I suspect some wag in Treasury converted Grant Robertson to nudge theory. If you nudge a complex system, the influence cascades down through all the levels within, transforming all subsystems & interrelations subtly. It likely derives from the butterfly effect.
So the general idea would be that a wee nudge of top income earners will transform the behaviour of all in the economy, and everyone will live happily ever after.
In 2020, the UK government of Boris Johnson decided to rely on nudge theory to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, seeks to encourage “herd immunity” with this strategy.
You got it, it's a sophisticated form of herding. Well, better not oversell the concept, so maybe replace sophisticated with trendy.
Leading Silicon Valley companies are forerunners in applying nudge theory in corporate setting. These companies are using nudges in various forms to increase productivity and happiness of employees.
Happy valley? Well, toss in the even trendier notion that spiritual consultants will turn zombie employees into inspired new-agers, and you can see why capitalism still hums along eh?
In 2008, the United States appointed Sunstein, who helped develop the theory, as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Nudge theory works in governance by escalating compliance. Nowadays, when folks are getting increasingly random, administrators need all the help they can get.
Cass Sunstein has responded to critiques at length in his book, The Ethics of Influence: Government in the Age of Behavioral Science (2016) making the case in favor of nudging against charges that nudges diminish autonomy
Yeah but since when have wage slaves ever needed autonomy? The social system is meant to work like a well-oiled machine. Humans as cogs are habitual. It's why National & Labour think the way they do.
There was, btw, a prior, more elaborate version of the theory in 1971 (google nudge nudge wink wink say no more).
I wondered why I saw those pics of USA people elbowing each other as an alternative to shaking hands. You nudge people with your elbows, but hey, giving someone the elbow means to get them to go away. If nudging is taking off what does it really mean? What springs to mind is a saying about 'nudging someone off their perch'. In these precarious times we want to feel safe on our perch. So we need to watch to see what this new craze is really about! Some new conspiracy??
yes. all the experts and economists(often two different groups) predictions about the economy, should be given full airtime, showing how far from reality most of them have been.
Treasury mandarins know what to do with Labour ministers of finance. The working model was devised as Muldoon lost the plot, and got traction within a few months of being applied to the incoming socialists during early '85. Obviously the rerun of the application was always gonna happen once the update got bolted on.
No Ad, it is about the control of the money. You know, who gets what, who has more than they need, who gets to keep it, et cetera. It should be about fairness and equality but these are just words without meaning in the real world. It is not about the money, but about how you toil away and spend a large chunk of your life because you have been brainwashed that it is about the money. When we go completely cashless, I cannot even show you my money, I’ll have to log into my bank account and show you a number, on my screen, that tells how much I have toiled and how many more years I have to toil – the toil calculators are the best thing since sliced bread.
Unheralded, a brave new world of social engineering via algorithmic control is dawning. Universities breeding behavioural scientists that view humans as similar to pinballs in that, if you zap them, they will ping off others and you can cause a chain reaction, have been pushing the mechanist-materialist worldview for a century.
That's due to Freud & Jung advocating depth psychology, then other psychologists reacting by pointing out that you can't measure the psyche so `we can only study behaviour' – and because behaviour can be measured and counted psychology won't seem pseudoscience.
From this past, we get this future:
Neoliberalism was based on a crude and limited understanding of the human condition. Neuroliberalism is based on a much more realistic and accurate grasp of human motivation and frailty. But in a digital future it’s the systems of algorithmic learning and psychological prompting that know us best that should worry us the most.
Don't worry. She'll be right. All one need do is spot the manipulation techniques, then do the opposite of what is intended – if you're nonconformist. If you like being part of the herd, accept your fate with equanimity. Vote National/Labour.
‘Neuroliberalism’ refers to the use of psychological techniques to shape human behaviour in free societies. As a political project it has become particularly popular over the last decade, during which it has been deployed to address the evident shortcomings of neoliberal society and its associated systems of government.
As both a psychological diagnosis of neoliberalism’s problems and a proposed solution, neuroliberal policies are now evident in most countries and are increasingly promoted by international organizations such as the World Bank, the OECD, the European Commission, and the World Economic Forum. They came to particular prominence in David Cameron’s ‘Behavioural Insights Team’ in the UK, Barack Obama’s ‘Social and Behavioural Sciences Team’ in the US, and Angela Merkel’s ‘Behavioural Insights Applied to Policy Unit’ in Germany.
The control system is moving with the times. Fed up with neoliberalism? Don't worry, your liberal paternalist controller has something better awaiting your subscription.
"Climate change is my generations nuclear free moment."
Around 2 years ago it was stated by those at the frontlines of climate study that we had a little over a decade to make serious changes to our emissions profile in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change (a timeframe since shortened)
We have witnessed the previous 3 years of inaction by the Coalition and with the general tone of the current electioneering it is almost certain we waste the next 3 years as well.
What was an almost impossible ask to achieve in 10 years will need to be achieved in half that.
We have to check in now and then to remind ourselves and the people we care enough about to converse with, that there are some positives. Personally I do this so I can get out of bed in the morning and keep fighting for a better pathway even if it gets down to a wormhole in the garden. Worms are good! Hooray for worms. I have a ton in my compost who know nothing compared to me and yet are possibly saviours of the planet.
Thanks for that xenophobia comment you sound like Michael Joseph Savage in some of his highly racists speeches regarding the 1920 immigration act that continued through to his time as PM.
so you think Chinese are so stupid that they cannot think for themselves and act as Lemmings following the one in front?.
That's what prior media commentary based on polling of that ethnic community has suggested, and the stats were extremely one-sided. It was a while back & I can't recall details. Re xenophobia you ought not to read motives into online opinions as if you're operating on autopilot – I have no such fear!
How the ignorant operate. Take some time out and look at the Botany Electorate. I will even help you out. Many with preconceived attitudes have this " I have nothing to fear", You have no links to support such statements. ps there is a difference between Chinese and Asian.
Aucklander Jim Zheng has been a firm National supporter during his 26 years in New Zealand. He likes the message of self-sufficiency.
"I always vote for National. I think they're quite good in economy. I dislike government which gives so many support to people who don't like to work," he said.
In the survey, almost two out three (62 percent) ethnic Chinese said they would vote for the National Party.
While still enjoying a healthy lead, that support rate is down 9.1 percent from the 2017 version of the same poll.
National's loss almost exactly mirrors an equivalent rise in Chinese New Zealanders who now say they like David Seymour's Act Party.
I had a lengthy conversation with one of "them Chinese immigrants" from the Botany electorate on Sunday. He was well versed on what was happening in their electorate, knew the names of all the candidates and was not inclined at all to vote for Jamie-Lee or Chris Luxon.
Like all opposition when they get into power the world becomes a lot more complex, pet favourites now need to be balanced against complexity of the system, trade offs and unintended consequences Any one overly focus in one area ( a luxury of opposition) in a complex system can have massive affects elsewhere. Labour has learnt that, the Greens to a degree in perennial opposition have not. Winstone has, hence the 2 Winstons, when he is in power and when he is not
If the world is too complex for them now then they are soon to be provided with far more complexity than they ever imagined….a monkey can kick a can down the road.
All it does is highlight how ineffectual our (so called) leaders are, so what is their purpose?
Gradual change based on evidence based policy and managing the trade offs for the common good ( you can’t make every one happy or eliminate all trade offs and risk) which the electorate will determine every 3 years. Likewise acting decisively and proportionately when the situation dictates, ie Covid Not many would agree how the government has responded to Covid is how you should run and economy long term In regard to state intervention and control
What a load of bollocks….minimalist change in order to manage the narrative of the common good while maintaining the advantage to the investor class regardless of the detriment to the majority, the country or even the survivability of society or even the environment that maintains all …..with no little self interest as a bonus.
( investor class….🙄) You may not like it but it’s reality, and if you think different go form your own party and convince the majority, don’t ask labour to commit electoral suicide on far left ideology, similar National on far right
Unearned income is derived from control of an already existing asset, such as land, buildings, technology, or money, that others lack but need or want, and who can therefore be charged for its use. Those who receive it are ‘rentiers’. Mere ownership or possession produces nothing, and so any return to an owner merely for access or use is something for nothing.
If you buy some shares in M&S or BP on the stock market, the money you pay goes to the previous owner, not the company. You are what Keynes called a ‘functionless investor.’ When such so-called ‘investments’ pay off they extract wealth from the economy without creating anything in return. They are parasitic.
Our minor finance on “that radio show” both the left and right are unhappy about the tax , so we must have got it right.
So now we have a Labour Party that views their agenda as if everyone is unhappy that labour has got the balance right. No wonder so much attention on some left wing sites is directed at National. It is hard to accept what has just been announced. 3 more years of this transformational government. More like continuation from 1999 with nothing changing. 😢
Tactically Labour did not really need to do anything, just run the clock down to October 17. But I guess the TV debates mean some “qvestions vill be aksed” by Frau Collins, so answers were going to be needed for the PM.
Crusher–“What unfair tax increases on the hard working, god fearing, salt of the earth, white, heartland kiwis will you be inflicting?”
Jacinda–“already released, will not affect 98% of New Zealanders” (including obviously the new Labour voters Chris mentions).
I am not going to revisit ( today anyway) my usual litany on the class collaborationist, weak as piss Labour Caucus and chief mini-me Blairites like Mr Robertson. I just want them re-elected so political struggle can resume in earnest in the time of opportunity created by the Covid plague.
Expecting the lumpen elements of town or country to come to anyone’s rescue is indeed a forlorn hope. “she’s a pretty communist” is about the peak political analysis those wretches are capable of! Did anyone ever identify that clown holding the sign by the way?
Also what our Min of Finance may not have thought of. In a time where businesses are struggling, should Labour had proposed an increase in the coy tax rate +1-2% (to reduce those able to manage their incomes), this would delay those companies who are currently making losses in paying tax once they regained profits that exceeded these losses(and next years ?). As you do not pay tax (Provisional or Terminal) until all carried forward losses have been wiped out with profits. So it would have assisted business in need in the short term, for long term benefits. And isn't that what a helping hand is – when in need assist and when times are good to return the favour, in this case by paying a slightly larger tax bill.
Red, good to read a balanced post. It seems to me many commenters have unrealistic expectations of what is possible and not possible and they expect transformation in all areas to happen within months. When there is so much to be done it is going to take years. Governing is a slow and cumbersome process and will never please everyone.
Legal but a bit like friends and family bidding for your item on Trademe to inflate the price.
Farah Hancock: The National Party has spent almost $30,000 getting people to 'like' Judith Collins' Facebook page.
Since July her Facebook page has gained roughly 20,000 new likes, at a potential cost of $1.50 each if they were all gained from the advertisements. Her page is the only politician's page with significant funds spent on it.
. National spends Quarter of FB Budget on chasing Likes for Judith Collins
The National Party has spent almost $30,000 getting people to ‘like’ Judith Collins’ Facebook page … Since July her Facebook page has gained roughly 20,000 new likes, at a potential cost of $1.50 each if they were all gained from the advertisements. Her page is the only politician’s page with significant funds spent on it … Collins now has 56,235 people who like her Facebook page and 58,725 followers. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has not spent any money on Facebook advertising for her page, has 1.7 million followers and 1.4 million likes.
I need help setting up a Givealittle page. On RNZ this morning I heard people being interviewed about the tax increases for those on $180,000+ a year.
Apparently they'll be down the tubes to the extent of around $20 a week. Some woman (in Karori?) is going to find it really tough. If I can get some charity for her to save her the devastation of the tax increase my life would have been worthwhile.
Apparently $180,000 a year 'isn't much really' especially when you look at the cost of housing. Imagine being in a household of one income and it being that low. Maybe there's someone else in the house can go to work.
If I can rally a group from the under 60k band and set up a Givealittle maybe we can save her. Failing that maybe I can direct her to some budgeting advice place.
for gods sake don't give her cash, she'll just spend it on booze and cigarettes. Instead teach her how to grow vegetables, how to cook from scratch and how to budget.
maybe this one should be send to Grant so as to re-consider the hardship espoused by losing $ 23 while on a 180.000 NZD income, and to maybe find it in his hard to add another $ 23 to the beneficiaries that barely make 13.000 grand after tax for the full year?
In case anyone was wondering why that rotting rage-gargoyle lurking under the road-kill hamster was completely unfiltered in spilling his guts to the journalist that's done the most in history to expose presidential misconduct, here's a good explanation:
Cripes weka, you are taking away the employment of numerous right wing academics who would have spent x hours and days to say what you have expressed in one line. If this sort of thing keeps happening there will be bucketfuls of newly unemployed uni grads.
Awww, that's sooo cuuuuute! I wonder if his letters to Ivana and Marla and Melanoma were just as sweet.
In his letters to Trump, Kim addresses him as "Your Excellency" and punctuates them with flowery prose.
"Even now I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency's hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honor of that day," Kim wrote to Trump on December 25, 2018, following their first meeting in Singapore.
…
In a June 2019 letter to Kim, just before Trump proposed on Twitter that the leaders meet at the DMZ, Trump wrote that "you and I have a unique style and a special friendship."
"Only you and I, working together, can resolve the issues between our two counties and end nearly 70 years of hostility, bringing an era of prosperity to the Korean Peninsula that will exceed all our greatest expectations — and you will be the one to lead," Trump wrote. "It will be historic!"
The super debate fails to revisit the Norman Kirk scheme which was trialed by local and gvt workers in the last term before it was to become compulsary if Labour won the next election. This was a scheme where the worker contributed %2 and the employer matched it. That money was held in a pool and was to be managed by the gvt on the contributers behalf. Local bodies would be able to borrow from that pool at %1 interest in order to carry out local maintainance and infrastructure projects. The howl from the Nats, bug business and insurers waa deafening with cries of socialism through the back door. Unfortunately Big Norm was as some including Bob Harvey believed was assasanated (cia apple ple).before that third term was up. Labour lost the election and Muldoon scraped the scheme immediately. We who had trialed the scheme got our money back and were surprised at the ammount which seemed substancial for such a short time in operation, but it showed how it would have allowed working class pensioners to retire with dignity and not like today where we live on or below the poverty line. Also local bodies would not be in dire straights as they now are. The poor poor cousin of that scheme, Kiwi Saver which is not kept in one pool but administrated by the wily nilly can never reach the heights og Big Norms socialist scheme. Why wont Labour revisit that scheme.
Doctoring the intelligence to fit the propaganda is straight out of the neo-conBushPutin emperialist playbook.
Washington (CNN)A whistleblower is alleging that top political appointees in the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly instructed career officials to modify intelligence assessments to suit President Donald Trump's agenda by downplaying Russia's efforts to interfere in the US and the threat posed by White supremacists, according to documents reviewed by CNN and a source familiar with the situation.
On Peter Thiel and how well he is doing out of Covid-19.
By 20 April,Palantir was emailing to say it had to set up platforms to track Covid-19 and help combat it in 15 countries, including hard-hit Italy. "We could establish similar capability here in New Zealand within a matter of days," the company said. Overseas media have reported that the UK government gave Palantir access to sensitive patient data. (Health data is highly valued and sought after by tech firms.) The Ardern government declined Palantir’s kind offer. As Business Insider reported earlier this year, Palantir is now likely to become profitable for the first time in its 16 year history and will (perhaps) soon be listing publicly:
Could government do that? Would Treasury let them? What barriers apart from their own wetness and timidity, would be against them purchasing the EFTPOS etc – it must be such a good money-maker for the banks.
The average fee charged for credit cards is 1.6 per cent but they can top 2 per cent. That compares to 0.8 per cent on average in Australia and 0.5 per cent in the United Kingdom. In New Zealand, a typical contactless debit card payment costs 1.2 per cent, compared to 0.6 per cent in Australia and 0.2 per cent in the UK.
There's a reason why the banks keep reporting record profits and its not because they're doing a sterling service.
that must be in regards to pay wave who raised their fees after dropping them during L4 and brought them back up in Level 1.
You know what is a really good way for small businesses to avoid these charges? Not using the credit cards and or pay wave.
Use cash. That easy. But hey Labour is finally doing something for the small businesses that are closing shop up and down the country because no one has any money left to spend. Good fucking grief, that bunch of doodas can not not find the most useless shit to 'deliver'.
“Approximately two-thirds of total spending in New Zealand is done electronically on eftpos and credit cards,” says Paul Whiston, spokesman for electronics payment provider Paymark.
Yeah, I really don't think any business is going to go that way.
But hey Labour is finally doing something for the small businesses that are closing shop up and down the country because no one has any money left to spend.
I suspect that the actual reason why small businesses are closing is because they just can't compete with large business.
I've seen the surcharge and even the credit card refusal. Haven't seen paywave refusal although plenty of places that haven't updated their EFT-POS which maybe a result of the paywave cost.
Teach me for not fully comprehending my own quote.
Still, there's really two issues here:
More and more people are using electronic payment as a sole means of paying
Why do the private banks get to charge us for us using our money? We really can call such charges a tax.
So, the best way to get over those two issues is government ownership of the EFT-POS system and making it a state monopoly.
Although the banks do operate the system that makes EFT-POS happen it's pretty close to a monopoly system which simply should not be allowed in private ownership because, as we can see here, they abuse it.
The second is just an ongoing lie at this point. It was proven years ago that the banks don't need our money to make loans. It's also been proven that the reason why we have such massive capital gains is because of the private banks creating so much money for housing and other speculation.
Payment systems and money creation need to be under government ownership/control so as to prevent the abuse of the system that happens under a private, for profit, corporation. And, yes, keep cash for a while longer.
Sabine – agree with your comment about using cash. However the banks are hell bent on having cheques no longer accepted as legal tender by June 2021 ; many shops / all public transport here in Auckland don't accept cash. Countdown grudgingly open a dedicated "cash only" check out but have to be reminded at times.
The banks have long wanted a cashless society and Covid has provided the perfect situation for this to happen. There will be little demand for face to face contact so local bank branches will be few and far between.
There are many elderly people who don't / can't use computers and have no desire to learn about online personal banking, They will be greatly disadvantaged without cheques or cash in their day to day lives.
Few seem to understand the importance of having cash available to use for our transactions if we so wish. The power that authorities would have over us as we try to live our private lives if we had to pass everything through a machine is immense. Part of the surveillance of the fascist state. Keeping track of what you do, who with, how much, where did you get it, what haven't you disclosed. Bugger off all you machine-mad people, you have already left planet earth and are standing on some invisible one that has lost its connections with simple humanity.
Greywarshark berated my negativity earlier today and he/she was correct to observe my posts have been less than uplifting of late…..I suggest with good reason.
An excellent comprehensive and fundamental explanation by Nate Hagens (thanks to powerdownkiwi over at Interest.co.nz)
"Many challenges we face appear as classic social traps, whereby short-term social pressures guide individual behavior in opposition to the best long-run interest of the individual and society (Costanza, 1987). Cognitively, the implications presented in this paper are understandable to most people fluent in the issues, but behaviorally remain almost the perfect storm for the human brain to ignore or deny. The issues are: complex, abstract, in the future, threatening to politicians and business owners, difficult to answer, largely ignored by leaders, and depressing to think about. Typically, a description of our biophysical reality is met with denial or nihilism.
Both denial and nihilism help the mind remove dissonance and thus emotionally absolve a person from working to make (uncomfortable) changes that might improve our chances. This and other social traps appear to mitigate against meaningful action. Our super sociality results in valuing conformity over science, and valuing fairness of process over quality of results. We attempt to use social sorting mechanisms (popularity/status) to solve complex problems. Perhaps the biggest social trap of all is that we don’t actually need all this energy and material stuff to be happy or healthy. Nevertheless, led by the emergent drive of the Superorganism, we let pecuniary metrics, social comparisons, and novel technology, drag us into unnecessary and wasteful consumption."
Ta for that Pat Not recommended bedtime reading I think. But top of the list for soon, in the light of day. Perhaps understanding will result in surmounting.
A song comes to me, hopeful to keep in the back of the mind. We need some sweet and good thoughts as mind wallpaper.
I can see clearly now the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day
Oh, yes I can make it now the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is that rainbow I've been praying for
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
Bright (bright) sunshiny day…
I Can See Clearly Now Jimmy Cliff
We are amazingly miraculous really and being here is so random. When we make children we unwittingly are making life, so like Gods. But that's nothing, we can't be bothered – turn everything over to the machines.
Another set of words to keep in mind are those written by Shakespeare centuries ago – fresh each day. 'What a piece of work is man, How noble in reason'.
Fresh – Hamlet soliloquy by Kenneth Branagh. But stop it quickly as a dross piece of everyday cop show follows to invade your ears.
The crux of issues facing us now are because we do not want to give up or lower our energy use.
As the article poses, "Recognition that the future exists" already is uncomfortable and perhaps we do not see changing our own individual lives now as a huge part of the 'crisis'. There's always tomorrow.
" Perhaps the biggest social trap of all is that we don’t actually need all this energy and material stuff to be happy or healthy. Nevertheless, led by the emergent drive of the Superorganism, we let pecuniary metrics, social comparisons, and novel technology, drag us into unnecessary and wasteful consumption."
Then this quote from same text,
" …. there is no instinctual ‘full’ signal in modern brains – so we become addicted to the ‘unexpected reward’ of the next encounter, episode, or email, at an ever increasing pace (Hagens, 2011; Schultz et al., 1997). Our brains require flows (feelings) that we satisfy today mostly using non-renewable stocks. "
The business world exploits that insatiable wants of humans offering its glittery rewards and most uphold that exploitation by our own daily behaviours.
This week was a work email from Spark , ' sign your business up to our new business plan and you will get a free phone and wait… a second phone free too."
Not many would hestitate and think about the whole process to have that phone, let alone the unneeded second phone. That aside from cheap labour to make that phone, its harvesting of elements from a finite source, ( more likely 'mined' creating negative impacts in someone else's village), is increasingly a lost view in our consumption.
" Despite the pervasive belief that more money and energy makes us happier, evidence suggests this is mostly not true. After basic needs are met, additional energy use yields a slower growth of the Human Development Index (Smil, 2017)."
In a few short years we've forgotten that we could still be happy and healthy using less.
The "disconnect" the article leads too makes some election promises laughable in a sense…
So collective care is now deviously evolved to getting on board with a " strong team", come on you weaklings ! Let's build a road so high energy users can get to the shops faster and more comfortably, so we can all buy some walking shoes, a sham of an election prize.
Ah well, must've misread the intent of your post adding such unchilled serious information then. Here's me genuinely bothering to read all your article's verbiage. Foolish me , lesson learnt.
Dont know what intent you attributed to me but I think the following (accurate) description could be reasonably described as chilling…
"We can’t precisely predict the future, but we can increasingly be confident of what won’t happen. Given the biological and social underpinnings of growth and kicking the can described above, we can hypothesize what scenarios are unlikely:
•
Growing the global economy while simultaneously solving climate change (reducing CO2) or avoiding a 6th mass extinction.
•
Growing the economy while replacing hydrocarbons with low carbon energy.
•
Voting en masse to keep remaining carbon compounds in the ground.
•
Leaders embracing or preparing for an end of growth before it happens.
To avoid paying the societal debt bill we’ve amassed over past decades, we tend to keep kicking the can forward, with more financial guarantees, stories, and rule changes – all in increasingly less sustainable ways. With the backdrop of the Superorganism we might make some predictions:
•
As more people recognize that energy underpins our futures, we’ll witness more schemes focusing on gross energy as opposed to its net contribution to society. Many technologies will be promoted that are viable, but not relevant, affordable or scalable.
•
We will continue to create money and credit expecting their abundance to overcome physical world problems, until they too reach limits (no credit-worthy lenders, interest too high of % of growth, fiscal cliffs, etc.).
•
To avoid social instability, we will remediate wealth inequality via programs like Universal Basic Income (If such ‘wealth transfers’ are direct, they will stabilize society but access more carbon as they are transfers of bank digits to direct calls on resources and energy. (Good for low income humans, bad for dolphins).(These transfers can be indirect e.g. ecological restoration, local public infrastructure etc.)
•
Around the world, as economic prospects deteriorate, people will foster group cohesion by blaming their problems on outgroups, and tend to vote for leaders who promise better economic futures, or things to be more like the past, (linked to more economic growth, linked to energy, linked to carbon). Trump, Bolsonaro, Matteo, LePen, Morrison, etc. are but recent examples. (Conservative names listed, but most liberal types also promise "better economic futures.").
•
As USA and Brazil attest, one of the few remaining economic cans to kick is de-regulation and removal of environmental protection. As the economy gets worse, environmental initiatives (e.g. climate mitigation) will become less popular – not because people disbelieve or care less but because they’ll have less financial and emotional bandwidth to advocate for them.
•
As a globally tethered economic system, we will likely do anything we can to kick the can further down the road. We are caught in a spiral of growth, limits to growth, response to limits, more growth, more limits, more response.”
Im sorry you felt obliged to read the article for my benefit….that was unnecessary.
Sorry about that Pat. I thought you were being dismissive, with "chilling" being ambiguous. My bad, apologies. And no I was not obliged to read the article, I enjoyed absorbing the take and thanks for your added commentary.
Should I trust the The New Zealand Initiative? Do they represent a fair and reasonable opinion?
The New Zealand Initiative is a pro-free-market public-policy think tank and business membership organisation in New Zealand. It was formed in 2012 by merger of the New Zealand Business Roundtable and the New Zealand Institute.
And I say raise the inflation level to allow some maneouvrability. And that money is a system devised by man for man and this country wants the Imf and their acolytes to remember that.
We have to act in the most canny way we can to get our own way, with as little fall-out as possible from outside. Inside it's too dark to read. (Allusion to Groucho Marx.) If you can confuse them enough, you can steal their gold and run away down the beanstalk.
The old raise the age of Superannuation eligibility canard. Eh? Brash wanted it at 75 IIRC and others want Covid-19 to see all of us shuffling off the mortal coil ASAP so that business can get back to the normal amassing of private fortunes at the expense of the public good.
Remember there'll be "Pie in the sky when you die!" Woody Guthrie.
"Working folks of all countries unite
Side by side we for freedom shall fight
When this world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain
You will eat, you will eat, by and by
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry
Chop some wood, it'll do you good
And you'll eat in that sweet by and by, that's no lie."
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Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
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I suspect some wag in Treasury converted Grant Robertson to nudge theory. If you nudge a complex system, the influence cascades down through all the levels within, transforming all subsystems & interrelations subtly. It likely derives from the butterfly effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect
So the general idea would be that a wee nudge of top income earners will transform the behaviour of all in the economy, and everyone will live happily ever after.
You got it, it's a sophisticated form of herding. Well, better not oversell the concept, so maybe replace sophisticated with trendy.
Happy valley? Well, toss in the even trendier notion that spiritual consultants will turn zombie employees into inspired new-agers, and you can see why capitalism still hums along eh?
Nudge theory works in governance by escalating compliance. Nowadays, when folks are getting increasingly random, administrators need all the help they can get.
Yeah but since when have wage slaves ever needed autonomy? The social system is meant to work like a well-oiled machine. Humans as cogs are habitual. It's why National & Labour think the way they do.
There was, btw, a prior, more elaborate version of the theory in 1971 (google nudge nudge wink wink say no more).
My Nudge Theory is that when you nudge a sleeping dog, it is not going to wake up.
I wondered why I saw those pics of USA people elbowing each other as an alternative to shaking hands. You nudge people with your elbows, but hey, giving someone the elbow means to get them to go away. If nudging is taking off what does it really mean? What springs to mind is a saying about 'nudging someone off their perch'. In these precarious times we want to feel safe on our perch. So we need to watch to see what this new craze is really about! Some new conspiracy??
Listening to RNZ during Checkpoint and the financial news was on.
The news was rosy. ANZ survey business confidence is up 16 points, ASB have revised their figures for the GDP from falling by 20% to falling by 11%.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018763314
Senior economists are scratching their heads and coming up with reckons left right and centre. Bring back the horoscopes, they are based on science.
yes. all the experts and economists(often two different groups) predictions about the economy, should be given full airtime, showing how far from reality most of them have been.
I am a great believer in the saying, Put 5 economist’s in a room and they will come up with 8 different answers and none of them will be right.
No Dennis it's about the money.
Enough with the tortured analogies.
Ad @3
well nudge theory sounds a bit kinder and gentler then 'trickling down' theory. That always had a certain nasty tone to it.
Treasury mandarins know what to do with Labour ministers of finance. The working model was devised as Muldoon lost the plot, and got traction within a few months of being applied to the incoming socialists during early '85. Obviously the rerun of the application was always gonna happen once the update got bolted on.
Grant was never likely to reject a formula approved by "the World Bank, the OECD, the European Commission, and the World Economic Forum". https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/neuroliberalism-welcome-government-21st-century/
No Ad, it is about the control of the money. You know, who gets what, who has more than they need, who gets to keep it, et cetera. It should be about fairness and equality but these are just words without meaning in the real world. It is not about the money, but about how you toil away and spend a large chunk of your life because you have been brainwashed that it is about the money. When we go completely cashless, I cannot even show you my money, I’ll have to log into my bank account and show you a number, on my screen, that tells how much I have toiled and how many more years I have to toil – the toil calculators are the best thing since sliced bread.
Unheralded, a brave new world of social engineering via algorithmic control is dawning. Universities breeding behavioural scientists that view humans as similar to pinballs in that, if you zap them, they will ping off others and you can cause a chain reaction, have been pushing the mechanist-materialist worldview for a century.
That's due to Freud & Jung advocating depth psychology, then other psychologists reacting by pointing out that you can't measure the psyche so `we can only study behaviour' – and because behaviour can be measured and counted psychology won't seem pseudoscience.
From this past, we get this future:
Don't worry. She'll be right. All one need do is spot the manipulation techniques, then do the opposite of what is intended – if you're nonconformist. If you like being part of the herd, accept your fate with equanimity. Vote National/Labour.
The control system is moving with the times. Fed up with neoliberalism? Don't worry, your liberal paternalist controller has something better awaiting your subscription.
Oops, forgot the source: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/neuroliberalism-welcome-government-21st-century/
Don't forget the sauce, it makes the thing just about edible, though not digestible.
"Climate change is my generations nuclear free moment."
Around 2 years ago it was stated by those at the frontlines of climate study that we had a little over a decade to make serious changes to our emissions profile in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change (a timeframe since shortened)
We have witnessed the previous 3 years of inaction by the Coalition and with the general tone of the current electioneering it is almost certain we waste the next 3 years as well.
What was an almost impossible ask to achieve in 10 years will need to be achieved in half that.
Transformational?
Are you always negative Pat? I forget the positives.
Take a look around greywarshark and regale me of all the 'positives' you foresee for our species
We have to check in now and then to remind ourselves and the people we care enough about to converse with, that there are some positives. Personally I do this so I can get out of bed in the morning and keep fighting for a better pathway even if it gets down to a wormhole in the garden. Worms are good! Hooray for worms. I have a ton in my compost who know nothing compared to me and yet are possibly saviours of the planet.
Perhaps worms should be in Parliament
JLR’s competition has been awfully quiet.
Luxon doesn't need to campaign. All them Chinese immigrants will dutifully vote National. Then there's god's will. He knows it. 😉
Thanks for that xenophobia comment you sound like Michael Joseph Savage in some of his highly racists speeches regarding the 1920 immigration act that continued through to his time as PM.
so you think Chinese are so stupid that they cannot think for themselves and act as Lemmings following the one in front?.
That's what prior media commentary based on polling of that ethnic community has suggested, and the stats were extremely one-sided. It was a while back & I can't recall details. Re xenophobia you ought not to read motives into online opinions as if you're operating on autopilot – I have no such fear!
How the ignorant operate. Take some time out and look at the Botany Electorate. I will even help you out. Many with preconceived attitudes have this " I have nothing to fear", You have no links to support such statements. ps there is a difference between Chinese and Asian.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/mps-and-electorates/historical-electorate-profiles/electorate-profiles-data/document/DBHOH_Lib_EP_Botany_People/botany-people#_45
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botany_(New_Zealand_electorate)
Well here's the polling on how Chinese vote in this country:
I had a lengthy conversation with one of "them Chinese immigrants" from the Botany electorate on Sunday. He was well versed on what was happening in their electorate, knew the names of all the candidates and was not inclined at all to vote for Jamie-Lee or Chris Luxon.
Cool, glad to know some have transcended the hive mind thingy. 👍
Building up the guy being doorstepped and asked a few questions about COVID response and responsibilities. Wonder if he’ll answer the door?
Like all opposition when they get into power the world becomes a lot more complex, pet favourites now need to be balanced against complexity of the system, trade offs and unintended consequences Any one overly focus in one area ( a luxury of opposition) in a complex system can have massive affects elsewhere. Labour has learnt that, the Greens to a degree in perennial opposition have not. Winstone has, hence the 2 Winstons, when he is in power and when he is not
If the world is too complex for them now then they are soon to be provided with far more complexity than they ever imagined….a monkey can kick a can down the road.
All it does is highlight how ineffectual our (so called) leaders are, so what is their purpose?
Gradual change based on evidence based policy and managing the trade offs for the common good ( you can’t make every one happy or eliminate all trade offs and risk) which the electorate will determine every 3 years. Likewise acting decisively and proportionately when the situation dictates, ie Covid Not many would agree how the government has responded to Covid is how you should run and economy long term In regard to state intervention and control
What a load of bollocks….minimalist change in order to manage the narrative of the common good while maintaining the advantage to the investor class regardless of the detriment to the majority, the country or even the survivability of society or even the environment that maintains all …..with no little self interest as a bonus.
( investor class….🙄) You may not like it but it’s reality, and if you think different go form your own party and convince the majority, don’t ask labour to commit electoral suicide on far left ideology, similar National on far right
I ask Labour to do no more than endeavour to achieve their stated goals
The investor class are bludgers. Nothing more – they don't even invest:
The evidence calls for immediate action – not trade-offs and more kicking the can down the road to make the capitalists happy.
Our minor finance on “that radio show” both the left and right are unhappy about the tax , so we must have got it right.
So now we have a Labour Party that views their agenda as if everyone is unhappy that labour has got the balance right. No wonder so much attention on some left wing sites is directed at National. It is hard to accept what has just been announced. 3 more years of this transformational government. More like continuation from 1999 with nothing changing. 😢
I thought Tiger Mountain on TDB has a 'balanced' realistic view in Chris Trotter's latest on why the lost thousands of voters may never be found:
Tiger Mountain September 10, 2020 at 8:42 am
Tactically Labour did not really need to do anything, just run the clock down to October 17. But I guess the TV debates mean some “qvestions vill be aksed” by Frau Collins, so answers were going to be needed for the PM.
Crusher–“What unfair tax increases on the hard working, god fearing, salt of the earth, white, heartland kiwis will you be inflicting?”
Jacinda–“already released, will not affect 98% of New Zealanders” (including obviously the new Labour voters Chris mentions).
I am not going to revisit ( today anyway) my usual litany on the class collaborationist, weak as piss Labour Caucus and chief mini-me Blairites like Mr Robertson. I just want them re-elected so political struggle can resume in earnest in the time of opportunity created by the Covid plague.
Expecting the lumpen elements of town or country to come to anyone’s rescue is indeed a forlorn hope. “she’s a pretty communist” is about the peak political analysis those wretches are capable of! Did anyone ever identify that clown holding the sign by the way?
Also what our Min of Finance may not have thought of. In a time where businesses are struggling, should Labour had proposed an increase in the coy tax rate +1-2% (to reduce those able to manage their incomes), this would delay those companies who are currently making losses in paying tax once they regained profits that exceeded these losses(and next years ?). As you do not pay tax (Provisional or Terminal) until all carried forward losses have been wiped out with profits. So it would have assisted business in need in the short term, for long term benefits. And isn't that what a helping hand is – when in need assist and when times are good to return the favour, in this case by paying a slightly larger tax bill.
https://www.business.govt.nz/tax-and-accounting/business-finance-basics/what-to-do-if-your-business-is-operating-at-a-loss/
Red, good to read a balanced post. It seems to me many commenters have unrealistic expectations of what is possible and not possible and they expect transformation in all areas to happen within months. When there is so much to be done it is going to take years. Governing is a slow and cumbersome process and will never please everyone.
Legal but a bit like friends and family bidding for your item on Trademe to inflate the price.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-quarter-of-nationals-fb-ad-spend-chasing-likes-for-collins?utm_source=Friends+of+the+Newsroom&utm_campaign=12e5e9be25-Daily+Briefing+10.09.20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71de5c4b35-12e5e9be25-95522477
An unkind opponent would suggest that it's a shame she has to buy friends.
.
National spends Quarter of FB Budget on chasing Likes for Judith Collins
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/a-quarter-of-nationals-fb-ad-spend-chasing-likes-for-collins
I need help setting up a Givealittle page. On RNZ this morning I heard people being interviewed about the tax increases for those on $180,000+ a year.
Apparently they'll be down the tubes to the extent of around $20 a week. Some woman (in Karori?) is going to find it really tough. If I can get some charity for her to save her the devastation of the tax increase my life would have been worthwhile.
Apparently $180,000 a year 'isn't much really' especially when you look at the cost of housing. Imagine being in a household of one income and it being that low. Maybe there's someone else in the house can go to work.
If I can rally a group from the under 60k band and set up a Givealittle maybe we can save her. Failing that maybe I can direct her to some budgeting advice place.
Was that the poor dear who reckned 180G wasn't much but $23 was a swingeing shitload?
for gods sake don't give her cash, she'll just spend it on booze and cigarettes. Instead teach her how to grow vegetables, how to cook from scratch and how to budget.
maybe this one should be send to Grant so as to re-consider the hardship espoused by losing $ 23 while on a 180.000 NZD income, and to maybe find it in his hard to add another $ 23 to the beneficiaries that barely make 13.000 grand after tax for the full year?
In case anyone was wondering why that rotting rage-gargoyle lurking under the road-kill hamster was completely unfiltered in spilling his guts to the journalist that's done the most in history to expose presidential misconduct, here's a good explanation:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/why-trump-talked-to-woodward/index.html
tl;dr massive ego makes man stupid.
Cripes weka, you are taking away the employment of numerous right wing academics who would have spent x hours and days to say what you have expressed in one line. If this sort of thing keeps happening there will be bucketfuls of newly unemployed uni grads.
Awww, that's sooo cuuuuute! I wonder if his letters to Ivana and Marla and Melanoma were just as sweet.
Shots fired..
https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald/status/1303789547461971969
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/pelosi-warns-no-chance-of-us-uk-trade-deal-passing-congress-if-brexit-law-breached-1.4350920
The super debate fails to revisit the Norman Kirk scheme which was trialed by local and gvt workers in the last term before it was to become compulsary if Labour won the next election. This was a scheme where the worker contributed %2 and the employer matched it. That money was held in a pool and was to be managed by the gvt on the contributers behalf. Local bodies would be able to borrow from that pool at %1 interest in order to carry out local maintainance and infrastructure projects. The howl from the Nats, bug business and insurers waa deafening with cries of socialism through the back door. Unfortunately Big Norm was as some including Bob Harvey believed was assasanated (cia apple ple).before that third term was up. Labour lost the election and Muldoon scraped the scheme immediately. We who had trialed the scheme got our money back and were surprised at the ammount which seemed substancial for such a short time in operation, but it showed how it would have allowed working class pensioners to retire with dignity and not like today where we live on or below the poverty line. Also local bodies would not be in dire straights as they now are. The poor poor cousin of that scheme, Kiwi Saver which is not kept in one pool but administrated by the wily nilly can never reach the heights og Big Norms socialist scheme. Why wont Labour revisit that scheme.
Because it doesn't give bludging shareholders free money.
Oops. Spellcheck needed
Byd0nz Please paragraph – easier to read and absorb in the mind.
Doctoring the intelligence to fit the propaganda is straight out of the
neo-conBushPutinemperialist playbook.Washington (CNN)A whistleblower is alleging that top political appointees in the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly instructed career officials to modify intelligence assessments to suit President Donald Trump's agenda by downplaying Russia's efforts to interfere in the US and the threat posed by White supremacists, according to documents reviewed by CNN and a source familiar with the situation.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/dhs-whistleblower-white-supremacist-threat/index.html
Gordon Campbell on Scoop. Interesting. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2009/S00042/on-saving-small-firms-and-disowning-peter-thiel.htm
On Peter Thiel and how well he is doing out of Covid-19.
By 20 April,Palantir was emailing to say it had to set up platforms to track Covid-19 and help combat it in 15 countries, including hard-hit Italy. "We could establish similar capability here in New Zealand within a matter of days," the company said. Overseas media have reported that the UK government gave Palantir access to sensitive patient data. (Health data is highly valued and sought after by tech firms.) The Ardern government declined Palantir’s kind offer. As Business Insider reported earlier this year, Palantir is now likely to become profitable for the first time in its 16 year history and will (perhaps) soon be listing publicly:
https://twitter.com/DracoTBastard/status/1303202039711719424
Could government do that? Would Treasury let them? What barriers apart from their own wetness and timidity, would be against them purchasing the EFTPOS etc – it must be such a good money-maker for the banks.
Our government can, pretty much, do whatever it likes. There's nothing to legally stop them.
Treasury probably wouldn't let them but, in this case, Treasury would be wrong.
And its an excellent money maker for the banks that own it. As the article you link showed:
There's a reason why the banks keep reporting record profits and its not because they're doing a sterling service.
lol
that must be in regards to pay wave who raised their fees after dropping them during L4 and brought them back up in Level 1.
You know what is a really good way for small businesses to avoid these charges? Not using the credit cards and or pay wave.
Use cash. That easy. But hey Labour is finally doing something for the small businesses that are closing shop up and down the country because no one has any money left to spend. Good fucking grief, that bunch of doodas can not not find the most useless shit to 'deliver'.
Well, that's certainly one way to miss out on 70% of business. Had to use the WaybackMachine:
Yeah, I really don't think any business is going to go that way.
I suspect that the actual reason why small businesses are closing is because they just can't compete with large business.
There are quite a few small businesses around that outright refuse credit card payments, or add a surcharge to pay for the fees.
My local chippie is a refusenik – eftpos with no paywave or credit.
And I just paid a bill with a 1.5% credit card surcharge – 2degrees I think.
So in the real world, it happens.
I've seen the surcharge and even the credit card refusal. Haven't seen paywave refusal although plenty of places that haven't updated their EFT-POS which maybe a result of the paywave cost.
Teach me for not fully comprehending my own quote.
Still, there's really two issues here:
So, the best way to get over those two issues is government ownership of the EFT-POS system and making it a state monopoly.
They get to charge us because we use a service they developed. Just as they pay us to use our cash.
At the moment, for maybe a limited time, we can still choose (as vendors and as customers) to not use that particular service.
Maybe EFTPOS should be nationalised. But maybe we should also keep the use of legal tender for a while yet, for those who don't wish to use it.
Although the banks do operate the system that makes EFT-POS happen it's pretty close to a monopoly system which simply should not be allowed in private ownership because, as we can see here, they abuse it.
The second is just an ongoing lie at this point. It was proven years ago that the banks don't need our money to make loans. It's also been proven that the reason why we have such massive capital gains is because of the private banks creating so much money for housing and other speculation.
Payment systems and money creation need to be under government ownership/control so as to prevent the abuse of the system that happens under a private, for profit, corporation. And, yes, keep cash for a while longer.
1: yeah they did
2 meh. Go with the analogy of paying bus companies to ride on their buses then. They provide the service, people choose to use it – or to not use it.
Didn't know that Paymark was around in 1870.
And I think riding on buses should be free as well so as to bring about a more economical result.
Sabine – agree with your comment about using cash. However the banks are hell bent on having cheques no longer accepted as legal tender by June 2021 ; many shops / all public transport here in Auckland don't accept cash. Countdown grudgingly open a dedicated "cash only" check out but have to be reminded at times.
The banks have long wanted a cashless society and Covid has provided the perfect situation for this to happen. There will be little demand for face to face contact so local bank branches will be few and far between.
There are many elderly people who don't / can't use computers and have no desire to learn about online personal banking, They will be greatly disadvantaged without cheques or cash in their day to day lives.
Few seem to understand the importance of having cash available to use for our transactions if we so wish. The power that authorities would have over us as we try to live our private lives if we had to pass everything through a machine is immense. Part of the surveillance of the fascist state. Keeping track of what you do, who with, how much, where did you get it, what haven't you disclosed. Bugger off all you machine-mad people, you have already left planet earth and are standing on some invisible one that has lost its connections with simple humanity.
Dennis Frank Chinese migrants are for more freedom of enterprise less taxes.
Greywarshark berated my negativity earlier today and he/she was correct to observe my posts have been less than uplifting of late…..I suggest with good reason.
An excellent comprehensive and fundamental explanation by Nate Hagens (thanks to powerdownkiwi over at Interest.co.nz)
"Many challenges we face appear as classic social traps, whereby short-term social pressures guide individual behavior in opposition to the best long-run interest of the individual and society (Costanza, 1987). Cognitively, the implications presented in this paper are understandable to most people fluent in the issues, but behaviorally remain almost the perfect storm for the human brain to ignore or deny. The issues are: complex, abstract, in the future, threatening to politicians and business owners, difficult to answer, largely ignored by leaders, and depressing to think about. Typically, a description of our biophysical reality is met with denial or nihilism.
Both denial and nihilism help the mind remove dissonance and thus emotionally absolve a person from working to make (uncomfortable) changes that might improve our chances. This and other social traps appear to mitigate against meaningful action. Our super sociality results in valuing conformity over science, and valuing fairness of process over quality of results. We attempt to use social sorting mechanisms (popularity/status) to solve complex problems. Perhaps the biggest social trap of all is that we don’t actually need all this energy and material stuff to be happy or healthy. Nevertheless, led by the emergent drive of the Superorganism, we let pecuniary metrics, social comparisons, and novel technology, drag us into unnecessary and wasteful consumption."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800919310067
Not for the faint of heart but worth the read
Ta for that Pat Not recommended bedtime reading I think. But top of the list for soon, in the light of day. Perhaps understanding will result in surmounting.
A song comes to me, hopeful to keep in the back of the mind. We need some sweet and good thoughts as mind wallpaper.
Thanks for that, Greywarshark
I listened to this today, by Joni Mitchell, on youtube. It has hope and reality too.
"We are stardust. Billion year old carbon.
We are golden. Caught in the devil's bargain.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden."
We are amazingly miraculous really and being here is so random. When we make children we unwittingly are making life, so like Gods. But that's nothing, we can't be bothered – turn everything over to the machines.
Another set of words to keep in mind are those written by Shakespeare centuries ago – fresh each day. 'What a piece of work is man, How noble in reason'.
Fresh – Hamlet soliloquy by Kenneth Branagh. But stop it quickly as a dross piece of everyday cop show follows to invade your ears.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxvvkXYN7wg
Thought provoking read Pat.
The crux of issues facing us now are because we do not want to give up or lower our energy use.
As the article poses, "Recognition that the future exists" already is uncomfortable and perhaps we do not see changing our own individual lives now as a huge part of the 'crisis'. There's always tomorrow.
" Perhaps the biggest social trap of all is that we don’t actually need all this energy and material stuff to be happy or healthy. Nevertheless, led by the emergent drive of the Superorganism, we let pecuniary metrics, social comparisons, and novel technology, drag us into unnecessary and wasteful consumption."
Then this quote from same text,
" …. there is no instinctual ‘full’ signal in modern brains – so we become addicted to the ‘unexpected reward’ of the next encounter, episode, or email, at an ever increasing pace (Hagens, 2011; Schultz et al., 1997). Our brains require flows (feelings) that we satisfy today mostly using non-renewable stocks. "
The business world exploits that insatiable wants of humans offering its glittery rewards and most uphold that exploitation by our own daily behaviours.
This week was a work email from Spark , ' sign your business up to our new business plan and you will get a free phone and wait… a second phone free too."
Not many would hestitate and think about the whole process to have that phone, let alone the unneeded second phone. That aside from cheap labour to make that phone, its harvesting of elements from a finite source, ( more likely 'mined' creating negative impacts in someone else's village), is increasingly a lost view in our consumption.
" Despite the pervasive belief that more money and energy makes us happier, evidence suggests this is mostly not true. After basic needs are met, additional energy use yields a slower growth of the Human Development Index (Smil, 2017)."
In a few short years we've forgotten that we could still be happy and healthy using less.
The "disconnect" the article leads too makes some election promises laughable in a sense…
So collective care is now deviously evolved to getting on board with a " strong team", come on you weaklings ! Let's build a road so high energy users can get to the shops faster and more comfortably, so we can all buy some walking shoes, a sham of an election prize.
thought provoking is one way to describe it…..Im inclined to 'chilling' myself.
Ah well, must've misread the intent of your post adding such unchilled serious information then. Here's me genuinely bothering to read all your article's verbiage. Foolish me , lesson learnt.
Dont know what intent you attributed to me but I think the following (accurate) description could be reasonably described as chilling…
"We can’t precisely predict the future, but we can increasingly be confident of what won’t happen. Given the biological and social underpinnings of growth and kicking the can described above, we can hypothesize what scenarios are unlikely:
•
Growing the global economy while simultaneously solving climate change (reducing CO2) or avoiding a 6th mass extinction.
•
Growing the economy while replacing hydrocarbons with low carbon energy.
•
Voting en masse to keep remaining carbon compounds in the ground.
•
Leaders embracing or preparing for an end of growth before it happens.
To avoid paying the societal debt bill we’ve amassed over past decades, we tend to keep kicking the can forward, with more financial guarantees, stories, and rule changes – all in increasingly less sustainable ways. With the backdrop of the Superorganism we might make some predictions:
•
As more people recognize that energy underpins our futures, we’ll witness more schemes focusing on gross energy as opposed to its net contribution to society. Many technologies will be promoted that are viable, but not relevant, affordable or scalable.
•
We will continue to create money and credit expecting their abundance to overcome physical world problems, until they too reach limits (no credit-worthy lenders, interest too high of % of growth, fiscal cliffs, etc.).
•
To avoid social instability, we will remediate wealth inequality via programs like Universal Basic Income (If such ‘wealth transfers’ are direct, they will stabilize society but access more carbon as they are transfers of bank digits to direct calls on resources and energy. (Good for low income humans, bad for dolphins).(These transfers can be indirect e.g. ecological restoration, local public infrastructure etc.)
•
Around the world, as economic prospects deteriorate, people will foster group cohesion by blaming their problems on outgroups, and tend to vote for leaders who promise better economic futures, or things to be more like the past, (linked to more economic growth, linked to energy, linked to carbon). Trump, Bolsonaro, Matteo, LePen, Morrison, etc. are but recent examples. (Conservative names listed, but most liberal types also promise "better economic futures.").
•
As USA and Brazil attest, one of the few remaining economic cans to kick is de-regulation and removal of environmental protection. As the economy gets worse, environmental initiatives (e.g. climate mitigation) will become less popular – not because people disbelieve or care less but because they’ll have less financial and emotional bandwidth to advocate for them.
•
As a globally tethered economic system, we will likely do anything we can to kick the can further down the road. We are caught in a spiral of growth, limits to growth, response to limits, more growth, more limits, more response.”
Im sorry you felt obliged to read the article for my benefit….that was unnecessary.
Sorry about that Pat. I thought you were being dismissive, with "chilling" being ambiguous. My bad, apologies. And no I was not obliged to read the article, I enjoyed absorbing the take and thanks for your added commentary.
Not at all….it IS food for thought, but I also see the inevitability he describes.
Of course.
https://twitter.com/DavidNeiwert/status/1303716729609048066
Should I trust the The New Zealand Initiative? Do they represent a fair and reasonable opinion?
For example:
lol…think you answered your own question
And I say raise the inflation level to allow some maneouvrability. And that money is a system devised by man for man and this country wants the Imf and their acolytes to remember that.
We have to act in the most canny way we can to get our own way, with as little fall-out as possible from outside. Inside it's too dark to read. (Allusion to Groucho Marx.) If you can confuse them enough, you can steal their gold and run away down the beanstalk.
The old raise the age of Superannuation eligibility canard. Eh? Brash wanted it at 75 IIRC and others want Covid-19 to see all of us shuffling off the mortal coil ASAP so that business can get back to the normal amassing of private fortunes at the expense of the public good.
Remember there'll be "Pie in the sky when you die!" Woody Guthrie.
"Working folks of all countries unite
Side by side we for freedom shall fight
When this world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain
You will eat, you will eat, by and by
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry
Chop some wood, it'll do you good
And you'll eat in that sweet by and by, that's no lie."
Was that not called way back the Business Round Table, later known as the Libertarian Party now known as A,C,T.