Open mike 20/03/2024
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6:00 am, March 20th, 2024 - 28 comments
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- This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...1 hour ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...10 hours ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...13 hours ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...14 hours ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...18 hours ago - Thursday 21 November 2024
The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...18 hours ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
I spoke to former Productivity Chair Nana this morning about the letter he and a group of other economists sent to PM Christopher Luxon to urge the Government to urgently suspend cuts to spending and investment for the sake of the economy, struggling businesses and the wellbeing of vulnerable ...20 hours ago - ACT’s Astroturfing & A Co-ordinated Attack on Te Pati Māori
Unity on the Streets / Unity at the TableAfter the Hīkoi, all three right wing Coalition leaders came together to push the idea that the 42,000 - 50,000 + strong Hikoi was somehow less potent and brave, and more illegitimate than the energy and crowd displayed.Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 20-November: ...21 hours ago - Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for stabilizing temperatures
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- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...2 days ago
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- We need to talk about Kevin
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Like everyone else (everyone who wasn't there, anyway), I've spent the morning watching the hikoi march on Parliament. The pictures are astounding: parliament grounds and the surrounding streets are full, and there are still people backed up along Lambton Quay. The police are estimating 35,000 people, and that's a floor ...3 days ago
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3 days ago - How should we talk about change?
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3 days ago - Discount Code for Webworm Merch!
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- National’s support base is wobbling
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7 days ago - More lawlessness from National
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Yesterday, under cover the the biggest political fight of the year, National quietly - covertly, even - introduced anti-foreign interference legislation. The bill is the product of a years-long work-program aimed at countering shit like this and this, and there's unquestionably a need to do something to counter foreign states' ...7 days ago
- The Haka Represents The Best Of Us
A few months ago, I was in an audience watching a Haka-Kapa and as I watched children dance and sing and sway and shout and beat, I couldn’t help but think “The Haka represents the best of us.”Yes, yes - there will be a thousand voices that rush forth to ...7 days ago
- Adding up the climate cost
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- Auckland chafing at Bishop’s housing intensification orders
One of the major problems the Government has in implementing its ‘going for housing growth’ strategy is that it isn’t giving much funding help to councils. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...7 days ago - Friday 15 November 2024
The Treaty Principles Bill continues to dominate political news, with it passing its first reading in the House. Parliament was briefly suspended and Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke suspended for 24 hours after leading a haka that was joined by opposition MPs and the public in the gallery. Willie ...7 days ago
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As the weight of the world Hangs on your shoulders The weight of the world Starts to take over again And over again All that you once loved, now you hate So slowly relearn how to meditate To have and to hold And never let go Can you feel it ...1 week ago - Thursday 14 November 2024
The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
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- Voices echo
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- Justice Select Committee opens floor for Treaty Principles submissions
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Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
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- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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Peters caught using someone's music without permission.
Chumbawamba say they don't support his use of their 1997 hit "Tubthumping" because they mean it as a song of hope, whilst Peters is …."using it to shore up his misguided political views…" and he will be sent a cease and desist letter.
Not the first time the right have been caught using someone's music without permission, but I suppose they don't think they are answerable to anyone.
All the media’s fault probably.
I don't imagine any self respecting anarchist musicians would like having their art appropriated by 'the man'.
Surely 'anarchist' musicians wouldn't be relying on something as bourgeois and rule-bound as copyright!
Well, they were anarchists in the '90s.
Maybe, like some of us round here, they have gotten conservative with the passing of time
.
"anarchist?" mm -mmm?
NZ Creatives – what a friend you have in ACT. As for National – time will tell.
To be rich is all it takes to be a top New Zealander in luxons world view. As he fawns over some nobody who sold something.
So..anyone with a disabled friend/family member..who voted for tories/act/nz 1st..
..could be having buyer's regret spasms..?
You'd think..?
Nope. Because (in USA terms), they 'owned the Libs.'
Rod Oram died yesterday. Terrible news and a big loss to NZ.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/512186/journalist-and-commentator-rod-oram-dies-after-cycling-accident
Shit..!
I only met/talked with him a few times…
..back when I was doing political commentary and stuff @ bfm…
He was kind enough to say encouraging words about my scribblings/squawkings/pontificating.
He is one of the few mainstream media commentators I have total respect for…
His was a clear voice.. amongst the usual incoherent/irrelevant babble that passes for commentary/analysis..
It is sad to hear he has died…
OMG! What a loss.
Big shoutout to his family and the liberal Anglican community he supported.
A committed cyclist, economic commentator with ideals, great guy to deal with. I'm grieving over this one.
We feel this. He was a good man who spoke for many who could not.
That is very sad news. He will be missed
Really shocked by the news today. I can only agree with what others have said. One of the best.
Ditto observer.
He came to speak to the North Shore LP a couple of times and I was struck at how humble he was despite his well known public profile and academic achievements.
.
Shame…he was priceless on RadioNZ.
I recall him saying somewhere that when he first arrived in NZ, he was sounded out by Roger Kerr, who clearly wanted to know if Oram was a strict adherent to the one true faith of neoliberal economics. Oram was a brave man to stick to his principles in such a toxic environment – and to keep doing so for so long.
Nice guy, met him in union forums over the years, liked the way he stretched his tech, ran small MacBooks because of the size he preferred.
A public intellectual in a way, but was generally tagged as a business correspondent. He certainly served it up to Fonterra over the years and knew his stuff.
Lordie I just loved the way he kept scorching Fonterra. I don't know of any economist or economic correspondent who does that to our largest-by-a-long-way business.
Back in 2007 Rod Oram wrote a book called Reinventing Paradise: How New Zealand is Starting to Earn a Bigger, Sustainable Living in the World Economy
If anyone wonders what an optimistic, credible, sector-by-sector approach to the New Zealand economy looked like before the GFC, and on the peak of the Helen Clark-Cullen government, check this one out as an oldie but a real goodie.
So many excellent anecdotes of strong businesses making real headway, and collectively forming a new kind of future prosperity for us all.
Read it again now, and check how far this National government is taking us away from that.
Heard him speak at a public meeting.
He was the sort of man who advanced well-analysed arguments to support his case. In short, the voice of reason.
not what he is doing in that interview however.
The problem is landlordism.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/19/end-of-landlords-surprisingly-simple-solution-to-uk-housing-crisis?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
“Where Adam Smith and Karl Marx found common ground was in the idea that everyone’s interests are aligned against landlords: they are an economic deadweight. Even if we leave aside the appalling conditions and precarity that private renters face, anyone with an interest in lower taxes, lower wage bills and increasing the number of first-time buyers must equally be interested in smashing the private rented sector to bits. Homebuyers are now forced to compete with landlords, who chase sensational yields in our unregulated rental market, and £85.6bn a year(which comes, of course, from wages and taxes) is wasted on rent. A renewed collapse of landlordism would represent not just the tenants’ revenge for the housing crisis, but a much broader and more valuable moment of social progress.”
Yep. Sounds radical and 'not in a million years' but something like that or actually much more drastic literally has to happen in the next few decades or maybe the next century.
I would to start with:
Make it illegal for anyone / anything / any other entity than an actual real individual human being to be the registered owner of a residential property. The only reason a company /corporation has for owning a residential property is to make money from, whether in some sort of tax avoidance or capital gains. Residential properties (houses) should be for NZ citizens and permanent residents to live in, not for people / organizations to be making massive amounts of money on.
Make it illegal for any non NZ citizen or permanent resident and illegal for any overseas businesses, etc to buy / own residential property in NZ. Again, houses are for living in. If a foreigner wants to come and live here then by all means, get NZ citizenship and welcome. Again, the only reason a foreign person / entity would have for owning a residential property in NZ is to make money from, which is non productive money, which goes off shore anyway. If foreign people and organizations really genuinely want to invest here rather than stealing wealth then we should be encouraging making it easy for them to invest in businesses which create jobs for NZ people.
Make a law that only allows an individual to own a maximum of 2 houses. That would allow one to live in and maybe a holiday home for the more wealthy. There's no need or reason for anyone to own more than 2 houses unless they are using them to male money from.
Encourage investment away from property (yes even if that means crashing the housing market. Sorry but someone, somewhere has to take the hit and as with most things it's far better to get it over with asap) and into productive investments such as businesses (jobs).
I shouldn't have associated property and investment there. Buying residential property is not productive investment. It doesn't create jobs (except maybe parasitic real estate agents) and it doesn't bring money into the real economy of goods and services. The money just stays within a small group (and getting smaller all the time as is obvious by home ownership rates being in constant decline for 4 decades) going round in circles making money from money but none of it ever comes back into the real economy.
I know obviously there would be all sorts of exemptions to start with (such as for landlords being allowed to own more than one 2 houses)
Anyway just some radical (many would say economically catastrophic – I disagree) ideas that obviously won't happen any time soon. But the tipping point for all this is coming and it's not that far away. Wealth is being concentrated into a smaller and smaller percentage of people at the top and this is going to continue because that's what the outcome of our current economic system delivers. So at some stage the peasants (us) will say "whoah… stop, this is not good and time to stop.. Will it be when the top 30% own 70% of all the wealth? When the top 10% own 90%? This is exactly what is happening, the middle class is being eroded and most are still distracted enough not to quite notice it yet but they will at some stage that is 100% definite. The obvious end point is when one person owns everything and that is the path we are on. Of course there will either be revolution or martial law before that.
Remove rental subsidizes, they are the a direct cause of the housing ponzi scheme, make landlords eat the loss,