Open mike 06/01/2015

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, January 6th, 2015 - 84 comments
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openmikeThe Authors of the Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm. Open mike will continue every day and prepare yourself for some year in review posts and some recycling of old stuff. And as R0b has said be nice to each other.

Open mike is your post.

The Standard is not a conspiracy – just a welcome outlet for the expression of views. Leaders that command respect will not be undermined by this.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

84 comments on “Open mike 06/01/2015 ”

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  1. rhinocrates 1
    6 January 2015 at 8:16 am

    “Zero-hour contracts? Ha, they don’t affect me, I’m a professional!”

    Nope, welcome to the precariat:

    http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637355-freelance-workers-available-moments-notice-will-reshape-nature-companies-and

    This boom marks a striking new stage in a deeper transformation. Using the now ubiquitous platform of the smartphone to deliver labour and services in a variety of new ways will challenge many of the fundamental assumptions of 20th-century capitalism, from the nature of the firm to the structure of careers.

    Essentially, the article sees an “on demand” paradigm applying to all levels of work that will be nice for people who want “flexibility” but bad for those who need stability.

    If this seems attractive, it is also a measure of the way that the on-demand economy will contribute to pressure to reduce labour rights in all sorts of situations; a growing abundance of on-demand employees with no normally accepted rights such as sick-pay and overtime will give employers at firms with more standard structures an incentive to cut back. The more such pressures spread, the more protests against “Platform-Kapitalismus” the world is likely to see.

    Naturally, this being The Economist, they’re downplaying the disadvantages and are positively creaming their pinstripes over the benefits this gives to employers.

    This is the sort of challenge unions, professional associations and political parties need to adapt to. So far, moribund Labour has utterly failed to realise what century they’re in and I believe that one reason why their polls have remained stubbornly low – most middle class voters think that they are irrelevant (as well as too riven by intrigue and disunity) to be fit to govern. Some, like Captain Mumblefuck, the Paganis and Nash have argued that all it has to do is become Fluffy National, but the fact is, I think, is that it is simply irrelevant to more and more people’s perceptions of how their work and careers are going now.

    I’d like to see how Labour is going to address the new work and career environment. What I would want, as a disenchanted former Labour supporter, is a sign that they’re going to bat for the emerging precariat.

    • phillip ure 1.1
      6 January 2015 at 8:22 am

      “..What I would want, as a disenchanted former Labour supporter, is a sign that they’re going to bat for the emerging precariat…”

      ..given labour election policy ’14 was to ‘go to bat’ for the real precariat..the poorest..

      ..to the extent of promising a labour govt wd be raising their incomes by..wait for it..!..drum-roll..!..

      ..the rate of inflation..(exactly the same as key/the tories do..)

      ..i wouldn’t recommend you hold your breath waiting for that..eh..?

      ..you could do yrslf a damage..

      • rhinocrates 1.1.1
        6 January 2015 at 8:57 am

        Yeah, I should elaborate – the professional/qualified precariat is room for Labour to expand to ADD to advocacy for the poor instead of pursuing the mythical Waitakere Man as they have been when not drawing bullseyes on each other’s backs.

      • Skinny 1.1.2
        6 January 2015 at 9:20 am

        Labour have a long way to go if they are to get many who loyally voted for them last election. Little & McCarten are going to have to rid the party of a number of MP’s and we want to see some real changes in policy thinking.

        • phillip ure 1.1.2.1
          6 January 2015 at 9:34 am

          when u consider that sobering fact of what labour ’14 were offering the poorest/most-in-need..

          ..namely..s.f.a…

          ..that’s when you realise just how far labour have ‘to go’..

          ..what will have to happen..to make that happen..?

          ..(then of course there is:..’drill baby drill..!..’..)

          ..the greens went into ’14 repeating the vote-splitting/seat-gifting mistakes of the past..

          ..with the leadership seeming focused on those ministerial-limos..

          ..their oft-repeated assumptions of what they were ‘due’..i am sure grated with many..

          ..and their seeming willingness to swallow any number of dead-rats to get those limos..(c.f…’drill baby drill..!..)

          ..normans’ love-bomb on english/’working with national’

          ..(these all contributed to the collapse in vote for the greens..)

          ..plus..like harawira..they pissed off the cannabis law reform sector..

          ..leaving them nowhere to go..so the alcp got 11,000 (wasted..really ‘wasted’..and not in a good/pot-way..)..votes..

          ..votes that were there for internet party/harawira/greens..that both seemed blind to..

          ..(one of the mysteries of that election..that one..for me..

          ..why the greens..and harawira (esp…)..both shot themselves in the feet..and pissed that voting bloc off..

          ..any explanations welcomed..)

          ..all of this just saps the will..when you realise how far there is ‘to go’..to get a real progressive govt into power..

          ..one that isn’t comprimised up the wazoo way before any election day..

          • tricledrown 1.1.2.1.1
            6 January 2015 at 10:00 am

            PHILabour promised to raise the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour.
            Then progressively to $18.50 an hour which is the “liveable wage”.
            National’s policy to raise the minimum wage by 50cents an hour per year leaves workers on the minimum wage $3.00 an hr worse off by 2018.
            Nationals policy is draconian by comparison.

            + Zero hr contracts cutting community law center funding,Mobies lack of action on work place safety,wages theft and slavery on migrant workers!
            Phil I know its not the cloth cap Labour party but thats down to sheeples not getting involved on unions and political parties.
            Apathy is the enemy!
            Colonial Rawshark is an example of what meeds to be done grassroots motivation.

            • phillip ure 1.1.2.1.1.1
              6 January 2015 at 10:28 am

              i’m not saying national are better..

              ..what i’m pointing out is the irrefutable-fact that labour ’14 election policy vis a vis the poorest/worst off..the sick etc..

              ..was to offer/promise them s.f.a…

              ..and why would you be surprised/questioning..?

              ..the clark labour govt..for nine long years..

              ..turned their backs on the poorest..

              ..gave them s.f.a..

              ..and in fact stripped away the sparse support options still available..

              ..to those poorest..

              ..(this in the name of..’the level playing field’..misery shall be equal..!..)

              ..and the ministers that did this to us..are still..going into the seventh year after those nine yrs..16yrs..at least..

              ..those faces are still staring out at us from the labour bench..

              ..and them asking us..again..to ‘trust’ them..?

              ..(and we haven’t even had any mea culpa’s from that gallery of villains..)

              ..and you know how it goes..

              ..bite me once..yr bad..bite me twice..my bad..

              ..they really need to be made/persuaded to ..

              ..step away from the trough..!

              ..enough is enough..!

              ..already..!

          • Sacha 1.1.2.1.2
            6 January 2015 at 11:46 am

            “the greens went into ’14 repeating the vote-splitting/seat-gifting mistakes of the past”

            Already been pulled up a few days ago for your poor maths on this one Phil. Don’t repeat lies.

            • phillip ure 1.1.2.1.2.1
              6 January 2015 at 11:55 am

              oh..ok..so the greens don’t split votes..and guarantee the likes of dunne his seat..eh..?

              ..and just because you said a couple of days ago it wasn’t so..

              doesn’t make it so..

              ..and back then i asked for the details of the challenge to my ‘maths’ as you call it..

              ..and got no response..

              ..but takeaway..dunne won by 700 votes..

              ..the green candidate got 2,700+ votes..

              ..explain..!

              • Sacha …
                6 January 2015 at 12:08 pm

                other people had already responded to your ‘maths’. how about reading their comments?

                • phillip ure …
                  6 January 2015 at 12:28 pm

                  yeah..alan..

                  i repeat..please explain how the green candidate getting over 2,700 votes..and dunne wining by 700..

                  ..plse explain how that was not a vote-split..

                  ..that guaranteed dunne his seat..

                  ..(and in fact..i am really alarmed if this denial of the facts of the matter by a green..is just a re-telling of the official-story within the green party..)

                  ..’cos if so..those mistakes will just be repeated in 2017..

                  • Bearded Git …
                    6 January 2015 at 12:34 pm

                    National plus Colonservatives=51%.

                    The Left were stuffed in that election for a multitude of reasons.

                    It doesn’t mean we can’t win the next one.

                  • Sacha …
                    6 January 2015 at 12:52 pm

                    Tiresome. This and Karol’s subsequent comment should be more than enough: http://thestandard.org.nz/the-future-will-be-green-or-not-at-all/#comment-946293

                    I am also not a Green, and I have no idea who ‘Alan’ is.

                    • phillip ure …
                      6 January 2015 at 4:56 pm

                      karols’ comment is about a result predicated on everyone knowing dunne was a shoo-inn..

                      ..the only contention i made/make..is that with the decks cleared of vote-splitting/dunne-victory guaranteeing green candidates..

                      ..that the labour candidate wd then have a good shot..

                      ..and..n.b…i said it then becomes too close to call..

                      ..and that what the vote-splitting green candidate guarantees..

                      ..is that everyone knows they are just going thru the motions..

                      ..and i still stand behind/beside those words/assertions..

                      ..

                    • Sacha …
                      6 January 2015 at 5:06 pm

                      On what planet is 4000 votes is “too close to call”? You are assuming that many of the people who voted for the Nats or their bow-tied accomplice would have instead voted for Labour if only those tasty Greens were out of the picture.

                      Feel free to link us to even one published article supporting that logic (and no, Farrar or Slater do not count).

                    • phillip ure …
                      6 January 2015 at 5:16 pm

                      can i suggest you go and look at a history of vote-swings in ‘safe’-seats..

                      ..that might temper yr incredulity at the possibility of that happening against dunne..

                      ..there are as many on the right as on the left who have a hearty dislike for the man and his works..

                      ..and you are presuming a monolithic-response from all national voters to swing in behind dunne..

                      ..the result in epsom..where the directions to vote cd not have been clearer..

                      ..did not see that happen..

                      ..i repeat..were the decks cleared..the labour candidate wd be in with a chance..

                      ..the vote-spitting green candidate guarantees that is not a possibility..

                      ..what is wrong with that picture..?

                      ..why can’t the greens let that contest happen..?

                      ..w.t.f.is in it for them..?

                      ..and this is fucken dunne…!..who they ‘help’..

                      ..in such a meaningful way..

                    • Sacha …
                      6 January 2015 at 5:30 pm

                      I guess Labour could have stood down their ‘vote-splitting’ candidate. Shame they weren’t willing to work together, eh.

                      And as has already been said on that other thread I linked to, voters assess deals and vote accordingly (in Epsom, Ohariu and anywhere else featuring a cuppa). Some Nats voted Act, some voted Nat – but they kept an eye on the numbers.

                      I’ve seen the Greens state they stand candidates in seats to increase their party vote. They seem like reasonable – and honest – people if a negotiation to change that in particular seats was on offer.

                    • phillip ure …
                      6 January 2015 at 5:43 pm

                      suggesting labour stand down there is just silly..

                      ..the labour candidate is a good one/popular..

                      ..and she gets four times the vote the green candidate does..

                      ..so you are just being silly with that suggestion..

          • Murray Rawshark 1.1.2.1.3
            6 January 2015 at 5:15 pm

            Phil, I liked your first post of today. This one is repeating stuff you have already said many times. Those of us who read your stuff can get a bit put off by the endless repetition.

            • phillip ure 1.1.2.1.3.1
              6 January 2015 at 5:22 pm

              yes..politics is like that..

              ..it bears/relies on..repitition..

              ..it has always been thus..

              ..’it’s the nature of the beast’..isn’t it..?

              ..especially when so many people clearly still don’t ‘get it’..

              ..(haven’t you seen that cartoon..of that man hunched over a screen..as his wife calls him to bed..)

              ‘.not yet dear..!..someone has said something on the internet that is incorrect’

              ..i am that man..

              • DoublePlusGood …
                6 January 2015 at 10:04 pm

                The repetition is pointless when it has already abundantly been demonstrated that you are incorrect. Labour can only ever win Ohariu if National let them, there are simply too few left leaning voters. If it were closer and National considered it would need Dunne, a cup of tea would be had.

          • The Al1en 1.1.2.1.4
            7 January 2015 at 3:25 pm

            The pot heads got 0.46% of the vote. I’m guessing you’ve added up, including their votes and hey presto, all of a sudden it’s a left majority 🙄
            I can see why you get so stuck with the mathematics in Dunne’s seat.

    • Skinny 1.2
      6 January 2015 at 8:51 am

      Driving on the Auckland motorway yesterday I saw a flash BMW with the number plate CTU. Oh for goodness sake don’t tell me one of their executives is proudly getting around in a capitalist’s status symbol car.

      • Te Reo Putake 1.2.1
        6 January 2015 at 9:39 am

        You were driving on the motorway? You flash git. Why weren’t you using public transport, you bourgeios poser?

        Still, it’s a shame you didn’t get a photo. WO love extrapolating evil motives from minor coincidences. It’d be worth a post or two there about the hypocracy of union bosses till the truth came out that it was the Crosby Textor staff car or just belonged to someone with the initials C, T and U.

        • Skinny 1.2.1.1
          6 January 2015 at 9:50 am

          Umm I was working and in a company car. However I did use a bus to get back to my sisters from the city (where staying) News Year eve. Pretty sure I know who was driving the BMW.

          • b waghorn 1.2.1.1.1
            6 January 2015 at 10:25 am

            Some are more equal than the the rest didn’t you know.

          • Te Reo Putake 1.2.1.1.2
            6 January 2015 at 10:56 am

            Well, if you know, spit it out. Otherwise it’s just sewer level speculation.

          • Colonial Viper 1.2.1.1.3
            6 January 2015 at 11:57 am

            Goes to the Post Office, pays your $15, and find out who the car is registered to. Pretty bloody simple P.I. 101.

            BTW a nice Beamer imported from the land of the rising sun or thereabouts might be only $20K. Not too extravagant.

            As to how smart the PR look is however, no comment.

            http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-829282706.htm

            • Te Reo Putake 1.2.1.1.3.1
              6 January 2015 at 12:04 pm

              Yep, but I doubt Skinny would want to spend money to find out it was bollocks. And I further doubt he’d put his hand up here if he did. That’s sleasy innuendo 101, CV! Never admit your mistakes.

              re: buying a beemer, most unions lease their cars. Generally vehicles similar to Corollas or Vectras. Sometimes slightly larger for regional organisers who do a lot of highway travel.

              • Colonial Viper …
                6 January 2015 at 12:37 pm

                Understood. Worth noting that leased cars are unlikely to have personalised plates.

              • Skinny …
                6 January 2015 at 1:07 pm

                Fuck up dickhead your sledging of Phil U is bad enough, if your too thick to workout ‘the look was not good’ your a bigger mug than I first thought. CV it was an oddball import as that’s what attracted my attention, seeing the number plate had me thinking your kidding.

                I know a Union that had brand new (4 years ago) Holden V8’s, members didn’t like it one bit.

                • Te Reo Putake …
                  6 January 2015 at 1:20 pm

                  So it’s a load of bollocks then? Thanks for letting us know. Perhaps you would also like to let us know which union you are claiming had Holden V8’s four years ago? I’m sure we’d all like another chuckle at your expense.

                  • Skinny …
                    6 January 2015 at 1:23 pm

                    A1, Ray B’s northern lot big mouth.

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      6 January 2015 at 1:35 pm

                      Buuuullllshit. Bet you can’t back this lie up anymore than your earlier fantasy. What a wanker.

                      PS, have a look at the Holden website. You won’t like what you find.

                  • Lindsey …
                    6 January 2015 at 1:42 pm

                    The Union I worked for in the 1990’s always had cheap cars. We got a job lot of 4/5 of them for the Auckland organisers one year and they were very cheap because they were fuschia pink. I remember our Waikato organiser complaining bitterly that he had to go to Murapara in a pink car.

                • McFlock …
                  6 January 2015 at 1:34 pm

                  CTU could be one of dozens of organisations, companies or people.
                  Why should I spend $15 to see if you’ve leapt to a wild conclusion?

                  You know a union that wasted money on cars? Name them and shame them.

                  Otherwise, why should we care what you say?

                  • Skinny …
                    6 January 2015 at 1:59 pm

                    I guess I’m assuming the name CTU is a registered trademark or brand. Quite correct I could be getting ahead of myself and be wide of the mark. If so an unreserved apology.

                    Ok so what vehicle one drives could be part of a salary package, as to what floats the organisers boat, safety, comfort, wide radius to cover. I have organiser mates that get around in reliable cheap cars a much better look to the paying membership opposed to a gas guzzling V8.

                    TP I can only go off what I saw and what other organisers were saying from this region regarding Holden V8’s. There are plenty who can back up what I know.

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      6 January 2015 at 2:10 pm

                      Fair enough, Skinny, and yep, I can well enough imagine the former secretary Ray B wanting to tool around in a big car before his retirement. But imagining it, and it being fact, are two different things. And I can’t see him extending the deal to all the orgs either. The last time I met one from that union, they were driving a mid sized wagon. It just doesn’t ring true to me because all unions have had to make budgetry changes since 1990 and having a bigger, better car than the boss really hasn’t been an option since then.

                    • Anne …
                      6 January 2015 at 3:25 pm

                      Yep, I fell into a similar trap about 20 years ago. I saw a car number-plate “KGB” and my eyes all but popped out of my head. I remember thinking: hey mate, I wouldn’t advertise who you are round here. There’s a few people who won’t like it.

                      I later picked up on the fact there’s a brand of liquor/spirits called KGB. Glad I kept my mouth shut and didn’t tell anyone.

                    • Colonial Rawshark …
                      6 January 2015 at 5:11 pm

                      Dreadful tasting teeny boppy RTDs they were…the Smirnoff Black RTDs were far superior 😎

      • Murray Rawshark 1.2.2
        6 January 2015 at 7:04 pm

        They need to drive, live, eat, and dress at a certain level so the bosses will take them seriously. I had it explained to me once.

    • RedLogix 1.3
      6 January 2015 at 9:42 am

      The last para of that Economist article contain reference to a Gilbert & Sullivan opera I hadn’t heard of:

      One of Gilbert and Sullivan’s oddest operettas, “Utopia Limited—or the Flowers of Progress”, focuses on an exotic South Sea island which, under the influence of Victorian industrialism, sets about turning all the inhabitants into limited companies.

      Utopia, Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was the second-to-last of Gilbert and Sullivan’s fourteen collaborations, premiering on 7 October 1893 for a run of 245 performances. It did not achieve the success of most of their earlier productions.

      Gilbert’s libretto satirises limited liability companies, and particularly the idea that a bankrupt company could leave creditors unpaid without any liability on the part of its owners. It also lampoons the Joint Stock Company Act by imagining the absurd convergence of natural persons (or sovereign nations) with legal commercial entities under the limited companies laws. In addition, it mocks the conceits of the late 19th-century British Empire and several of the nation’s beloved institutions. In mocking the adoption by a “barbaric” country of the cultural values of an “advanced” nation, it takes a tilt at the cultural aspects of imperialism.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia,_Limited

      At first glance – quite a few rather prescient parallels going on here.

      • greywarshark 1.3.1
        6 January 2015 at 1:04 pm

        Thanks RL for passing on that tasty titbit of info. G S knew how to turn the norms topsy turvy.

    • Stephanie Rodgers 1.4
      6 January 2015 at 1:21 pm

      creaming their pinstripes

      Genius turn of phrase 😀

  2. phillip ure 2
    6 January 2015 at 8:44 am

    where john key has his holiday-home..in hawaii..

    ..they have had medical-cannabis since the year 2000..

    ..perhaps the m.s.m. cd get him to do a report on the havoc this has wreaked on the hawaiin society/culture..?

    ..(i am sure it is wall-to-wall ‘wrecked-families’…(as it is in northland?..apparantly..?..)..

    ..and 15 yrs of rampant drug-fuelled crime..eh..?..)

    ..he cd give us a (warning)-report from the frontline..

    ..then again..maybe that’s not how it turned/worked out..

    • adam 2.1
      6 January 2015 at 12:28 pm

      Sums up this government rather well – letting people suffer, so their mates can make a few extra bucks.

  3. karol 3
    6 January 2015 at 8:51 am

    This is an interesting initiative. It looks to be based in the US, but has members of the team based in other parts of the world. It uses a website that is strongly linked with twitter. It has a team of 6 people, who claim at leats 2 or 3 of them will be on duty around the clock. They promise to be reporting on global news.

    The website.

    The twitter account.

    • phillip ure 3.1
      6 January 2015 at 8:58 am

      cool..i’ll keep an eye on them..

    • Clemgeopin 3.2
      6 January 2015 at 9:30 am

      Not sure how it will fare for sustained interest after the initial novelty wears off.
      It is kind of reading the list of news headlines chosen by the editors,isn’t it?

      • karol 3.2.1
        6 January 2015 at 9:38 am

        Could be. Depends on the stories they highlight and/or tell. I will continue to be interested if they bring more alternative stories to the forefront, rather than just following the same stories as the international MSM.

        And it may depend on whether they expand their team.

      • phillip ure 3.2.2
        6 January 2015 at 9:48 am

        @ clem..

        “..It is kind of reading the list of news headlines chosen by the editors,isn’t it?..”

        you see no value in that filter..sorting of wheat from chaff..?

        ..doesn’t that ease yr way to finding what may interest you..?

        ..that you wd likely otherwise miss..?

        ..and a quick scan of a list..a problem..?..

        ..sheesh..!..that’s what i do..

        ..picking the pearls from the sludge..

        ..from/on the shaky-raft that is http://whoar.co.nz/

        ..and i am all for others also doing it..

        • phillip ure 3.2.2.1
          6 January 2015 at 5:04 pm

          @ clem..and you can be really rocking when a list of headlines can point you at a good/useful list/resource..

          from today..this..:

          “..Peter Bradshaw’s top 50 films of the demi-decade..

          ..We are now midway through the 2010s.

          So what trends are emerging in cinema?

          Peter Bradshaw takes a look –

          – and picks his top 50 films of the demi-decade..”

          (cont..)

          http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/05/top-50-films-of-the-demi-decade-peter-bradshaw

          ..now..doesn’t that tempt you at all..?..a heads-up on flicks u might have missed but wd like..?

          ..films that have been put thru a quality-filter..?

          ..u cd look @ me as a bradshaw of daily news..eh..?

          ..that is what i do..sort out the good shit..

          ..and put it into a list..

          ..it’s as simple as that..

  4. phillip ure 4
    6 January 2015 at 10:09 am

    summer on national radio is better than normal times on national radio..

    ..funny that..!

    • Once wasTim 4.1
      6 January 2015 at 2:00 pm

      yep ….. just as locum’s on morning report and nine-to-noon, and even ‘afternoons’ are better than ‘the stars’. (Lynne? Freeman for example, over Rinny Ryan; Paul Brennan over a Mercep – which is slightly better than a Moran).
      Natrad might work it out one day, but I’m not holding by breathe

  6. Ovid 6
    6 January 2015 at 11:04 am

    US oil price falls below $50/barrel

    Looks like the Russians made the mistake of bringing tanks to a money fight.

    • Skinny 6.1
      6 January 2015 at 11:21 am

      Well common sense would say since the price at the pumps has dropped so much a petrol tax of say 10 cents a litre, stopping when it hits $1.90 to pay for big ticket transport projects.

  7. Philip Ferguson 7
    6 January 2015 at 11:26 am

    A new year and another chance to think about the strategies the labour movement has used to date, which have proven unsuccessful in defending workers’ pay, conditions, jobs and overall living standards. While the capitalists have waged class war on workers, the CTU continues to put forward the hopeless perspective of ‘partnership’.

    Here’s an assessment of the outcome: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/12/31/ctu-class-collaboration-strategy-fails-workers/

    There was also an interesting speech at the Christchurch ‘Fairness at Work’ rally in 2013, part of the national protests organised at the time by the CTU; the speech, by one of the organisers of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, John Kerr, is in marked contrast to what usually comes from union officials. Kerr talks about how ‘appeasement’ doesn’t work: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/appeasement-doesnt-work-the-bosses-and-their-lackeys-in-government-always-want-more-rmt-organiser-john-kerr/

    The wider problem, however, is that of working class passivity. What will it take to rouse the working class to action? We’ll be exploring this in future articles on Redline, and invite leftists to join in the discussion.

    Phil

    • adam 7.1
      6 January 2015 at 12:27 pm

      Nice speech that from Mr Kerr. And I agree wholeheartedly that the whole working together with bosses, has been a extended con job on working people in this country.

      I do think that working people have never had the level viciousness and persistence of propaganda thrown at them – as these days. It seems to be working too, especially at undermining working people both in their independence of thought and self esteem.

      We live in the age of constant guilt and fear – driven by those in need of more profit.

      I think it the duty of the left to fight this propaganda – because we are about to see it rolled it into the throes of jingoism.

  8. Weepus beard 8
    6 January 2015 at 1:23 pm

    Ouch! Further comment on the recent OECD report on rising inequality’s impact on economic growth.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2015/01/05/how-inequality-made-these-western-countries-poorer/

    • BassGuy 8.1
      6 January 2015 at 4:55 pm

      That criticism is pretty damning of us. Just seeing the graph was a bit of a shock for me – I knew things weren’t good, but seeing that visually depicted really brings it home:

      the “job creators” have had all of those breaks and advantages, and all of that that time, to use their wealth to make a better country through right wing reform.

      We’re worse than Mexico, a third-world (?) country that has an on-going battle against unbelievably powerful drug cartels, while we have an on-going battle against what?

      I can’t come up with anything.

      • Murray Rawshark 8.1.1
        6 January 2015 at 7:17 pm

        Our ongoing battle is against the neoliberalism of the right and the class collaboration policies of Labour. We’ve been fighting it for 30 years, and haven’t done very well so far.

        • Sacha 8.1.1.1
          6 January 2015 at 7:24 pm

          Yes. We need to do way better, given how obvious the harm for poorer New Zealanders is.

        • Skinny 8.1.1.2
          6 January 2015 at 8:14 pm

          It gets worst with a bad start to 2015. The share-markets around the globe are teetering on the verge of another meltdown. The system is failing the masses, only the very few win in this stacked setup.

    • burt 8.2
      6 January 2015 at 10:05 pm

      The period covered in the study is 1990-2010. That 9 years of rampant welfare expansion into the middle classes didn’t really help the poor did it. Funny that.

  9. BLiP 9
    6 January 2015 at 2:03 pm

    ‘

    Adam Curtis has been carrying on with his usual wonderful work. Watch here as he talks about “non-linear warfare” where the purpose is not to win the war but to use the conflict to create a perpetual state of destabilised perception . . .

    http://youtu.be/KOY4Ka-GBus

    . . . fascinating stuff.

  10. Philip Ferguson 10
    6 January 2015 at 2:36 pm

    Capitalism and the (NZ) state

    On the New Zealand left, one of the most misunderstood questions is that of the state. One reason for this is that the state in this country has played a particularly instrumental role in the creating and cohering of society, frequently stepping in to do things capitalism simply could not, like constructing much the infrastructure of the economy – road, rail, bridges, dams, telecommunications, for instance. The state was also the necessary instrument through which the education and health of each new generations of workers could be guaranteed – markets couldn’t do this either. The third role played by the state was in guaranteeing cheap inputs for industry – so coal and other primary products were often extracted through being owned by the state and operated by government departments.

    The ‘mixed economy’ model confused many on the left about a middle way between the rampant capitalism they associated with the United States and the state totalitarianism they associated with the Soviet bloc. The ‘mixed economy’ model, particularly when administered by a Labour government, was indeed viewed as a kind of ‘New Zealand socialism’.
    Thus the capitalist state in New Zealand was seen simply as the state. On the left, people talked about “the state” far more than “the capitalist state”. Since state ownership was associated with socialism, the state was simply not seen as. . . . full at: http://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/01/06/capitalism-and-the-state/

    This piece contains links to a number of articles on aspects of NZ capitalism and the state.

    Phil

  11. Colonial Rawshark 11
    6 January 2015 at 4:37 pm

    The inevitable decline of Japan

    Recently stats came out which showed that Japan had its largest ever deficit between births (at a low ebb) and deaths (climbing and climbing). A rapidly aging and declining population means economic growth is impossible.

    And now, a toxic mix of inflation and deflation is hitting the Japanese economy…while people in Japan are randomly choking on food and dying…

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-05/japan-top-tuna-sells-below-%C2%A55-million-first-time-eight-years-down-22-year-ago

    BTW every one in Asia will get very nervous when Japan suddenly realises how dire its straits are.

    • adam 11.1
      6 January 2015 at 5:01 pm

      What their expanding military – or when they begin capital flight out of the other asian countries to save what they have left?

  12. aerobubble 12
    6 January 2015 at 5:37 pm

    Muldoon, Shipley, Brash, English, Key.
    Clark, Goff, Shearer, Cunliffe, Little.

    So why does Labour let Nat beat them up over having so many leaders?

    • McFlock 12.1
      6 January 2015 at 5:44 pm

      possibly because technically you should include Lange, Moore, and Palmer. Policies notwithstanding.

    • Weepus beard 12.2
      6 January 2015 at 5:50 pm

      You forgot McLay and Bolger. Easy to forget, I know.

      Question: Is there anyone more like John Howard than Jim Bolger?

      • aerobubble 12.2.1
        6 January 2015 at 6:11 pm

        Was Bulger a racist? boats, riots even Maori (intro welfare cuts that hit poorer and so overwhelmingly Maori

      • Murray Rawshark 12.2.2
        6 January 2015 at 7:35 pm

        I don’t think Bolger was anything like Howard. Howard was a nasty little creep who wanted the Stars and Stripes tattooed on his bum and tried to rewrite Australian history, as well as stirring up hatred and fear against refugees. Bolger, despite all his limitations, had a core of Catholic decency and was rolled by his party for not being right wing enough. Muldoon would have been closer to Howard, putting aside the differing fashions in economics. Muldoon used a racist tour to gain an election. Howard used lies about children overboard. Both appealed to the worst of their electors.

        • Weepus beard 12.2.2.1
          6 January 2015 at 8:55 pm

          That’s fine, but he did preside over Richardson’s mother of all budgets and thus kick-started the journey down the path of increasing inequality which we now find ourselves a long way down.

          Catholic decency? Maybe not.

          • Murray Rawshark 12.2.2.1.1
            6 January 2015 at 10:59 pm

            Lange and Douglas started us down the path of increasing inequality. Richardson just kept the foot on the accelerator.

          • Colonial Viper 12.2.2.1.2
            6 January 2015 at 11:09 pm

            Bolger pushed MMP through. For that alone, the guy deserves a knighthood.

    • Murray Rawshark 12.3
      6 January 2015 at 7:30 pm

      Right leaders: Muldoon, Lange, Palmer, Moore, McLay, Bolger, Shipley, Brash, English, Key, Goff, Shearer.

      3rd way class collaborationist leaders: Clark, Little.

      Left Labour leaders: Kirk, Rowling.

      Not very well balanced at all.

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