Open mike 09/06/2016

35 comments on “Open mike 09/06/2016 ”

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1. Paul 1

   9 June 2016 at 6:10 am

   Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
   We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.

   Homelessness.
   Our ‘brighter future’

   A message to John Key from an 11 year old living in a van.
   ‘Try walking in my shoes. It’s not actually that easy’
   • save nz 1.1

     9 June 2016 at 8:06 am

     Thanks Paul – that is a great link. Compulsory viewing.

     Remember John Key’s election stunt with Aroha. Under John Key another poor kid who just missed out on a school scholarship, doesn’t even have a state house in a ‘bad’ street after 8 years of John Key’s government. She lives in a van she shares with 8 people and her mother is working!

     Is that progress?
     • WILD KATIPO 1.1.1

       9 June 2016 at 8:56 am

       Its time these neo liberals faced the raw heat for their actions – and time others stopped excusing them. This is serious shit going down in this country and no mealy mouthed excuses will suffice. The country needs a damn good purging of them after 2017.
     • AsleepWhileWalking 1.1.2

       9 June 2016 at 9:01 am

       I had trouble sleeping in my car with just myself (it was years ago when I was much younger). I remember feeling vulnerable, obvious (I was afraid someone would notice me), and very cold and uncomfortable. Can’t begin to imagine how an entire family in a van would cope for months on end. Good Lord.
     • mary_a 1.1.3

       9 June 2016 at 11:30 am

       @ save nz (1.1) … And FJK’s staged election stunt girl, Aroha went to Australia for a better life.

       And do you remember for the 2008 election, FJK was spouting off the government he led was going to make “NZ wages on a par with those of Australia”?

       We all know where that one went! Down the toilet big time, to the extent we now have working people, living in vehicles, tents, under bridges, sheds, hovels etc etc …. due to increasing impoverishment!

       “Is that progress” you ask?

       After 8 years of NatzKEY, NZ has a booming growth industry … POVERTY!

       Shame, shame … shame on those who still intend to vote for FJK next election! A disgrace to their fellow Kiwis and their country!
       • Draco T Bastard 1.1.3.1

         9 June 2016 at 1:58 pm

         And do you remember for the 2008 election, FJK was spouting off the government he led was going to make “NZ wages on a par with those of Australia”?

         We all know where that one went! Down the toilet big time, to the extent we now have working people, living in vehicles, tents, under bridges, sheds, hovels etc etc …. due to increasing impoverishment!

         But Blinglish tells us it’s a great competitive advantage /sarc

         And that should tell you just what competition does to a community.
2. Paul 2

   9 June 2016 at 6:11 am

   Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
   We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.

   Debt
   Our ‘brighter future’

   New Zealanders are ramping up debt significantly earlier in life with people as young as 22 owing tens of thousands of dollars – and all in the name of education.
   More than 728,000 people owe about $15 billion and experts say we are not dealing with the issue correctly.
   Almost 20 per cent of New Zealand’s population has a student loan with Inland Revenue and the total student loan debt figure was $14.84 billion last year, and while considered “good debt”, and interest-free, industry commentators say students often don’t consider whether the debts are necessary or how they could try to minimise the money borrowed.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11653066
   • Colonial Viper 2.1

     9 June 2016 at 10:51 am

     Thank grod for Labour’s student loan scheme
   • Draco T Bastard 2.2

     9 June 2016 at 2:24 pm

     It was listening to the ‘experts’ that got us the bloody student loans in the first place.

     A community needs people to learn and that means that education needs to be freely available throughout a persons life.

     The only option that an incoming government has is to write off the present debt and make ongoing education free both in removing fees and by making the student allowance available to everyone (I’d prefer a UBI).

     The cost cutting that our governments have engaged in over the last few decades have cost us an untold amount in lost innovation.
3. Paul 3

   9 June 2016 at 6:11 am

   Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
   We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.

   Charities doing the job of government
   Our ‘brighter future’

   ‘Crowd-lending campaign for hungry kids
   An Auckland-based business will launch New Zealand’s first crowd-lending campaign next week, hoping to raise $1 million to help provide lunches for hungry children.
   Last year, Eat My Lunch gave about 180,000 lunches to 32 schools in Auckland and Hamilton. (file photo)Last year, Eat My Lunch gave about 180,000 lunches to 32 schools in Auckland and Hamilton. (file photo) Photo: 123RF
   Eat My Lunch, which celebrated its first birthday in June, delivers lunches to schools and workplaces around Auckland and Hamilton.
   It operates a “buy-one, give-one” model: for every lunch bought by a customer, the company will give a lunch to a needy child who might otherwise go without.
   Last year, the business gave about 180,000 lunches to 32 schools in Auckland and Hamilton.’

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/305916/crowd-lending-campaign-for-hungry-kids
4. Paul 4

   9 June 2016 at 6:32 am

   $20 billion spending for the military.
   But we don’t have money to house our most vulnerable citizens.
   Our priorities as a society are wrong.

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/305878/nz-defence-force-to-get-$20bn-upgrade
   • WILD KATIPO 4.1

     9 June 2016 at 6:52 am

     I read that about the business starting up to feed the kids and while that may be a good thing the facts are, – in light of the above things you mention – it was caused by the deliberate negligence and subversiveness of the John Key led National govt’s neo liberal economics.

     There are no excuses. None whatsoever.

     And barring the student loan scheme ( introduced by past neo liberal economic witch doctor economic theory’s ) Keys govt has either initiated or perpetuated the gutting of large sectors of our demographics – and threatened our sovereignty and democracy with the arbitrary signing of the TTPA

     Worse .. it is bad enough they create a poverty / homeless class to to do things such as committing $26,000,000 to a flag referendum , billions of dollars towards the military, spy agency’s , and Bennett’s idiotic decisions over putting people up in motels, paying them to move in then out of Auckland ,then lying/misrepresenting what she said in parliament and on and on it goes…yet the people still get to live in cars, garages and under bridges with John Bullshit Keys ‘ brighter future’.

     I say the hell with his version of a ‘ brighter future’.

     And again , I post this to show how things have not only gotten worse under Key , – so have their cornball excuses.

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10468960/Aroha-of-McGehan-Close-flees-NZ

     And I will keep on posting it as a yardstick , a reminder and a backdrop to this viscous little man strutting around our parliament telling bald faced lies to the NZ public.

     Oh ,… and well done Paul. Keep it up.
     • Paul 4.1.1

       9 June 2016 at 7:26 am

       Thanks for your support
       I shall keep posting about the greedy, selfish and cruel society New Zealand has become under John Key’s wretched leadership.

       The miserable people who defend and support this government are defending a regime that does not house its people.

       And I shall continue to show how a puppet media tries to distract, divert and scare people to keep them from questioning the mess this country has got into. (Today it looks like we’re being encouraged to talk about the British Royal family). Henry,Hosking, du Plessis, Gower, Garner et al are complicit in the crimes being perpetrated on the most vulnerable in society.
       • WILD KATIPO 4.1.1.1

         9 June 2016 at 7:47 am

         If they were actually true media… they would be unbiased and focusing on the issues. The fact they are not shows they are mere paid actors and patsy’s for something much more insidious, – though they being complicit tars them with the same brush.

         It is said that Shakespeare’s negative portrayal of King John was more because he was a supporter of the govt – and while the journalists in the list above are not playwrights – they certainly are story tellers – the difference however, is that none of the so called journalists you mention above ever contributed anything of import. And never will.

         And certainly not as they are only paid to spin the story’s they do – and not to have to engage their minds and think about what they are being paid to say…
         • TC 4.1.1.1.1

           9 June 2016 at 9:52 am

           They do engage their minds in twisting and spinning events to align with the agreed messaging and themes, its a skill they keep refining.

           They ceased being ‘media’ many years ago and shill for their supper looking for that pat on the head from their neoliberal idols.

           MSM is the rich telling the wannabe rich its all the rests fault/choices/market.
5. b waghorn 5

   9 June 2016 at 7:50 am

   http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11653047

   Nicky Hagar on Us warship visits.
   • Roflcopter 5.1

     9 June 2016 at 12:39 pm

     That’s a damn good article… pleasantly surprised.
6. save nz 6

   9 June 2016 at 8:14 am

   The Herald’s wrongheaded call for an ever-bigger population

   http://sciblogs.co.nz/the-dismal-science/2016/05/28/heralds-wrongheaded-call-ever-bigger-population/

   extract…

   “But without the surge in immigration over the last few years then, all else equal, our interest rates would also be lower, and our exchange rate would be lower. And New Zealanders as a whole would be better off, because more firms would be better positioned to sell products and services into world markets at competitive prices. But, probably more importantly in the long-run, our largely fixed stock of natural resources, found on not-very-propitiously-located remote islands, would be spread over rather fewer people. As a country we’d be better off, and lower Auckland house prices “.
   • Expat 6.1

     9 June 2016 at 11:07 am

     Kiwi’s are paying higher interest rates because the cash rate is artificially being held up despite deflation, all this to prop up the dollar, when exporters are struggling to compete, how wonderful, cheap overseas trips, yeah, spend the money overseas.
     NZ has one of the highest mortgage interest rates in the world, there are lenders in Aus with rates of 3.6% fixed or floating, that means more money spent in the local economy rather than going, unnecessarily, to the big banks

     Less than two years ago, Australia was NZ’s biggest export destination, now it’s China, Aus has reduced imports from NZ as they are no longer competitive with locally supplied products.
     • Colonial Viper 6.1.1

       9 June 2016 at 3:13 pm

       You want to lower interest rates to crush savers and pensioners further, while advantaging property speculators?

       What’s your problem, exactly?
       • Expat 6.1.1.1

         9 June 2016 at 6:33 pm

         It appears you would rather fund the banks massive profits, rather than give ordinary Kiwi’s a break, it’s up to your mates (English & co) in the govt to regulate the property speculators, but wait, they don’t give a dam, just like you, and that is my problem,

         Regulating speculators is easy, so is fixing the housing problem, but first you have to recognise that there is a problem and you obviously don’t think there is one and either does the govt.

         Exporters in NZ are also struggling from the high dollar, but again, you simply don’t care, and either does the govt.

         It would appear you have a lot in common with the current govt.
7. Richardrawshark 7

   9 June 2016 at 9:42 am

   Remember Ashley!!!

   Of all the nasty things in the world most of us can tolerate a great deal of hardship, you can kick the living shit out of me, but if you hit my mate there i’ll beat the daylight out of you.

   What are we doing about Ashley. Stuff everything else. Organize a protest, hammer the minister. IDNK what but we better save this guy.

   This is not on at all.
   • Psych nurse 7.1

     9 June 2016 at 12:39 pm

     I assume you’re talking about Ashley Peacock, there has to be a reason for Ashley to be in this unit. The DHB I work for refers the most difficult patients to this unit, always without success. So we now put up with constant assaults on staff, on one day last week two nurses received bites requiring skin grafts, one lost a section of her scalp when her hair was pulled out, another lost two toe nails and a fifth broke an arm. There wouldn’t be a nurse not spending time on ACC in the past year.
     So jump up and down, hammer the minister, perhaps you could take Ashley into your home.
     • Mark 7.1.1

       9 June 2016 at 6:20 pm

       that shut them up…
8. Chooky 8

   9 June 2016 at 9:46 am

   ‘The day in Brexit: Anti-EU feeling spreading across Europe, study finds’

   https://www.rt.com/uk/345891-brexit-europe-polls-farage/

   “Brexit fever is spreading fast across Europe with anti-EU sentiment among some populations surpassing even Britain, a new survey has found. RT takes a look at Brexit mania and the latest in the upcoming referendum.
   A Pew Research Center opinion poll of over 10,000 people across Europe found that a growing number of citizens are turning their backs on Brussels.

   Support for the bloc is at its lowest in Greece – a country brutalized by years of austerity policies harshly imposed by Brussels. Just 27 percent of Greeks surveyed have a favourable opinion of the EU.

   Although one of the founding members of the club, French people are now desperate to leave. Just 38 percent support the bloc. By contrast, UK support stands at 44 percent.

   “The British are not the only ones with doubts about the European Union,” concluded Bruce Stokes, chief author of the Washington-based Pew Research Center report published on Tuesday…
   • Colonial Viper 8.1

     9 June 2016 at 11:47 am

     The Frenchies were out maneuvered by the Germans in the formation of the EU. The French thought that they would have the leading say in the arrangement, and in the Eurozone. Turns out the Germans have more say than the French – but the unelected Brussels bureaucrats have more say than anyone else.
9. AsleepWhileWalking 9

   9 June 2016 at 11:28 am

   NZ one of only 10 nations not at war. I <3 NZ.

   http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/only-10-countries-not-at-war/
   • save nz 9.1

     9 June 2016 at 11:45 am

     @AsleepWhileWalking

     wow – that’s shocking. Probably JK’s next stunt push us into a war somewhere – already has the troops over in middle east trying to drum up business so he can waste more public money on defence.

     What is there to defend – our country and identity is already for sale and much of it being sold as we speak to the highest bidder.

     What I find also weird in the thinking is that so many world leaders are keen to rush into wars and fund that, fund surveillance on their own people to keep them in line (people are now the new enemy) but then are selling off the family silver to China and international banks including critical parts of infrastructure, like power and food.

     China doesn’t need weapons – they can just call in the money on many nations and turn out the lights.

     Was in Britain during the ‘truck’ strikes. Just took 3 days of truck strikes blocking food and petrol into London and the place was a mess – supermarkets stripped bare of food and queues of cars for hours.

     Do you need a lobotomy to be in defence? Climate change and privatisation will take the country faster into ruins than anything else at this stage but our government is still chugging along with those fake things to fear…
     • Colonial Viper 9.1.1

       9 June 2016 at 4:50 pm

       I was at a local New World a couple of years ago when the EFTPOS network went down. Supermarket full of food, staff wanting to sell the food, shoppers wanting to buy the food, and not a single transaction could be done. Except for those souls who had a bit of cash on them.

       The ATM in the supermarket was emptied of cash within 30 minutes of the system crash.
10. whispering kate 10

    9 June 2016 at 1:44 pm

    Read a great opinion piece in the Herald this morning, Raybon Kan chatting about the Clinton campaign, the second half of the narrative was a slamming of the Herald and its useless reporting of what is happening in NZ and the fluff and rubbish they now inflict on us. I think this guy is heading for a chat with management and finding his position with the paper going the way of leader writers who call to account the dismal failure of the paper to properly report on what is happening here in NZ on a daily basis. Makes quite a change to get some critical analysis in the paper – makes you believe there is some hope.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/Raybon-Kan/news/article.cfm?a_id=1032&objectid=11653053
    • Rodel 10.1

      9 June 2016 at 7:42 pm

      WK-Mark my words. Raybon will be Campbellized by the Herald.
11. RedLogix 11

    9 June 2016 at 3:03 pm

    My read of the day:

    Now storing stuff costs nothing. I bought a 16 GB USB memory stick for the price of two cups of coffee last week. So they are not watching you. They are storing what you do.

    Firstly, in case they need it. As morals, mores and norms are re-engineered and hemorrhage and coalesce in new configurations and are downloaded as normative updates by a population unable to concentrate or remember, everyone eventually will be a criminal – at least retrospectively. There is no future-proofing compliance with this new system of control. No matter how quickly you take the upgrades in Newthink, proof of your Oldthink will be accessible and visible to those who care to use it against you.

    Secondly, they are building profiles. They want to know who the troublemakers are.

    https://www.rt.com/op-edge/345865-big-brother-google-shinier/

    Also check out NRT’s latest for the local view:

    The system is the Department of Statistics’ Integrated Data Infrastructure. It integrates a multitude of government data sources, everything from benefit and employer data to IRD records and census returns. A host of intrusive, highly personal data, all in one place.

    http://norightturn.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/we-built-big-brother.html
    • Colonial Viper 11.1

      9 June 2016 at 3:11 pm

      Gawd. The perfect ammo dump to seek your compliance with. And if compliance is not obtained, to guarantee the end of both your personal and public life as you know it.

      I always wondered how they got tough talking socialist Alexis Tsipras to fold like an origami pattern.
    • weka 11.2

      9 June 2016 at 10:02 pm

      Thanks for the links Red. That NRT one is scarey esp in light of English wanting a mass database for the Govt, looks like they’re well on the way.

      I just went to the WINZ website to look for benefit rates and came across their new site again. I hadn’t realised this is part of the push to get beneficiaries logging in and using online serivces

      http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/online-services/eligibility/

      If you click on the Check what you might get button it goes to this page, which you can’t back button out of,

      https://services.workandincome.govt.nz/cos/cw/ResolvePage.do?page=SetupScreening

      Which now has me wondering about what trackers they will be using.
12. riffer 12

    9 June 2016 at 4:28 pm

    Sigh… more bad news from New Zealand’s worst employer:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/80905946/talleys-pays-reparations-to-decapitated-crewmans-family-after-safety-failure

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