Indeed

Written By: - Date published: 7:07 pm, July 27th, 2011 - 74 comments
Categories: class war - Tags:

A classic from stuff:

Prime Minister John Key said the Government had had very little room to move on the economy.
”The public recognises that the rest of the world isn’t in great shape and so New Zealand is having to contend with that global environment,” he said.

Most people would look at the tough global environment and cut the Government a bit of slack, he said.

Key is holidaying in Hawaii after a trip through the United States last week, where he met with President Barack Obama and a string of top American officials.

74 comments on “Indeed ”

  1. Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1

    …and in other news, National continues to enjoy record levels of support after Labour’s CGT (widely praised by the intellegensia) failed to gain any traction whatsoever with voters.

    Is this what you are reduced to? Criticising the PM for taking an holiday?

    • IrishBill 1.1

      Come on wee Ole – you can offer a better appreciation of the newsman’s wit than that.

    • Kaplan 1.2

      Actually I read it is a critique of john, yet again, shrugging his shoulders and saying we can’t help you*. The fact that he is choosing to make this announcement from his Hawaiian holiday home really just helps to illustrate the depths of his ignorance towards the general public.

      *By which he means, we can’t help you (the general public) because we are too busy helping ourselves (the wealthy elite).

      • Blue 1.2.1

        The “general public” seem to like him more than Goof and the ladies don’t they? So, clearly they don’t agree with you.

        • Ari 1.2.1.1

          Or perhaps they’re just not convinced yet. I’m not sure why you think being popular makes Key any less of a terrible, do-nothing Prime Minister.

        • Campbell Larsen 1.2.1.2

          lprent – query – how is it that Blue has two different matrices attached to their name? Different email logins/ ip addresses?
          I only bring it up because the one belonging to SS aka PG never changed…
          Just curious, you are under no obligation to explain : )

          [The “matrices” are Gravatars – see the FAQ. They are unique to the email address used. Different email = different gravatar. r0b]

          • lprent 1.2.1.2.1

            The gravator is explained in the FAQ. But it is hooked to the email address that each person enters, is not published, and is filled in for you from cookies after you use it once on a computer and is not required to be valid unless you register and login.

            Most likely blue is using two different computers but screwed up the address on one. Or it could be two different Blues and the gravators are doing their job at distinguishing that they are different.

          • felix 1.2.1.2.2

            I’m pretty sure they’re two different people.

            The crimson Blue is erudite and frequently insightful, whereas the lime Blue is a tory fool.

            • Blue 1.2.1.2.2.1

              We are two different people.

              I am the lefty Blue who has been commenting and guest-posting under this name since 2009, while the other ‘Blue’ with the green gravator is a rightie who seems to have just popped up here since the early months of this year.

              • Colonial Viper

                The other one seems to have popped on this planet sometime this year, judging by their understanding of..well…everything. Nice to have you around tho 🙂

        • Kaplan 1.2.1.3

          Who is Goof? If you want to anyone to take you seriously you need to be able to converse like an adult, not a 9 year old in the playground with a clever name for the teacher they don’t like.

          We don’t elect presidents in NZ, we elect a governing party or coalition. I’ll be voting for labour this year and to be perfectly honest it has nothing to do with Phil being the leader, even though he will make a very capable Prime Minister, it’s because Labour’s policies are the best for the country.

    • Afewknowthetruth 1.3

      It wouldn’t be so bad if Shonkey just took a holiday. The problem is, life is a continuous holiday for him. He just goes from one piss-up/luncheon /entertainment to the next and never actually does anything useful in dealing with the planetary emergency we are engulfed in.

      Oh, I forgot. That’s his job. To ignore everything that is going on, sabotage the future of NZ and the planet we live on, and keep transfering wealth to his corporate mates. That must be sooooo difficult.

      What is so sad is that he has such a large portion of the polpulace fooled.

    • mik e 1.4

      Its an Image over Substance thing, In the Modern Celebrity world Spin and Charisma will win over substance and good policy . But with inflation at an all time high NZ $ at an all time high, the reserve bank GOVERNATOR still to act maybe twice before the election the dollar could well escalate especially with the world cup coming up could reduce travelers and their spending power as well as the productive sector could slow down considerably.We,ve already seen some bounce in the electorate. we are definitely the under dogs at the moment. we are quiet happy with that you can be as venal as you like .

      • Pete George 1.4.1

        I’m afraid to say a lot of people don’t see substance and good policy from Labour either, and more importantly, a lot of people don’t think Labour have the capability of delivering any good policy. That stood out with CGT – CGT itself was quite popular, but CGT + Labour was not. That’s a strong message.

        • Georgecom 1.4.1.1

          May be the case Pete. However, I am really quite pleased that Labour is actually deciding to do things that are good for NZ, like the CGT. That sort of thinking is about what we need for the future rather than what may get them elected in a few months time. Its realising that the world changed in 2008 rather than thinking nothing much has changed at all and that somehow she’ll be right. Labour is showing signs of moving its thinking into a new age where the old rules and orthodoxies are no longer acceptable. That is quite exciting. National is no where near that reality. The last Labour government was about addressing some of the social ills neo-liberalism delivered to us. That period went, I think, when the global economy almost fell apart in 2008. The Labour party is now starting to focus on what we need for the future under quite different conditions. A CGT is actually a very good start. Its not the end, but it is a good start.

        • Colonial Viper 1.4.1.2

          PG supporting John Key by faintly damning him and then smearing Labour in the same sentence.

    • lprent 1.5

      Hah – I liked your other name better… More descriptive of your true personality rather than the unseen body. 😈

    • soadpaper 1.6

      We are not reduced to anything. John Key sux – and any opportunity to say so is welcomed by most readers of The Standard.

  2. Marjorie Dawe 2

    Thank goodness our government books were in such good condition when the Nats took over. We spent 9 years paying back the previous accumulation of debt after 1999.
    It allowed our celebrated dicKey to take a holiday almost immediately on winning the election as well. The world is on the brink of a meltdown and his plans done change do they. I would have to agree with Afewknowthetruth as life is one long holiday.
    When the going gets tough the useless get going. I wish he would keep on going and forget to come back because then we might even be better off.

  3. Blue 3

    The sad thing is that Key is right.

    The public (and the media) are not connecting NZ’s dismal economic performance with the National Government. They are still under the impression that global forces are wholly and entirely to blame.

    Hence National’s polling performance.

    The Key-led National Government will be something that NZ regrets only in hindsight, after the damage has been done.

    • bbfloyd 3.1

      that’s how it always goes… maybe we’re just too stupid to deserve proper government.. look how we’ve treated the ones who did try to govern properly..

      • Ari 3.1.1

        Eh, it’s Labour’s responsibility to make the case that National is mis-managing the economy directly to the public if they want them to believe it and vote them into government. Lets not put the blame entirely on ordinary people who’re just trying to get by.

        • Anne 3.1.1.1

          They’ve made the case Ari. Time and time and time and time again. The MSM ignore it. They are too busy being wined and dined by “the great one” and it leaves them all suffering from a collective case of visual and audio impairment.

          How else can Labour get their message out to the public except through the media. OF course the voters could bypass them… get on to the web sites etc. or make direct inquiries but they’re too damm lazy to bother. If we get another term of this NAct govt. I, for one, won’t have an ounce of sympathy for the ordinary people.

        • bbfloyd 3.1.1.2

          @ari..blame? where did that come from?

  4. RedLogix 4

    Sadly policy has nothing to do with it whatsoever.

    They love Key because he looks like a ‘good sort’. He’s relaxed and natural, he makes blunders and says stupid things like they do. They can sort of pretend he isn’t actually a real politician … because the very last thing they want to think about right now is politics.

    Right now the world is a scary uncertain place and many New Zealanders are magically thinking that somehow if they don’t think about it, the world will not notice them and all those bad things happening out there will pass them by.

    By contrast Goff keeps talking polly stuff but only comes off as a ‘try hard’ because of it.

    Right now the very last thing the voters want to confront is policy. They just want ‘smile and wave’ to wish it all better for them. And in truth lots of women voters just go with the smile and the nice wife and kiddies.

    • IrishBill 4.1

      And in truth lots of women voters just go with the smile and the nice wife and kiddies.

      Take a moment to consider what you’ve just written there bro.

      • Ari 4.1.1

        Key probably relied far more on the support of men to be elected than Helen did, so I’m not sure where the dig at female voters is coming from.

        • Carol 4.1.1.1

          And it’s mostly men that I see running the He’s just like one of us line.

          • Ari 4.1.1.1.1

            Yep. If anything, it’s men who are the gullible voters prone to irrelevant identity politics.

        • rosy 4.1.1.2

          yep. Apparently in 2008 it was men who preferred Key. Not sure that anything much has changed since then.

          A gender bias is more evident in the preferred Prime Minister figures. National leader John Key has maintained his disproportionate support among men, with 49.2 per cent compared with 44.5 per cent support overall.

          • Puddleglum 4.1.1.2.1

            Sadly, things have changed. From the print version of The Press (front page story today):

            But of big concern to Labour is its continuing failure to woo back female voters who have deserted Labour for National under Key.

            With Helen Clark as Labour leader, female voters were the party’s secret weapon but National now polls as strongly among female voters as it does among males.” 

      • RedLogix 4.1.2

        Yes I did IB. I realise it wasn’t an obviously welcome thing to say.

        I did not say ALL women, or not even a majority of women… but when I look about the people I know and work with… it’s what I hear lots of them saying.

        My point is simply this. We argue the left’s case, necessarily and rightly so, on it’s rational merits. But as various people have said repeatedly, the voters are not listening. And they will not listen until they are ready to emotionally connect with what we are saying.

        And as all grown ups should know, male and females respond to different things emotionally.

    • Colonial Viper 4.2

      Yes heard some young students say today that they liked John Key and would probably vote for him because he was such a nic guy.

  5. Again at a tangent; I worked with two GM’s/CEO’s who both did the ‘look at me aren’t I normal’ thing; both destroyed the organisations and left them in a mess. It is like De Ja Vu.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.1

      I wouldn’t mind the ‘look at me aren’t I normal’ if they could do the job. Unfortunately, most of the people who pull the ‘look at me aren’t I normal’ trick think that they’re “special” (Randian superheroes) and can’t do the job. The latter is a perfect description of John Key.

  6. Peter Bains 6

    Apprently I heard on ZB today Silent T is on holiday in Bali. My take is as follows:
    1. Key on hloiday because he knows the election is in the bag.
    2. Silent T on holiday because he knows the election is lost.

    • mik e 6.1

      This is MMP so a week in politics is along time,the last time the polls came close, the number of polite blogs went up. Where Johns Votes Are Coming From is His Feminine SIDE HE HAS FROM BEING REARED BY HIS MUM. A Softly spoken womens voice! As Helen had her masculine side deep voice, authoritarian intelligent.

      • Chills 6.1.1

        That’s where I feel Goff has really turned off voters- he’s trying to mimic Key’s softly spoken feminine voice, whereas its not natural to him so it comes off in a rather sickening, disingenuous way. I remember a Goff under the influence of Helen coming across a lot more “manly”, now under the sway of Key’s popularity and his attempt to mimic him he comes across quite differently.

        • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.1

          ? haha you read Goff’s mind and divined that Goff is trying out his feminine side?

          Sorry mate but you definitely have not heard Goff in person like I have in the last week or two.

  7. Anne 7

    …and in other news, National continues to enjoy record levels of support after Labour’s CGT (widely praised by the intellegensia) failed to gain any traction whatsoever with voters.

    Unfortunately it can take the “voters” a long time to catch up with the intellegentsia. Of course some are so dumb and/or tunnel-visioned they never catch up.

    • sweetd 7.1

      Yes, cause all nat voters are dumb red necks and labour voters are super brains. Keep it up Anne, you are winning the hearts and minds.

      • Anne 7.1.1

        They’re not reading this so it doesn’t matter. And who cares about the “dumb red-necks” cos they aint going to vote for Labour (thank god) anyway.

        • Pete George 7.1.1.1

          It’s not the “dumb red-necks” Labour should be most worried about, more from the Fairfax poll points to a much bigger problem:

          49 per cent of voters think National has the best plan to fix the economy, well ahead of Labour on 17 per cent.

          The news gets worse for Labour, with only 48 per cent of its supporters backing its plan to fix the economy.

          (Financial trust gives National edge)

          If half of core Labour supporters are “so dumb and/or tunnel-visioned they never catch up” then Labour will have a hell of a job catching up.

      • felix 7.1.2

        Don’t be ridiculous sweetd, if they had hearts and minds they wouldn’t vote National.

        Silly goose.

    • Afewknowthetruth 7.2

      Most New Zealanders, along with Brits, Aussies, Americans, Canadians etc. respond to the neuro-linguistic programming churned out by the mass media.

      Bernays has a lot to answer for.

  8. Axle 8

    Third time on here. I notice the Farrar yawn blog is number one, stuff all comments though, and that Whale is number two because of his sincere love of the New Zealand public and all, once again almost zero comment apart from various forms of felatio with toy guns. This site is basically where anything and everything good is argued, and the ever increasing interruptions from the wackos are thoroughly desperate because … they’ve got nowhere else to go where anyone will have to read the their fashionable sadism. Since we’re not fashionable here I’d just like to posit, maybe it’s the time where blogging might be balanced with the need to man (and woman) some barricades, sometime soon. Does anyone else out there agree that this appalling government is having an Hawaiian that needs some serious chilli up its arse?

    • r0b 8.1

      If you’re getting those rankings from TUMEKE, Axle, then note that they are (1) generated by a fairly worthless methodology and (2) from 2009. 

      • Axle 8.1.1

        Cheers mate. We’re just feeling desperate and vaguely 1981-ish in our office. I just appreciate this blog okay, wake up, go on Jackal and flip around then the Dimpost, coffee and … your posts are refreshing too. Just a 50+ novice really.

    • chris73 8.2

      Since we’re not fashionable here I’d just like to posit, maybe it’s the time whereblogging might be balanced with the need to man (and woman) some barricades, sometime soon. Does anyone else out there agree that this appalling government is having an Hawaiian that needs some serious chilli up its arse?

      Care to elaborate on the above?

      • Axle 8.2.1

        Yep. Time for a prick like you to bite something that bites back.

        • chris73 8.2.1.1

          Still not quite answering the question, could you repeat that without the use of pricks and arses?

          • Axle 8.2.1.1.1

            Ok Chris. The MSM and the Nats have had a dream ride. You guys seem to be enjoying your rather late 70s experience. The noise from the Right, you’d have to admit, is finding dominant currency in both the informed (you etc) and the less informed. Since the messages of alternative currency aren’t making such a noise amongst the less informed, or too damn tired or desperate or whatever, I feel that alternatives outside the blogosphere and the MSM have to be considered.

            • chris73 8.2.1.1.1.1

              Ok, lets say for the sake of arguement what you say is true, what alternatives do you have for the left to consider?

              • Axle

                I’m new to this Chris. Are you baiting me. I know what the farmers and the truckies and the Tangata Whenua have done. Give me some ideas.

                • chris73

                  Baiting?

                  Sorry I didn’t realise lefties were so defensive that anyone actually asking them their opinion and what they’d do is considered baiting.

                • The Voice of Reason

                  Chris isn’t clever enough to bait anyone, Axle. His style is to raise irrelevencies and then expect other posters to waste time proving them wrong. Hence his request to you (‘what alternatives’).
                   
                  I’d stick with the approach you use in 8.2.1. and don’t fret about trying to reason with Chris. He’s not here for a debate, he’s here to confuse, distract and derail. As the saying goes; Don’t feed the trolls.

                  • chris73

                    “Since the messages of alternative currency aren’t making such a noise amongst the less informed, or too damn tired or desperate or whatever, I feel that alternatives outside the blogosphere and the MSM have to be considered.”

                    Ok Voice of Reason I’ll try to explain this as simply as I can (so you might be able to understan)

                    I don’t know what he/she means by the above statement so I asked him what he/she meant.

                    I’m sorry if you find that confusing or distracting, maybe redalert might be more your style

                    • The Voice of Reason

                      Oh I understan (sic) alright Chris, but I’m going to follow my own advice and not waste time on your circle jerking.

    • bbfloyd 8.3

      i’m quite taken with the imagery that forms when i contemplate what kind, and how many chillies would be required to perform the requisite purification.. but i need to ask how you’d “woman” a barricade.

      but the chilli thing warms me .

      • Axle 8.3.1

        Sorry BB I know Chris is a twat, but I can’t remember which side of the ledger you’re on. Woman-ing the barricade is the same as manning the barricade except that it’s a lady instead of a fella. Imagery has nothing to do with lousy shits in the sears of power.

        • Pete George 8.3.1.1

          Sorry BB I know Chris is a twat, but I can’t remember which side of the ledger you’re on.

          You need to know which “side of the ledger” someone is on so you know whether to praise or abuse? You should feel at home here – but, although you may not care about it, the ledger is a lot more complicated than some make out, and they can be hopeless at finding the right page.

          • chris73 8.3.1.1.1

            Didn’t you know already, right = bad and left = good

            Everything is black and white

            • Axle 8.3.1.1.1.1

              Fair enough you guys. Then if the story’s wider that the polemics expressed, why don’t you go on the Oil and Farrar and give your moderating voice, I mean have you seen the vitriol in the comments there – I feel tame. Also Pete you have this argument all the time, it’s tedious. I was using ‘ledger’ for convenience – there’s always nuance, for instance (Federated Farmers = Staunch Unionists, Fonterra = NZ’s biggest Collective) Left doctrine working to stabilise an industry that doesn’t tend to vote such necessary stabilisation for the rest of us.

          • Deadly_NZ 8.3.1.1.2

            HA! Pot meet Kettle. Kettle meet Pot. Jeeze Pete George SS or whatever.

    • lprent 8.4

      Try Open Parachute blog rankings for page views and visitors. We started to provide data to them a few months back from site meter just before the usual mid winter slump….

  9. There Is No Fat Left in the Land

    there is no fat left in the land
    we’ve sucked poor Gaia dry
    we’ve partied while we raped and burned
    what’s left? Who knows? Not i

    we’re predators who’ve preyed ‘til now
    on everything we saw
    but all that’s left to prey upon
    is us. So now it’s war.

    The strong will prey upon the weak
    the young upon the old
    to keep the middle class alive
    our children will be sold

    descent to bloody anarchy
    will shred our civil skin
    the truth of what we really are
    is just now sinking in

    we’re all so nice and proper
    when Gaia foots the bill
    but now the piper must be paid
    that means we have to kill

    “we have to kill the bankers
    the politicians too
    the CEOs and billionaires
    kill them and all their crew

    and all with aspirations
    to grow and grow and grow
    we’d better knock that on the head
    and put their heads on show”

    and when were scrabbling in the dirt
    for anything to eat
    and almost everyone is dead
    “oh boy will that be sweet”

    we’ll be what we were in the days
    before our “reason” dawned
    before we dreamed that we were gods
    before our greed was spawned

    we’ll fade and die a species
    that might have had the stars
    but lacked some fundamental thing
    we used up in our cars

    by The Peak Oil Poet

    http://oilcrash.com/articles/poems.htm#new_20110715

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.