Dr Jackson said in fact, hazardous binge-drinking had been getting worse, and the government needed to raise the price of alcohol.
“Since 2011 we haven’t seen any positive change in 18 to 24 year old drinking so you know this is great, they’re protecting their brains while they’re very very vulnerable but we’ve got to make sure that when they hit that age they’re not just stepping into that culture,” she said.
People in more equal societies are far less likely to experience mental illness.
Blaming inanimate substances for the damage that right wing economists do just makes finding solutions more difficult. It’s a waste of resources and a sop to moralising curtain-twitchers.
Not according to the MoH – alcohol rates have been steadily dropping rather rising under neo-liberalism (not a defense of neo-liberalism, just the facts don’t align with your opinion)
To be fair, most social ills are at the very least exacerbated by it.
I’m having a bit of difficulty thinking of a social ill that doesn’t have a large proportion of its present prevalence attributable to neoliberalism, i.e. it would be much less of an issue if we’d kept our social democratic / democratic socialist ideals of Savage and Kirk and even Muldoon.
edit: I suppose the starting point would be some sort of congenital condition that’s not due to antenatal factors or genetic damage to a parent from environmental factors. But even then you have the affordability of ongoing life-course care for the baby.
Executive director of Alcohol Healthwatch Nicki Jackson is just trying to justify the grants her organization receives, it can never improve otherwise she puts herself out of a job.
An interesting article, Ed, but it would be helpful if you had included in your summary that this Australian study (considered by the NZ Alcohol Healthwatch to be in line with what is happening to NZ) also found that more teenagers are choosing to turn away from alcohol.
The remarks you quoted from Dr Jackson, Executive Director of Alcohol Healthwatch were in fact preceded by this statement in respect of New Zealand:
“”Yes, there’s been declines in young people choosing to take up drinking but we’ve seen no declines whatsoever in the style in which young people drink, they’re still drinking very heavily so that culture hasn’t changed.”
I agree with you ED alcohol is A DRUG that cause more damage to OUR worlds society as the law says its safe to consume this poison yes ITS a poison
1I know of at least 5 people whom have died from drinking to much alcohol one of them was a famous Rock Star .
2 Our youth think its safe until next minute they are locked up for something they did while pissed and can not remember what happened and if that person was not pissed they would be a good person and never commit a crime.
3 Other people whom are experienced drinkers can wait untill one is tiddly and then encourage them to drink up hotties usually and they have got you pissed and can get the you to do what they want
4 drinks can be spiked with other drugs never leave your drinks unattended make sure you go drinking with people you trust as If one is pissed I say you are mental as most don’t remember what they did when one is rolling blind drunk this is why they call it blind drunk and there are reports of people losing one sight temporary when one has consumed to much alcohol .
5 I think its a sin to let OUR Mokos think alcohol is a safe drug and then let them find out all the negative effects alcohol has on them while they are in a unsafe environment all the bad side effects of alcohol should be advertize so OUR mokos know to sip the stuff or it will fuck them up.
6 What about all the violence that happens when people are pissed check the hospital records
7 Car crashes other people being killed by drunks drivers what a waste of lives
8 All the disabled people who got there injuries while pissed
9 Every year we have two big events and everyone is encouraging everyone to get pissed I could not work that out logically I drink a little I learnt through trial and error If one is in a good mood when drinking alcohol its not to bad but if one is in a bad mood while drinking that’s when the violence starts I have never hit any of my loved ones while being drunk most of the time I would not bother to go and drink it was others that got me to go out with them I was happy watching videos at home.
10 The neoliberal used alcohol to break MAORI MANA my te puna Sir Apirana Ngata new this was happening and in 1920 got a ban on alcohol on the east coast for 10 years He was the one person who saved a lot of Maoris Mana need
I say more Ka kite ano
Quite a list of damage to our people in this country.
It makes me both angry and sad to see the devastation this repulsive drug does.
It would be so simple to apply a more sensible drug policy for alcohol.
Your comment is an example of the logical fallacy “non-sequitur.”
Your argument is:
Premise: some yoofs still drink a lot of alcohol.
Conclusion: therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society.
But the conclusion you’ve drawn doesn’t logically follow from the premise you’ve provided. I guess there’s an implied premise in there that alcohol is a Bad Thing, but that would merely change the logical fallacy to “begging the question.”
I can’t really blame you though, as non-sequitur is also Dr Jackson’s mode of operation – it’s fairly hard to endorse her views without falling into logical fallacies yourself.
The people who can’t handle their piss and cause problems are a blight on society.
The best option is to ban the people who abuse alcohol and leave the vast majority of people who like a beer, wine or whatever your drink of choice is, alone.
Here is some evidence of the damage alcohol does to society …..
In 2012, driver alcohol was a contributing factor in 73 fatal crashes, 331 serious injury crashes and 933 minor injury crashes. These crashes resulted in 93 deaths, 454 serious injuries and 1,331 minor injuries.
A third of violent offences, including family violence, and 44 per cent of homicides involve someone who has been drinking. As do 62,000 physical assaults and 10,000 sexual assaults, per year.
According to alcohol.org.nz, between 18 per cent and 35 per cent of injury-based emergency department presentations in New Zealand are estimated to be alcohol-related. This rises to between 60 per cent and 70 per cent during the weekend.
Approximately 45 per cent of fire fatalities are alcohol-related, as are approximately 11 per cent of drowning deaths
around 10 per cent of New Zealand’s population of 4.4 million was alcoholic.
New Zealanders spend about $85 million a week on alcohol, but it costs the country about $5 billion a year in damage.
Yeah, but it’s spent locally and probably mostly on NZ products (beer and wine), so there’d be a hefty multiplier on the strict sale value for the economic activity. Not to mention exports.
So the profit/loss ledger could well swing either way.
The NZ wine industry is not as local as you might realise.
Author Peter Howland writes in his book Social, Cultural and Economic Impacts of Wine in New Zealand that more than 80 per cent of New Zealand wine production is foreign-owned.
The maker of Tui beer, which is marketed as an iconic New Zealand brand, is owned by Asia Pacific Breweries, which is being shaken up by a multi-billion-dollar deal.
The Dutch beer maker Heineken is spending $S5.1 billion ($NZ5 billion) to buy 40 percent of Asia Pacific Breweries from Singapore-based Fraser and Neave, taking its stake to 82 percent. It will attempt to move to full control.
DB, which competes against Lion Breweries, has declined to comment on the ownership shakeup, which was first signalled in July. Lion Breweries is owned by Japan’s Kirin Holdings, which was seen as a rival for Asia Pacific Breweries.
Yes all those profits are going overseas, leaving behind a litany of social damage.
Did you watch Nigel Latta’s documentaty on alcohol in New Zealand?
I recommend you do so you are more aware of the level of foreign ownership of the liquor industry.
So it’s just the manufacturing and sale costs that get recirculated. Big whoop, it doesn’t alter the fact that economic activity is more than just the point of sale transaction.
Thank you for doing the Maths.
So we as a society subsidise the international liquor corporations to the tune of #11 million a week.
No wonder they lobby so hard to control our politicians.
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 was a pitiful response by the National Party-led government to the monumental review of alcohol in New Zealand by the Law Commission in 2009/2010. All of the most effective recommendations of the Commission’s final report Alcohol in our Lives: Curbing the Harm were ignored. Of particular note, there were no new substantial measures addressing the demand side of alcohol consumption—marketing and pricing.
It’s not that they can’t handle their piss but that they’ve been taught that getting drunk is the thing to do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking. Many European nations drink more per capita than we do but don’t have the same problems as they don’t drink it all on Saturday night as we do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Also, we don’t “need” to do anything in response to people choosing to do things we personally would rather they didn’t.
Also, we don’t “need” to do anything in response to people choosing to do things we personally would rather they didn’t.
this is another one of those things where people are choosing to do things that harms others and they don’t actually have a right to do that. So, yes, we do actually need to do something about it.
But it is certainly a cultural change that we need to bring about and that will take years and even decades.
We do have rules about harming others, variously classed as offences, crimes etc. Which is, not coincidentally, also a way to teach/propagate acceptable behaviour.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
No. Complaining about people taking recreational drugs is pointless – people like recreational drugs and are going to take them. Also: my experience of alcohol is of skilled craftspeople making excellent drinks that I enjoy drinking, so if anyone wants to declare those fine artists “a blight on society,” I’m going to disagree.
Not just that PM, but therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society, caused by neo liberalism, so without actually addressing the binge drinking culture, let’s just put the price up and make more profits for the liquor companies.
It’s not a blight on people like me who drink responsibly.
There are, of course, those who fail to show common sense, drink to excess, and cause a multitude of costly issues. But a broad broom sweep approach won’t fix a surgical strike issue.
Hoons and a lot of kiwis in cars drive like shit, causing a multitude of accidents and death each year, a very real societal problem.
Environmental arguments to one side, you’ll be up for banning under 25s and most drivers from our roads then?
I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.
I think this thread proves New Zealanders are in denial about the severity of the problem.
On this site, there are people in denial or disinterested about quite a few things…..
Alcohol and its impacts on society.
The welfare of animals in industrial farming.
A meat diet’s impact on climate change.
The media’s bias over news from Syria, Ukraine, Yemen.
Those of us who address these subjects are subject to vile abuse.
Alcohol is a vital part of my life, is a massive part of our economy and a whole bunch less damaging to our land as a productive export than dairy, is a free choice, is regular by local government through democratic hearings about their location, and of course strongly regulated through central government with tax that is fairly up there.
That’s before you get to enforcement.
One of the biggest new enforcements is the random drug testing within the Worksafe framework. It really does regulate your life on Friday and Sunday as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not a bad thing overall.
The only way you are going to make a successful argument for more regulation of alcohol is if you set out the benefits with the costs and do an evaluation, rather than just bleating on about the costs.
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that alcohol is a blight on our society.
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.
And even if you disagree with those opinions, there is no need for abuse.
I wrote “It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.”
However, the number of animals living a ‘Life of Riley’ until they are slaughtered is a minuscule fraction.
Food is undoubtedly a very contentious issue that divides the American public, with no shortage of opinions on what’s right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy and eco-friendly or unsustainable. However, even when it comes to such a polarizing topic, there is common ground to be found by everyone ranging from vegans to die-hard meat eaters. No one can deny the destructive nature of the force that dominates our food system (i.e. industrial animal agriculture or factory farming). When you take into account the fact that factory farms raise 99.9 percent of chickens for meat, 97 percent of laying hens, 99 percent of turkeys, 95 percent of pigs, and 78 percent of cattle currently sold in the United States, it’s shocking how much time we waste debating each other, rather than trying to actually change the system.
“I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.”
And I answered accordingly, to me personally it’s not a blight, but for some, who have no self control or a modicum of common sense, it’s a big problem. There are solutions, I’m sure, but prohibition won’t work, especially when it’s cheap as chips to home brew or distil.
As for the rest of your reply, well, as noted above, it’s not vile abuse but disagreement, and yeah, we get it, you want to be the summer bbq killer. 🙄
PM
To make the argument/discussion clearer when you refer to a commenter can you say their name. Your comment was put up today at 9.21 am and finishes after ecomaori’s at 8.35 pm. I guess it is in relation to veutoviper’s but why not make it easier to connect the dots?
I will try to remember to do that. In my defence, when I posted comment 1.4 at 9:21am in response to comment 1 from Ed at 8:09am, it was fairly obvious who I was referring to – I didn’t anticipate the lengthy subthreads that would push my comment well down the page. Not an excuse though, I should have quoted him.
Yes PM
That is what I have noticed happening to me and have had to resort occasionally to shifting my comment by deleting the original and copying it to where I knew it would sit better.
Pot, meet kettle. Your ad nauseam moralising isn’t a “debate”. When people point out your logical fallacies (which are numerous) you pack a sad, play the victim card and start smearing them.
Your behaviour is more reminiscent of Peter George than CV and PU.
Urophagia, by the way, is a trait attributed* to such as Ghandi. What’s the matter Ed, don’t you like being compared to the Mahatma?
I eat a plant based diet and Ed is insulting me. His attempt to cast himself as an extra in The Crucible is another insult, given the behaviour and temperament of the Salem persecutors.
So perhaps it’s you who doesn't get it: when Ed either stops abusing people, or stops whinging when he can’t handle the response, I'll stop pointing it out.
I’m considerably, CONSIDERABLY C O N S I D E R A B L Y more pompous, utterly more wise and wearied, and most extensively more full of myself than ya lot of ya.
Why I’m so gorgeous I can’t look in a mirror for fear of having an orgasm.
Yet another sign of fake jobs and fake businesses and dodgy work permits. Sarabjit Singh managed by Payal Kumar and employed on a work visa for a low level cafe job by Ben Singh Holdings, in a area of high unemployment.
The worker was only paid $150 a week in cash. There were no records of the cash payments because the ledger that recorded the payments was “allegedly” stolen during a break-in.
No wonder NZ is going down the toilet in productivity and employment practises when this is the ‘new’ culture that has been fostered under the National government.
Not enough crack down by the new government – they should be urgently reviewing all the work permits given out to check they are not being abused and actually if they are real jobs with real businesses and not this type of carry on.
Not only that but wrecking our tourist industry when there are so many tourist businesses now operating without knowledge of NZ rules and regulations.
Stayed at an upmarket hotel in the holidays, same type of thing that is turning NZ into a poorly regulated tourist market seemingly operated entirely by migrant workers. In this instance stayed at a so called upmarket hotel that turned out to have poor cleaning, and poor maintenance of a formerly beautiful hotel on a lake. It appeared to have been bought by an offshore chain and staffed with beaten down migrants who don’t seem to understand purpose or method of hospitality.
Seems to be the new way to run down NZ image, as part of globalism. A race to the bottom and to exploit local resources and remove local culture and charm to save an offshore $.
Another article referring to the oncoming financial crash.
“Many believe 2018 could be the year that country finally does something about its own huge debt problems.
When just one asset is going up, you explain it by the characteristics of that asset. But if you have an everything bubble, you need to look at the trend behind the trend.
Cast your mind back a few years and you may recall the expression “quantitative easing”. This is where central banks pumped money into the economy to try to help us recover from the global financial crisis. It happened in the US, Japan and Europe.
It worked, more or less. But the effect was similar to what you see in a game of Monopoly. The amount of money in circulation kept going up, but the number of assets to buy remained stubbornly still. As anyone who has forked out $600 in Monopoly money for Old Kent Road knows, asset prices go up as the ratio of money to assets goes up.
Quantitative easing is really just an extreme version of cutting interest rates. In both cases, the idea is to make people borrow more and spend more. So even though Australia didn’t have quantitative easing, low interest rates and the record amounts of household debt Aussies are shouldering represent its part of the everything bubble.
The problem with loose monetary policy is that while it is supposed to make people do productive things like start a new company, it has a side effect of making them buy assets at crazy prices. If the everything bubble pops, it may turn out that the cure for the global financial crisis is what caused the next crisis.”
Ed, that whole article is cast in terms of “if” and what “many (unidentified people) believe”. It’s conjecture for the slow news season.
Also note this, from the final paragraph: “The exciting thing about this question is we don’t know. Immediate panic is not necessary — it is unlikely each asset class will fall together like synchronised divers. More likely, a decline in one will overlap with a decline in another, creating a long period of uncertainty.”
You could be right that 2018 will bring a crash, but you seem determined to only see the negative possibilities and seem to simply discount anything that isn’t a disaster scenario.
Yes, well I’m in Ed’s camp on this. Plenty would not believe that 2008 would happen!! But it did. We are at similar pressure points in the system again.
Of course vested interest bodies call us “chicken little” LOL.
Predicting 200 of the last two crashes is easy. Of course they happen, and of course that means there’ll be another. So far, so ‘peak oil theory’.
Actually predicting them requires a lot more hard work than reading articles in the media. If The Big Short can be believed, Michael Burry hired people to literally pore through all the individual sub-prime mortgage records. Yes, all of them.
and even then it was just a more educated bet than the other bets. If the timing had been off, the shorted packages would have increased in price and needed repayment.
it’s all reducing confidence intervals, but never eliminating them. And most people never get enough information to close them all that much in the first place.
Thank you. Good to hear there are those who agree with this point of view.
There are reputable independent economists who are telling us about an oncoming crash.
Steve Keen
“The bubble will burst in the next one to two years – there’s been a real acceleration in house prices since 2012, they’ve increased by about 60 percent. But what I’m seeing now is the motivating force for rising house prices is rising mortgage credit. The wind in that bubble is starting to run out.”
You claim to want a discussion, Ed. But when I engaged with your comment at 1, you pretended to agree with me, then went right back to reciting your litany as though our exchange hadn’t happened.
You then went on to describe the counter arguments as abuse, itself an insult to those who had indulged your alleged desire for discussion.
While you continue to misrepresent the counter arguments to your narrative, I guarantee you that people will continue to notice and comment on that misrepresentation.
I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though. Perhaps if you engaged in better faith you might find people a little less persistent.
What do you think of my argument that sloppily-presented narratives provide comfort to “the enemy”?*
*One Two, please try and discover what inverted commas are for before your knee starts jerking at “the enemy”.
“I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though.”
Astute, AOB. If I’d received these responses on ‘Open Mike’ today, I’d feel the same:
“a sop to moralising curtain-twitchers”
“All because you don’t get the nodding dogs you’re looking for. Sob sob.”
“So why do you smear and abuse people then?”
“Pot, meet kettle. Your ad nauseam moralising isn’t a “debate”. When people point out your logical fallacies (which are numerous) you pack a sad, play the victim card and start smearing them.”
“What’s the matter Ed, don’t you like being compared to the Mahatma?”
The antipathy of AOB (aided by BM) towards Ed’s comments on today’s Open Mike is painfully obvious. Thankfully, they refrain from personal abuse.
Another day in paradise Kia ora Graham Norton I watch your show guite regularly
Now you know I’m backing Joseph Parker camp to win. Well everyone knows this fact we’re Kiwis after all I like my pies to we can’t all have the time to think about our physique if I did one knows that my Maori genetic would easily rip up. I like to watch Jimmy Barns son David Campbell on sky news. I know Iv got a big following in Australia to many thanks to all the people around OUR WORLD For your support. I know that the house that Mama raised me in Gisborne and the one buy the Waiapu river will be oneday a place that a lot of people will visit to honour me. PS to the red headed sandfly you smoke you like stake to go pinch off rich people you dick ECO doesn’t miss anything and do not kid yourself that you can pull a trick with out me noticeing. Ka kite ano
On the topic of suspicious work visas (savenz @2 ), could someone please enlighten me?
I just had 3 days of dealing with a couple of tradies, I’ll spare the details, a major complaint has already be made to the Property Manager and is being dealt with. But I’m somewhat curious about how one of them is allowed to be working here, ie what visa?
Main contractor originally from a South-East Asian country. His younger off-sider, same nationality but literally doesn’t speak a word of English, and isn’t exactly even close to being ‘skilled” in his trade (it’s painting btw)
So…are painters a skill shortage category?
Could he be sponsored here by family if they can say there’s a job for him and that’s a way in for residency?
Family reunification scheme of some sort? (It’s not a country involving refugees)
Genuinely ignorant on the matters, and curious if anyone knows about these things.
I could hazard a guess…and it would be that the younger guy is being paid a pittance and not technically entitled to be working here.
He’s probably also been bullshitted to, and found that on arrival, things are not what was promised.
Now that he’s here though, the choices are either to beg, or to do whatever work is available.
Btw…I hope you’ve not succumbed to the latest exploitative sector involving immigrant slave labour (home renovation). They’re now even trying to sell franchises
@OWT, that’s what I was a bit worried about. I’m not even totally convinced the guy was being given adequate breaks for 10hr day work.
I’m not sure what- if anything I can do about this. I’m just the renter, these guys are contractors used by the property managers so I don’t get to pick and choose. I get the idea the latter has known the former for some time.
it’s a hard decision but it were me, I’d try and get a phone #, then get in touch with somebody such as the Immigrant Workers Association.
Until such time as MoBIE/INZ start caring more about the victims of exploitation rsther than those doing the exploiting, I wouldn’t go near them
Whereupon the contractor may, or may not be prosecuted-depending on resources available, and the victim will likely be deported, whilst the ripoff artist will not lose his recently acquired PR, and will simply move on to the next.
Meanwhile, the consultants, many of whom have vested and financial interest in the racket will continue to get their percentage.
It’s a nice idea @Craig H, but unless something has radically changed since last September, it doesn’t quite work like that or as you intend
Kay, in Aus tradies need a blue card to work, and have to produce it. This can be checked, so you don’t get your situation happening. Huge fines ensue for cheats and employers. NZ needs that to protect the public.
@Kay – welcome to a world where exploitation seems to be rife. Firstly exploitation of work permits, then getting more people in who are either working illegally or have a fake permit or even legitimate one, but speak no English so therefore hard to know what is going on.
Then the property manager is employing them probably through another firm that organises the work who charge a percentage fee, the property agency is probably charging around 10% on top of that for their labour to the owner of the rental. Being two people there there will be two labour charges even if one can’t do the job and is being trained, or the supervisor one leaves the other one in charge and left to their own devices.
So simple work turns into hundreds or thousands of dollars pretty quickly more than it should, and often a very bad job which takes longer than it should and generates complaints from all concerned. People forced to work long hours for a pittance don’t tend to do a very good job or if they do, it catches up on them and they start having accidents and needing ACC.
The terrible shortages of rentals are also related to the burgeoning costs of being able to get legitimate labour who can do a good job without it being some sort of scam rather than doing a decent days work for a decent wage.
I like the German system where tradespeople have to guarantee their work for 10 years and faulty work can actually lead to jail.
The NZ way, seems to be to do as little as possible, for as much money as possible with as many people as possible taking a cut along the way, even for very small amounts of un or semi-skilled work and the end worker is on minimum wages or less and often incompetent.
On the building front even when you insure work through master builders or whatever, you still do not get a real guarantee that the work will be fixed. So you essentially pay before hand, an extra fee, in the knowledge the builder will make mistakes and have to fix them and it can be a lot of work even getting the work fixed even with the insurance that you pay for.
We have a system in NZ that exploits everyday in the construction industry. That is why I don’t think that we can simply build these affordable houses to stem the shortage of houses.
Even the houses being built under the NZ system are faulty or have faulty materials even before you put forward the constant stream of contractors and sub contractors and the amount of cheap labour being utilised at expensive rates.
Standard work visas include working holiday visas, partner visas ( both of NZers and of work visa holders), work visas for students who have passed their courses, or even student visas.
Oh dear!!!! Sir John Key has been caught up in that false missile attack alert in Hawaii!
How ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC.
THANKFULLY Granny has been in contact apparently, and we can all rest assured that he didn’t panic.
Wow! That’s a big load off my mind.
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
“So, we all know in our hearts that rodeo is wrong. But with Michael Laws speaking up for it, we now know it’s got to be even wronger-er than we originally thought.”
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
We are in a lot of trouble.
Unless significant action is taken by governments and people in the next 10 years, extinction beckons.
Take action today to save the planet and life on it.
I quote from the Guardian.
We are on a Planet that is heating up quickly.
“The years 2017, 2016 and 2015 will make up the three hottest years on record for the planet. But there’s no convincing some people.
When the global temperature readings are in for 2017, it’s going to be a very hard sell for climate-science deniers: 2017 will likely be ranked either side of 2015 as the second or third hottest year on record, with 2016 still in top spot.
The hottest five-year period recorded in the modern era will be the one we’ve just had.
Communities around the world, and the flora and fauna we share it with, feel the effects of that steady rise through extreme weather, droughts, heatwaves, shifting rains, melting ice and rising sea levels.
Levels of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and land clearing keep climbing.”
Trump’s America.
Let’s not hear any more hypocritical lectures or abuse to Iran, Syria, Russia, Haiti or the continent of Africa.
The US is a failed state.
“BALTIMORE — Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he’ll never forget.
The hospital’s security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown.
“It’s about 30 degrees out here right now,” Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. “Are you OK, ma’am? Do you need me to call the police?” he asks.
It’s called “patient dumping” and it doesn’t just happen in Baltimore. In 2007, “60 Minutes” investigated the practice of removing homeless patients from Los Angeles hospitals and leaving them downtown.”
Trump is playing a game with all US people of the world that alam warning that scared the shit out of Hawaii was known accident. You know why I say that because that is what neoliberalism does they play games with other people lives like what the sandflys are doing to me and my whano. But when things are Fucked up like the world at the moment I can see a thew thing in play from trump around our world. He is a racist bigot it will turn to shit fast with the way he is running the white house. Mother nature and mother earth does not like whats happening in the world that’s why Americans are getting hammer by them. You can’t restart the game donald it you fuck the world. It amazed me to see that a man like that could get the controls to one of the most powerful countries in the world . You know what it amazed donald and his family that he won look at the night they won they were all gobsmacked mouths open they couldn’t believe that donald won an never could the world. This cannot be allowed to happen again WTF. KIA KAHA
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This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
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Alcohol
A blight on our society
#3
Young drinkers consuming more alcohol than ever.
However, what is it that causes people to abuse booze and other drugs?
Economics.
Blaming inanimate substances for the damage that right wing economists do just makes finding solutions more difficult. It’s a waste of resources and a sop to moralising curtain-twitchers.
Straight out of the NRA handbook!
Do you have any substantive objection to the observation that alcohol abuse is connected to the GINI?
Where alcohol is priced out of people’s reach – or prohibited altogether – they make it themselves, at home.
No.
I think that sounds right.
I agree.
The extent of alcohol abuse in New Zealand is caused by neo-liberalism.
What was the cause of the extensive alcoholism in the USSR?
The Edbots CPU has just exploded.
I would imagine poverty and deprivation.
Not according to the MoH – alcohol rates have been steadily dropping rather rising under neo-liberalism (not a defense of neo-liberalism, just the facts don’t align with your opinion)
http://www.moh.govt.nz/notebook/nbbooks.nsf/0/66f2e1f58796381e4c2566de0005fcf3/$FILE/phot_145_153.pdf
Edit – report only covers 1980 – 2000 but nonetheless clearly shows neo-liberalism and alcohol use doesn’t. It seem to be correlated
Is there any societal Ill you believe is not caused by neo liberalism?
To be fair, most social ills are at the very least exacerbated by it.
I’m having a bit of difficulty thinking of a social ill that doesn’t have a large proportion of its present prevalence attributable to neoliberalism, i.e. it would be much less of an issue if we’d kept our social democratic / democratic socialist ideals of Savage and Kirk and even Muldoon.
edit: I suppose the starting point would be some sort of congenital condition that’s not due to antenatal factors or genetic damage to a parent from environmental factors. But even then you have the affordability of ongoing life-course care for the baby.
This interview with ‘The Spirit Level’ author Richard Wilkinson explains how inequality creates societal ills.
What a load of bullshit that article was.
Executive director of Alcohol Healthwatch Nicki Jackson is just trying to justify the grants her organization receives, it can never improve otherwise she puts herself out of a job.
An interesting article, Ed, but it would be helpful if you had included in your summary that this Australian study (considered by the NZ Alcohol Healthwatch to be in line with what is happening to NZ) also found that more teenagers are choosing to turn away from alcohol.
The remarks you quoted from Dr Jackson, Executive Director of Alcohol Healthwatch were in fact preceded by this statement in respect of New Zealand:
“”Yes, there’s been declines in young people choosing to take up drinking but we’ve seen no declines whatsoever in the style in which young people drink, they’re still drinking very heavily so that culture hasn’t changed.”
Good point.
I agree with you ED alcohol is A DRUG that cause more damage to OUR worlds society as the law says its safe to consume this poison yes ITS a poison
1I know of at least 5 people whom have died from drinking to much alcohol one of them was a famous Rock Star .
2 Our youth think its safe until next minute they are locked up for something they did while pissed and can not remember what happened and if that person was not pissed they would be a good person and never commit a crime.
3 Other people whom are experienced drinkers can wait untill one is tiddly and then encourage them to drink up hotties usually and they have got you pissed and can get the you to do what they want
4 drinks can be spiked with other drugs never leave your drinks unattended make sure you go drinking with people you trust as If one is pissed I say you are mental as most don’t remember what they did when one is rolling blind drunk this is why they call it blind drunk and there are reports of people losing one sight temporary when one has consumed to much alcohol .
5 I think its a sin to let OUR Mokos think alcohol is a safe drug and then let them find out all the negative effects alcohol has on them while they are in a unsafe environment all the bad side effects of alcohol should be advertize so OUR mokos know to sip the stuff or it will fuck them up.
6 What about all the violence that happens when people are pissed check the hospital records
7 Car crashes other people being killed by drunks drivers what a waste of lives
8 All the disabled people who got there injuries while pissed
9 Every year we have two big events and everyone is encouraging everyone to get pissed I could not work that out logically I drink a little I learnt through trial and error If one is in a good mood when drinking alcohol its not to bad but if one is in a bad mood while drinking that’s when the violence starts I have never hit any of my loved ones while being drunk most of the time I would not bother to go and drink it was others that got me to go out with them I was happy watching videos at home.
10 The neoliberal used alcohol to break MAORI MANA my te puna Sir Apirana Ngata new this was happening and in 1920 got a ban on alcohol on the east coast for 10 years He was the one person who saved a lot of Maoris Mana need
I say more Ka kite ano
Quite a list of damage to our people in this country.
It makes me both angry and sad to see the devastation this repulsive drug does.
It would be so simple to apply a more sensible drug policy for alcohol.
Your comment is an example of the logical fallacy “non-sequitur.”
Your argument is:
Premise: some yoofs still drink a lot of alcohol.
Conclusion: therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society.
But the conclusion you’ve drawn doesn’t logically follow from the premise you’ve provided. I guess there’s an implied premise in there that alcohol is a Bad Thing, but that would merely change the logical fallacy to “begging the question.”
I can’t really blame you though, as non-sequitur is also Dr Jackson’s mode of operation – it’s fairly hard to endorse her views without falling into logical fallacies yourself.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
No.
The people who can’t handle their piss and cause problems are a blight on society.
The best option is to ban the people who abuse alcohol and leave the vast majority of people who like a beer, wine or whatever your drink of choice is, alone.
Here is some evidence of the damage alcohol does to society …..
New Zealand is no paradise, we’re all drunk
Latta goes easy on alcohol. Yeah, right
I really do hate people who change the measurement when talking about something. It’s poor language skills that can produce misunderstanding.
That five billion per year equates to about 96 million per week. Which means that we’re seriously subsiding the alcohol industry.
Yeah, but it’s spent locally and probably mostly on NZ products (beer and wine), so there’d be a hefty multiplier on the strict sale value for the economic activity. Not to mention exports.
So the profit/loss ledger could well swing either way.
The NZ wine industry is not as local as you might realise.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/65932216/how-the-land-lies-in-foreign-hands
Nor is our ‘local’ beer.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/business/db-set-to-come-under-full-heineken-control-2012080414
Yes all those profits are going overseas, leaving behind a litany of social damage.
Did you watch Nigel Latta’s documentaty on alcohol in New Zealand?
I recommend you do so you are more aware of the level of foreign ownership of the liquor industry.
Nigel Latta: The Trouble With Booze
So it’s just the manufacturing and sale costs that get recirculated. Big whoop, it doesn’t alter the fact that economic activity is more than just the point of sale transaction.
No Knighthood for this man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHI-4NWB8n0
Karl du frense in super stupid mode ….. called for Sgt Lawn to shut up or get out of our police force.
How dare Sgt Lawn speak about the single biggest generator of police ‘work’ …..
Cheap piss was a sign sir john key loved us ……
Thank you for doing the Maths.
So we as a society subsidise the international liquor corporations to the tune of #11 million a week.
No wonder they lobby so hard to control our politicians.
I don’t think you can call calculations involving a made-up number “doing the maths.” It’s more like “making shit up.”
As for solutions, the Law Commission disagreed with you.
Alcohol in our lives: Curbing the harm
Sadly, the National Party did not care.
https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2014/vol-127-no-1401/6270
It’s not that they can’t handle their piss but that they’ve been taught that getting drunk is the thing to do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking. Many European nations drink more per capita than we do but don’t have the same problems as they don’t drink it all on Saturday night as we do.
To change that we need to change our drinking culture away from weekend binge drinking.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Also, we don’t “need” to do anything in response to people choosing to do things we personally would rather they didn’t.
this is another one of those things where people are choosing to do things that harms others and they don’t actually have a right to do that. So, yes, we do actually need to do something about it.
But it is certainly a cultural change that we need to bring about and that will take years and even decades.
People doing things that harm others can be taken up directly with the perpetrators.
How if we don’t have rules about it?
How if the culture that we have says it’s all right?
How are we going to take it up with the perpetrators if we don’t have a way to teach/propagate acceptable behaviour?
The perpetrators of NZ’s mental health crisis will never be held to account. All we can do is repair their vandalism.
We do have rules about harming others, variously classed as offences, crimes etc. Which is, not coincidentally, also a way to teach/propagate acceptable behaviour.
So, why are you so against refining them?
The various proposals for “doing something” aren’t aimed at people who harm others, or about refining the existing rules against harming others.
See ecomaori’s list of damage.
Not a blight.
What a joke.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
No. Complaining about people taking recreational drugs is pointless – people like recreational drugs and are going to take them. Also: my experience of alcohol is of skilled craftspeople making excellent drinks that I enjoy drinking, so if anyone wants to declare those fine artists “a blight on society,” I’m going to disagree.
Not just that PM, but therefore, alcohol is a blight on our society, caused by neo liberalism, so without actually addressing the binge drinking culture, let’s just put the price up and make more profits for the liquor companies.
The Law Commission made several recommendations.
Pricing was but one of the solutions proposed.
Don’t you think alcohol is a blight on our society?
It’s not a blight on people like me who drink responsibly.
There are, of course, those who fail to show common sense, drink to excess, and cause a multitude of costly issues. But a broad broom sweep approach won’t fix a surgical strike issue.
Hoons and a lot of kiwis in cars drive like shit, causing a multitude of accidents and death each year, a very real societal problem.
Environmental arguments to one side, you’ll be up for banning under 25s and most drivers from our roads then?
I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.
I think this thread proves New Zealanders are in denial about the severity of the problem.
On this site, there are people in denial or disinterested about quite a few things…..
Alcohol and its impacts on society.
The welfare of animals in industrial farming.
A meat diet’s impact on climate change.
The media’s bias over news from Syria, Ukraine, Yemen.
Those of us who address these subjects are subject to vile abuse.
Back to throwing insulting smears around again I see.
All because you don’t get the nodding dogs you’re looking for. Sob sob.
Alcohol is a vital part of my life, is a massive part of our economy and a whole bunch less damaging to our land as a productive export than dairy, is a free choice, is regular by local government through democratic hearings about their location, and of course strongly regulated through central government with tax that is fairly up there.
That’s before you get to enforcement.
One of the biggest new enforcements is the random drug testing within the Worksafe framework. It really does regulate your life on Friday and Sunday as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Not a bad thing overall.
The only way you are going to make a successful argument for more regulation of alcohol is if you set out the benefits with the costs and do an evaluation, rather than just bleating on about the costs.
You put forward controversial opinions and are subject to disagreement, not vile abuse.
Oh how unfair, Ed played the victim card and you just ruined it for him 😈
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that alcohol is a blight on our society.
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.
And even if you disagree with those opinions, there is no need for abuse.
Isn’t this called Open Mike?
Some animals aren’t treated cruelly. For example, James’ free range beasts weren’t. Life of Riley until the butchers knife.
I wrote “It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that animals are treated cruelly in the industrial farming model.”
However, the number of animals living a ‘Life of Riley’ until they are slaughtered is a minuscule fraction.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nil-zacharias/its-time-to-end-factory-f_b_1018840.html
But you’re a reformed smoker type of vegenaut. You’re too emotional to be be relevant.
Your road to Damascus experience taints your objectivity.
I quoted facts.
Whatever gets you through the night, man
So why do you smear and abuse people then?
It is hardly a controversial opinion to say that alcohol is a blight on our society.
Surely the responses you’ve had to that claim on this thread have revealed to you that actually yes it is a controversial opinion.
“I commented it was a blight on society.
Not you individually.”
And I answered accordingly, to me personally it’s not a blight, but for some, who have no self control or a modicum of common sense, it’s a big problem. There are solutions, I’m sure, but prohibition won’t work, especially when it’s cheap as chips to home brew or distil.
As for the rest of your reply, well, as noted above, it’s not vile abuse but disagreement, and yeah, we get it, you want to be the summer bbq killer. 🙄
PM
To make the argument/discussion clearer when you refer to a commenter can you say their name. Your comment was put up today at 9.21 am and finishes after ecomaori’s at 8.35 pm. I guess it is in relation to veutoviper’s but why not make it easier to connect the dots?
I will try to remember to do that. In my defence, when I posted comment 1.4 at 9:21am in response to comment 1 from Ed at 8:09am, it was fairly obvious who I was referring to – I didn’t anticipate the lengthy subthreads that would push my comment well down the page. Not an excuse though, I should have quoted him.
Yes PM
That is what I have noticed happening to me and have had to resort occasionally to shifting my comment by deleting the original and copying it to where I knew it would sit better.
Do you drink at all ?? Ever ?
Ed drinks the urine donated by Phillip Ure 😈
Further unpleasant insults made against peolple on plant based diets.
Debate the issue.
There seems to be a group of people on this site who would happily participate in the witchhunt at Salem.
I recall the unpleasant treatment of Phil and cv on this site.
Pot, meet kettle. Your ad nauseam moralising isn’t a “debate”. When people point out your logical fallacies (which are numerous) you pack a sad, play the victim card and start smearing them.
Your behaviour is more reminiscent of Peter George than CV and PU.
Urophagia, by the way, is a trait attributed* to such as Ghandi. What’s the matter Ed, don’t you like being compared to the Mahatma?
*probably inaccurately.
Testify, bro dude.
I think the responses have proved your point but they don’t get it.
I eat a plant based diet and Ed is insulting me. His attempt to cast himself as an extra in The Crucible is another insult, given the behaviour and temperament of the Salem persecutors.
So perhaps it’s you who doesn't get it: when Ed either stops abusing people, or stops whinging when he can’t handle the response, I'll stop pointing it out.
I’m considerably, CONSIDERABLY C O N S I D E R A B L Y more pompous, utterly more wise and wearied, and most extensively more full of myself than ya lot of ya.
Why I’m so gorgeous I can’t look in a mirror for fear of having an orgasm.
Lordy, that’s funny, Tim!
Yet another sign of fake jobs and fake businesses and dodgy work permits. Sarabjit Singh managed by Payal Kumar and employed on a work visa for a low level cafe job by Ben Singh Holdings, in a area of high unemployment.
The worker was only paid $150 a week in cash. There were no records of the cash payments because the ledger that recorded the payments was “allegedly” stolen during a break-in.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/100532075/dargaville-cafe-worker-awarded-20k-after-exboss-paid-him-just-150-a-week
No wonder NZ is going down the toilet in productivity and employment practises when this is the ‘new’ culture that has been fostered under the National government.
Not enough crack down by the new government – they should be urgently reviewing all the work permits given out to check they are not being abused and actually if they are real jobs with real businesses and not this type of carry on.
Not only that but wrecking our tourist industry when there are so many tourist businesses now operating without knowledge of NZ rules and regulations.
Stayed at an upmarket hotel in the holidays, same type of thing that is turning NZ into a poorly regulated tourist market seemingly operated entirely by migrant workers. In this instance stayed at a so called upmarket hotel that turned out to have poor cleaning, and poor maintenance of a formerly beautiful hotel on a lake. It appeared to have been bought by an offshore chain and staffed with beaten down migrants who don’t seem to understand purpose or method of hospitality.
Seems to be the new way to run down NZ image, as part of globalism. A race to the bottom and to exploit local resources and remove local culture and charm to save an offshore $.
Our aging population 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/100509084/celebrating-our-southlanders-robert-guyton
Valuable oldies!!
We are, Patricia! At least, our grandchildren believe so, for now…
That beard should make chimney sweeping a breeze Robert 😀
Ha!
Hours of rinsing afterwards though!
Another article referring to the oncoming financial crash.
“Many believe 2018 could be the year that country finally does something about its own huge debt problems.
When just one asset is going up, you explain it by the characteristics of that asset. But if you have an everything bubble, you need to look at the trend behind the trend.
Cast your mind back a few years and you may recall the expression “quantitative easing”. This is where central banks pumped money into the economy to try to help us recover from the global financial crisis. It happened in the US, Japan and Europe.
It worked, more or less. But the effect was similar to what you see in a game of Monopoly. The amount of money in circulation kept going up, but the number of assets to buy remained stubbornly still. As anyone who has forked out $600 in Monopoly money for Old Kent Road knows, asset prices go up as the ratio of money to assets goes up.
Quantitative easing is really just an extreme version of cutting interest rates. In both cases, the idea is to make people borrow more and spend more. So even though Australia didn’t have quantitative easing, low interest rates and the record amounts of household debt Aussies are shouldering represent its part of the everything bubble.
The problem with loose monetary policy is that while it is supposed to make people do productive things like start a new company, it has a side effect of making them buy assets at crazy prices. If the everything bubble pops, it may turn out that the cure for the global financial crisis is what caused the next crisis.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11974827
Ed, that whole article is cast in terms of “if” and what “many (unidentified people) believe”. It’s conjecture for the slow news season.
Also note this, from the final paragraph: “The exciting thing about this question is we don’t know. Immediate panic is not necessary — it is unlikely each asset class will fall together like synchronised divers. More likely, a decline in one will overlap with a decline in another, creating a long period of uncertainty.”
You could be right that 2018 will bring a crash, but you seem determined to only see the negative possibilities and seem to simply discount anything that isn’t a disaster scenario.
Yes, well I’m in Ed’s camp on this. Plenty would not believe that 2008 would happen!! But it did. We are at similar pressure points in the system again.
Of course vested interest bodies call us “chicken little” LOL.
Predicting 200 of the last two crashes is easy. Of course they happen, and of course that means there’ll be another. So far, so ‘peak oil theory’.
Actually predicting them requires a lot more hard work than reading articles in the media. If The Big Short can be believed, Michael Burry hired people to literally pore through all the individual sub-prime mortgage records. Yes, all of them.
and even then it was just a more educated bet than the other bets. If the timing had been off, the shorted packages would have increased in price and needed repayment.
I turn my back for an instant and I’m endorsing notions of meritocracy! Shame on me.
lol
it’s all reducing confidence intervals, but never eliminating them. And most people never get enough information to close them all that much in the first place.
Then there’s survivorship bias …
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.
Thank you. Good to hear there are those who agree with this point of view.
There are reputable independent economists who are telling us about an oncoming crash.
Steve Keen
Listen here
Steve Keen: The coming crash
or read this article
Steve Keen: The coming crash
Feeling a bit beleaguered by the way oab and others are now stalking my every post, be it the economy, climate change, animal cruelty….
You claim to want a discussion, Ed. But when I engaged with your comment at 1, you pretended to agree with me, then went right back to reciting your litany as though our exchange hadn’t happened.
You then went on to describe the counter arguments as abuse, itself an insult to those who had indulged your alleged desire for discussion.
While you continue to misrepresent the counter arguments to your narrative, I guarantee you that people will continue to notice and comment on that misrepresentation.
I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though. Perhaps if you engaged in better faith you might find people a little less persistent.
What do you think of my argument that sloppily-presented narratives provide comfort to “the enemy”?*
*One Two, please try and discover what inverted commas are for before your knee starts jerking at “the enemy”.
“I’m not surprised you’re feeling beleaguered though.”
Astute, AOB. If I’d received these responses on ‘Open Mike’ today, I’d feel the same:
The antipathy of AOB (aided by BM) towards Ed’s comments on today’s Open Mike is painfully obvious. Thankfully, they refrain from personal abuse.
Another day in paradise Kia ora Graham Norton I watch your show guite regularly
Now you know I’m backing Joseph Parker camp to win. Well everyone knows this fact we’re Kiwis after all I like my pies to we can’t all have the time to think about our physique if I did one knows that my Maori genetic would easily rip up. I like to watch Jimmy Barns son David Campbell on sky news. I know Iv got a big following in Australia to many thanks to all the people around OUR WORLD For your support. I know that the house that Mama raised me in Gisborne and the one buy the Waiapu river will be oneday a place that a lot of people will visit to honour me. PS to the red headed sandfly you smoke you like stake to go pinch off rich people you dick ECO doesn’t miss anything and do not kid yourself that you can pull a trick with out me noticeing. Ka kite ano
On the topic of suspicious work visas (savenz @2 ), could someone please enlighten me?
I just had 3 days of dealing with a couple of tradies, I’ll spare the details, a major complaint has already be made to the Property Manager and is being dealt with. But I’m somewhat curious about how one of them is allowed to be working here, ie what visa?
Main contractor originally from a South-East Asian country. His younger off-sider, same nationality but literally doesn’t speak a word of English, and isn’t exactly even close to being ‘skilled” in his trade (it’s painting btw)
So…are painters a skill shortage category?
Could he be sponsored here by family if they can say there’s a job for him and that’s a way in for residency?
Family reunification scheme of some sort? (It’s not a country involving refugees)
Genuinely ignorant on the matters, and curious if anyone knows about these things.
Could be here on a tourist visa and is working illegally?
I could hazard a guess…and it would be that the younger guy is being paid a pittance and not technically entitled to be working here.
He’s probably also been bullshitted to, and found that on arrival, things are not what was promised.
Now that he’s here though, the choices are either to beg, or to do whatever work is available.
Btw…I hope you’ve not succumbed to the latest exploitative sector involving immigrant slave labour (home renovation). They’re now even trying to sell franchises
@OWT, that’s what I was a bit worried about. I’m not even totally convinced the guy was being given adequate breaks for 10hr day work.
I’m not sure what- if anything I can do about this. I’m just the renter, these guys are contractors used by the property managers so I don’t get to pick and choose. I get the idea the latter has known the former for some time.
it’s a hard decision but it were me, I’d try and get a phone #, then get in touch with somebody such as the Immigrant Workers Association.
Until such time as MoBIE/INZ start caring more about the victims of exploitation rsther than those doing the exploiting, I wouldn’t go near them
Get the name of the contractor business and report them to MBIE or to Crime Stoppers.
Whereupon the contractor may, or may not be prosecuted-depending on resources available, and the victim will likely be deported, whilst the ripoff artist will not lose his recently acquired PR, and will simply move on to the next.
Meanwhile, the consultants, many of whom have vested and financial interest in the racket will continue to get their percentage.
It’s a nice idea @Craig H, but unless something has radically changed since last September, it doesn’t quite work like that or as you intend
Still better than doing nothing at all.
Kay, in Aus tradies need a blue card to work, and have to produce it. This can be checked, so you don’t get your situation happening. Huge fines ensue for cheats and employers. NZ needs that to protect the public.
Sounds like a good idea patricia bremner – of course photo id should be used so people aren’t using the same ID number.
Yes sorry I didn’t mention it has photo ID.
@Kay – welcome to a world where exploitation seems to be rife. Firstly exploitation of work permits, then getting more people in who are either working illegally or have a fake permit or even legitimate one, but speak no English so therefore hard to know what is going on.
Then the property manager is employing them probably through another firm that organises the work who charge a percentage fee, the property agency is probably charging around 10% on top of that for their labour to the owner of the rental. Being two people there there will be two labour charges even if one can’t do the job and is being trained, or the supervisor one leaves the other one in charge and left to their own devices.
So simple work turns into hundreds or thousands of dollars pretty quickly more than it should, and often a very bad job which takes longer than it should and generates complaints from all concerned. People forced to work long hours for a pittance don’t tend to do a very good job or if they do, it catches up on them and they start having accidents and needing ACC.
The terrible shortages of rentals are also related to the burgeoning costs of being able to get legitimate labour who can do a good job without it being some sort of scam rather than doing a decent days work for a decent wage.
I like the German system where tradespeople have to guarantee their work for 10 years and faulty work can actually lead to jail.
The NZ way, seems to be to do as little as possible, for as much money as possible with as many people as possible taking a cut along the way, even for very small amounts of un or semi-skilled work and the end worker is on minimum wages or less and often incompetent.
On the building front even when you insure work through master builders or whatever, you still do not get a real guarantee that the work will be fixed. So you essentially pay before hand, an extra fee, in the knowledge the builder will make mistakes and have to fix them and it can be a lot of work even getting the work fixed even with the insurance that you pay for.
We have a system in NZ that exploits everyday in the construction industry. That is why I don’t think that we can simply build these affordable houses to stem the shortage of houses.
Even the houses being built under the NZ system are faulty or have faulty materials even before you put forward the constant stream of contractors and sub contractors and the amount of cheap labour being utilised at expensive rates.
Standard work visas include working holiday visas, partner visas ( both of NZers and of work visa holders), work visas for students who have passed their courses, or even student visas.
I get that you are well in tune with the theory.
Oh dear!!!! Sir John Key has been caught up in that false missile attack alert in Hawaii!
How ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC.
THANKFULLY Granny has been in contact apparently, and we can all rest assured that he didn’t panic.
Wow! That’s a big load off my mind.
Then we’re told ‘A man shoots dead parents…..’ after a video game, only to find out they were actually alive and he killed them
Ah yes, video games me do it. But never seen anyone dressed up like mario twatting mushrooms and turtles with a hammer.
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
Rachel Stewart on twitter.
“So, we all know in our hearts that rodeo is wrong. But with Michael Laws speaking up for it, we now know it’s got to be even wronger-er than we originally thought.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/RFStew
thread
https://twitter.com/williamcson/status/951663586329407488
As the Herald would say ‘weird weather.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/348068/invercargill-has-hottest-day-on-record-at-32-point-3-degreesc
Not sure if anyone shared this before.
shonky key is a neolibreal in reality he would have shit his pants and been trying to get the first flight out of there with tears running down his face he Hawii can have the bigot we don’t want his type in New Zealand .Some people say NZ is not paradise well caste your eyes around our world and find better and I will prove you wrong.
Ana to kai
We are in a lot of trouble.
Unless significant action is taken by governments and people in the next 10 years, extinction beckons.
Take action today to save the planet and life on it.
I quote from the Guardian.
We are on a Planet that is heating up quickly.
“The years 2017, 2016 and 2015 will make up the three hottest years on record for the planet. But there’s no convincing some people.
When the global temperature readings are in for 2017, it’s going to be a very hard sell for climate-science deniers: 2017 will likely be ranked either side of 2015 as the second or third hottest year on record, with 2016 still in top spot.
The hottest five-year period recorded in the modern era will be the one we’ve just had.
Communities around the world, and the flora and fauna we share it with, feel the effects of that steady rise through extreme weather, droughts, heatwaves, shifting rains, melting ice and rising sea levels.
Levels of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, deforestation and land clearing keep climbing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2017/dec/19/checkmate-how-do-climate-science-deniers-predictions-stack-up
Trump’s America.
Let’s not hear any more hypocritical lectures or abuse to Iran, Syria, Russia, Haiti or the continent of Africa.
The US is a failed state.
“BALTIMORE — Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he’ll never forget.
The hospital’s security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown.
“It’s about 30 degrees out here right now,” Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. “Are you OK, ma’am? Do you need me to call the police?” he asks.
It’s called “patient dumping” and it doesn’t just happen in Baltimore. In 2007, “60 Minutes” investigated the practice of removing homeless patients from Los Angeles hospitals and leaving them downtown.”
http://cbsn.ws/2qWzdvt
Trump is playing a game with all US people of the world that alam warning that scared the shit out of Hawaii was known accident. You know why I say that because that is what neoliberalism does they play games with other people lives like what the sandflys are doing to me and my whano. But when things are Fucked up like the world at the moment I can see a thew thing in play from trump around our world. He is a racist bigot it will turn to shit fast with the way he is running the white house. Mother nature and mother earth does not like whats happening in the world that’s why Americans are getting hammer by them. You can’t restart the game donald it you fuck the world. It amazed me to see that a man like that could get the controls to one of the most powerful countries in the world . You know what it amazed donald and his family that he won look at the night they won they were all gobsmacked mouths open they couldn’t believe that donald won an never could the world. This cannot be allowed to happen again WTF. KIA KAHA