at the outcomes of the governments “future of work” initiatives,
“The major weakness of the White Paper is that it fails to recognise that the key problems at the present time are those of demand management and that the immediate questions in tackling unemployment are thus macroeconomic ones. Instead, the report concentrates on what it calls ‘rigidities in the labour market’, which seem to provide a pretext for attacking all forms of legislation or agreements to protect labour, combined with a general call to cut labour costs.”
Any suggestions from those papers for the current government of New Zealand?
When the author of those blog posts last spoke in NZ he suggested implementation of a fully state funded job guarantee scheme. This would probably require some changes in how the reserve bank operates as they presently target what they estimate to be an ideal unemployment rate (ideal was 4.5% unemployment at last report). A job guarantee is likely to cause the unemployment rate to fall substantially so the reserve bank should probably switch to targeting something else like the rate of job guarantee employment as a proportion of total employment.
Then there are some other suggestions like, just stop issuing government debt (and make all the budgeted spending happen internally at the reserve bank). This is to deal with the propaganda and miss-information around government spending.
I’m guessing that it’s an issue that needs further study funded.
“The owner, the employees, and the buying public are all one and the same, and unless an industry can so manage itself as to keep wages high and prices low it destroys itself, for otherwise it limits the number of its customers. One’s own employees ought to be one’s own best customers.”
Henry Ford 1926
http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2014/01/03/history/post-perspective/ford-doubles-minimum-wage.html
A fine quote, but he was one of the worst and most militant of the anti-union oligarchs. It took him until 1941 to sign his first contract with the Auto Workers Union.
But Ford was inclined, as the quote above suggests, to see his employees as an essential component of the business. He likely saw the concept of them belonging to an outside entity such as a Union, with competing interests, as potentially at odds with this. And the question could be asked, where his employees necessarily better off before or after they joined the Auto Workers Union?
I’m not positing an anti-union stance here, merely suggesting there are other paths to go down. For instance the German auto workers, while belonging to strong unions, are also closely represented within company management and regard the company interests as closely aligned with their own. And it’s no accident they are the highest paid workers in the industry.
Ford’s view of workers was in total capture, of the most patrician variety possible.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/19/lost-cities-10-fordlandia-failure-henry-ford-amazon
Agree with your point about German workers.
Also the German history of guilds is so impressive.
I don’t recall any mention of Ford hiring private muscle to beat or kill Unionists.
Which was common for many of the employers in the USA, at that time.
Hardly in the ball park of the worst.
Are you aware of the Battle of the Overpass?
Ford’s goon squad could have given lessons to the Gestapo.
http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/battle-of-the-overpass-henry-ford-the-uaw-and-the-power-of-the-press/
I don’t recall any mention of planned murders, but Ford certainly had a fondness for anti-union violent thugs. Here’s just the first hit for a google search of Harry Bennett, Ford’s favourite goon.
http://www.autonews.com/article/20030616/SUB/306160746/harry-bennett:-henry-fords-chief-thug-targets-uaw-later-threatens
Ford hunger march. Five dead, 60 injured.
Battle of the overpass. At least three injured.
I stand corrected.
Marx never came up with a mechanism to predict the breaking strain of a capitalist society.
My suspicion and hope is that the current government are actually a different beast to the last thirty years, which followed the line that the government did as much as conceptually possible in the first term and then ran out of steam.
Whereas the current government seems to have set longer term goals and will be measured against their progression towards those goals.
Marx never came up with a mechanism to predict the breaking strain of a capitalist society.
Because it’s remarkably resilient; and brings some real benefits. If it was all bad we’d never tolerate it.
What impresses me much more than Marx are the more modern researchers, such as Picketty, who are far more accurately measuring the impacts of inequality. It’s from this work we are more likely to make convincing arguments for exactly where the constraints and boundaries need to be placed on the capitalist model.
I sort of view them as doing the same thing as Marx but without the philosophical baggage.
Much of Marx’s work was developing historical models and gathering contemporary data about the working people in society. The thesis/antithesis/synthesis prediction of communism was pretty dodgy, IMO. But his work on factory conditions and the inequalities of the time was almost the textbook for modern researchers. In that aspect Marx was the political equivalent of Snow, semmelweiss, or Takaki.
Good article,
When is labour goping to spend money for our new TV channel to restore the “TV 7” with ‘real investigative journalism public affairs programing’ that they set up ast time around?
A new quality TV public channel? This government has reneged on that. Minister(?) Clare Curran has been ‘educated’on the birds and bees, and has given up. It’s BAU folks. Labour is getting its instructions from business. Got to keep business happy, or else..
Not really knowing why, they stubbornly and blindly blundered on anyway.