Open mike 07/06/2015

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1. AsleepWhileWalking 1

   7 June 2015 at 8:23 am

   http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-06/america-ponzi-scheme-commencement-speech-scammed

   Does this really sound like an education to you or does it sound more like a Ponzi scheme, like you’ve been scammed?

   Do I understand how all this works? No. I’m no expert on the subject. What anyone should be able to see, however, is that the promise of higher education has, in this century, sunk low indeed and that what your generation has been learning how to endure while still in school is a form of peonage. I’d binge drink, too, under the circumstances!
   • Draco T Bastard 1.1

     7 June 2015 at 10:18 am

     As that system, awash in plutocratic contributions to politics and taxpayer contributions to the military-industrial-homeland-security complex, morphs into something else, so will you, whether you realize it or not. Though never thought of as such, your debt is part of the same system. A society that programmatically trains its young into debt and calls that “higher education” is as corrupt as a wealthy country that won’t rebuild its own infrastructure.

     Yes, NZ is well on it’s way down the same path.
     • Colonial Rawshark 1.1.1

       7 June 2015 at 10:27 am

       Yep, in the US the salaries and numbers of administrators and managers has been shooting up for years, while the salaries and numbers of faculty have been cut and squeezed – unless you work in an area favoured by corporate money.

       Student fees have been climbing and climbing as has student debt. Then they changed the rules in the US where students have to pay increasing interest on their debt – far more than bankers have to pay – and you cannot get out of student debt by declaring bankruptcy. The debt follows you to the grave.

       And this in an environment where graduates are lucky to get a full time minimum wage job.
       • Poission 1.1.1.1

         7 June 2015 at 11:41 am

         In Texas for example,the highest paid in public office are sports coaches,and orthopedics specialists.

         http://salaries.texastribune.org/
2. Molly 2

   7 June 2015 at 8:36 am

   For those with some time on their hands on Sunday morning to ponder on alternatives to current economic models IRL: Marinaleda and Mondragon.
   • Charles 2.1

     7 June 2015 at 9:29 am

     Marinaleda: Yeah, that’s the kind of place/way I’d like to live, if the only alternative was NZ’s existing reality/dominant culture and perspective.

     Two stand-out points to me were the flat rate of wage, “because every position is important to the whole”; and making decisions based on considering what is good for those who have the least, before thinking about what is good for those that have the most. If NZ governments adopted that last point in isolation, it would solve many of NZ’s problems overnight. Once they did try that approach, now they reject it completely.

     “A Socialist Utopia” is a good description of it – a both negative (ultimately limited) and positive (major advancement on status quo) euphemism – because there are plenty of flaws in the plan; and the guy talking glosses over some historical points that if they were explained to NZders, they might not be so enthusistic to superimpose the struggle here; but this is Sunday morning, so why not just revel in the possibility instead?
3. AsleepWhileWalking 3

   7 June 2015 at 8:54 am

   In Germany, one of the most successful economy in the world, house prices are flat. It is considered a failure if house prices rise because housing is a speculative investment that adds nothing to the economy.

   – Keiser Report E767
   • Colonial Rawshark 3.1

     7 June 2015 at 10:29 am

     +1 link to this below
4. ICD 4

   7 June 2015 at 9:38 am

   Predictions for 2014 for Germany were price increases for property were 6%, with prices the the two years prior increasing by 9.8% per annum for existing stock and 7.7% per annum for new builds.

   Reasons being? Demand in larger cities outstripping supply. Low interest rates and increased economic activity. Strong labour markets and rising immigration.

   http://m.welt.de/finanzen/immobilien/article123300858/Auch-2014-steigen-die-Mieten-und-Wohnungspreise.html

   Germany, historically, has a completely different approach to rentals, where some families live 20+ years in rented accommodation (flats or houses). The money is in the rent return, not the property resale. The way mortgages are set-up and structured are different too.

   To top it all off, German Super has always been sufficient to live off in retirement, there was little need or desire to invest/speculate in property for that old-age nest egg.

   All up, you can’t compare the German approach and New Zealand one.
   • Colonial Rawshark 4.1

     7 June 2015 at 10:16 am

     Max Keiser & Stacey Herbert talk UK property bubble

     They mention in comparison that Berlin has just introduced maximum rent caps. That German ministers see “investment” flowing into ever increasing house prices as a waste of productive financial capital which should instead go into industry. This is of course a road to a ponzi economy and eventual economic collapse.

     How UK policies of house ownership and rental subsidies have helped push up the property price bubble further, as well as encouraging home owners and rentier capitalists to vote Conservative.

     Max Keiser also mentions how banks create money in the economy by extending loans which instantly become deposits in bank accounts.
     • DH 4.1.1

       7 June 2015 at 11:10 am

       The housing problem has only just started really. You can’t create all this extra money and have it stay in Auckland. Newly rich Jafas are already buying up large outside of Auckland and driving up prices elsewhere. Those cashed up sellers will themselves start pushing up prices even further.

       I’ve been watching house prices in areas close to Auck – south an arc from Hamilton to Tauranga and north SH1 areas up to Whangarei & surrounds. The speed at which low priced properties have been selling is just incredible. The only houses not selling are those in rough streets.

       It must be hugely distressing for those lower income earners saving to buy a home. They’re seeing their future disappearing right in front of their eyes.
   • Foreign waka 4.2

     7 June 2015 at 11:09 am

     No you cant and it is true that their social security system is (or was) – I am sorry to say – superior to that in NZ.
     But what you omit is that, Germany has had more then 1 Million (!) immigrants/refugees per year entering the country and housing certainly has a different meaning when looking at these figures.
     Vandalism of properties that was unheard of has increased and there are areas where you rather don’t want to go, let alone live because of the ghetto building from different ethnicity. Naturally, the situation is a lot more volatile then in NZ. And with that the social security system that has worked on the basis that people have to contribute in order to get a benefit, thus being a collective approach and really a cultural way of thinking about your neighbor, is being destroyed. Perhaps a geopolitical game to make it equal to the Anglo saxen approach that is in my point of view barbaric.
     • Colonial Rawshark 4.2.1

       7 June 2015 at 11:45 am

       Wait until Germany suffers an economic downturn, then with mass immigration you will see the rise of white supremacist neonazi sentiment on the upswing.

       Just saw something on Zero Hedge which said 2 out of 3 low paid jobs created by the US economic “upturn” has gone to illegal migrants. Local populations are going to become more restive.
       • Foreign waka 4.2.1.1

         7 June 2015 at 12:38 pm

         White supremacists are already there. All immigrants are being supported by the state, hence the unrest. The moneys are not there anymore. The downturn has already started.
         Mind you, I wonder what NZ would do if such influx of immigrants would happen here. Infrastructure and benefits would dry up in a flash. It would lead to aggression, latent or obvious.

         The US is a completely different culture – they have no real sense of social coherency. 230 odd years in the making vs thousands of years in Germany.
         The jobs they have created are low wage, no guarantied hours jobs. Sounds familiar?
         Germans are underestimated with their sheer will to see things through if the going is tough.
       • greywarshark 4.2.1.2

         7 June 2015 at 4:19 pm

         @ Colonial R
         Someone wrote that a large number of the employed in USA are guarding wealthy people’s property. It could be a good job for a migrant to get. The low starting wage could be an indication of that.

         USA Security guards employed, 1,077,520 at May 2014 mean hourly wage $13.48 (from $8.52, 25% percentile $9.64, 90% percentile $21.25-annual $44,200)
         http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes339032.htm

         USA Cleaning and janitor jobs 2,324,000 for year 2012 @ $10.73 an hour

         USA manufacturing stats – they were declining before 2008 and from then to 2010 they took a nosedive.
         Manufacturing employment stats at Jan 2008 13,725,000, at Jan 2010 11,460,000.
         Jan 2015 12,318,000.
         http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES3000000001

         USA population at 29/4/2015 – 318,857,056
         http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
         • Colonial Rawshark 4.2.1.2.1

           7 June 2015 at 4:26 pm

           the rich people in the gated compounds think that their armed security guards are going to protect them when the real decline comes. I think those armed security guards just as likely to take over the gated compounds for their own extended families and eject the useless 1%, when the time comes.
5. Atiawa 5

   7 June 2015 at 9:59 am

   Please excuse my ignorance, but considering the continuing threat of climate change, it’s causes & likely outcomes, are there social media sites that younger New Zealanders participate in on this issue?
   I ask only to be able to listen to their voice, not to participate.
   • Sacha 5.1

     7 June 2015 at 10:14 am

     http://www.generationzero.org/blog
     • Atiawa 5.1.1

       7 June 2015 at 2:42 pm

       Thanks.
       • Sacha 5.1.1.1

         7 June 2015 at 3:22 pm

         welcome. one place to start. they do good campaigning.
   • maui 5.2

     7 June 2015 at 10:19 pm

     There’s also 350 Aotearoa, and you can find the latest things theyre doing on their facebook pages.

     I’d like to see a senior citizens activist group on climate change as well. After all they have had a lifetime of fossil fuel at their convenience and it will be their grandkids who will have to do the heavy lifting to adapt and change society to work in a different climate.
     • weka 5.2.1

       7 June 2015 at 11:43 pm

       While not specifically senior citizens, this group seems to represent the ones who’ve done well out of fossil fuels.

       http://wiseresponse.org.nz/
6. Penny Bright 6

   7 June 2015 at 10:03 am

   Seen this ?

   How much of the Auckland property ‘boom’ is being used for money-laundering?

   How many of the empty 22,000 ‘ghost city’ private sector houses in Auckland (according to the 2013 Census), have been used for money-laundering?

   Whose job is it to check on how real estate – especially Auckland real estate – is used for money-laundering?

   The Organised and Financial Crime Agency of NZ (OFCANZ)?

   Who failed to carry out any ‘due diligence’ on the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the NZ International Convention Act?
   ————————————————————————

   Bernard Hickey: Dodgy deals to come out

   The New Zealand Herald

   A task force wants lawyers and agents to verify sources of overseas funds used to buy property.

   By Bernard Hickey

   The Government’s pre-Budget announcement of its two-year “bright line” tax on capital gains surprised a few people and captured headlines.

   But the accompanying news that non-residents buying property would first have to open a bank account here, get an IRD number and declare their own passport and home tax details may have a bigger impact.

   The Government is pointing to this measure as having the most potential to reduce foreign demand for Auckland properties and Prime Minister John Key has indicated information on non-resident buying would be gathered and published.

   He said New Zealand tax authorities would also share these details with foreign tax authorities.

   The elephant in the room of Auckland’s property debate is whether some of the money pouring into Auckland, from China in particular, is money laundering of ill-gotten funds.

   Without any data, the debate is fuelled by anecdote and rumour, but the issue is capturing global attention.

   In November, China’s President Xi Jinping asked for Key’s help to track down a number of Chinese nationals who had fled to New Zealand with allegedly corruptly obtained funds. This was part of Xi’s campaign to crack down on the “tigers and flies” officials and their cronies. Chinese authorities say New Zealand is the third most popular destination for such fugitives.

   The issue of money laundering from China is heating up in Australia, too, where data on how much property is bought by non-residents is collected.

   More than 25 per cent of all new and existing homes sold last year in Sydney and Melbourne were sold to non-residents, leaving many across the Tasman asking where the money came from.

   …………

   Penny Bright

   http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
   • Colonial Rawshark 6.1

     7 June 2015 at 10:21 am

     Very interesting thanks Penny
   • Incognito 6.2

     7 June 2015 at 2:45 pm

     It is a clever ploy by the Government to turn the Auckland housing problem into a Law & Order issue. Any place where large sums of money easily ‘change hands’ such as casinos and real estate is attractive to money launderers. However, this doesn’t mean that money laundering is a driving force behind Auckland’s housing woes. Is the Government now also proposing for Sky Casino to demand seeing and recording IRD numbers, bank account details, and home tax details?
   • Chooky 6.3

     7 June 2015 at 9:46 pm

     +100 Penny
7. Morrissey 7

   7 June 2015 at 10:39 am

   Liars of Our Time
   
No. 50: CAMERON “BLUBBERGUTS” SLATER

   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

   “I’m sick to death of people trying to set me up. I don’t break the law, and that’s the end of the story.”

   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

   —Cameron “Blubberguts” Slater snarls defiance at a reporter, RadioLIVE 12 o’clock news, Saturday 6 June 2015

   Liar No. 49 Jay Carney: ““He [Edward Snowden] is not a human rights activist. He is not a dissident.”

   Liar No. 48 Jim Mora: “Fantastic! I’ll have a listen to the full version [of Tony Doe’s new song] after The Panel.”

   Open Mike 08/02/2015

   Liar No.47 Simon Mercep: “Coming up in a few minutes, The Panel. …. Whoever they are, quality broadcasting will ensue.”

   Open mike 18/02/2015

   Liar No. 46 Julia Gillard: “I have got a lot of respect for people who whistle-blow, ummm….”
http://thestandard.org.nz/ope-mike-08022015/#comment-965394

   Liar No. 45 Zara Potts: “Sir Bob Geldof has assembled the best of modern musicians for this year’s record, including Ed Sheeran and One Direction.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11112014/#comment-924196

   More liars HERE….
   
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09102014/#comment-907232
8. Colonial Rawshark 8

   7 June 2015 at 10:50 am

   Time Magazine: Belgium removes all age limits on euthansasia

   Says children should have same rights to choose death as adults. In the Netherlands, children aged 12-16 can choose death with parental consent. Activists in the Netherlands say that age limit should be reduced or removed.

   http://time.com/7565/belgium-euthanasia-law-children-assisted-suicide/
9. Reality 9

   7 June 2015 at 11:02 am

   Sweet, caring, compassionate, misunderstood Judith Collins – read all about her in Woman’s Weekly. Next chapter of PR campaign.
10. Penny Bright 10

    7 June 2015 at 11:18 am

    Seen this?

    Gardasil Survivors in Ireland Launch Support Group

    Activist Post

    The R.E.G.R.E.T. Support Group was launched recently in Ireland by parents of chronically ill teenage girls. These parents blame an injection the girls received at school as the cause of their daughters’ illness. The drug in question is called Gardasil and is being marketed as an anti-cancer vaccine. R.E.G.R.E.T. is an acronym for “Reactions and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma”.

    Members of ten families from all over the country came together to share experiences and express their exasperation at the inability of health authorities to recognise the pattern of serious adverse reactions being suffered by children who, up until receiving the Gardasil injection, enjoyed an active healthy lifestyle.

    One of the main complaints raised at the meeting was that the information provided by the HSE (as part of the ‘informed consent’ process) is extremely misleading, particularly with regard to how safe the vaccine is.

    A high incidence of serious reactions have been reported in the U.S ever since Gardasil was released there in 2006. Even the drug manufacturer’s own clinical trials reveal a 1 in 40 (2.5%) incidence of a serious adverse reaction*, yet Irish parents are still told by the HSE that Gardasil is ‘very safe’.

    Although its cancer-preventing properties have never been proven, the HSE insists that the benefits of Gardasil outweigh the risks and even claim that it has been ‘fully tested’.

    This is despite the limited safety testing that took place as a result of this “life-Gardasil Survivors in Ireland Launch Support Group
    Activist Post

    The R.E.G.R.E.T. Support Group was launched recently in Ireland by parents of chronically ill teenage girls. These parents blame an injection the girls received at school as the cause of their daughters’ illness. The drug in question is called Gardasil and is being marketed as an anti-cancer vaccine. R.E.G.R.E.T. is an acronym for “Reactions and Effects of Gardasil Resulting in Extreme Trauma”.

    Members of ten families from all over the country came together to share experiences and express their exasperation at the inability of health authorities to recognise the pattern of serious adverse reactions being suffered by children who, up until receiving the Gardasil injection, enjoyed an active healthy lifestyle. One of the main complaints raised at the meeting was that the information provided by the HSE (as part of the ‘informed consent’ process) is extremely misleading, particularly with regard to how safe the vaccine is.

    A high incidence of serious reactions have been reported in the U.S ever since Gardasil was released there in 2006. Even the drug manufacturer’s own clinical trials reveal a 1 in 40 (2.5%) incidence of a serious adverse reaction*, yet Irish parents are still told by the HSE that Gardasil is ‘very safe’.

    Although its cancer-preventing properties have never been proven, the HSE insists that the benefits of Gardasil outweigh the risks and even claim that it has been ‘fully tested’.

    This is despite the limited safety testing that took place as a result of this “life-saving vaccine” being fast-tracked through the regulatory approval process. HSE did not inform parents that Gardasil contains genetically engineered non-human recombinant DNA, the effects of which are unknown and unpredictable when injected into a human host saving vaccine” being fast-tracked through the regulatory approval process.

    HSE did not inform parents that Gardasil contains genetically engineered non-human recombinant DNA, the effects of which are unknown and unpredictable when injected into a human host.

    ———————————————————————————————–

    Penny Bright

    http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
    • Colonial Rawshark 10.1

      7 June 2015 at 11:35 am

      This is a healthcare disaster and another example of how corporatised establishment medical thinking has led families down the wrong track, a track which transfers billions in tax payers money to big pharma while the vast majority of young women receiving the treatment will obtain zero life saving benefits.
      • Chooky 10.1.1

        7 June 2015 at 9:48 pm

        +100 Penny and CR
11. halfcrown 11

    7 June 2015 at 11:36 am

    I have just watched that disgusting display by Boag on The Nation, dressed like a bill board for a large carton of Fries. A theme I see that is beginning to develop from the right is:- “You don’t have a right,” In this discussion, if you can call it that with this hysterical female dressed like a packet of chips, Boag said “You don’t have a right” to owning a house.
    Is this going to be a common theme to get us all conditioned so when they spy on us it will be a case of “You don’t have a right to privacy.” Also what gives winebox Boag the right to say “you don’t have a right”
    Shit we will be told next We don’t have the right to breath
    • Sacha 11.1

      7 June 2015 at 11:42 am

      “don’t talk to me about evidence”

      #pffft
    • Foreign waka 11.2

      7 June 2015 at 1:07 pm

      Yes, and what I saw is a lady with an American accent attacking NZ systems, a raged young man who just has bought a property in Wellington and one articulate young man trying to convince us that the rental laws need changing.

      Here is what I took away from this:
      Once more the future rich are making a dash for funds and asking for a RIGHT to own a house with the golden age of 22 in the dress circle of Auckland.
      For them the old are guilty of everything because they have not facilitated them to get what they want (hissy fit follows), when they want it and how they want it.
      Of cause they should give up their poultry weekly income of $ 320 smackers. Surely they can do without.
      They have not figured out that the situation is a lot more volatile then they belief and there are many more deserving then they are. I am talking about families with small children – one that just died due to substandard accommodation.
      If they really want to address any problems, maybe the should investigate and find out what drives the pricing and equally what the average age of an an average wage earner is when they buy. Perhaps they could start working within the community and not outside it with this sense of entitlement that only is ever seen by people of privilege.
      Yes, the housing market is out of kilter, not because a pensioner owns his/her home, but because speculators driving this. (mostly from overseas with question marks of money laundering) OH, yes no question of those university educated people there.
      The law is not designed to protect the wider public from shanty houses developing – again no question form the side of the younger generation who are suppose to be sooo educated, all they do is their “fair” share.
      Most NZ people buy their house at the age of around 30 or later.

      On the question of voting: they don’t because they don’t get what they want.. (stumping feet behind the podium?)

      Educated? Really? Or just spoiled and dragged through Uni because there was money to be made…
    • freedom 11.3

      7 June 2015 at 1:29 pm

      this might help explain things 🙂

      View post on imgur.com
12. Draco T Bastard 12

    7 June 2015 at 11:39 am

    If you’re unemployed it’s not because there isn’t any work
13. b waghorn 13

    7 June 2015 at 12:02 pm

    There giving kohanga and its tyrant leader a very nice puff piece on marae
    In the same week that a very good reporter resigns over her TV channel not letting her do a story on kohanga.
14. Colonial Rawshark 14

    7 June 2015 at 1:48 pm

    It’s possible to conclude that the Labour Party review document was leaked because otherwise it was never going to be shared in its entirety with the membership; rather it was going to be edited, censored, summarised and released selectively piecemeal. Contrary to popular opinion, maybe on balance we’ve been done a favour by the leaker.
    • Colville. 14.1

      7 June 2015 at 1:57 pm

      CR.
      definitely better to have it out in public 100% or there was always going to keep media busy wondering out loud about what wasnt being said/released
    • weka 14.2

      7 June 2015 at 3:02 pm

      That would be a credible theory CV, except for the fact that it was leaked to Gower. If the leaker wanted to serve the membership or Labour’s best interests, there were far better places/people to leak it to.
    • Ron 14.3

      7 June 2015 at 6:25 pm

      That;s funny because we were told the majority of what was in report at Regional Conference. Did you not get the update from President in your region?
      • Colonial Rawshark 14.3.1

        7 June 2015 at 6:59 pm

        I have no doubt that regional conferences were verbally told of the contents of, or at least the outline of, the majority of the report. Your comment and my comment are not mutually exclusive.
15. Incognito 15

    7 June 2015 at 4:12 pm

    Is National scaremongering again?

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/69168659/english-wont-adopt-labours-extreme-warrant-of-fitness-for-housing

    ”The Government won’t support “extreme measures” like warrant of fitness checks for all houses because it will drive up rent and push housing stock out of the market, says Finance Minister Bill English.”

    and

    ”But Housing Minister Nick Smith is reluctant to extend the warrants to all public and private rentals because if the Government prohibited the rental of home unless they were fully insulated, it would mean taking 100,000 homes off the market.”

    Please correct me if wrong but the bill would give landlords five years to get rental houses up to a liveable standard and it was never the intention that housing stock would be taken off the rental market during that period.
    • Colonial Rawshark 15.1

      7 June 2015 at 4:17 pm

      Oh dear. Sounds like the Government accepts Labour’s position that there is a huge quality and livability problem with NZ’s housing stock.
      • Incognito 15.1.1

        7 June 2015 at 5:46 pm

        But they are downplaying the scale and severity of the problem and only because they can’t use plausible denial any longer. I look forward to hearing more from Bill English about “something practical and affordable that will start lifting the standard”.

        BTW, the story was last updated at 16.18 o’clock.
    • Draco T Bastard 15.2

      7 June 2015 at 6:30 pm

      “We’re not going to adopt extreme measures, we want to get something practical and affordable that will start lifting the standard,” he said.

      To be able to lift standards you a) need to know where you’re at at the moment an b) set some standards that need to be reached. National not doing either of these things is setting up to fail.

      I also note the propagandising use of extreme measures. It’s being used in such a way as to make people think that having liveable homes is an extreme idea and thus not doable.
16. Draco T Bastard 16

    7 June 2015 at 6:00 pm

    IMF has betrayed its mission in Greece, captive to EMU creditors

    Mrs Lagarde must stop playing the role of a diplomat. She must take off her European hat and speak instead for the organisation she leads and for the world.

    She must confront the EMU creditors head on and in public. She must tell them, in blunt language, that they share much of the blame for the current impasse.

    She must make it clear to them that Greece needs sweeping debt relief – as a matter of economic science, whatever the morality – and that the refusal of the creditors to face up to this elemental fact is now the chief impediment to a solution. And she should tell them that the IMF will no longer play any part in their deceitful charade.

    If she does not do so, and if the lack of leadership by Europe’s political class leads to a catastrophic denouement on every level, then let it be on her head too.

    Both The Great Depression and the Great Recession produced winners and losers. Interestingly, the winners should have been the losers in both cases.
17. Draco T Bastard 17

    7 June 2015 at 6:25 pm

    The Scariest Trade Deal Nobody’s Talking About Just Suffered a Big Leak

    Corporations would get to comment on any new regulatory attempts, and enforce this regulatory straitjacket through a dispute mechanism similar to the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) process in other trade agreements, where they could win money equal to “expected future profits” lost through violations of the regulatory cap.

    For an example of how this would work, let’s look at financial services. It too has a “standstill” clause, which given the unpredictability of future crises could leave governments helpless to stop a new and dangerous financial innovation. In fact, Switzerland has proposed that all TiSA countries must allow “any new financial service” to enter their market. So-called “prudential regulations” to protect investors or depositors are theoretically allowed, but they must not act contrary to TiSA rules, rendering them somewhat irrelevant.

    Most controversially, all financial services suppliers could transfer individual client data out of a TiSA country for processing, regardless of national privacy laws. This free flow of data across borders is true for the e-commerce annex as well; it breaks with thousands of years of precedent on locally kept business records, and has privacy advocates alarmed.

    Just in case you weren’t aware that the corporations have several methods in play to take away our ability to govern ourselves and thus make us corporate serfs.
18. Penny Bright 18

    7 June 2015 at 7:15 pm

    FYI

    Guess which was the ONLY NZ political party to support ‘facilitation payments’ being included as BRIBES in the Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill?
    —————————————————————————-

    The (——) Party supports the majority of the Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Legislation Bill in its current form.

    The (——) Party intends to continue with its support of this bill; it will bring us in line with our obligations under various international treaties and conventions dealing with national and international organised crime and corruption, and it will strengthen our ability to effectively respond to people trafficking and private sector corruption.

    However, the (——) Party holds the view that this bill is a missed opportunity to address the issue of facilitation payments, which will still be excepted from the foreign bribery offence under section 105C(3) of the Crimes Act 1961–

    (3)This section does not apply if—

    (a)the act that is alleged to constitute the offence was committed for the sole or primary purpose of ensuring or expediting the performance by a foreign public official of a routine government action; and

    (b)the value of the benefit is small.

    The Ministry of Justice departmental report refers to these payments as being for things such as “small payments relating to the grant of a permit or licence, the provision of utility services, or loading or unloading cargo.” The Ministry commented that these payments do not yield an “undue advantage”, and that measures in the bill to ensure the recording of these payments mitigate any concerns that the exception may be abused.

    However, the select committee heard persuasive submissions on the issue from the Human Rights Commission, Transparency International New Zealand and Michael Macaulay, Director of the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Government.

    These ‘grease’ payments are bribes, no matter their size, and help breed a culture where low-level corruption is permitted and accepted, contrary to international guidance from groups like the Serious Fraud Office, the UNCAC Implementation Review Group, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the OECD.

    New Zealand is seen as a leader in public sector ethics and transparency, and we are proud of that legacy. It is disappointing that when provided an opportunity to take a strong stance on a controversial and unethical practice like facilitation payments – a stance already taken by the United Kingdom and Australia, and allegedly being pursued in China and India – we choose to split hairs about semantics and ‘balance’, leaving the door open for facilitation payments and subtly undermining our international reputation for honesty and transparency.

    ————————————————————

    Could National’s Minister of Trade – in my opinion – ‘sheepish’ Murray McCully’s sordid Saudi ‘bribe’ have had anything to do with this Government’s apparent opposition to ‘facilitation payments’ being regarded as BRIBE$?

    New Zealand – ‘perceived’ to be the SECOND ‘least corrupt country in the world’, according to the 2014 (arguably meaningless) Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’?

    Penny Bright

    http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
19. te reo putake 19

    7 June 2015 at 9:03 pm

    Ha! Bomber’s gone into a Whale Oil style meltdown over at TDB, deleting comments that don’t blow smoke up his perfectly coiffured arse. He really is a sensitive wee sausage.

    I’d link, but what’s the point?

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