Call me twisted, but that failed bail-out package and the accompanying drops in the markets makes for a feel good news article. I guess when the Berlin Wall crumbled, the official news sources in the Soviet Bloc were somewhat negative in their reporting too.
I don’t think it’s time to bail out ‘the people’ as much as time for people to bail out of the whole shebang.
But since people are not able/prepared for that, it strikes me as a shame that the Labour party here embraced neo-liberal doctrine so completely, ’cause now would have been a really good time for them to repudiate their faith, embrace their doubts and set down social and economic policies that fall decidedly outside the realm of neo-liberal acceptability.
Theres a lot of really poor journalism going on around the bail-out, and a lot of misunderstanding.
We’re not talking about throwing $700bln USD down a drain – it’s a purchase of loans that are still backed – for the most part – by solid residential property (the security needs to be differentiated from the borrowers ability to repay the mortgage, two very different things)
The US government is going to be picking up these loans secured on housing at a substantial discount, so there is in all probability a positive return in future for the federal government as those loans progressively get paid back and/or the property market recovers. Add to that the prospect of holding a portion of the stock in banks (which are also at astonishingly low market valuations at present) and there is a very real opportunity to make an absolute fortune for taxpayers.
Of course, there also needs to be a change in the regulatory oversight. Not necessarily more, but certainly a change to the way banks are supervised by the likes of the Fed.
….
One thing that really concerns me though, is the pace of the legislative process here. Remember the last time the US government pushed something through this fast? It was the Patriot Act and associated counter-terrorist measures… some nasty stuff hidden in that.
“50 000 shares, I mean, um, ah, between 50 000 and 100 000″ Merchant banker!
” I don’t know if I met Ashcroft. Um, eh I met him at my home” Merchant banker!
I wont post any more. I’m sure others can come up with far better, but anyway, ever noticed he always seems to have one hand in his pocket…..merchant banker!
How many kleenex will be needed to clean up the mess this merchant banker will make?
ALERT! Don’t let this merchant banker near your assets!
I’d be interested to see if they’re going to put the hard word on executive bonuses and parachutes as a condition of the buyouts: I’d say “nothing” is about what they’re owed.
Phil has a couple of good points though –
1) The bailout isn’t just throwing money away, and it will hopefully ease some of the pain that will be felt anyway.
2) The Govt could quite possibly make money off this (But what the hell is Government doing in business? Isn’t that all *gulp* Socialist and stuff?)
3) Pushing legislation through so fast can be dangerous. Action has to be taken quickly, but I don’t think that Congress are wrong to defeat a bill that has been put together so hastily. I imagine most of the Rep’s haven’t even had a chance to read the fine-print (Of which there will be a lot) – always a smart thing to do when dealing with large sums of money.
Neo-liberalism is not a world wide phenomena. True, most developing and ex-state communist countries had it forced on them through SAPS and such like and the anglo-saxon world adopted it wholesale.
But that leaves a lot of countries that didn’t pursue neo-liberal economic doctrines.
This 700 trillion is only the amount they can have outstanding at all times but they can trade over and over again. Bloomberg reckons this bail out of the worthless paper junk bonds could cost the US taxpayer up to 5 trillion.
This bailout would give the banksters immunity from prosecution for fraud and give Paulson dictatorial power over the entire financial system of the US. No check and balances.
The speculative bubble created by John Key and his Wall street bankster mates is likely to exceed a Quadrillion dollars.
Why should the US taxpayer and make no mistake the UK population is also hit for up to a trillion pounds and the Federal Reserve of NZ will also start bailing out failing banks if need be so why should we the little people bail out the banksters speculative orgy of the last 20 years because that’s how long this has been going on. This did not happen overnight you know.
The derivative trade banned in 1933 because it was just to speculative was taken out of the mothballs by Alan Greenspan in 1987 and ever since the bloodsuckers on Wall street and in the city of London have been having a go at it.
If John Key has any remorse about his speculative past he should consider giving his fortune to the super fund it just lost over 880 million dollars the last year. but guess what I’m sure he would rather spend it on another house in Hawaii were he and his predatorial banking mates are going to enjoy the spoils of their drunken looting of the worlds populations when he is done selling of NZ’s assets to them.
I have the feeling a lot of NZers are going to be mightily pissed of with him in a year or so and he’ll be very happy to live in that resort.
Even if Congress backs the Paulson bail-out, the $700 billion blast cannot save the US, Britain or the world from the deepest economic slump since the Thirties. If Congress balks, God help us.
Emphasis mine. Read my post again – did I say that the bailout was a cure-all? Hell no. But if it doesn’t happen, the pain is going to be a lot worse.
As Mr Paulson says, US taxpayers are on the hook whether they like it or not. A $700 billion fund to soak up toxic debt and stabilise the credit market is the cheapest way out. It is certainly cheaper than Depression.
Stop lumping me in with the free-market idealists. I’m most assuredly not one. But that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the fact that things are incredibly fucked, and will quite likely get worse if the Fed doesn’t inject some cash shortly.
Oh, and one last quote from that article:
… claims that the US is going bust are frivolous. The US Treasury is not taking on permanent debt: it is behaving like a giant wealth fund, hoovering up mortgage securities selling far below their real value for reasons of panic. Famed investor Warren Buffett expects it to make “a considerable amount of money’.
That Buffett guy has had the odd dip in the financial pool. Maybe he’s not the worst person in the world to take advice from?
Only one thing worse than a bailout, & that is no bailout.
Although the bailout constitutes rampant govt socialism, via nationalisation of financial assets. Not a good thing. For my personal reasons, of which I won’t go into, I prefer no bailout.
Let’s see some solutions, instead of grandstanding & blaming “the system”. At the end of the day, taxpayers pay, one way or the other.
Free trade and capitalism is one thing. But wanting free trade and capitalism when it’s profitable and socialism and regulation when your business goes bankrupt because you’ve been gambling with it? come on.
Capitalism is about the freedom of enterprise whether you make it or break it that’s up to you.
The banksters betted with other peoples money and made gazillions while doing it. Now let them pay the price for their greedy irresponsible behaviour.
Dismantle the Federal Reserve system, abolish the monopoly of the privately owned banking cartel and let’s go back to the time of social credit. We own this country. We the people and not a bunch of parasitical low lives speculating with the fruits of our labour, our hard earned money.
Spending anywhere between 700 billion to 5 trillion of the already maxed out taxpayers money to prop up corrupt financial institutes is day light robbery. Getting out of two illegal wars of aggression and spending the money (last week the congress passed another trillion to be spend in the wars) on rebuilding the crumbling American infrastructure creating jobs, invest in schools etc. is more in order.
Eve: the problem is that the bankers won’t be the ones paying the price… They’ve already had their multi-million dollar bonuses, they’ll be ok. It’s the people who have mortgages on their homes, which will be foreclosed upon to pay the debts these banks have incurred, who will suffer.
Hence me being in favour of the bailout (in some form, it will have to happen – either in welfare payments for the unemployed or in cash for the banks to retain liquidity) while completely removing the bonus system for bankers (ideally this could be applied retrospectively, say by a 100% tax bill on any such payment in the last 6-12 months). It won’t cover the bailout, or anything near, but it’ll mean that the money goes where it’s needed, and if an executive has to sell his house because he can’t make the payments? Well, too bad.
I’m all for helping the Americans who have lost their jobs because the same scum from the banking world who are also on the boards of big corporations and who for profit outsourced all the well paying jobs to china and who sold suckers the idea that their overvalued houses would always go up in price expensive mortgages.
Those people need jobs and income to pay their mortgages and feed and clothe their kids. So if you’re going to bail out anybody why not them. They just passed another trillion for their wars so why not for their own people.
The truth is that giving Wall street banksers unlimited amounts of money is only going to increase inflation on a massive scale. In fact it will destroy the dollar altogether. It will start the sell of of the dollar by China and Japan and it will be the end of the Anglo-Saxon financial system.
But perhaps that is what should happen because then perhaps we can make the criminal banking elite pay for their monstrous speculative bubble and their wanton looting of the worlds resources.
worthless paper junk bonds
RMBS means ‘residential mortgage back security… as in there is a whopping great house and piece of land behind each and every loan. For the security to be worthless, it would have to be the case that every single one of those homes and the land with them was also worth $0 – to say the bind is ‘worthless’ is simply not accurate.
This bailout would give the banksters immunity from prosecution for fraud and give Paulson dictatorial power over the entire financial system of the US. No check and balances.
“Over the entire financial system” is a bit of a stretch, Trav…
I doubt this ‘dicatorial power’ is really going to be true following the failed house vote overnight. I fully agree that there needs to be acceptable checks/balances, but we probably disagree on the nature of them. I’m not so sure about the avoidance of prosecution as, as I understand it, there has not been a systematic breaking of any particular laws, just some shockingly unethical practices.
The speculative bubble … is likely to exceed a Quadrillion dollars
Erm, so?
The Fed/Treasury is not there to bail out the whole industry. It’s there to provide a degree of confidence that has been lacking recently. There is going to be a need for banks to ‘hold hands and work through this together responsibly’ (as, I think we can both agree, there should be).
Federal Reserve of NZ (sic) will also start bailing out failing banks
Our banks have not taken on RMBS to anywhere near the extent of the US or other countries. Our banks strike me as being sound, and well oversighted by the RBNZ, so I dont accept a bank failure is remotely possible for NZ any time soon.
banksters speculative orgy of the last 20 years because that’s how long this has been going on. This did not happen overnight you know
I put this to you; Where do you think all that money came from? It wasn’t created out of nowhere (please don’t start on this…)
It came from all the funds, investors, etc that had excess cash sloshing around, and were looking for somewhere with a juicy interest rate return. These investors need to take a share of the blame for ignoring the real risk there were getting themselves into. they wanted more of this stuff, and the banks were only too happy to securitise sub-prime loans and get them off the balance sheet.
Then we need to look at the original borrowers. They suddenly thought they could have a home that five minutes earlier they couldn’t afford? More of my favourite bug-bear; financial illiteracy in the general populace.
Blaiming the banks alone for where we are now is myopic, and ignores the demand side of supply and demand.
The only problem I have is that we don’t get the bailout we want, we only get the bailout on offer. That bailout was one that would be administered by the Bush administration. I simply don’t trust them.
The politics of it are a mess, and the GOP congress critters have decided that having no deal is better than any deal that involves ‘socialism’. They want to be able to run against the deal, blaming the Democrats.
If I was the Dem’s I’d respond with a New Deal 2.0. Include all sorts of populist stuff marketed around a slogans like the one in the poster and “Too big to Fail? Too big to exist!”. Break the banks. etc.
The way the GOP has poilticised this is disgusting, but if that’s the way they want to roll, then Obama has a shot at setting the playing field for some dramatic reform. Ideally he should put himself as a conservative check on a populist Democratic congress. Let the GOP rant on the sidelines for a decade.
This financial crisis was predictable and was predicted by some. But the ‘doomsayers’ were voices in the wilderness. The ‘herd’ just kept straight on, smokin’ those cigars and celebrating that ‘tomorrow was another day.’
So now it’s all come crashing and there’s panic and all sorts of mayhem. Fine.
But what was that mentality that persisted on a disastrous trajectory by employing wilful blindness and suspending disbelief? More importantly, what is that trait going to lead us to on matters that are not abstract products of human cunning; that lead to far greater consequences than the collapse of an idea?
A way of doing business is over and it’s going to have effects in the real world that will hurt a lot of people. That’s one thing.
But more important, MUCH more important, is the ecological and climatic disaster that is facing us down right now.
I can see the same pattern of denial…the wilful blindness and suspension of disbelief. In a financial meltdown it is arguably possible by means of shifting money and developing rules to ameliorate real world consequences.
But rules and money will do nothing for our ability to grow crops when seasons are no longer the broadly predictable affairs we have become accustomed to. Money and rules will do nothing to ameliorate chaotic weather or shifts in ecological systems or any of the real world consequences of climate change.
Since we failed/refused to foresee and avert a disaster in a financial model that was merely a product of our own cunning imagination, then it has to be wondered what chance with real world systems that are far more complex and utterly crucial to our survival?
Just a thought.
Ah jeez, me cigar’s gone out! Oh well, tomorrow’s another day.
PB: Yeah, a New Deal for the 21st Century appeals to me too. But it won’t happen, because Bush would never let it through, and if it’s not signed and sealed before Obama takes office it’ll likely be too late – seen the markets this morning?
Why don’t you watch this documentary about the Money Masters
If you can say money wasn’t made out of thin air than you’re going to have to deal with my response whether you like it or not.
This is a very nice video that will teach you about money creation.
The fractal banking system has created over a Quadrillion (1000 trillion) dollars out of thin air speculating in unregulated financial products.
The worlds GDP is no more than 60 trillion a year in real goods.
It is that bubble that is now deflating. This bubble has nothing to do with the real economy. It is just speculative crap betting hedging also known as gambling.
Banks in the US are walking away from the property the foreclose on because they don’t want to get into the real estate maintenance business. LOL.
Ironically the democrats had already capitulated to Bush with a token oversight, equity (ha ha paying twice what the bad debts are worth now – even less in the future) and some token protection for homeowners.
It was the House Republicans who pulled their free market outrage that socialism was stalking the land of the free.
There will be a further compromise but meanwhile more banks will deservingly go bust. That is the whole purpose of a recession/depression – the destruction of overvalued value.
All these crocodile tears for Wall St is a bit rich when they sat back and let the market rip in Asia in 97 and Russia in 98.
Talk of socialism via the Treasury is crap. The state has always propped up capitalism, its just that the marketeers try to deny it in good times. And its no use thinking that deal they eventually arrive at will do anything for workers.
Homeowners should sit tight occupy their homes and stop further sales. Those already living in Walmart carparks should go home and stake out their property. The idea that homeowners are to be blamed for getting into mortages they couldnt afford is crap. We are talking about a credit card culture promoted by the financiers, why should homeowners be blamed for this?
They have been conned and found the cost of housing too high when wages were declining and jobs being lost. Many will have paid more than the likely new value of their houses anyway.
On the basis of mass occupations homeowners should demand the nationalisation of housing and the cancellation of their mortgage debt. They can then pay rent to the state at a rate pegged at no more than 20% of their wage.
over a Quadrillion (1000 trillion) dollars out of thin air speculating in unregulated financial products.
The worlds GDP is no more than 60 trillion a year in real goods.
Sorry, I missed the significance of the decimal placing… It’s a verrrrry big scaaaaary number,. until you put it in context.
When you work it out per person on the planet (6 billion, roughly) that’s about $160k USD. I’d think that’s probably an accurate reflection of the net worth of each person on average, when you take into account the skewed nature of wealth distribution.
I think you’re also confusing GDP (which is the ‘flow’ of what’s produced in a year) with the actual ‘stock’ of wealth underlying it. If global GDP is 60 trillion, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation puts the global stock of wealth at $1,200 trillion (assuming that GDP represents the return on the underlying assets, and is on average a real 5%)… which still leaves us $200 trillion in ‘capital’.
Banks in the US are walking away from the property the foreclose on because they don’t want to get into the real estate maintenance business.
LOL
That’s their prerogative. The Fed and Treasury can’t/won’t do the same.
I actually think there is quite an opening for an investor/institution to get a property empire on the cheap. You look for properties about to be foreclosed, and agree on a purchase price with the current occupant where you take ownership, they pay you rent as landlord, and they don’t have to move out.
As investor, you get a house at a discounted price, the bank doesn’t lose out on its original mortgage, and the tennat doesn’t get foreclosed and kicked out.
“Dismantle the Federal Reserve system, abolish the monopoly of the privately owned banking cartel and let’s go back to the time of social credit”
Keep dreaming travellerv.
By the way, did you incredibly smart woman get to the bottom of the conspiracy theories behind 9/11 and the moon landing hoax? Good on you, Dutch Einstein!
claiming ‘squatters rights’ would work, if people displayed solidarity for one another. But in an environment where looking after number one and getting ahead of the Jones’ has become the acceptable norm, I can’t see a culture of solidarity flourishing. Still, worth a go.
Something along the lines of a defaulting mortgage becoming a rent payable to a government agency (after re-evaluation) sounds too easy and sensible. Can’t have that!
At the end of the day, the ‘big boys’ will work or stumble something out ( by accident or design) that is to their mutual benefit and that at the very least preserves a semblance of the present system ticking along after a fashion.
I just can’t see the point myself. Capitalism will always come to a point where it produces more than it can consume and the only way out, insofar as seeking profit maximisation is through speculation. Even when this shit is ‘sorted out’, it’ll only be a matter of time before it all comes around again.
I remember the days when kids used to stick their hands in a fire and learn something from the experience. Alas, no more it seems.
As investor, you get a house at a discounted price, the bank doesn’t lose out on its original mortgage, and the tennat doesn’t get foreclosed and kicked out.
But the country does end up with near monopoly landlords which will come together into an oligarchy – exactly what we have now and what added to the crisis.
The big stink being kicked up by workers on the streets is collectivism at a very minimal level. Its only one step for them to set up neighborhood committees to defend their homes from foreclosures.
If its OK for the bosses to gang up and hold up the government for a hand out, its OK for workers to gang up to keep their homes. Then when theyve done that they can gang up to take over the hospitals, transport, and other services and run them collectively.
Its another step forward in industry. Section 11 bankruptcies has seen companies bail out of jobs and workers pensions. Usually the assets get grabbed cheap by some other boss. Workers need to gang up and take over the plants in lieu of their back wages stolen by these put up bankruptcies. This has happened in Argentina and Venezuela so its not outlandish in the US facing a big crisis. Here workers go from being collectives of taxpayers to being collectives of producers of wealth.
What has been set in motion with this crisis opens up this prospect of a collective consciousness developing among the working class majority. We can go from a rebellion against bailouts for the rich to stakeouts of industry etc to provide jobs, housing, jobs, services etc
When the Republicans talk about ‘socialism’ we should say “you havnt seen anything yet”
I predict that there is no saving this one and I hope I’m wrong and with me some very smart people whose articles I’ve been reading from both sides of the political spectrum. I can assure you that these people all hope they are very, very wrong.
In fact I predict an economic meltdown of biblical proportion and have prepared for it.
I hope I’m going to be one of those people that in a couple of years looks at herself in the mirror and things Jeez girl did you get that wrong or what. I really do.
‘Vanilla Eis’ & ‘Phil’: opposition to the US “Bailout” seems to have been a Bipartisan thing. Could something like that happen in Aotearoa / Neu Seeland ?
“It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler. Now, sir, in the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to the people’s money being used to pay the fiddler…all this to settle a question in which the people have no interest, and about which they care nothing. These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the people, and now, that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people’s money to settle the quarrel.” – Abraham Lincoln, January 11, 1837
Rave.
Don’t get me wrong. I basically agree with what you say. But I question the existence of the will and don’t see where the historical knowledge to carry things through is going to come from.
In Argentina, workers didn’t take over the factories because they thought it was a good idea (unfortunately) but out of desperation and complete lack of any other option.
And then in Argentina and elsewhere, when the workers had it all on a plate, they gave control away to the government..(not all of them, but a goodly number)
Trav – I can see why you’d say that, but I’m not convinced actually. The economy is a weird thing. Like you say, the US is hugely in debt… but what does that mean really? I mean do you actually think they’re going to go bankrupt? That makes no sense. It’s a fiat currency – there are 300 million people and a huge amount of infrastructure and resource base and technology backing it. Saying “I think the US government will go bankrupt” is also a bit of a non-statement. How? What currency is their debt held in? What is to stop them from just printing more money (as they’ve essentially been doing hand over fist for the last few months). I mean they’ll devalue their currency, sure, but they won’t be bankrupt.
I agree there are going to be a lot of big ripples, but I don’t think it’s as simple (or as catastrophic) as the armageddon scenario you portray. Do you think trade is just going to stop? Can you think of any reason WHY it actually would?
I’m quietly pleased the bailout got rejected. It’ll get passed eventually, but I think it SHOULD be a struggle if any good is to come from it. It should be painful enough that people really stop and reconsider the systems in place.
The Daily Show last week on the issue was truly awesome.
Has anyone noticed how the ETS, which has been under consideration and development for… what… about 3 or 4 years now… anyway, it’s “A rushed and reckless piece of legislation”. But the “Pick up the tab for the gross incompetence, huge salaries, and abominable risk assessment skills of the finance industry act” or whatever it’s called is “An urgently required measure for the good of the economy”?
Interesting to see priorities and planning horizons. Spending 700 billion now for the sake of stupid lending practices with questionable consequences is prudent economic management… but GOD help you if you try to suggest spending a fraction of that on renewable energy development funding… I mean that would be meddling in the market, who knows what might happen?!
Oh wait, that’s right, the coal industry would tank. My mistake… everyone knows what might happen.
Bill
I don’t disagree that overcoming the isolation of individuals is a problem. But if Michael Moore and others are right, then it was the collective rage that stopped the bailout yesterday.
Moore thinks that the system can be rescued but its worth pushing him as far as he will go. He’s calling for a national mobilisation to stop the bailout period. That’s a good starting point.
I also agree that Argentinian workers occupied out of desperation. There are still many under occupation but it is a struggle given the recovery of the economy. In Venezuela I would say that the conditions are much better and important occupations and nationalisations are still happening.
But isnt the situation in the US for homeless people desperate?
Ive seen TV interviews and coverage of the homeless. It reminds me of the desperation of the unemployed in Argentina until they started organising road blocks. Its a big psychological shift to go from an insolated jobless person or loan defaulter to a pissed off home defender grouped to others in the block and getting organised like the piqueteros in Argentina.
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All of the Government’s five options for improving Auckland’s links include or prioritise tunnels and bridges for cars, double-cab utes and trucks ahead of walking, cycling and rail. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Labour Government has brought forward plans to start building and/or drilling a second Waitematā harbour ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes: Green’s co-leader Marama Davidson just keeps digging the hole she is in deeper. First she showed her bitter antipathy towards white CIS (same gender as birth) men. Then she walked it back to all men. On Tuesday night on TV1 News she said, “…overwhelmingly it ...
as Auckland’s cantankerous mayor stumbles from one crisis to the next, the hope is not that Wayne Brown will learn on the job – that’s almost certainly a lost cause – but that Aucklanders will manage to come together and limit the damage that he threatens to inflict on the ...
Wow, it’s the end of March already. Here are a few of the smaller items that caught our attention over the last week. We need better trucks Newsroom reported on a Ministry of Transport report showing just how dirty our current truck fleet is. A heavy diesel truck costs ...
Listening to RNZ yesterday, I heard that the government was making a major announcement about a second crossing of the Waitematā. I was fairly surprised.I’d have thought with it being election year the last thing the government would want to be talking about was a massive Auckland transport project. Especially ...
I cracked open a fortune cookie with a family group after dinner. My loved ones got warm, inspiring messages such as my son’s: ‘You will be successful in business and society’. Nice. I got this one: “Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.” By coincidence, I had already drafted a ...
THOMAS CRANWELL: When ideology turns violent – the political and media backing behind the Posie Parker mob Thomas Cranwell writes – ——————————– Similar to other countries, the transgender movement in New Zealand is not a grassroots organisation but instead is an increasingly ...
It is a lovely autumn morning.The sun is shining. The birds in Kōwhai park are twittering.There is music playing on Today FM.You can hardly tell that the children at Kia Kaha primary school are being greenhouse gassed.It is not just happening at Kia Kaha Primary School.It is happening to all ...
Poor old Mike Hosking! In today’s Herald, such is his visceral antipathy to our current government, that he is reduced to wrestling with himself in trying to understand how it is that despite its many failings – in his eyes at least – the Labour government is somehow ahead in ...
Air pollution kills, and dirty diesel vehicles are a major source of it. Cleaning them up has enormous social benefits in avoided deaths and hospitalisations. How much? Billions of dollars: A report quietly released by the Ministry of Transport in July shows tighter regulation of vehicle imports for air ...
Via one of my lovely Twitter sources, the sardonic and interesting @johubris … the following ‘poll question’ has been recently distributed: “Thinking about your life and your country now, what is the most important issue that you want to see the New Zealand Government addressing?” This qualifies as push-polling, which ...
On Tuesday night, former Forestry Minister Stuart Nash was sacked for corruption, after the Prime Minister discovered he had disclosed confidential cabinet discussions to his donors. Its since emerged that Jacinda Ardern's office knew of this disclosure, but didn't act on the obvious breach of the Cabinet manual, and didn't ...
Buzz from the Beehive Whoa, there – we can’t keep up! Suddenly, the PM’s ministerial team has unleashed a slew of press statements. Sixteen announcements have been posted on the Beehive website since our last check. This burst of activity (we wondered) might be the result of them responding positively ...
Big transport news today with the government beginning public engagement on options for the Waitemata Harbour Connections project. This project has had an incredibly long history, with previous versions somehow managing to be incredibly expensive, detrimental to most of the transport outcomes we are trying to achieve in Auckland, and ...
If ever there was an example of complacency about corruption and integrity in New Zealand politics it’s the fact that the Prime Minister’s Office knew back in 2021 that Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash was feeding privileged Cabinet information to business donors but did nothing about it. This is one of ...
Open access notables "Despite the potential for positive methane–climate feedbacks from global wetlands, most Earth System Models (ESMs) and Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) that informed the last Assessment Report of the IPCC do not directly incorporate this process."Publishing in Nature Climate Change, Zheng et al. unpack the implications of this ...
Among its ‘go slow’ on climate measures, the Government chose to delay tighter regulation of vehicle imports for air pollution for six years because it would have increased vehicle purchase costs. Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government continues to backtrack on moves to reduce emissions, with three news items ...
Stuart Nash’s downfall appears to have had its beginnings with one of the players from the “Dirty Politics” scandals of 2014. Simon Lusk, a close associate of Cameron “Whaleoil” Slater, one of the key figures in Nicky Hagar’s “Dirty Politics” expose, has been associated with Stuart Nash. Lusk has ...
Worried if this election will be shellacked by “the culture war”? That arrived ages ago. And, one side is definitely in panic mode, even if that’s not being admitted right now. Because of that, they’re reverting yet again to straight up… culture wars. Yes, fellow traveler, the Party who ...
All About Climate is a Youtube channel dedicated to communicating climate science and combating misinformation about global warming. It is run by Roshan Salgado D'Arcy - or 'Rosh' for short. He is a geology graduate with an MSc in climate change and is currently reading for a PhD in the communication of ...
ChatGPT is an interesting little beastie. I have only really started experimenting with it recently – not because I have any interest in using it for my own writing projects, but because I enjoy pushing and prodding the AI in strange directions. I have spent an inordinate amount of ...
The science of climate change is clear: we need to stop burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible, and we cannot burn even a fraction of those already discovered. So naturally, Labour is offering oil companies more exploration permits: The Government is offering companies another opportunity to search for ...
There are two keyboards in my office. I hammer at one a lot more than the other.But some days — today, for instance, after a few days of steeping myself in toxicity —that other keyboard can really come into its own.I learned to play the piano as a kid, went ...
Is the government imploding? Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has had to sack one of his more effective (and likeable) ministers, while another (from the Green Party) has insulted many of the adult population. For his part, Hipkins had appeared to be shaping up well since he took over the ...
Mobbed! As Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s (Posie Parker’s) opponents surged forward, her only protecters were a handful of burly security guards who surrounded their client and began forcing a path through what was now a howling mob. At least one video recording shows the diminutive Keen-Minshull, a terrified rag-doll, eyes dulled by ...
Buzz from the Beehive It looks like Marama Davidson must revile white sis males – or some other group of our population – three more times before she gets the heave-ho as one of Chris Hipkins’ ministers. That’s the conclusion to be drawn from the PM’s treatment of Stuart Nash, ...
For a serial offender like Stuart Nash, it was inevitable that another skeleton would emerge from his closet, and end his ministerial career. This one though, was a whopper. Previously, Nash had tried to tell the Police how to do their job. He had also tried to tell the courts ...
Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash was sacked last night for violating Cabinet Collective Responsibility rules, when it was revealed he disclosed sensitive Government information to business supporters who had donated money to him. The breach of the Cabinet Manual was enough to land him in trouble, but the fact that it ...
Some good news last week with the Council confirming that Te Hā Noa – Victoria St Linear Park will go ahead and with construction starting on 11 April – though with a few fishhooks. Te Hā Noa, a renewed Victoria Street, is the next big project in Auckland Council’s Midtown ...
Stuart Nash’s assurances to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins that there were no further examples of him breaching the Cabinet Manual became meaningless with the release of emails from Nash sharing Cabinet discussions with business people. The Prime Minister had no choice but to sack Nash as a Minister with immediate ...
Hi,Just a quick online-only update after yesterday’s newsletter, How Michael Organ Weaponised the Family Court... and Sean Plunket. First up — wow. Thanks for all the support, and to all those who shared their own personal stories in the comments. And welcome to any new Webworm readers.I just wanted ...
Let that sink in for a moment - Christopher Luxon, who has spent the last year demonising Māori, wants Marama Davidson to apologise to white men.You will likely have seen the video, or read about it. Marama Davidson rushing along Princes St on Saturday evening, the road that runs between ...
Stuart Nash, the great-grandson of former Prime Minister Sir Walter Nash, has lost his political career. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Stuart Nash was sacked for telling donors what happened in Cabinet. Wellington’s City and Regional Councils are going cold on light rail plans. Wayne Brown is under ...
NZ First Leader Winston Peters is sympathising with Stuart Nash and defending him but dodging questions on whether he would be welcome in New Zealand First. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins last night sacked Nash from the Cabinet after an email he had sent to two of his campaign donors ...
So, after interfering with the police, and then interfering with immigration decisions, Stuart Nash has finally been sacked: Stuart Nash has been sacked as a minister, after Stuff revealed he had emailed business figures, including donors, detailing private Cabinet discussions. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the people Nash emailed ...
Nearly 25% of mortgages in Auckland are deemed at risk in a 1-in-100 year flood event. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Once a year, every year, from now on, in our not-so-slow-cooking climate crisis, there will be a moment when the most important number in Aotearoa’s own personal, national ...
Item One: About a confected crisis Please bear with me for a moment, readers outside Auckland, I wish to sound the klaxon. Auckland, we have until 11pm today to have our say. About what? About this, as copied and pasted from Pippa Coom’s Facebook page:The "austerity" budget is built on ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet again, the statement we were looking for could not be found on the Beehive website. Nor was it on the Scoop or Green Party websites. But – come to think of it – we are probably wasting our time by searching. Our quest is for the ...
The following is from a speech given by Arundhati Roy at the Swedish Academy on March 22, 2023, at a conference called Thought and Truth Under Pressure and reprinted from Literary Hub. I thank the Swedish Academy for inviting me to speak at this conference and for affording me the privilege ...
After almost two decades of racism, Australia is finally getting off its "stop the boats" bullshit. But don't worry, racists - Michael Wood has your back!The Government wants to increase the time it can detain without a warrant people seeking asylum en masse from four days to 28 ...
Last year, the Education and Workforce Committee recommended that the government legislate for pay transparency to prevent employers from secretly discriminating. This ought to be a bread and butter issue for Labour - discrimination sees women (and particularly Māori and Pasifika women) paid significantly less than men. But since then ...
Thomas Cranmer writes – ———— An unruly mob in Albert Park has catapulted New Zealand into the global headlines with ugly images that may become iconic in the debate about the dangers of transgenderism. ———— Bravo Kellie-Jay Keen. She did the job that needed to be done. For all the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global warming is melting the Arctic ice cap, and that’s having unforeseen effects on the world’s weather — even thousands of miles away from the North Pole. Some climate scientists have begun to link increasingly common heat waves in Europe to what is ...
Hot on the heels of the demotion of former police Minister Stuart Nash for breaching the Cabinet Manual, Radio New Zealand has revealed the close links between lobbyists and politicians- an area of New Zealand politics that is completely unregulated. The evidence in Guyon Espiner’s series Mate, Comrade, Brother, the ...
Over a million New Zealanders will receive a little extra to help with the cost of living as a result of our 1 April changes. Around the world, inflation is causing costs to rise and we’re feeling it here at home. In tough times, we need to support those who ...
With benefit changes coming into effect tomorrow, the Green Party is calling on the Government to lift benefits to liveable levels to make sure everyone has what they need to thrive. ...
Following decades of work by the Green Party alongside the organics sector, people will finally be able to be confident that products labelled organic have met standards. ...
The Green Party supports immediate Government action to close the pay gap as called for in an open letter released today by the Human Rights Commission and 50 other organisations. ...
The Green Party is today welcoming the release of the Government’s waste strategy, but says it has a big gap without action on the container return scheme for beverage containers. ...
The Government’s decision to introduce ‘mass arrivals’ legislation goes against the values we all share of Aotearoa as a place where all people are treated fairly, the Green Party says. ...
MINISTER DAVIDSON MUST RESIGN AFTER 'VIOLENCE' COMMENTS Marama Davidson should stand down as ‘Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence’ for the clear and outrageous statement she made at the Posie Parker protest that ‘white straight men’ are the cause of violence. Her offensive, racist, and sexist remarks ...
In response to Newshub and Amelia Wade’s obvious and ham-fisted attempt at a typical and predicted political hit job. As any politically aware reporter would know, any Cabinet subcommittee has a duty and obligation as a part of any government to respond to any UN declaration, in this case ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
“This is it; 2023 will be the last opportunity New Zealand has to get a government that will confront the climate emergency with the urgency it demands,” says the Green Party’s co-leader and climate change spokesperson, James Shaw. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, departs for Europe today, where she will attend a session of the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Brussels and make a short bilateral visit to Sweden. “NATO is a long-standing and likeminded partner for Aotearoa New Zealand. It is valuable to join a session of ...
A secure facility that will house protected information for a broad range of government agencies is being constructed at RNZAF Base Auckland (Whenuapai), Public Service, Defence and GCSB Minister Andrew Little says. The facility will consolidate and expand the government’s current secure storage capacity and capability for at least another ...
From today, 1.8 million flu vaccines are available to help protect New Zealanders from winter illness, Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall has announced. “Vaccination against flu is safe and will be a first line of defence against severe illness this winter,” Dr Verrall said. “We can all play a part ...
Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Willow-Jean Prime has congratulated Professor Rangi Mātāmua (Ngāi Tūhoe) who was last night named the prestigious Te Pou Whakarae o Aotearoa New Zealander of the Year. Professor Mātāmua, who is the government's Chief Adviser Mātauranga Matariki, was the winner of the New Zealander ...
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has announced further sanctions on political and military figures from Russia and Belarus as part of the ongoing response to the war in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Alekseevna Lvova-Belova ...
A new public housing development planned for Whangārei will provide 95 warm and dry, modern homes for people in need, Housing Minister Megan Woods says. The Kauika Road development will replace a motel complex in the Avenues with 89 three-level walk up apartments, alongside six homes. “Whangārei has a rapidly ...
New Zealand welcomes the substantial conclusion of negotiations on the United Kingdom’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Continuing to grow our export returns is a priority for the Government and part of our plan to ...
Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and the Crown initial Taranaki Maunga collective redress deed Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and the Crown have today initialled the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Deed, named Te Ruruku Pūtakerongo, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little says. “I am pleased to be here for this ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds has announced the 2023 Pacific Language week series, highlighting the need to revitalise and sustain languages for future generations. “Pacific languages are a cornerstone of our health, wellbeing and identity as Pacific peoples. When our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated, our communities thrive,” ...
880,000 pensioners to get a boost to Super, including 5000 veterans 52,000 students to see a bump in allowance or loan living costs Approximately 223,000 workers to receive a wage rise as a result of the minimum wage increasing to $22.70 8,000 community nurses to receive pay increase of up ...
Over 8000 community nurses will start receiving well-deserved pay rises of up to 15 percent over the next month as a Government initiative worth $200 million a year kicks in, says Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall. “The Government is committed to ensuring nurses are paid fairly and will receive ...
Tākiri mai ana te ata Ki runga o ngākau mārohirohi Kōrihi ana te manu kaupapa Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea Tihei mauri ora Let the dawn break On the hearts and minds of those who stand resolute As the bird of action sings, it welcomes the dawn of a ...
The Government is introducing a scheme which will lift incomes for artists, support them beyond the current spike in cost of living and ensure they are properly recognised for their contribution to New Zealand’s economy and culture. “In line with New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement with the UK, last ...
New Zealand is welcoming a decision by the United Nations General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice to consider countries’ international legal obligations on climate change. The United Nations has voted unanimously to adopt a resolution led by Vanuatu to ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 59 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. “The graduation for recruit wing 364 was my first since becoming Police Minister last week,” Ginny Andersen said. “It was a real honour. I want to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta met with Vanuatu Foreign Minister Jotham Napat in Port Vila, today, signing a new Statement of Partnership — Aotearoa New Zealand’s first with Vanuatu. “The Mauri Statement of Partnership is a joint expression of the values, priorities and principles that will guide the Aotearoa New Zealand–Vanuatu relationship into ...
The Government has passed new legislation amending the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) levy regime, ensuring the best balance between a fair and cost effective funding model. The Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill makes changes to the existing law to: charge the levy on contracts of ...
The Government has passed the Organic Products and Production Bill through its third reading today in Parliament helping New Zealand’s organic sector to grow and lift export revenue. “The Organic Products and Production Bill will introduce robust and practical regulation to give businesses the certainty they need to continue to ...
The Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill, which will make it easier for New Zealanders to safely prove who they are digitally has passed its third and final reading today. “We know New Zealanders want control over their identity information and how it’s used by the companies and services they ...
The full Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Taskforce has met formally for the first time as work continues to help the regions recover and rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle. The Taskforce, which includes representatives from business, local government, iwi and unions, covers all regions affected by the January and February floods and cyclone. ...
Changes have been made to legislation to give subcontractors the confidence they will be paid the retention money they are owed should the head contractor’s business fail, Minister for Building and Construction Megan Woods announced today. “These changes passed in the Construction Contracts (Retention Money) Amendment Act safeguard subcontractors who ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has unveiled five scenarios for one of the most significant city-shaping projects for Tāmaki Makaurau in coming decades, the additional Waitematā Harbour crossing. “Aucklanders and businesses have made it clear that the biggest barriers to the success of Auckland is persistent congestion and after years of ...
The Government has passed new legislation that ensures New Zealand’s civil aviation rules are fit for purpose in the 21st century, Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan says. The Civil Aviation Bill repeals and replaces the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and the Airport Authorities Act 1966 with a single modern law ...
A Bill aimed at helping to reduce delays in the coronial jurisdiction passed its third reading today. The Coroners Amendment Bill, amongst other things, will establish new coronial positions, known as Associate Coroners, who will be able to perform most of the functions, powers, and duties of Coroners. The new ...
The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to conduct a review into communications between Stuart Nash and his donors. The review will take place over the next two months. The review will look at whether there have been any other breaches of cabinet collective responsibility or confidentiality, or whether ...
The new Recovery Visa to help bring in additional migrant workers to support cyclone and flooding recovery has attracted over 600 successful applicants within its first month. “The Government is moving quickly to support businesses bring in the workers needed to recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods,” Michael ...
Bills to ensure non-teaching employees and contractors at schools, and unlicensed childcare services like mall crèches are vetted by police, and provide safeguards for school board appointments have passed their first reading today. The Education and Training Amendment Bill (No. 3) and the Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill have now ...
Wānanga will gain increased flexibility and autonomy that recognises the unique role they fill in the tertiary education sector, Associate Minister of Education Kelvin Davis has announced. The Education and Training Amendment Bill (No.3), that had its first reading today, proposes a new Wānanga enabling framework for the three current ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to Vanuatu today, announcing that Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further relief and recovery assistance there, following the recent destruction caused by Cyclones Judy and Kevin. While in Vanuatu, Minister Mahuta will meet with Vanuatu Acting Prime Minister Sato Kilman, Foreign Minister Jotham ...
The Government is backing Police and making communities safer with the roll-out of state-of-the-art tools and training to frontline staff, Police Minister Ginny Andersen said today. “Frontline staff face high-risk situations daily as they increasingly respond to sophisticated organised crime, gang-violence and the availability of illegal firearms,” Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government has provided Police with more tools to crack down on gang offending with the passing of new legislation today which will further improve public safety, Justice Minister Kiri Allan says. The Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Bill amends existing law to: create new targeted warrant and additional search powers ...
The Government today announced far-reaching changes to the way we make, use, recycle and dispose of waste, ushering in a new era for New Zealand’s waste system. The changes will ensure that where waste is recycled, for instance by households at the kerbside, it is less likely to be contaminated ...
New legislation passed by the Government today will make it harder for gangs and their leaders to benefit financially from crime that causes considerable harm in our communities, Minister of Justice Kiri Allan says. Since the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 came into effect police have been highly successful in ...
This evening I have advised the Governor-General to dismiss Stuart Nash from all his ministerial portfolios. Late this afternoon I was made aware by a news outlet of an email Stuart Nash sent in March 2020 to two contacts regarding a commercial rent relief package that Cabinet had considered. In ...
Legislation to enable more build-to-rent developments has passed its third reading in Parliament, so this type of rental will be able to claim interest deductibility in perpetuity where it meets the requirements. Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods, says the changes will help unlock the potential of the build-to-rent sector and ...
A law passed by Parliament today exempts employers from paying fringe benefit tax on certain low emission commuting options they provide or subsidise for their staff. “Many employers already subsidise the commuting costs of their staff, for instance by providing car parks,” Environment Minister David Parker said. “This move supports ...
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Closer Economic Relations (CER), our gold standard free trade agreement between New Zealand and Australia. “CER was a world-leading agreement in 1983, is still world-renowned today and is emblematic of both our countries’ commitment to free trade. The WTO has called it the world’s ...
The Government is making procedural changes to the Immigration Act to ensure that 2013 amendments operate as Parliament intended. The Government is also introducing a new community management approach for asylum seekers. “While it’s unlikely we’ll experience a mass arrival due to our remote positioning, there is no doubt New ...
The Government welcomes progress on public sector pay adjustment (PSPA) agreements, and the release of the updated public service pay guidance by the Public Service Commission today, Minister for the Public Service Andrew Little says. “More than a dozen collective agreements are now settled in the public service, Crown Agents, ...
The Government has introduced the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill to further support the recovery and rebuild from the recent severe weather events in the North Island. “We know from our experiences following the Canterbury and Kaikōura earthquakes that it will take some time before we completely understand the ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi Highly respected and convivial Koroi Hawkins has become RNZ Pacific’s first Melanesian editor after arriving in New Zealand in 2010 and says he is “truly humbled” after nearly a decade at RNZ. “It is a great honour. I am a Pacific journalist from the school of hardknocks ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joey Moloney, Senior Associate, Grattan Institute Shutterstock Australia’s A$3.3 trillion superannuation system is supposed to boost people’s retirement incomes. The government says as much in its proposed leglislated objective for superannuation. The system is supported by billions of dollars of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton and his demoralised team, shocked beyond belief by their Aston drubbing, say the party has to “rebuild”. But there are no obvious foundation stones for this mammoth task. Ideally, the party ...
Tea drinkers of Aotearoa, your new favourite dunking bikkie is here. There are several things I love about this recipe. The first is that they make a delicious dunking biscuit, the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea shared with friends. The second is that the recipe is ...
Part two of writer Marty Smith’s reporting from her flood-damaged home.Read part one here. Sunday 12 March, 21 days after the floods.Google Maps shows a pale blue line for the flat-lined bridge between Taradale and Waiohiki and sends you instead over the Expressway to Merge Like A Zip, ...
Bard Billot on the booted out broadcasterSpartans, prepare for glory! The hardy army of Today FM Spartans Camps out on the harsh lands of talk radio. The long months of the campaign Have worn down their resolve, For though they have loyally broadcast Their snappy banter and hot ...
The danger of National's policy is that it undoes much of an informal pact with Labour to depoliticise education at a time of real struggleOpinion: The National Party’s recently released education policy narrowly channels nearly every tired and cliched right-wing approach to schooling. If you have been in education for ...
A refurbished, expanded and more earthquake-proof building is a still few years away. Can it live up to the impeccable postmodernist vibes of its predecessor?A long time ago, my non-Wellington then-boyfriend was visiting the windy city and asked the barber what he recommended in town. “Dunno mate,” the barber ...
Doing the cryptic crossword isn’t simply a hobby. It’s a way of life, a love affair – even a full-blown obsession. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations by Asia Martusia King. Clue: Mafia boss consumed first dish free of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The rout of the Liberals in Aston is a disaster for Peter Dutton. The party has defied history – in the worst possible way. This is the first time in more than a century ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Morgan Hancock/AAP With 44% of enrolled voters counted in today’s Aston federal byelection, the ABC has Labor expected to win ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Morgan Hancock/AAP With 44% of enrolled voters counted in today’s Aston federal byelection, the ABC has Labor expected to win ...
Analysis - When is a cabinet minister not a cabinet minister? The faulty logic of Stuart Nash has landed him and Labour in a heap of trouble but opened the door to serious reform of the Official Information Act, Tim Watkin writes. ...
Jubi News in Jayapura Indonesia’s Papua police chief Inspector-General Mathius D Fakhiri has called for action to ensure that “security disturbances” in the Puncak Jaya highlands do not widen in the face of escalating attacks by pro-independence militants. “For Puncak, we will take immediate action,” he said. According to General ...
What are you going to be watching this month? We round up everything coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ+. The biggies Party Down (all seasons on TVNZ+ from April 1) Thirteen years is a long time between drinks and ...
Ginny Andersen has landed a hot-potato portfolio and has been in Cabinet less than two months - the opposition will be eager to test her mettle this election year. ...
The executive producer of Modern Family has issued an incendiary claim about New Zealanders cheering and clapping in public. Hayden Donnell gets to the bottom of things.The sitcom Modern Family is remembered as a “warm-hearted story about the unbreakable bonds of family”; a tale of radically different people overcoming ...
As rain kept falling across January, February and into March, all band members cold do was sit at home cancelling festivals and posting sad Facebook messages to fans. The first post landed on January 3. As wild weather began hitting the country, campers around Northland packed up their tents ...
Because pro-social behaviour emerges so often after disaster, community empowerment should be central to disaster mitigation and recoveryOpinion: Cyclone Gabrielle caused major damage across the North Island. This unprecedented climate event created great uncertainty. People are wondering if, or when, they can return to their homes, the extent to ...
"We, women, loving you; you, men, finding new women to love": a Francophile love story in NZ Louis woke up and found out Marine was not lying next to him in bed. He checked his phone – 5:30am. The aurora shone a bright gold on the windows of the detached ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how co-governance really works, Labour's record on climate action, what the new AUKUS nuclear submarine deal means for New Zealand, Posie Parker's visit to Auckland and the free speech debate, and the damage processed foods are ...
The radio workers were caught by the unexpected speed of the decline of NZ's consumer economy, since Christmas – and they won't be the last. Jonathan Milne reports. When broadcaster Tova O’Brien uttered the resounding words, "they’ve f***ed us", they resonated beyond the 1 percent audience share of a small talk radio operation ...
A New Zealand Battery Project centred on Lake Onslow in Central Otago is up against a cheaper North Island alternative Studies into whether a massive pumped-hydro scheme at Lake Onslow is New Zealand’s best bet for a secure energy future may have only four more months to run. While the ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, it's Jungle Warfare, written by Ellen Rykers and published in New Zealand Geographic's March/April 2023 edition. You can find the full article, with photos by Adrian Malloch, here. Hundreds of pest plant species—many of them garden escapees—run rampant in ...
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Call me twisted, but that failed bail-out package and the accompanying drops in the markets makes for a feel good news article. I guess when the Berlin Wall crumbled, the official news sources in the Soviet Bloc were somewhat negative in their reporting too.
I don’t think it’s time to bail out ‘the people’ as much as time for people to bail out of the whole shebang.
But since people are not able/prepared for that, it strikes me as a shame that the Labour party here embraced neo-liberal doctrine so completely, ’cause now would have been a really good time for them to repudiate their faith, embrace their doubts and set down social and economic policies that fall decidedly outside the realm of neo-liberal acceptability.
Oh well.
Maybe I misread the placard and the ‘Bail out people’ is an instruction rather than a plea?
On another track, since ‘merchant banker’ is just a piece of rhyming slang, why hasn’t it been applied to JK before now? Just a question.
Picture of JK. ‘Why vote for a total merchant banker.’ etc, etc
I agree Bill. I’m sure North Korea, Cuba and Albania will be immune from these neo-liberal failings!
Theres a lot of really poor journalism going on around the bail-out, and a lot of misunderstanding.
We’re not talking about throwing $700bln USD down a drain – it’s a purchase of loans that are still backed – for the most part – by solid residential property (the security needs to be differentiated from the borrowers ability to repay the mortgage, two very different things)
The US government is going to be picking up these loans secured on housing at a substantial discount, so there is in all probability a positive return in future for the federal government as those loans progressively get paid back and/or the property market recovers. Add to that the prospect of holding a portion of the stock in banks (which are also at astonishingly low market valuations at present) and there is a very real opportunity to make an absolute fortune for taxpayers.
Of course, there also needs to be a change in the regulatory oversight. Not necessarily more, but certainly a change to the way banks are supervised by the likes of the Fed.
….
One thing that really concerns me though, is the pace of the legislative process here. Remember the last time the US government pushed something through this fast? It was the Patriot Act and associated counter-terrorist measures… some nasty stuff hidden in that.
On a Tui theme I guess, tidy up the quotes and…
“We won’t sell Kiwi Bank…yet. Merchant banker!”
“50 000 shares, I mean, um, ah, between 50 000 and 100 000″ Merchant banker!
” I don’t know if I met Ashcroft. Um, eh I met him at my home” Merchant banker!
I wont post any more. I’m sure others can come up with far better, but anyway, ever noticed he always seems to have one hand in his pocket…..merchant banker!
How many kleenex will be needed to clean up the mess this merchant banker will make?
ALERT! Don’t let this merchant banker near your assets!
Ah shit. Stopping now.
I’d be interested to see if they’re going to put the hard word on executive bonuses and parachutes as a condition of the buyouts: I’d say “nothing” is about what they’re owed.
Phil has a couple of good points though –
1) The bailout isn’t just throwing money away, and it will hopefully ease some of the pain that will be felt anyway.
2) The Govt could quite possibly make money off this (But what the hell is Government doing in business? Isn’t that all *gulp* Socialist and stuff?)
3) Pushing legislation through so fast can be dangerous. Action has to be taken quickly, but I don’t think that Congress are wrong to defeat a bill that has been put together so hastily. I imagine most of the Rep’s haven’t even had a chance to read the fine-print (Of which there will be a lot) – always a smart thing to do when dealing with large sums of money.
daveski.
Neo-liberalism is not a world wide phenomena. True, most developing and ex-state communist countries had it forced on them through SAPS and such like and the anglo-saxon world adopted it wholesale.
But that leaves a lot of countries that didn’t pursue neo-liberal economic doctrines.
Phil,
This 700 trillion is only the amount they can have outstanding at all times but they can trade over and over again. Bloomberg reckons this bail out of the worthless paper junk bonds could cost the US taxpayer up to 5 trillion.
This bailout would give the banksters immunity from prosecution for fraud and give Paulson dictatorial power over the entire financial system of the US. No check and balances.
The speculative bubble created by John Key and his Wall street bankster mates is likely to exceed a Quadrillion dollars.
Why should the US taxpayer and make no mistake the UK population is also hit for up to a trillion pounds and the Federal Reserve of NZ will also start bailing out failing banks if need be so why should we the little people bail out the banksters speculative orgy of the last 20 years because that’s how long this has been going on. This did not happen overnight you know.
The derivative trade banned in 1933 because it was just to speculative was taken out of the mothballs by Alan Greenspan in 1987 and ever since the bloodsuckers on Wall street and in the city of London have been having a go at it.
If John Key has any remorse about his speculative past he should consider giving his fortune to the super fund it just lost over 880 million dollars the last year. but guess what I’m sure he would rather spend it on another house in Hawaii were he and his predatorial banking mates are going to enjoy the spoils of their drunken looting of the worlds populations when he is done selling of NZ’s assets to them.
I have the feeling a lot of NZers are going to be mightily pissed of with him in a year or so and he’ll be very happy to live in that resort.
How amusing is the sight of the enemies of capitalism and free-market economies rejoicing at this time.
Phil & Vanilla Eis,
.. where have you guys been hanging out for the last year or two ? Worshiping at the feet of von Hayek in the National party common room ?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3088685/US-Economy-Even-Hank-Paulsons-bail-out-plan-cannot-detox-global-banking.html
and
http://optionarmageddon.ml-implode.com/2008/09/28/a-picture-of-the-apocalypse/
might give you a taste of what is around the corner.
Electorally, who would want to be in power right now ?
People love a bad news story Santi – human nature sadly.
Tara: Did you even read the first article?
to quote:
Emphasis mine. Read my post again – did I say that the bailout was a cure-all? Hell no. But if it doesn’t happen, the pain is going to be a lot worse.
Stop lumping me in with the free-market idealists. I’m most assuredly not one. But that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the fact that things are incredibly fucked, and will quite likely get worse if the Fed doesn’t inject some cash shortly.
Oh, and one last quote from that article:
That Buffett guy has had the odd dip in the financial pool. Maybe he’s not the worst person in the world to take advice from?
Only one thing worse than a bailout, & that is no bailout.
Although the bailout constitutes rampant govt socialism, via nationalisation of financial assets. Not a good thing. For my personal reasons, of which I won’t go into, I prefer no bailout.
Let’s see some solutions, instead of grandstanding & blaming “the system”. At the end of the day, taxpayers pay, one way or the other.
Santi,
Free trade and capitalism is one thing. But wanting free trade and capitalism when it’s profitable and socialism and regulation when your business goes bankrupt because you’ve been gambling with it? come on.
Capitalism is about the freedom of enterprise whether you make it or break it that’s up to you.
The banksters betted with other peoples money and made gazillions while doing it. Now let them pay the price for their greedy irresponsible behaviour.
Dismantle the Federal Reserve system, abolish the monopoly of the privately owned banking cartel and let’s go back to the time of social credit. We own this country. We the people and not a bunch of parasitical low lives speculating with the fruits of our labour, our hard earned money.
Coge,
Spending anywhere between 700 billion to 5 trillion of the already maxed out taxpayers money to prop up corrupt financial institutes is day light robbery. Getting out of two illegal wars of aggression and spending the money (last week the congress passed another trillion to be spend in the wars) on rebuilding the crumbling American infrastructure creating jobs, invest in schools etc. is more in order.
Eve: the problem is that the bankers won’t be the ones paying the price… They’ve already had their multi-million dollar bonuses, they’ll be ok. It’s the people who have mortgages on their homes, which will be foreclosed upon to pay the debts these banks have incurred, who will suffer.
Hence me being in favour of the bailout (in some form, it will have to happen – either in welfare payments for the unemployed or in cash for the banks to retain liquidity) while completely removing the bonus system for bankers (ideally this could be applied retrospectively, say by a 100% tax bill on any such payment in the last 6-12 months). It won’t cover the bailout, or anything near, but it’ll mean that the money goes where it’s needed, and if an executive has to sell his house because he can’t make the payments? Well, too bad.
WALL STREET…. the place where people go for advice from people who go to work on the subway!
where people go in rolls royces to get advice from people who go to work on the subway.
I’m sure our wonderful politicians will sort this mess out, if we just let them appear in the TV debate. That’s what really matters, eh?
God, we’re fucked.
Vanilla Ice,
I’m all for helping the Americans who have lost their jobs because the same scum from the banking world who are also on the boards of big corporations and who for profit outsourced all the well paying jobs to china and who sold suckers the idea that their overvalued houses would always go up in price expensive mortgages.
Those people need jobs and income to pay their mortgages and feed and clothe their kids. So if you’re going to bail out anybody why not them. They just passed another trillion for their wars so why not for their own people.
The truth is that giving Wall street banksers unlimited amounts of money is only going to increase inflation on a massive scale. In fact it will destroy the dollar altogether. It will start the sell of of the dollar by China and Japan and it will be the end of the Anglo-Saxon financial system.
But perhaps that is what should happen because then perhaps we can make the criminal banking elite pay for their monstrous speculative bubble and their wanton looting of the worlds resources.
worthless paper junk bonds
RMBS means ‘residential mortgage back security… as in there is a whopping great house and piece of land behind each and every loan. For the security to be worthless, it would have to be the case that every single one of those homes and the land with them was also worth $0 – to say the bind is ‘worthless’ is simply not accurate.
This bailout would give the banksters immunity from prosecution for fraud and give Paulson dictatorial power over the entire financial system of the US. No check and balances.
“Over the entire financial system” is a bit of a stretch, Trav…
I doubt this ‘dicatorial power’ is really going to be true following the failed house vote overnight. I fully agree that there needs to be acceptable checks/balances, but we probably disagree on the nature of them. I’m not so sure about the avoidance of prosecution as, as I understand it, there has not been a systematic breaking of any particular laws, just some shockingly unethical practices.
The speculative bubble … is likely to exceed a Quadrillion dollars
Erm, so?
The Fed/Treasury is not there to bail out the whole industry. It’s there to provide a degree of confidence that has been lacking recently. There is going to be a need for banks to ‘hold hands and work through this together responsibly’ (as, I think we can both agree, there should be).
Federal Reserve of NZ (sic) will also start bailing out failing banks
Our banks have not taken on RMBS to anywhere near the extent of the US or other countries. Our banks strike me as being sound, and well oversighted by the RBNZ, so I dont accept a bank failure is remotely possible for NZ any time soon.
banksters speculative orgy of the last 20 years because that’s how long this has been going on. This did not happen overnight you know
I put this to you; Where do you think all that money came from? It wasn’t created out of nowhere (please don’t start on this…)
It came from all the funds, investors, etc that had excess cash sloshing around, and were looking for somewhere with a juicy interest rate return. These investors need to take a share of the blame for ignoring the real risk there were getting themselves into. they wanted more of this stuff, and the banks were only too happy to securitise sub-prime loans and get them off the balance sheet.
Then we need to look at the original borrowers. They suddenly thought they could have a home that five minutes earlier they couldn’t afford? More of my favourite bug-bear; financial illiteracy in the general populace.
Blaiming the banks alone for where we are now is myopic, and ignores the demand side of supply and demand.
VE, I pretty much agree.
The only problem I have is that we don’t get the bailout we want, we only get the bailout on offer. That bailout was one that would be administered by the Bush administration. I simply don’t trust them.
The politics of it are a mess, and the GOP congress critters have decided that having no deal is better than any deal that involves ‘socialism’. They want to be able to run against the deal, blaming the Democrats.
If I was the Dem’s I’d respond with a New Deal 2.0. Include all sorts of populist stuff marketed around a slogans like the one in the poster and “Too big to Fail? Too big to exist!”. Break the banks. etc.
The way the GOP has poilticised this is disgusting, but if that’s the way they want to roll, then Obama has a shot at setting the playing field for some dramatic reform. Ideally he should put himself as a conservative check on a populist Democratic congress. Let the GOP rant on the sidelines for a decade.
This financial crisis was predictable and was predicted by some. But the ‘doomsayers’ were voices in the wilderness. The ‘herd’ just kept straight on, smokin’ those cigars and celebrating that ‘tomorrow was another day.’
So now it’s all come crashing and there’s panic and all sorts of mayhem. Fine.
But what was that mentality that persisted on a disastrous trajectory by employing wilful blindness and suspending disbelief? More importantly, what is that trait going to lead us to on matters that are not abstract products of human cunning; that lead to far greater consequences than the collapse of an idea?
A way of doing business is over and it’s going to have effects in the real world that will hurt a lot of people. That’s one thing.
But more important, MUCH more important, is the ecological and climatic disaster that is facing us down right now.
I can see the same pattern of denial…the wilful blindness and suspension of disbelief. In a financial meltdown it is arguably possible by means of shifting money and developing rules to ameliorate real world consequences.
But rules and money will do nothing for our ability to grow crops when seasons are no longer the broadly predictable affairs we have become accustomed to. Money and rules will do nothing to ameliorate chaotic weather or shifts in ecological systems or any of the real world consequences of climate change.
Since we failed/refused to foresee and avert a disaster in a financial model that was merely a product of our own cunning imagination, then it has to be wondered what chance with real world systems that are far more complex and utterly crucial to our survival?
Just a thought.
Ah jeez, me cigar’s gone out! Oh well, tomorrow’s another day.
PB: Yeah, a New Deal for the 21st Century appeals to me too. But it won’t happen, because Bush would never let it through, and if it’s not signed and sealed before Obama takes office it’ll likely be too late – seen the markets this morning?
hahaha…its just a correction for irrational exuberance…wheeeeeee
Phil,
Why don’t you watch this documentary about the Money Masters
If you can say money wasn’t made out of thin air than you’re going to have to deal with my response whether you like it or not.
This is a very nice video that will teach you about money creation.
The fractal banking system has created over a Quadrillion (1000 trillion) dollars out of thin air speculating in unregulated financial products.
The worlds GDP is no more than 60 trillion a year in real goods.
It is that bubble that is now deflating. This bubble has nothing to do with the real economy. It is just speculative crap betting hedging also known as gambling.
Banks in the US are walking away from the property the foreclose on because they don’t want to get into the real estate maintenance business. LOL.
randal,
Hilarious.
Ironically the democrats had already capitulated to Bush with a token oversight, equity (ha ha paying twice what the bad debts are worth now – even less in the future) and some token protection for homeowners.
It was the House Republicans who pulled their free market outrage that socialism was stalking the land of the free.
There will be a further compromise but meanwhile more banks will deservingly go bust. That is the whole purpose of a recession/depression – the destruction of overvalued value.
All these crocodile tears for Wall St is a bit rich when they sat back and let the market rip in Asia in 97 and Russia in 98.
Talk of socialism via the Treasury is crap. The state has always propped up capitalism, its just that the marketeers try to deny it in good times. And its no use thinking that deal they eventually arrive at will do anything for workers.
Homeowners should sit tight occupy their homes and stop further sales. Those already living in Walmart carparks should go home and stake out their property. The idea that homeowners are to be blamed for getting into mortages they couldnt afford is crap. We are talking about a credit card culture promoted by the financiers, why should homeowners be blamed for this?
They have been conned and found the cost of housing too high when wages were declining and jobs being lost. Many will have paid more than the likely new value of their houses anyway.
On the basis of mass occupations homeowners should demand the nationalisation of housing and the cancellation of their mortgage debt. They can then pay rent to the state at a rate pegged at no more than 20% of their wage.
A slightly less biased and more reasonable analysis than most.
http://myslu.stlawu.edu/~shorwitz/open_letter.htm
Trav,
over a Quadrillion (1000 trillion) dollars out of thin air speculating in unregulated financial products.
The worlds GDP is no more than 60 trillion a year in real goods.
Sorry, I missed the significance of the decimal placing… It’s a verrrrry big scaaaaary number,. until you put it in context.
When you work it out per person on the planet (6 billion, roughly) that’s about $160k USD. I’d think that’s probably an accurate reflection of the net worth of each person on average, when you take into account the skewed nature of wealth distribution.
I think you’re also confusing GDP (which is the ‘flow’ of what’s produced in a year) with the actual ‘stock’ of wealth underlying it. If global GDP is 60 trillion, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation puts the global stock of wealth at $1,200 trillion (assuming that GDP represents the return on the underlying assets, and is on average a real 5%)… which still leaves us $200 trillion in ‘capital’.
Banks in the US are walking away from the property the foreclose on because they don’t want to get into the real estate maintenance business.
LOL
That’s their prerogative. The Fed and Treasury can’t/won’t do the same.
I actually think there is quite an opening for an investor/institution to get a property empire on the cheap. You look for properties about to be foreclosed, and agree on a purchase price with the current occupant where you take ownership, they pay you rent as landlord, and they don’t have to move out.
As investor, you get a house at a discounted price, the bank doesn’t lose out on its original mortgage, and the tennat doesn’t get foreclosed and kicked out.
“Dismantle the Federal Reserve system, abolish the monopoly of the privately owned banking cartel and let’s go back to the time of social credit”
Keep dreaming travellerv.
By the way, did you incredibly smart woman get to the bottom of the conspiracy theories behind 9/11 and the moon landing hoax? Good on you, Dutch Einstein!
rave
claiming ‘squatters rights’ would work, if people displayed solidarity for one another. But in an environment where looking after number one and getting ahead of the Jones’ has become the acceptable norm, I can’t see a culture of solidarity flourishing. Still, worth a go.
Something along the lines of a defaulting mortgage becoming a rent payable to a government agency (after re-evaluation) sounds too easy and sensible. Can’t have that!
At the end of the day, the ‘big boys’ will work or stumble something out ( by accident or design) that is to their mutual benefit and that at the very least preserves a semblance of the present system ticking along after a fashion.
I just can’t see the point myself. Capitalism will always come to a point where it produces more than it can consume and the only way out, insofar as seeking profit maximisation is through speculation. Even when this shit is ‘sorted out’, it’ll only be a matter of time before it all comes around again.
I remember the days when kids used to stick their hands in a fire and learn something from the experience. Alas, no more it seems.
Moon landing hoax that’s Ian Wishart’s. Don’t you know Jesus lives on the moon.
But the country does end up with near monopoly landlords which will come together into an oligarchy – exactly what we have now and what added to the crisis.
Bill:
On collectivism.
The big stink being kicked up by workers on the streets is collectivism at a very minimal level. Its only one step for them to set up neighborhood committees to defend their homes from foreclosures.
If its OK for the bosses to gang up and hold up the government for a hand out, its OK for workers to gang up to keep their homes. Then when theyve done that they can gang up to take over the hospitals, transport, and other services and run them collectively.
Its another step forward in industry. Section 11 bankruptcies has seen companies bail out of jobs and workers pensions. Usually the assets get grabbed cheap by some other boss. Workers need to gang up and take over the plants in lieu of their back wages stolen by these put up bankruptcies. This has happened in Argentina and Venezuela so its not outlandish in the US facing a big crisis. Here workers go from being collectives of taxpayers to being collectives of producers of wealth.
What has been set in motion with this crisis opens up this prospect of a collective consciousness developing among the working class majority. We can go from a rebellion against bailouts for the rich to stakeouts of industry etc to provide jobs, housing, jobs, services etc
When the Republicans talk about ‘socialism’ we should say “you havnt seen anything yet”
He Santi,
Great debating skills. If you can’t debate on facts you go for the personal insults.
‘higher standard’
That isn’t a well-reasoned argument. It’s all non-sequitors and rhetoric. Sheds no light at all.
Phil,
Let’s agree to disagree on this one.
I predict that there is no saving this one and I hope I’m wrong and with me some very smart people whose articles I’ve been reading from both sides of the political spectrum. I can assure you that these people all hope they are very, very wrong.
In fact I predict an economic meltdown of biblical proportion and have prepared for it.
I hope I’m going to be one of those people that in a couple of years looks at herself in the mirror and things Jeez girl did you get that wrong or what. I really do.
‘Vanilla Eis’ & ‘Phil’: opposition to the US “Bailout” seems to have been a Bipartisan thing. Could something like that happen in Aotearoa / Neu Seeland ?
See WSJ link below.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122273395169288417.html
.. and again ..
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093928/top-5-reasons-vote-against-paulsons-700-billion-bailout
Abraham Lincoln on Bank Bailouts
“It is an old maxim and a very sound one, that he that dances should always pay the fiddler. Now, sir, in the present case, if any gentlemen, whose money is a burden to them, choose to lead off a dance, I am decidedly opposed to the people’s money being used to pay the fiddler…all this to settle a question in which the people have no interest, and about which they care nothing. These capitalists generally act harmoniously, and in concert, to fleece the people, and now, that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people’s money to settle the quarrel.” – Abraham Lincoln, January 11, 1837
Rave.
Don’t get me wrong. I basically agree with what you say. But I question the existence of the will and don’t see where the historical knowledge to carry things through is going to come from.
In Argentina, workers didn’t take over the factories because they thought it was a good idea (unfortunately) but out of desperation and complete lack of any other option.
And then in Argentina and elsewhere, when the workers had it all on a plate, they gave control away to the government..(not all of them, but a goodly number)
What a progressive bailout could look like
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/100491/trickle-up%3A_what_a_progressive_bailout_would_look_like/?page=entire
Trav – I can see why you’d say that, but I’m not convinced actually. The economy is a weird thing. Like you say, the US is hugely in debt… but what does that mean really? I mean do you actually think they’re going to go bankrupt? That makes no sense. It’s a fiat currency – there are 300 million people and a huge amount of infrastructure and resource base and technology backing it. Saying “I think the US government will go bankrupt” is also a bit of a non-statement. How? What currency is their debt held in? What is to stop them from just printing more money (as they’ve essentially been doing hand over fist for the last few months). I mean they’ll devalue their currency, sure, but they won’t be bankrupt.
I agree there are going to be a lot of big ripples, but I don’t think it’s as simple (or as catastrophic) as the armageddon scenario you portray. Do you think trade is just going to stop? Can you think of any reason WHY it actually would?
Also: Did you see this article? http://www.stuff.co.nz/4711218a30.html
—
I’m quietly pleased the bailout got rejected. It’ll get passed eventually, but I think it SHOULD be a struggle if any good is to come from it. It should be painful enough that people really stop and reconsider the systems in place.
The Daily Show last week on the issue was truly awesome.
Has anyone noticed how the ETS, which has been under consideration and development for… what… about 3 or 4 years now… anyway, it’s “A rushed and reckless piece of legislation”. But the “Pick up the tab for the gross incompetence, huge salaries, and abominable risk assessment skills of the finance industry act” or whatever it’s called is “An urgently required measure for the good of the economy”?
Interesting to see priorities and planning horizons. Spending 700 billion now for the sake of stupid lending practices with questionable consequences is prudent economic management… but GOD help you if you try to suggest spending a fraction of that on renewable energy development funding… I mean that would be meddling in the market, who knows what might happen?!
Oh wait, that’s right, the coal industry would tank. My mistake… everyone knows what might happen.
Bill
I don’t disagree that overcoming the isolation of individuals is a problem. But if Michael Moore and others are right, then it was the collective rage that stopped the bailout yesterday.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0809/S00391.htm
Moore thinks that the system can be rescued but its worth pushing him as far as he will go. He’s calling for a national mobilisation to stop the bailout period. That’s a good starting point.
I also agree that Argentinian workers occupied out of desperation. There are still many under occupation but it is a struggle given the recovery of the economy. In Venezuela I would say that the conditions are much better and important occupations and nationalisations are still happening.
But isnt the situation in the US for homeless people desperate?
Ive seen TV interviews and coverage of the homeless. It reminds me of the desperation of the unemployed in Argentina until they started organising road blocks. Its a big psychological shift to go from an insolated jobless person or loan defaulter to a pissed off home defender grouped to others in the block and getting organised like the piqueteros in Argentina.