Open mike 12/08/2024
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6:00 am, August 12th, 2024 - 38 comments
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- Dance Magic
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...5 hours ago - Government Forces Universities to Enforce “Free Speech” While Limiting Universities̵...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...6 hours ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...18 hours ago - As Our Power Lessens: Published
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...23 hours ago - By Any Other Name.
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...1 day ago - Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...1 day ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...1 day ago - 2024 OIA stats
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...2 days ago - Climate Change: A perverse incentive
The government published its first Biennial Transparency Report under the Paris Agreement yesterday, and the media has correctly noted that it is missing any plan to actually meet our target. While it hypes domestic emissions reductions so far - which have been good, but will likely get worse thanks to ...2 days ago
- Economic Bulletin December 2024
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...2 days ago - NZCTU make submission in opposition to Treaty Principles Bill
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...2 days ago
- ZB’s Power Couple
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...2 days ago - Austerity thumps GDP most since 1991
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...2 days ago
- Weekly Roundup 20-December-2024
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The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...2 days ago
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The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...2 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...3 days ago
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- Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...3 days ago - MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day
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- The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.
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This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...3 days ago - Book Review: How Big Things Get Done
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- December-24 AT Board Meeting
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Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...5 days ago - Corrections is torturing prisoners again
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...5 days ago
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New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...5 days ago
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At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...5 days ago
- Shameless, clueless
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...5 days ago
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Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...5 days ago - How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...5 days ago
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In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...5 days ago - When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...5 days ago
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And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...6 days ago - A Lipstick Government
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Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...6 days ago
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- Thank You
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...7 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50
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I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...1 week ago - Nothing here but the shadows
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Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...1 week ago - Chris Penk’s Hate Parade
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...1 week ago - Tell me a story
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...1 week ago - As Our Power Lessens: Accepted
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National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...2 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
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It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...2 days ago
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The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...4 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
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The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
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The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
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Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...5 days ago
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The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...5 days ago
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All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...5 days ago
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The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
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The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
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The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
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New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...1 week ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...1 week ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
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Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
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The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Congratulations to all our athletes who participated in the Olympics.
Just wondering about 2 ideas:
1 With 10 golds and lying 11th on the table of nations, NZ has punched well above its testosterone level (as Winnie might say!); how much of this success is due to funding of High Performance NZ by Grant Robertson?
2 Did we send any male athletes? /s
8 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze vs 2 gold, 3 silver – a team effort.
It's been a great display of the equal importance of women's sport. The IOC ensures events and medals for women and men are of identical value. There's no promotion of one gender over another and it's equal pay, none, as far as the IOC is concerned. New Zealand women have carried the load for the country's success.
Yet here we are demonising a small group for not appearing female enough. What a shame.
As for Olympic sport funding in New Zealand, HPSNZ chief executive Raelene Castle (a woman), has already pushed open the door for corporate funding and by definition reduced government funding:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/490450/corporate-dollars-needed-to-help-prop-up-olympic-sports
Reduced government funding is a given with this CoC.
After all, they have to find the dollars for landlords somewhere!
I also wonder if Bishop and Luxon, looking at the medal table, feel NZ has no right to be there.
We are sitting just outside the top 10 which includes the US, 3 Asian mega-economies, 5 European powerhouses, and Australia. Our team is even ahead of G7 nation, Canada, a highly developed economy with 7 times the population and 8.6 times the GDP of NZ.
Therefore, according to business management theory, our athletes are being over funded.
Plenty of money for Chris Bishop to have his Paris holiday! Saw him interviewed from there: First sentence, paraphrasing, began "In this time of straightened fiscal conditions…"
Expect that the gold plated Minister Bishop will proudly claim ownership of the successes. Nothing to do with Robertson or Labour.
Luxon will say, "These medals are are our example of what happens when we have high expectations of outcomes and get rid of riff-raff losers, and any sign of Wokeness. Our Goverment blah blah blah salad…."
KPI's
😉
I think any politician that takes credit for the Olympic success, or any person that gives them credit, is off the planet.
Central government funding plays a part in allowing our elite athletes to compete at the highest level. But that its one of those things that is bi partisan with both blue and red governments handing out the cash. Grant didn't wake up one morning and start something new.
Lets give credit to the athletes and their coaches (and not suits sitting in Wellington). They are the ones that have spent hours upon hours training away from home to get to where they are today.
Police Association urging Luxon to sack Nicole McKee!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524842/police-association-urges-pm-to-strip-gun-reform-portfolio-off-nicole-mckee
There's not a hope in hell of that happening – Seymour won't allow it!
Talk about the tail (8%) wagging the dog! My Labrador couldn't do a better job!
It's never wise to have the fox guard the hen house!
Your Labrador is no doubt way more attractive than the mongrel ACT party which shits lobbiest excrement out everywhere it goes.
Mind you some gun club members would deny automatic guns and be happy to see them banned."
The Labrador has to be registered too, so it can be traced should it bite a farmer's sheep.
The gun owning farmers however are fighting tooth and nail to not have to register their guns, least they be held liable when they turn up in a criminal's possession
Yes, a good point. Our Labrador is also chipped – perhaps that needs to be done for gun owners as well! /s
Downright appalling that the government agency which has the most expertise and experience when it comes to gun control issues is left out of the consulting phase. I also agree, Luxon won't have the guts to stand up to the mealy mouthed little fascist, Seymour.
In this case it appears to be a government that "gets things done" by excluding from consultation any stakeholders it doesn't like. The political parties that are the self-proclaimed champions of individual freedom turn out to be a bunch of authoritarians – no surprises there.
There's strong evidence ACT and National are making it easier for terrorists to access dangerous weapons, and to move through society undetected and unreported.
Collins has decided to close the government response to the Christchurch terror attacks, washing their hands of any further responsibility. One of the recommendations they are refusing to adopt is:
What if members of the Dunedin gun club where the Australian mass murderer practiced were able to alert authorities "easily and safely", without going directly to an underfunded Police force? Not saying they definitely would have because most there would probably share his views on muslims and the great replacement theory, but a system like this might have helped, and might stop a similar event happening in the future.
There's two reasons NACT won't make it harder for terrorists. Cost, and scrutiny of the dangerous views of their support base.
' "The police union boss says gun-lobbyist turned politician Nicole McKee played a leading role in stopping law changes [urged by Police in 2016] which could have meant the March 15 terror attacks had “a much different outcome”.' Stuff yesterday.
So the left/right differential in males is now running at 18%: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/08/12/can-the-nz-left-win-back-male-voters/
There's a whiff of sour grapes in Bomber's critique though. He doesn't give Labour and the Greens explicit credit for their solidarity in working hard during the past decade to produce this outcome. Men have been put thoroughly in their place and left-wing politicos deserve full credit for their relentless campaign to make it happen.
Obviously Hipkins will point out that this is a classic leftist master plan. It lulls the right into a false sense of assurance that the game is stacked in their favour for the forseeable future. Labour strategists deem it a suitable handicap to motivate the troops, right?
Yep, older Pakeha men are having a real cry in their Ford Rangers that younger generations are scrutinising their privilege and how they managed to gain it.
We can probably do an entire range of competitive framing on this topic. I mean, it's not as if there's an actual credible role model on the political right.
My preference currently is for scarcity theory: when the best role model is conspicuous by its absence, that psychological vacuum operates like a black hole in outer space (sucking everything into it – a force of gravity that's invisible).
Market theory says guys want competence, so the market supplies pretenders instead. Adam Smith, up in heaven's room for delusional economists, sighs, rolls his eyes, changes channels…
The song "Young Man's Blues" probably never was more true than now in New Zealand.
I generally agree with bomber on this one – we need much more focus on class injustice. And good outcomes for heterosexual men should be considered to be a great thing, when not at the expense of others.
Bomber has yet to assimilate the reality that older white men are privileged because they acquired assets in their youth, they now have little in common with the working class.
This is a problem because of the size of the boomer demographic, it is enabling an opportunity to neo-liberals to create a precariat society behind a "majoritarian populist front of one law for all to diminish protection for the indigenous minority.
Because of their own struggles with males of the boomer generation older feminists are more aware of class injustice and its impact on younger women.
Good news for capitalists (people who live in the capital), the city seems set to get better: https://thespinoff.co.nz/wellington/12-08-2024/windbag-the-shadowy-conspiracy-aligned-group-targeting-wellington-city-council
Takes time. A policy pillar is something rather substantial: lots of text, but with words strung together to make sense. Not just that, but also likely to get others to agree readily, and even become motivated and passionate supporters.
This is an immense task for anyone with a right-wing brain, and that's just 1! Having to do it on 6 different topics would have the average right-winger reach desperately for random thoughts such as hunting, fishing, using a power tool, etc.
Maybe he has, but I have not seen any praise for our Olympic medalists from Luxon. Could be waiting until they return to NZ and he can be photographed with them and do his shoulder grabbing and back slapping and "look at me" too.
Recently I have noticed more letters to the Post and articles more than a little critical of decisions being made by the government. So divisive and negative.
Presume it's Luxon/the government you're referring to at the end?
Every day, another reason to want the lot of them to rot in hell. Beneficiaries are such an easy target for governments, and this kind of action is simply throwing red meat to their base.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524919/watch-government-further-increases-sanctions-for-beneficiaries
The part about putting half the benefit onto a money card that can only be used for specific reasons is more terrifying (done as part of the coalition deal between ACT and National). I'm having trouble working out if that will only be done as a sanction, or if the intention is to eventually do it to all of us. Big brother is not only watching, but controlling how you can spend your pittance.
I really, really hope that people who were stupid enough to vote for them- because, Covid- and are now losing their jobs and will have to deal with this patronising and controlling system will seriously regret what they did.
ACT- the party of small government and individual rights, except for those who need to be receipt of a benefit, no matter the reason.
I don't see much wrong with it. Having to re-apply six monthly is not that much of a hardship if you are to be given money. I assume the "putting half the benefit onto a money card that can only be used for specific reasons" is to ensure essentials like food have to be purchased with it.
How many extra staff will be required for this extra bureaucracy? How is it going to be done without putting extra costs on the beneficiary? Even getting an appointment with WINZ is often difficult, you can't just turn up at the office. Extra phone costs, extra transit costs, extra staff costs.
If they are lucky, often once rent and power and media (phone/broadband) transport to W and I cost is met, then food comes from food banks and family.
Have any journos asked Seymour what happens to beneficiaries whose rents take more than half their income? Haven't seen that question asked yet.
He was on the news telling us it's about what the govt and taxpayers are expected to pay for, like an old-time Nazi bothered by "unnützer Esser" (ie do these Untermenschen expect proper citizens to just fund their degeneracy without consequence? That cannot stand). The idea that "the govt and taxpayers" are part of a society and that society has obligations to all its members is lost on him
Maybe the Govt could also put half of super receivers funds on an essential card also, see how quick the outcry would take?
Leave them poor super annuitants alone, some can’t even pay their power bills in winter. And it’s not their fault that they’re over 65.
Despite giving $80pm to superannuitants automatically to top up winter energy payments?
You missed a keyword: “poor”.
You also missed this: “can’t”.
How much is going to people who actually need it?
I may not have illustrated clearly in my comment that the outcry from well off super receivers at being forced to only purchase what someone else seems essential would be swift and no govt would dare implement such a sub human policy on the "I've worked or been lucky with real estate class" hopefully that corrects my stance 🙂