“David [Farrar] has said he was using me as an example of where the system isn’t working. What it feels like to me is being strung up to make a point. He’s opened me up to his commenters. People who read Kiwiblog are, for the most part, not sympathetic to beneficiaries.
The comments are unsurprising. At least most of them are not attacking me personally (so far) but the problem is – they’re missing the point. They’re saying “Oh, this one’s different. She’s actually sick. Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”
They think I represent a minority. They congratulate me on my honesty and my attempts to work. It sickens me to the core. I don’t need them to thank me for telling the truth. For trying to get on with my life and do what little I can to get by and get well.
And the truth is, I’m not a minority. People who are on benefits who shouldn’t be are the minority. The neural pathway to “dole bludger” is burned deep and they just can’t see past it. It doesn’t help that every which way you turn the government are doing their best to reinforce it.”
It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.
Much easier to swallow the govt lines, read slater, penguin post and feel smug n superior whilst writing off your fellow kiwis who are victims of an uncaring govt.
Nact want people to believe an issue they have made worse is not their problem, like housing, environment etc etc then off to the polls sheeple.
Despite not having a goal of 0% employment, national and supporters rail on those without jobs to get the jobs that are there…. Bill English believes full employment is a hoax, apparently.
Of course – minimising the number of employees maximises corporate profits. And if you really need employees try and get rid of the NZ ones and employ ones in China for $2/hr instead.
The trouble for you is that capital doesn’t tend towards the lowest cost countries in terms of labour and the countries that do gain foreign investment generally see higher increases in wages as a result.
and the countries that do gain foreign investment generally see higher increases in wages as a result.
That’s why American corporations are abandoning Chinese coastal manufacturing areas and shifting into the undeveloped inland provinces, or leaving China altogether and taking their factories and employment to cheaper places like Vietnam.
Hey that’s interesting, China seems to be provoking some military and economic tensions with Vietnam, that’s a coincidence isn’t it.
It’s what Fisher & Paykel did laying off NZ staff and moving manufacturing to Mexico and the Philippines (?). They didn’t move the factories for improved scenery or better quality anyways.
If capital really did go to the lowest (not lower) cost countries then African nations would be getting all the foreign investment. Africa actually suffers from a lack of foreign investment and even arch-anti capitalists like Zanu-PF are crying out for it.
Well if you ignore all the other factors that corporates also consider like energy infrastructure, political stability, logistics, security situation, population literacy etc. you might have a point.
I agree. There are multiple reasons why an organisation or individual might invest in another country. Cost of labour is but one of them and not usually the most important by a long way.
This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.
How can labour rates increase? Labour rates increasing mandates falling profitability and shareholders and institutional investors alike do not like that.
Wage arbitrage in the form of exporting well paid western jobs to lower cost developing countries has been going on for 30 years. Yes Chinese worker pay has increased in that time, at the expense of western workers whose pay increases have flatlined while western employment has dropped precipitously.
I don’t know why you would support such an economic regime but apparently you do.
Wage rates rising does not imply falling profitability. That is the wrongheaded thinking of neo-Marxism. Profitability can be increased in numerous ways without having low labour rates.
Removing one employee in a team of five and redistributing the workload to the remaining 4 people adds about $50K to the corporate bottom line instantly.
It’s an absolutely certain way to increase shareholder returns, straight away no ifs or buts.
Not necessarily. Imagine you have 4 staff and you want to increase production. It might be beneficial to give everyone a 20 percent pay increase if they produce the same level of output as 5 workers if they increase their productivity levels.
“This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.”
Removing one employee in a team of five and redistributing the workload to the remaining 4 people adds about $50K to the corporate bottom line instantly.
That’s a simplistic way of looking at it that embeds many assumptions.
For example, you’re assuming those other 4 workers can in fact do the same job to the same standard as the 5th person that was let go. If they in fact cannot do the same job to the same standard, while you may be saving $50k in costs, you may not make up for it in profit. You may even end up losing proportionally more profit from that 5th employee going.
Also, this does not consider long-term implications. If you have 5 people and 1 person is off work sick, you’re not nearly as impacted as when you have 4 people and 1 person is off work sick. Once again, this could disproportionately affect profit compared to continue to employ 5 people.
I realise that managers probably do not take this things into account nearly as much as they should, or just gloss over it and imagine everything is fine. But that doesn’t mean these aren’t things that should be considered and are quite possible outcomes of reducing headcount.
Africa actually suffers from a lack of foreign investment…
Actually, Africa has so much foreign investment already that it’s losing at least 10% of what it produces to rich foreigners (Piketty et al, Capitalism in the 21st Century). It is, quite simply, what’s keeping Africa poor.
Africa receives very little of the world’s total FDI.
[citation needed]
I did, after all, provide a citation that shows that the majority of capital in Africa is foreign owned. Of course, a lot of that ownership goes back a couple of centuries so it could be that Africa doesn’t get much FDI today while still being majority owned by foreigners.
That’s what happens when your product design goes from being known to last forever, to being known to be mostly rubbish after 5-6 years of use. And too often within 5-6 weeks of having been bought and used at home.
“It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.”
tc, please don’t fall into the lie that most people that vote on the right support the bene-crushing/bashing meme. I’m not just being pedantic here, this is an important political point. People across the whole political spectrum are capable of compassion. If we start saying that all righties hate benes we serve the agenda of nasty fucks like Farrar, Bennett etc.
It’s vital that we don’t lump all conservatives into the neoliberal hard right. There have always been people who vote on the right for economic reasons but are socially liberal. Best we not lose sight of them.
I agree. The labour party did a great job bashing beneficiaries in its last terms as government. I also find that those of the blue collar persuasion, whoever they vote for, can be some of the most bigotted people out there. At least they say it, the white collar bigots learn to say in public the right stuff and leave the revelation of their bigotry to the private dinners.
Compassion is not about ideology but implementation of ideology can negatively impact the gifting of compassion, imo.
“Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”” and that is precisely what makes this tactic, and it is a deliberate tactic, by national and anyone else toting this “argument”, so insidious.
If it is someone rorting the system they are
“the tip of the iceberg”, if someone is not rorting the system they are “a minority”.
The lackof consistency between the two conclusions exposes it for what it is, but those wielding it as an ‘argument” seem oblivious to how it exposes their own duplicity.
I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time. It seems to me that this is not good enough for many left wing people. If you don’t agree with a leftist view completely then it is almost worse than if to completely disagree with it. No wonder the left is prone to splintering in to smaller and smaller groups.
I presume that among the “extremely sympathetic” comments you included the ones which (a) tried to diagnose her condition based on one blog post, ignoring her own statements about her diagnosis and (b) made wild assumptions about her skills, work experience, and lifestyle, all of which could have been corrected by simply reading her other posts.
ETA: and don’t forget the “extremely sympathetic” commenter who declared that having debilitating stomach bugs is “fashionable”.
The only really objectionable comments was by someone called Kea and a number of other commentators were taking him/her to task for the views expressed. A left wing commentator even made reference to the fact the comments were very supportive
“I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time”
I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.
Absence of outright bene-bashing abuse doesn’t mean that the politics are fair or reasonable. It’s interesting to see someone like Farrar attempting to say, oh actually yes some beneficiaries are having a hard time and WINZ aren’t doing their job properly. Interesting because it’s possible he’s had some kind of realisation about his politics, and interesting because he still doesn’t get how his politics put so many ill and disabled people at risk.
This is why I dislike leftist thinking in NZ. Fair and balanced to you basically means other people have to broadly agree with your position. In essence the left in NZ is the Fox news of political discussion.
And yet I just disagreed with your assessment of the comments at Kiwiblog and gave my reasons why, and all you can do in response is say that I don’t tolerate disagreement. Irony much?
remember he doesn’t read his own posts and most of what other people write. I suspect he skim reads quickly to enable him to share his entirely neutral and logical viewpoint with us all.
I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.
“I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.”
Nah, you first. Try responding to what I raised and then I’ll reply to that.
“I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.”
You gave no examples of how most comments are prejudicial to people with disabilities. I can only assume that you dislike the fact that someone who doesn’t agree that people on a benefit for a disability should never have to be subject to ongoing checks because that was what most of the commentators were stating – Some people should and some people shouldn’t.
No, I don’t believe that at all. Why would you assume that? Not making baseless assumptions about my politics are you?
If you are genuinely interested we can look at the range of prejudices. You don’t have to agree of course, but it helps to understand what the basics are.
On what basis do you make the claim that a number of commentators were showing their prejudices of disabled people via their comments then? I’d be interested in getting your perspective on this.
I saw a few comments where they blamed the WINZ workers, which reminds me of the bad apples always turning up in the police. As long as we can blame a minority of the workers, we don’t have to look at the problems inherent in the system. This type of approach is a continuation of right wing punishment of beneficiaries, not any real realisation.
The Archdruid John Michael Greer has done just that
On the off chance that any Republican Satanists are reading these lines, though, I’d like to offer a helpful suggestion. The long charade of pretending to be Christian conservatives has no doubt been great fun, and it’s certainly succeeded in getting Satanic ideas widely accepted all through those parts of American society that might have been expected to resist them most forcefully. Only one of the seven deadly sins has gotten by without extravagant praise from so-called Christian conservatives in recent years—it’s hard to glorify an economic system that depends on avarice, gluttony, envy and sloth, and a foreign policy defined by pride and wrath, in any other way—and no doubt they’ll find a way to fit lust in there somewhere one of these days, and finish collecting the whole set.
Strangely last night I watched an interview by Paul Henry with Dr Smith. Lots of friendly banter but then surprisingly the questions were sharper and searching. Dr Smith’s usual bluster was kept in check and challenged. eg the lower cost of building materials is only $3,000. Irrelevant.
When Paul is on form he is an excellent interviewer even with his best mate Nick. Pity really.
About 14 minutes in: http://www.tv3.co.nz/THE-PAUL-HENRY-SHOW-Monday-May-19-2014/tabid/3692/articleID/99915/MCat/3901/Default.aspx
Paul hammered home the point about National not knowing or wanting to know about facts of foreign ownership. ($11million to find out if Charter Schools might work but zilch for house ownership Data.)
Interesting to see Paul actually hold Nick Smith’s feet to the fire.
It was probably said out of fear of National losing, but I thought it was significant that Henry said housing was National’s Achilles heel. I think he’s right.
Yeah but Pauline Henrietta was no doubt motivated by the fact that Smith is a really unattractive individual……..”Hey, the 80s want their hair back…..” sort of vile bullshit.
The Nasty Old Queen just loves ‘attractive’ , even if completely vacuous. Like he sees himself really. Sooooo attractive…….sooooo clever. Sooooo entiltled indeed bound to talk any nasty shit. What a mouthy bag ! Sideshow, sweet. Worthy of any modicum of respect ? No !
The Property Investors Federation says of the OECD report, which said our houses were way over-valued, “no no no it is not the houses which are over-valued, it is the rents which are too low”.
Crazy Act Party Pill people. You couldn’t make this shit up …….
vto – that was the one concern, when I heard this report, about housing being over-valued and rents too low. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that part of the reason why the accommodation supplement was extended to all private housing in the first place, when the ratio of the value of housing to actual rental price became imbalanced, and the Government tried to fix it?
For once you have a partial point gosman. This is the only problem with money being created by a government rather than by the rothschilds, who currently create it.
Governments are by nature waaayyyy too political and subject to such pressures that the money-creating could be used for ulterior purposes.
However, this is pretty much the only problem. A solution could be found – something like making changes to such a system very onerous, similar to changing a constitution for example.
The result however would be that all of that interest that we all pay every single day of every single year of every single decade – interest that gets paid to a tiny 0.1% select few people would instead be retained in our economic system. The benefit is off the planet.
NZ govt projected to pay $6billion over the next 12 months. That is more than Key’s lot got in asset sales.
Farm debt at $50billion must pay around a further $4-5billion per year.
Household debt – don’t know, but I betcha it is a scary number.
All of that money – out the door it goes every year, paid to the select 0.1% who only print the money anyway. It is the world’s biggest rort. The problem you highlight is teency in comparison and easily solved.
..(as i said..the figure for both is about $8.4 billion..)
..so..what to do about that..?
of course..we could claw a chunk of that back by following key/nationals’ lead..(but flipping it..)
..by partially-nationalising the banksters..for starts..
..we the people take a 51% share of those banks/insurance companies/supermarket-chains etc..(and of course the ‘sin’-industries..the booze-pushers..the gambling industry..
..partially-nationalise the lot of them..!
..then of course..51% of the billions they send offshore every year..
The reason being that he has asserted stuff many many times and been challenged to front up.
His argument tends to be not that the burden of proof is on the person making the assertion, but that the reader do his research for his since it’s “common knowledge”. And if you don’t do the research for him, you’re lazy.
Balance Of Payments, pg. 30: In the red by 8,765 (millions), or 4.1% of GDP.
For profits leaving New Zealand, I suspect you’ll have to dig around treasury excel sheets.
I could only find the 8.3 billion referenced by CAFCA here
By the way Zanu-PF has a very similar policy to you in relation to this 51% owenership. They call it indigenisation and the policy has led to the collapse of foreign investment in Zimbabwe and a serious lack of capital.
and here’s something for you. It is called a link supporting my point.
My question is how can government create money for productive investments if the people living in the country don’t trust the government to not abuse that ability?
My answer is above. Didn’t you read it? Put in place measures similar to those which prohibit changes to very fundamental aspects of a nations structures, such as is with constitutional changes in many many countries.
Do you think there would be no solution?
And, what of the benefits I mentioned? Or do you just ignore that?
Not very specific answer that. It would be like me stating I would make capitalism work better by putting in place measures which prohibit changes to the etc etc.
It is entirely specific. Take structures currently in place to safeguard various constitutions around the world and apply to them to government issue of money. You are clearly unfamiliar with those structures and I aint wasting my time educating you.
Now, your turn – your answer to the benefits that would arise. Unless you have no answer that is …..
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
If you mean basic constitutional structures I think you will find they work best when they have very broad set of rules to work with and don’t work very well if they attempt to regulate specific detail. Managing an economy at a micro level (which would be required under the sort of plan you are suggesting) would be far too complex for a broad set of rules and the rules would become cumbersome and restrictive if they were more detailed. In short it would be a recipe for the slow strangulation of the economy in my mind.
Funny how you implicitly trust the Rothschilds, the BIS and the Fed to monopolise the money supply, especially when all they do is feed it to their investment banker mates and big corporations.
My question to you is how many of the following were due to hard core left governments?
14th century
14th century banking crisis (the crash of the Peruzzi and the Bardi family Compagnia dei Bardi in 1345).
17th century
Tulip mania (1637)
18th century
South Sea Bubble (1720) (UK)
Mississippi Company (1720) (France)
Crisis of 1763 - started in Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of Leendert Pieter de Neufville, spread to Germany and Scandinavia
Crisis of 1772 - started in London and Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of the bankers Neal, James, Fordyce and Down.
Panic of 1785 - United States
Panic of 1792 - United States
Panic of 1796-1797 - Britain and United States
19th century
Danish state bankruptcy of 1813
Post-Napoleonic depression (post 1815)
Panic of 1819, a U.S. recession with bank failures; culmination of U.S.'s first boom-to-bust economic cycle
Panic of 1825, a pervasive British recession in which many banks failed, nearly including the Bank of England
Panic of 1837, a U.S. recession with bank failures, followed by a 5-year depression
Panic of 1847, started as a collapse of British financial markets associated with the end of the 1840s railway industry boom
Panic of 1857, a U.S. recession with bank failures
Panic of 1866, was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London
Long Depression (1873–1896)
Panic of 1873, a US recession with bank failures, followed by a four-year depression
Panic of 1884
Panic of 1890
Panic of 1893, a US recession with bank failures
Australian banking crisis of 1893
Panic of 1896
20th century
Panic of 1901, a U.S. economic recession that started a fight for financial control of the Northern Pacific Railway
Panic of 1907, a U.S. economic recession with bank failures
Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression (1929–1939) the worst depression of modern history
OPEC oil price shock (1973)
Secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 in the UK
Japanese asset price bubble (1986–2003)
Bank stock crisis (Israel 1983)
Black Monday (1987)
Savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s in the U.S.
1991 India economic crisis
Finnish banking crisis (1990s)
Swedish banking crisis (1990s)
1994 economic crisis in Mexico
Late-2000s Financial Crisis or the Late-2000s recession, including:
2000s energy crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
United States housing bubble and United States housing market correction
2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis
2008–2010 Irish banking crisis
Russian financial crisis of 2008–2009
Automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010
European sovereign debt crisis
Millions in today’s money were sunk into tulips, especially the one’s with pretty patterns and colour variations on the flowers.
Shame they didn’t realise at the time they were investing in plant virus’.
All of these crisis did not lead to the collapse of the economic system and actually go to show how Capitalism works by correcting massive market distortions (in other words you can’t beat the market over the long term). This is against the multiple collapses of alternative economic systems such as the failure of Soviet Communism and African Socialism not too mention the on going failures in countries like North Korea.
Capitalism CAUSES “massive market distortions” not “corrects” them.
And as we saw in 2008-2009 the STATE and TAXPAYERS had to save the bloody system and bail out the banksters to the tune of tens of trillions world wide.
Please pay attention Gossie. Economic attacks by the western power elite have been very effective in bringing down governments previously, but you have noted that the Chinese, the Russians and the South Americans have all learnt their lessons from that very well.
The taxpayer didn’t have to bail out the banks. They could have taken the approach for other crises. It would have caused a lot more social harm admittedly but the system would have bounced back as it has always done. This is unlike Socialist alternatives that seem to disappear completely once they face a massive crisis.
Can you post links to the referendums showing where taxpayers made the collective decision to bail out the banks?
If the system wasnt going to collapse anyway, as you suggest, how could “a lot more social harm” have happened, cos that would be a failure of the system.
Social harm is not idicative of a complete collapse just as social good as a result of boom times is not necessary suggestive that the system is on a sustainable path.
Lloyd Blankfein and fellow bankster CEO compatriots were all sudden socialists when they received tens of millions of bonuses from the tax payer’s pocket.
Technically the vast majority of the bailout was in the form of loans or guarrantees but I will grant you replying of State handouts for survival is a tad hypocritical for the banks.
Nope. The USSR wasn’t communist – it was state capitalist. Top down hierarchies always fall down because they always become too top heavy due to wealth accumulation by the few and then the use of oppression to maintain that disparity.
In the markets where you bought things like food? Or perhaps it was in the competitive system where they determined what planes were built?
The real big one though was the fact that it was the people at the top that were deciding what was available and who were deciding what the nations resources were used for and not the people via a democratic system. Just the same as we have in the capitalist countries.
It is the top down hierarchy that truly defines capitalism.
That isn’t a the sort if market that a capitalist system would use. The free setting of prices by the market is the critical component of capitalism. You have admitted that the Soviet Union didn’t have that. Ipso facto it was not capitalist.
yes but but but
– 1848 – all those rabbly poor revolting all over the place, ewww
– 1916 – nasty idealist Spartacist poor people
– 1917 – more of those wretched disaffected hijacking Russian ships
– all those rotten leftie wars of liberation in the entire 20th century in China and Russia and Africa and South East Asia
Dammit those lefties ain’t wollen-condom-wearing rope-haired tie-died hold-hands-around-the-Pentagon-to-levitate-it peaceniks either.
According to Jamie Whyte and Roger Douglas, all of them, and any economic failure missing since Adam bit the apple, were caused by Marxist intervention in the market. John Key, as a pragmatic centrist, only blames the Marxist left for 50% of those.
Gosman, we know you are Dumb, you have no need to offer up even more proof, the US Government has presided over the ‘production’ of trillions of dollars in the past 7 years and if any society were to as you put it ‘lose faith’ in the currency and start producing other currencies with which to facilitate trading it would have occurred in the ‘land of the free’…
Surly, it would depend upon why the people have lost faith in the government as you would need to address that. Corruption, making decisions against the will of the people etc etc.
Goedemorgen, standardistas. Some observations from my hols. Firstly, the majority of Scots want independence, but the majority won’t actually vote for it. Economics will beat emotion, unless Braveheart’s on the telly the night before the vote.
Secondly, the Tories are claiming credit for the end of a recession they prolonged. The ‘conservative recovery’ is the meme they’re pushing. Look for our Tories to copy that line.
Thirdly, UKIP, the leadership of the premier league, and Jeremy Clarkson are all rotten to the core, but they reflect the values of little Britain. That is, they reflect fear, ignorance and bigotry.
re:UKIP, they’ll stroll through the European elections, which nobody cares about, but they’ll also bugger up the conservatives in the council elections held the same day, which David Cameron does care about.
Lastly, it’s 22 degrees at 9.40 in the evening here in den Haag. Hit 27 this arvo. It’s only May, that shouldn’t be happening. Further to the east, Bosnia is being destroyed by unprecedented flooding. Strange days, indeed. It’s almost like the climate’s changing.
As way of comparison how is the French economy going considering they didn’t take the cuts to government expenditure approach that the Coalitionm government in the UK took?
In some ways I hoped she would step down entirely. My family’s experience of her as representative of the Labour party’s bene bashing in their last go at ghovernment revealled her to be very akin to the Nats that so many despise.
Under her guidance the Ministry sent letters to my family outlining new measures for evaluating one of our members and getting him into the workforce. That’s how they put it. he is physically and mentally disabled by cerebral palsy. Apparently Ruth’s minions came up with a possible cure cos they wanted to re-do his assessment every year… and remove help to what was previously called shltered workshops.
My family member had worked once in mainstream employment, in ZIP industries. Was very good on hispart of the assembly line, looked after his machine and knew it inside out BUT was too slow. Apart from the bullying and being pushed down stairs by able bodied co-workers, with no action taken by management following complaints, he was first to go when ZIP hit trouble. He was unemployed for years, slipped into depression until getting work at Killmarnock enterprises. The work there gave him somewhere to go, gave him a sense of community and contributing. His benefit went to Killmarnock and he received about $25 per week cash. There was a place for this kind of “employment.”
They used to do the poppies each year, but then it went to China… China was cheaper than a sheltered workshop…. ask yourselves something about how that is possible.
So I am only sorry that Ruth is not retiring altogether.
They used to do the poppies each year, but then it went to China… China was cheaper than a sheltered workshop…. ask yourselves something about how that is possible.
Because the financial system is delusional as it fails to take into account actual physical costs.
New Zealand Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said the report would prompt landlords to raise rents. “Rents are actually undervalued and should be higher.”
The average rent, he said, was $350 a week – at least $40 below what it should be – and tenants should expect increases soon.
“We’re trying to get them used to the idea . . . and hopefully they’ll be a bit more planned and prepared for those rent increases when they do come.”
Yep, unbelievable. A sign of where their head space is at ….. loops ..
In Christchurch I hear people say how great it is the returns you can get from rentals. Great great, yeah good money blah bah blah ….
What these fools don’t appreciate is that this money is being made by duress effectively. It is being made by taking advantage of people’s troubles and bad times. People are not willingly paying these new high rents because they have more money and feel like an upgrade, they are paying them because they have no choice. They are being taken advantage of. It isn’t even the free market as there is no willing buyer and willing seller. It is a simple rort, taking advantage of people when they are down.
These foolish landlords seem to have forgotten this.
I predict that when the rental market turns (which it will) there will be no mercy shown to the greedy landlords. They will be chopped down and shown no mercy.
Christchurch, post-earthquakes…… a true exercise in the more extreme aspects of human nature …
I wonder who lives in the three home sin Ilam and fendalton and Bryndwer that Gerry doesn’t live in? And at what rental?
This is way beyond ignorance and a joke.
And never forget, it’s not communisim, socialism, community mindedness or marxism that reeks havoc every decade or so on our economies, it’s the much vaunted profit motive system. Who can make the most money wins.
I didn’t know that Brownlee had three houses in that area but I did know that he lived in a 5-star hotel for at least a year or more after the quakes ( at our expense of course ).
Government spies did not supply information that led to the death of a New Zealander in a drone strike, Prime Minister John Key says.
But the Government Communications Security Bureau did provide intelligence that was used on other targets, specifically in Afghanistan, he confirmed.
But later in the article we get this:
Key said the GCSB had no prior knowledge of the attack.
Responding to Scahill’s comments, he said: “Certainly, in the way that I interpreted them, they are completely wrong.”
Scahill also said he had seen “dozens of top secret documents” the United States provided to the GCSB which indicated New Zealand was fully briefed on the drone-strike programme.
Key did not directly answer whether this was the case.
“What would be useful would be if he provided the evidence he’s talking about,” he said.
Key also confirmed that the foreign agency supplied intelligence to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan. He wouldn’t detail other countries where this had occurred.
“They supply that information. They, from time to time, build up information about particular people of interest.
“And they have supplied that information fully with the knowledge that those people would be pursued … but there is nothing unusual about that.”
Key has again refused to rule out if more Kiwis were killed in a wave of drone strikes in Yemen.
“What information I might or might not know, what information I’m prepared to divulge are completely different issues,” he said.
Asked why it was in the interest of national security to keep any deaths secret, Key replied: “Because I deem it to be that.”
Key would not say whether he believed Jones’ death was justified.
So that’s all totally clear then?
My bold. But then, all of his smoke and mirrors could be just as significant/telling.
To clarify, an entity that attacks targets, including civilians, is engaging in terrorism. Gordon Campbell spells it out:
He [Key] did however confirm that GCSB-supplied information had not been used to target the New Zealand citizen Daryl Jones, killed by a drone strike in Yemen last November. (How Key could be so sure when he claimed not to know the purposes for which ISAF uses the data that we supply, was left unclear.)
[…]
New Zealanders now know they have been complicit in an assassination-by-drone programme that is known to have killed scores of innocent people, time and again, in countries with which we are not at war. We do not know the criteria for targeting or the degree of care that the US operators are using to identify their targets and to avoid “collateral” killings.
To clarify, an entity that attacks targets, including civilians, is engaging in terrorism
Raining death out of the sky with no warning, on your village, on your wedding party, sounds like terrorism to me.
And of course, hitting unarmed civvies who cannot strike back in any way shape or form is not “war” it is a massacre – according to an Israeli Jewish commentator critical of Israel’s use of drone strikes.
Labour and Greens have pulled their support for a law change which cracks down on migrant exploitation because of their concern about significant new powers including warrantless searches of migrants’ homes.
The Opposition parties initially supported the Immigration Amendment Bill (No 2) but now believe that it will will fail to help migrant workers because the punitive sanctions and lack of protection for abused employees will mean they are too afraid to report abuse.
The Stuff.co budget poll is still alive, this time found in the Taranaki Daily Times, up from the 600 odd respondents last time i looked, 1353 have now cast a vote,
The 3 categories for voting to ”like” Bills budget now total 44.6%,
The 2 categories that hoick a big one giving the Budget the thumbs down, 55.5%,
Peter Jackson is said to be considering a new ‘blockbuster’ titled ”Nightmare on Wing-nut street”…
One for Rosie from wellingtons Dominion/Post, the Capital and Coast DHP has gone into panic mode over a 5% blow-out in its budget,(no wonder your last hospital visit was a nightmare),
Having dragged its deficit down from 67 odd million dollars to some 9 million dollars i have to wonder just who is the ”gate-keeper” when it comes to who will be denied services from Capital and Coast DHP, it wouldn’t be the Radiologists contracted to supply services in the DHB’s region would it,
Staff employed by Capital Coast have been told to consider taking a holiday to ensure the budget blowout is contained…
Great news for Wellington that the Hilton will build a 5 star hotel and a 2500 people convention centre. Great news for NZ that a second and third internet fibre cable are about to be confirmed. Further signs of the brighter and brighter future that can be maintained only if we vote for Three More Years
great news that homes are the most unaffordable in the world
great news that more rivers are being shat in
great news that government debt has been increased five-fold
great news that New Zealanders will be paying $1,500 per every single person this year ($30 per week, almost $5 today) by way of interest on government debt
but yeah moron, great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to stay in
Gee. That would be a bit tough for that lovely Auckland SkyCity Convention Centre Gambling Den that the nice Mr Key organised. Be awful if Wellington trumped Auckland. Any chance of the Nat dirty tricks brigade sabotaging the Wellington plan?
As far as I know, it would still take until the end of the universe to decrypt a 128 bit encryption algorithm. IMO, this would tend to indicate that the spy agencies aren’t really interested in what the bad guys are saying but they are most interested in what the general populace are saying. It is, after all, the general populace that is a threat to the status quo.
As far as I know, it would still take until the end of the universe to decrypt a 128 bit encryption algorithm.
They’ve already thought of that. Which is why every commercially available encryption method has been deliberately weakened by the NSA through agreement with corporate software developers.
For example, most encryption algorithms require a random number generator to produce secure keys. “One of the oldest tricks in the book is to modify the random number generator so it outputs only a tiny subset of all the random numbers it normally should,” says Kuhn – a bit like subtly weighing a die to roll 6 more often than it should.
This change would mean the software can only produce a much smaller list of secret keys than it should, though the number of keys is still too vast for you to notice the change without looking closely. If you know about the vulnerability, however, you can attempt to crack encrypted messages using only the smaller list of keys. That makes it more feasible to use brute force to crack the encryption – all you need is enough computing power, which of course the NSA and GCHQ have in abundance.
Like I wrote yesterday about trigger words, have a laugh at the spies expense.
When I call my ma back in Blighty, I nearly always start the conversation with how’s al quaeda, bin laden and the atomic bomb plan going? Knowing that two sets of spooks half a world away will then tune in for the hour or so listening to tales of me mum’s lumbago and her diabetic dog 😆
Your cheerleading gives us much amusement Fisiani. The capitalist model is a boom and bust cycle. A brighter future looks rosie one month, then a share market crash the next.
Yours is a big what if, or more likely to be if only.
Way back when i used to enjoy cricket – we’d often set up a social game, pick teams, keep scores and have a beer afterwards. Sadly greed has fouled the game and the gallant defense of the castle by the knight is just a big illusion.
I still love cricket, though not the t20 no skill, swing and hope version.
A shame the game is in the mire. I hark back to the days when all you had to worry about were uncouth Australians dominating the game.
Cairns, the legend, not any more. Guess he’ll be offering to pay back the libel damages he won in London the other year.
it’s just not cricket – makes professional wrestling look sincere – all the cricket stats are buggered – might as well use win/loss from professional boxing or maybe win/place from horsey racing – just meaningless rubbish imo.
but whenever a grassy meadow or flat beach is there and a stick/bat and a ball – well, we will once again enjoy the game.
It’s a right old mess. I suggest we ban all nations from playing the game except England and Scotland.
Melt down a deep fried mars bar in batter, stick it in a tupperware bowl and England can always look forward to a 50/50 chance of winning a trophy again.
I suspect TV3 will be sending over a contingent of ‘reporters’ to cover the ‘historic’ event. Shame they can’t save the cash and spend it on new programming. I mean, seriously, Rambo, it was only on Ch 4 a month or two back.
At least they won’t have to cough for more trips to SA now Mandela has finally passed on.
Of course it’s electioneering at it’s most obvious, the question is whether it’s really such a big deal to the NZ public that our PM is summoned to Washington.
I’m guessing a selfie with Kevin Spacey would carry more kudos.
On National radio the leading news is “John key says he WILL NOT be discussing drone strikes”on his please explain summons to White House. “Yip”, he said, “we won’t be bringing up drone strikes” Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing.
If key is stupid enough to think that we are stupid enough to believe that discussing drone strikes is not the reason for this sudden summons then he is stupider than I thought. Obama has obviously heard key’s various explanations of what he might know, what he thinks he doesn’t know, what he is sure he doesn’t know, yes,I did know that. No, I did not know that. But I am sure if it did happen I know it would be legal. And so on. Spinning.spinning, spinning.
The alarming thing about Key’s National radio piece discussing Obama and drone strikes is that Key said he was “mostly” (or word of same meaning) happy with the legality of the drone strikes.
Now that should mean that there are some drone strikes that he acknowledges are extra-legal and wrong, and about which he should be unhappy.
FFS, if there is one death or injury from an illegal or wrong drone strike (IMO they’re all wrong) as Key himself sees it, then he should be concerned, even talking to Obama, and the media should have been picking him up on this use of language.
…and Rhino is keeping a low profile these days …must be busy ….used to enjoy his diatribes ( he is best in a pincer attack)…he has a great facility with language…like our Phil..lol
Cerebral and obscure, a winning combination in my book.
I had an old original xbox game of Rogue trooper to give him, but I thought I’d lost it.
It appears not only do I have still have the game in the wardrobe of doom, but an old ex rental xbox console I bought of united video when they flipped them off and a couple of controllers.
Works on any TV with red/yellow/white inputs, even old stylee through the aerial.
All he has to do is mail me at al1en.org and I’ll post it off. It’s not doing anyone any favours in the cupboard, and even if he has a play and gives it away, it’s all good.
Just checked it and all the wires and connectors are there, two controllers (though one looks iffy) and all in a neat carry case.
Has the Rogue trooper game, Halo 1 and 2, Area 51, Shadow ops:Red mercury and Hello Kitty.
All except Hello Kitty are on my newer, old xbox360, so if you see Rogue, tell him. 😉
……..And we haven’t had a sing song in a while fender.
I have an earworm and the feeling and energy in the song somehow reminds me of Judith Collins, her self advancing actions and how it’s all going to implode one day and she “will just reap that fuck up”. While the lyrics don’t refer literally to what we see unfolding, the whole big train wreck that is the National coalition government, there is a sense of impending calamity in the song which feels to me like what the Government will sooner or later come to face. So Jude is there in the song and so is the Government, to my ears at least.
Yep, freeview channel 22; Nathan Guy 20/5/2014: “Knocking on doors in Waikanae at the weekend everybody told me this is a great budget”. Unless he only knocked on National party members doors I don’t believe him..
And in her haste to return to work to tell more lies Judith forgot to change out of her dressing gown..
Wealthy Waikanae, the same place he parked his stupid promo trailer over the mobility park. He must be too scared to leave the safe confines of the immediate area.
I bet he won’t be knocking on doors in Kena Kena.
Lol moment though, the last time I was out on the Kapiti Coast it looked like someone had thrown something squishy and wet at the huge photo of himself on the outside of his electorate office. It had been scrubbed off but had left a stain all over his goofy face. I guess he inspired some strong feelings in someone or some people……
The report on his trial states that after entering the plea that he was not guilty, Banks was given permission to leave the dock and sit behind his counsel in the courtroom.
I have no particular problem with that procedure if it is the norm, except to query whether consideration of his status was the reason for the permission or is this a common practice that is applied to other less worthy and common defendants too?
I have never been at a criminal trial where the defendant sits near their council and not in the dock. I am NOT saying it doesn’t happen, just that over the years I have witnessed over 50 and never seen it, unless they were representing themselves.
The publicity surrounding Key’s visit to Washington will benefit him a great deal. It seems three more years of him as Prime Minister are unavoidable because unless a miracle happens National appears to be winning hands down.
John key is not going to win next time around !…..and nor is Len Brown!
From Martyn Bradbury;
“Dear Len Brown – Auckland must not privatise any more of its public spaces…When Len Brown and Cameron Brewer are shoulder to shoulder on any issue, you know the slimy has met the politically expedient…..
Do y’all know that Backbenchers is back on, on Prime TV at 10.30 pm on Wednesday’s?
It’s past my bedtime, I have no way of recording it and Prime don’t do “video on demand” but I am viewing it later at a friends house who has a recording. He was the pub during filming last week and said Peter Dunne had a bit of a crack at People’s Power Ohariu. I hope it that bit was filmed! Lol, Dunne – will you be done for come 20th September?
Wallace certainly isn’t Kim Hill but Backbenches is not “shit TV” IMO. I like it, caught it last week and have to admit Trevor Mallard (shock horror) impressed (he seemed more human), as did Jan Logie.
‘More than $12m over two years is being transferred to five charter schools (which currently teach a total of just 367 children) and $1.145m into Public-Private Partnerships.
Great news that more houses and consents for houses are being built than ever before. Building costs reduced and RMA changes to allow people to extend their homes will be an election aim. Great news that rivers are cleaner now than they were last year. Great news that debt is finally under control and will never be unending as projected in 2008. Great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to spend the night in and spend thousands in Wellington retail. Great news that Wellington retail will be more profitable and pay higher wages.
The design of the hotel door lock on the other hand is pretty damn stupid. Handy for government spooks and others who want easy egress to wherever they want in a hotel, a visiting dignitary’s or journalist’s room, etc.
US charges 5 Chinese military offices with cybercrimes…China counters will allegations that US has back-doored thousands of Chinese websites and taken over more than 1M Chinese computers using botnet techniques.
Yes Anne. Wondered about that. The questions were very specific. The answers were denials and a degree of defensiveness. It may be a setting for followup questions which might cause Judith distress. Having committed herself in the House, what happens next (tomorrow?) could be very interesting.
Antarctica is shedding 160 billion tonnes a year of ice into the ocean, twice the amount of a few years ago, according to new satellite observations. The ice loss is adding to the rising sea levels driven by climate change and even east Antarctica is now losing ice.
Watching TV3 news just now you can see why the Nats have put in so much effort to destroy Cunliffe before the election campaign. One on one Cunliffe is going to rip Key a new one.
I look forward to watching QT after Campbell Live. Cunliffe is growing in leaps and bounds it seems to me. He had a pretty good stoush with Mary Wilson on Checkpoint tonight.
Incredible John Campbell! He has assembled all the details including the lies Key told regarding Ian Fletcher, the relationship with the hugely powerful USA Intelligence. Wow!
This an exceptional production and watch out for the denials from Key and the dirty tricks brigade who will set out to discredit Campbell.
A must must watch show!
Not up online yet!
This has to be the best social network I have seen in quite some time. It’s highly relevant, incredibly useful, has a well designed website and is free to use. It is also mobile – download the iOS or Android app for your phone.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
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 ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
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have you yet found the new show from/by daily show alumni john oliver..?
..it’s rather good..
..this link has three clips..
..and that should be enough to get you hooked..
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/05/john-oliver-last-week-tonight-interview-politics-comedy-hbo
and this is one of those videos you think everyone should/needs to..see..
..it’s all about solar-roadways…
..and the technology to do this is here now..
..we could start dong this here in nz..soon..
..it is seriously..brilliant..!
..in so may ways..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/solar-freakin-roadways-el_b_5352544.html
http://www.writehanded.org/blog/2014/05/18/the-one-beneficiary-who-is-different-no/
“David [Farrar] has said he was using me as an example of where the system isn’t working. What it feels like to me is being strung up to make a point. He’s opened me up to his commenters. People who read Kiwiblog are, for the most part, not sympathetic to beneficiaries.
The comments are unsurprising. At least most of them are not attacking me personally (so far) but the problem is – they’re missing the point. They’re saying “Oh, this one’s different. She’s actually sick. Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”
They think I represent a minority. They congratulate me on my honesty and my attempts to work. It sickens me to the core. I don’t need them to thank me for telling the truth. For trying to get on with my life and do what little I can to get by and get well.
And the truth is, I’m not a minority. People who are on benefits who shouldn’t be are the minority. The neural pathway to “dole bludger” is burned deep and they just can’t see past it. It doesn’t help that every which way you turn the government are doing their best to reinforce it.”
It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.
Much easier to swallow the govt lines, read slater, penguin post and feel smug n superior whilst writing off your fellow kiwis who are victims of an uncaring govt.
Nact want people to believe an issue they have made worse is not their problem, like housing, environment etc etc then off to the polls sheeple.
Despite not having a goal of 0% employment, national and supporters rail on those without jobs to get the jobs that are there…. Bill English believes full employment is a hoax, apparently.
Maybe the left has an unspoken goal of 0% employment. The right tends towards a lot higher.
Of course – minimising the number of employees maximises corporate profits. And if you really need employees try and get rid of the NZ ones and employ ones in China for $2/hr instead.
The trouble for you is that capital doesn’t tend towards the lowest cost countries in terms of labour and the countries that do gain foreign investment generally see higher increases in wages as a result.
That’s why American corporations are abandoning Chinese coastal manufacturing areas and shifting into the undeveloped inland provinces, or leaving China altogether and taking their factories and employment to cheaper places like Vietnam.
Hey that’s interesting, China seems to be provoking some military and economic tensions with Vietnam, that’s a coincidence isn’t it.
You get an eye roll for that one.
It’s what Fisher & Paykel did laying off NZ staff and moving manufacturing to Mexico and the Philippines (?). They didn’t move the factories for improved scenery or better quality anyways.
If capital really did go to the lowest (not lower) cost countries then African nations would be getting all the foreign investment. Africa actually suffers from a lack of foreign investment and even arch-anti capitalists like Zanu-PF are crying out for it.
Well if you ignore all the other factors that corporates also consider like energy infrastructure, political stability, logistics, security situation, population literacy etc. you might have a point.
As for Zanu-PF: they’re irrelevant.
I agree. There are multiple reasons why an organisation or individual might invest in another country. Cost of labour is but one of them and not usually the most important by a long way.
This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.
How can labour rates increase? Labour rates increasing mandates falling profitability and shareholders and institutional investors alike do not like that.
Wage arbitrage in the form of exporting well paid western jobs to lower cost developing countries has been going on for 30 years. Yes Chinese worker pay has increased in that time, at the expense of western workers whose pay increases have flatlined while western employment has dropped precipitously.
I don’t know why you would support such an economic regime but apparently you do.
Wage rates rising does not imply falling profitability. That is the wrongheaded thinking of neo-Marxism. Profitability can be increased in numerous ways without having low labour rates.
Sorry what commercial world are you on?
Removing one employee in a team of five and redistributing the workload to the remaining 4 people adds about $50K to the corporate bottom line instantly.
It’s an absolutely certain way to increase shareholder returns, straight away no ifs or buts.
Not necessarily. Imagine you have 4 staff and you want to increase production. It might be beneficial to give everyone a 20 percent pay increase if they produce the same level of output as 5 workers if they increase their productivity levels.
“This still doesn’t explain how the idea that allowing companies to more offshore somehow leads to a race to the bottom. Labour rates in countries with lots of foreign investment tend to increase at higher rates than those that don’t receive such investment.”
It did wonders for Ireland…
That’s a simplistic way of looking at it that embeds many assumptions.
For example, you’re assuming those other 4 workers can in fact do the same job to the same standard as the 5th person that was let go. If they in fact cannot do the same job to the same standard, while you may be saving $50k in costs, you may not make up for it in profit. You may even end up losing proportionally more profit from that 5th employee going.
Also, this does not consider long-term implications. If you have 5 people and 1 person is off work sick, you’re not nearly as impacted as when you have 4 people and 1 person is off work sick. Once again, this could disproportionately affect profit compared to continue to employ 5 people.
I realise that managers probably do not take this things into account nearly as much as they should, or just gloss over it and imagine everything is fine. But that doesn’t mean these aren’t things that should be considered and are quite possible outcomes of reducing headcount.
Actually, Africa has so much foreign investment already that it’s losing at least 10% of what it produces to rich foreigners (Piketty et al, Capitalism in the 21st Century). It is, quite simply, what’s keeping Africa poor.
Africa was predicted as the new India/China years ago. Finally taking hold.
Africa receives very little of the world’s total FDI. It is one of the reasons most (sensible) countries are desperate to attract it.
Maybe – need to wait and see what the Chinese commodity demand slump does first. The US is increasing it’s military strength on the continent too.
[citation needed]
I did, after all, provide a citation that shows that the majority of capital in Africa is foreign owned. Of course, a lot of that ownership goes back a couple of centuries so it could be that Africa doesn’t get much FDI today while still being majority owned by foreigners.
Well that’s a bit more specific. Had no idea what you were on about.
In Fisher & Paykel’s case, I think it was do that or die. They were and still are being destroyed by competition.
That’s what happens when your product design goes from being known to last forever, to being known to be mostly rubbish after 5-6 years of use. And too often within 5-6 weeks of having been bought and used at home.
Maybe one day you will write something that relates to what the people above were discussing.
“It is beyond most on the rights ability to believe benefits are a vital part of a caring society that has failed the recipients by not providing jobs etc.”
tc, please don’t fall into the lie that most people that vote on the right support the bene-crushing/bashing meme. I’m not just being pedantic here, this is an important political point. People across the whole political spectrum are capable of compassion. If we start saying that all righties hate benes we serve the agenda of nasty fucks like Farrar, Bennett etc.
It’s vital that we don’t lump all conservatives into the neoliberal hard right. There have always been people who vote on the right for economic reasons but are socially liberal. Best we not lose sight of them.
I agree. The labour party did a great job bashing beneficiaries in its last terms as government. I also find that those of the blue collar persuasion, whoever they vote for, can be some of the most bigotted people out there. At least they say it, the white collar bigots learn to say in public the right stuff and leave the revelation of their bigotry to the private dinners.
Compassion is not about ideology but implementation of ideology can negatively impact the gifting of compassion, imo.
@..tracey..
..the ‘i’m alright jack!’ blue-collar labour voter is a creature ugly in its’ wholesale uncaring…
“Not like all those other ones who are rorting the system.”” and that is precisely what makes this tactic, and it is a deliberate tactic, by national and anyone else toting this “argument”, so insidious.
If it is someone rorting the system they are
“the tip of the iceberg”, if someone is not rorting the system they are “a minority”.
The lackof consistency between the two conclusions exposes it for what it is, but those wielding it as an ‘argument” seem oblivious to how it exposes their own duplicity.
I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time. It seems to me that this is not good enough for many left wing people. If you don’t agree with a leftist view completely then it is almost worse than if to completely disagree with it. No wonder the left is prone to splintering in to smaller and smaller groups.
I presume that among the “extremely sympathetic” comments you included the ones which (a) tried to diagnose her condition based on one blog post, ignoring her own statements about her diagnosis and (b) made wild assumptions about her skills, work experience, and lifestyle, all of which could have been corrected by simply reading her other posts.
ETA: and don’t forget the “extremely sympathetic” commenter who declared that having debilitating stomach bugs is “fashionable”.
Did you also think it was “extremely sympathetic” when Paula Bennett brushed off Sarah’s complaints by basically saying “well when people deal with WINZ they’re too crazy to know what’s really going on”?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/10001705/Bennett-No-changes-at-Work-and-Income
The only really objectionable comments was by someone called Kea and a number of other commentators were taking him/her to task for the views expressed. A left wing commentator even made reference to the fact the comments were very supportive
only objectionable to you.
FIFY
“I read the article and comments on that and the vast majority were extremely sympathetic to Ms Wilson’s predicament and also have agreed that for some people the need to prove continued medical conditions is both stressful and a waste of time”
I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.
Absence of outright bene-bashing abuse doesn’t mean that the politics are fair or reasonable. It’s interesting to see someone like Farrar attempting to say, oh actually yes some beneficiaries are having a hard time and WINZ aren’t doing their job properly. Interesting because it’s possible he’s had some kind of realisation about his politics, and interesting because he still doesn’t get how his politics put so many ill and disabled people at risk.
This is why I dislike leftist thinking in NZ. Fair and balanced to you basically means other people have to broadly agree with your position. In essence the left in NZ is the Fox news of political discussion.
And yet I just disagreed with your assessment of the comments at Kiwiblog and gave my reasons why, and all you can do in response is say that I don’t tolerate disagreement. Irony much?
“Irony much?”
Real men wear wrinkled clothes with pride
remember he doesn’t read his own posts and most of what other people write. I suspect he skim reads quickly to enable him to share his entirely neutral and logical viewpoint with us all.
I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.
Fundamentally Offensive
“I didn’t state you didn’t tolerate disagreement. I stated that it looks like anyone who disagrees with a narrow view of the world that you have is not able to be regarded as fair and balanced. If you disagree with this then defend your position.”
Nah, you first. Try responding to what I raised and then I’ll reply to that.
Let’s take what you stated then
“I’ve read half the comments, and while a few are supportive, most are prejudicial against people with disabilities in various ways. I’m guessing you’re not aware of many of the issues that face people with disabilties Gosman, or you would see those comments for what they are.”
You gave no examples of how most comments are prejudicial to people with disabilities. I can only assume that you dislike the fact that someone who doesn’t agree that people on a benefit for a disability should never have to be subject to ongoing checks because that was what most of the commentators were stating – Some people should and some people shouldn’t.
No, I don’t believe that at all. Why would you assume that? Not making baseless assumptions about my politics are you?
If you are genuinely interested we can look at the range of prejudices. You don’t have to agree of course, but it helps to understand what the basics are.
He assumed that because you didn’t explain yourself.
On what basis do you make the claim that a number of commentators were showing their prejudices of disabled people via their comments then? I’d be interested in getting your perspective on this.
He did take to the time to label you “other” at the start.
“Leftist Thinking”, seriously, what the fuck is that?
Thinking that derives from (generally speaking) higher IQ (Hodson & Busseri 2012) and and smaller amygdala (Kanai et al 2011).
no no gossy..kiwiblog is ‘the fox news of nz political discussion’…
I saw a few comments where they blamed the WINZ workers, which reminds me of the bad apples always turning up in the police. As long as we can blame a minority of the workers, we don’t have to look at the problems inherent in the system. This type of approach is a continuation of right wing punishment of beneficiaries, not any real realisation.
“..5 Ways the Poor Are More Ethical Than the Rich..
Many wealthy Americans believe that dysfunctional behavior causes poverty.
Their own success – they would insist – derives from good character and a strict work ethic.
But they would be missing some of the facts.
Ample evidence exists to show a correlation between wealth and unethical behavior –
and between wealth and a lack of empathy for others –
-and between wealth and unproductiveness..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/economy/5-ways-poor-are-more-ethical-rich
Jesus had this covered better a couple of millenia ago.
shame so many of his followers are the problem..eh..?
..and clearly don’t listen to him..
..yoo-hoo..!..bill english..!
..english even had his religious-boss..the pope..coming out just before the budget..and ordering him/catholics to end inequality..
..english just ignored that order from his spiritual-master…in his budget..
..his temporal-masters must strike more fear into him..
..eh..?
..all hail the banksters..!
..’bring me not yr poor..yr huddled-messes!’ preaches english…
..in/from his church of the holy ayn rand..
They aren’t really His followers, for starters.
you try telling them that…
The Archdruid John Michael Greer has done just that
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/a-christmas-speculation.html
@ viper..
..bill english needs a copy of that…
cunnliffe is kicking arse on tvone breakfast..
..(it’s getting kinda interesting how it is their housing policy that could well win the election for them..
..the package elucidated by cunnliffe this morn is both tidy and rational..
..especially compared to keys’:..’move right along..!..
..there is nothing to see here..!’..)
Strangely last night I watched an interview by Paul Henry with Dr Smith. Lots of friendly banter but then surprisingly the questions were sharper and searching. Dr Smith’s usual bluster was kept in check and challenged. eg the lower cost of building materials is only $3,000. Irrelevant.
When Paul is on form he is an excellent interviewer even with his best mate Nick. Pity really.
About 14 minutes in:
http://www.tv3.co.nz/THE-PAUL-HENRY-SHOW-Monday-May-19-2014/tabid/3692/articleID/99915/MCat/3901/Default.aspx
what that interview shows is that they have absolutely no idea..
..and they don’t want to change anything..
.(this is how they want it..them’s that’s got..just get ever more..)
..henrys’ warning to smith that housing is an achilles-heel for national in the election..
..was on the money..
Paul hammered home the point about National not knowing or wanting to know about facts of foreign ownership. ($11million to find out if Charter Schools might work but zilch for house ownership Data.)
and just on charter schools..for a mo’..
..a chain of six of them have just gone down the gurgler in britain..
..and just before exams..
..the ‘brave-experiment’..
..eh..?..
Good link ianmac.
Interesting to see Paul actually hold Nick Smith’s feet to the fire.
It was probably said out of fear of National losing, but I thought it was significant that Henry said housing was National’s Achilles heel. I think he’s right.
Yeah but Pauline Henrietta was no doubt motivated by the fact that Smith is a really unattractive individual……..”Hey, the 80s want their hair back…..” sort of vile bullshit.
The Nasty Old Queen just loves ‘attractive’ , even if completely vacuous. Like he sees himself really. Sooooo attractive…….sooooo clever. Sooooo entiltled indeed bound to talk any nasty shit. What a mouthy bag ! Sideshow, sweet. Worthy of any modicum of respect ? No !
I have a couple of questions for Draco.
It is relation to his oft repeated theory on how government should use the control of money to manage the economy.
How would this work in a situation where people have lost faith in the government’s creation of money and use other forms of currency instead?
How could you implement your proposal in such a place?
is this you musing on yr (dreamed of) libertarian island-nation..?
..you’d show them..!..eh..?
..there’ll be no ‘welfare’ there..eh..?
..you’re funny..!
..libertarians in general are pretty ‘funny’..
They are indeed very funny phil ure….. check this out for another hoot…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/10062393/Overvalued-houses-could-force-rents-up
The Property Investors Federation says of the OECD report, which said our houses were way over-valued, “no no no it is not the houses which are over-valued, it is the rents which are too low”.
Crazy Act Party Pill people. You couldn’t make this shit up …….
vto – that was the one concern, when I heard this report, about housing being over-valued and rents too low. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that part of the reason why the accommodation supplement was extended to all private housing in the first place, when the ratio of the value of housing to actual rental price became imbalanced, and the Government tried to fix it?
For once you have a partial point gosman. This is the only problem with money being created by a government rather than by the rothschilds, who currently create it.
Governments are by nature waaayyyy too political and subject to such pressures that the money-creating could be used for ulterior purposes.
However, this is pretty much the only problem. A solution could be found – something like making changes to such a system very onerous, similar to changing a constitution for example.
The result however would be that all of that interest that we all pay every single day of every single year of every single decade – interest that gets paid to a tiny 0.1% select few people would instead be retained in our economic system. The benefit is off the planet.
NZ govt projected to pay $6billion over the next 12 months. That is more than Key’s lot got in asset sales.
Farm debt at $50billion must pay around a further $4-5billion per year.
Household debt – don’t know, but I betcha it is a scary number.
All of that money – out the door it goes every year, paid to the select 0.1% who only print the money anyway. It is the world’s biggest rort. The problem you highlight is teency in comparison and easily solved.
a figure/comparison i find interesting..
..is that the amount of money sucked out of the nz economy in repatriated profits..
..each and every year..
..just about equals our annual deficit..
..go figure..!
..eh..?
Link please?
this is the comment i made back in jan..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/commentwhoar-political-thought-for-the-day/
..if you wanna prove me wrong..do yr own research…
..(if it helps…the figure for both is around $8.4 billion..)
..so..once you have proven to yrslf i am correct..
..yr next thoughts on this deficit/extracted-profits mirroring..?
..what to do about that..?
..eh..?
You make the claim and then expect me to validate it for you. Not too familar with the concept of burden of proof are you?
I guess he’s familiar with the futility of spending time running around after you though.
and you’re the one calling me a liar..
..i’ve given you the amount..and the two examples..
..you prove me a liar..!
..and good luck with that..!
..it’s quite a simple theorem..really..eh..?
Where have I called you a liar?
I simply don’t have any data to make a call on whether you are telling the truth or not.
f.f.s..!
google deficit..!
..google repatriated-profits..!
..join the fucken dots..!
..(as i said..the figure for both is about $8.4 billion..)
..so..what to do about that..?
of course..we could claw a chunk of that back by following key/nationals’ lead..(but flipping it..)
..by partially-nationalising the banksters..for starts..
..we the people take a 51% share of those banks/insurance companies/supermarket-chains etc..(and of course the ‘sin’-industries..the booze-pushers..the gambling industry..
..partially-nationalise the lot of them..!
..then of course..51% of the billions they send offshore every year..
..would stay here with us..
..there’s half the problem solved..
Why do you have a problem providing a link to this if it is so simple to do?
Weirdly I’m with Gosman on this.
The reason being that he has asserted stuff many many times and been challenged to front up.
His argument tends to be not that the burden of proof is on the person making the assertion, but that the reader do his research for his since it’s “common knowledge”. And if you don’t do the research for him, you’re lazy.
Balance Of Payments, pg. 30: In the red by 8,765 (millions), or 4.1% of GDP.
For profits leaving New Zealand, I suspect you’ll have to dig around treasury excel sheets.
I could only find the 8.3 billion referenced by CAFCA here
By the way Zanu-PF has a very similar policy to you in relation to this 51% owenership. They call it indigenisation and the policy has led to the collapse of foreign investment in Zimbabwe and a serious lack of capital.
and here’s something for you. It is called a link supporting my point.
http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/news/zimsit_economy-chokes-zanu-pf/
you are srylands aren’t you gosman.
srylands always referenced Zim
but whatever anyway .. you both make as much sense. 0 + 0 is still 0
My question is how can government create money for productive investments if the people living in the country don’t trust the government to not abuse that ability?
My answer is above. Didn’t you read it? Put in place measures similar to those which prohibit changes to very fundamental aspects of a nations structures, such as is with constitutional changes in many many countries.
Do you think there would be no solution?
And, what of the benefits I mentioned? Or do you just ignore that?
Not very specific answer that. It would be like me stating I would make capitalism work better by putting in place measures which prohibit changes to the etc etc.
It is entirely specific. Take structures currently in place to safeguard various constitutions around the world and apply to them to government issue of money. You are clearly unfamiliar with those structures and I aint wasting my time educating you.
Now, your turn – your answer to the benefits that would arise. Unless you have no answer that is …..
A brief list of these structures would be helpful. Then how they would be applied to the issuing of money would be useful to understand.
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
Tro1l
Out
Well actually it would be useful to all of us following the thread if you did so – this is a public forum after all
You can find such a list by google and wiki. Go educate yourself.
I note no comment on the benefits of such a system, which made the bulk of my original comment. It is clearly beneficial in the extreme to have all of that interest, which is currently paid out to the teency 0.1% of foreigners overseas, namely the rothschilds et al, remain in our economy in NZ. I thought you held yourself out as some sort of economic guru? Well you are clearly not, if you think it is better to have all that money leave NZ each year rather than stay here.
talk about empty-headed ….
If you mean basic constitutional structures I think you will find they work best when they have very broad set of rules to work with and don’t work very well if they attempt to regulate specific detail. Managing an economy at a micro level (which would be required under the sort of plan you are suggesting) would be far too complex for a broad set of rules and the rules would become cumbersome and restrictive if they were more detailed. In short it would be a recipe for the slow strangulation of the economy in my mind.
Funny how you implicitly trust the Rothschilds, the BIS and the Fed to monopolise the money supply, especially when all they do is feed it to their investment banker mates and big corporations.
The creation of money really only needs one rule:
The amount created must be equaled by the amount destroyed.
Of course, we don’t get close to that under the present system where the private banks create far more money than they destroy.
My question to you is how many of the following were due to hard core left governments?
14th century
14th century banking crisis (the crash of the Peruzzi and the Bardi family Compagnia dei Bardi in 1345).
17th century
Tulip mania (1637)
18th century
South Sea Bubble (1720) (UK)
Mississippi Company (1720) (France)
Crisis of 1763 - started in Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of Leendert Pieter de Neufville, spread to Germany and Scandinavia
Crisis of 1772 - started in London and Amsterdam, begun by the collapse of the bankers Neal, James, Fordyce and Down.
Panic of 1785 - United States
Panic of 1792 - United States
Panic of 1796-1797 - Britain and United States
19th century
Danish state bankruptcy of 1813
Post-Napoleonic depression (post 1815)
Panic of 1819, a U.S. recession with bank failures; culmination of U.S.'s first boom-to-bust economic cycle
Panic of 1825, a pervasive British recession in which many banks failed, nearly including the Bank of England
Panic of 1837, a U.S. recession with bank failures, followed by a 5-year depression
Panic of 1847, started as a collapse of British financial markets associated with the end of the 1840s railway industry boom
Panic of 1857, a U.S. recession with bank failures
Panic of 1866, was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London
Long Depression (1873–1896)
Panic of 1873, a US recession with bank failures, followed by a four-year depression
Panic of 1884
Panic of 1890
Panic of 1893, a US recession with bank failures
Australian banking crisis of 1893
Panic of 1896
20th century
Panic of 1901, a U.S. economic recession that started a fight for financial control of the Northern Pacific Railway
Panic of 1907, a U.S. economic recession with bank failures
Wall Street Crash of 1929 and Great Depression (1929–1939) the worst depression of modern history
OPEC oil price shock (1973)
Secondary banking crisis of 1973–1975 in the UK
Japanese asset price bubble (1986–2003)
Bank stock crisis (Israel 1983)
Black Monday (1987)
Savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s in the U.S.
1991 India economic crisis
Finnish banking crisis (1990s)
Swedish banking crisis (1990s)
1994 economic crisis in Mexico
1997 Asian financial crisis
1998 Russian financial crisis
Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002)
21st century
Late-2000s Financial Crisis or the Late-2000s recession, including:
2000s energy crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
United States housing bubble and United States housing market correction
2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis
2008–2010 Irish banking crisis
Russian financial crisis of 2008–2009
Automotive industry crisis of 2008–2010
European sovereign debt crisis
Tulip Mania was a Trotskyite plot to disable the emergent Dutch capitalist system. Any fule kno that.
People thought a buck could be made speculating on an asset bubble, and they piled into the market. That makes them market capitalists, mate.
Millions in today’s money were sunk into tulips, especially the one’s with pretty patterns and colour variations on the flowers.
Shame they didn’t realise at the time they were investing in plant virus’.
Good to see your copy/paste is working tracey.
All of these crisis did not lead to the collapse of the economic system and actually go to show how Capitalism works by correcting massive market distortions (in other words you can’t beat the market over the long term). This is against the multiple collapses of alternative economic systems such as the failure of Soviet Communism and African Socialism not too mention the on going failures in countries like North Korea.
Capitalism CAUSES “massive market distortions” not “corrects” them.
And as we saw in 2008-2009 the STATE and TAXPAYERS had to save the bloody system and bail out the banksters to the tune of tens of trillions world wide.
Please pay attention Gossie. Economic attacks by the western power elite have been very effective in bringing down governments previously, but you have noted that the Chinese, the Russians and the South Americans have all learnt their lessons from that very well.
The taxpayer didn’t have to bail out the banks. They could have taken the approach for other crises. It would have caused a lot more social harm admittedly but the system would have bounced back as it has always done. This is unlike Socialist alternatives that seem to disappear completely once they face a massive crisis.
Can you post links to the referendums showing where taxpayers made the collective decision to bail out the banks?
If the system wasnt going to collapse anyway, as you suggest, how could “a lot more social harm” have happened, cos that would be a failure of the system.
Social harm is not idicative of a complete collapse just as social good as a result of boom times is not necessary suggestive that the system is on a sustainable path.
Lloyd Blankfein and fellow bankster CEO compatriots were all sudden socialists when they received tens of millions of bonuses from the tax payer’s pocket.
Technically the vast majority of the bailout was in the form of loans or guarrantees but I will grant you replying of State handouts for survival is a tad hypocritical for the banks.
Well I too would like a 0% loan of a few hundred million dollars
where did you see that they were 0% interest loans. My understanding is that they had interest assoicated with them.
you are an idiot. The economic systems didnt collapse in 2007/2008 because taxpayers had to bail out banks. That’s not capitalism working.
communism didnt collapse the soviet union economic system gosman. People demanded democracy and got an oligarchy instead.
Communism failed. That was what led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and allowed the Oligarchs to take over.
Nope. The USSR wasn’t communist – it was state capitalist. Top down hierarchies always fall down because they always become too top heavy due to wealth accumulation by the few and then the use of oppression to maintain that disparity.
Where was the market mechanism if it was capitalist Draco?
/facepalm
In the markets where you bought things like food? Or perhaps it was in the competitive system where they determined what planes were built?
The real big one though was the fact that it was the people at the top that were deciding what was available and who were deciding what the nations resources were used for and not the people via a democratic system. Just the same as we have in the capitalist countries.
It is the top down hierarchy that truly defines capitalism.
That isn’t a the sort if market that a capitalist system would use. The free setting of prices by the market is the critical component of capitalism. You have admitted that the Soviet Union didn’t have that. Ipso facto it was not capitalist.
It is the top down hierarchy that truly defines capitalism.
And I didn’t say anything about the free setting of prices.
🙄
yes but but but
– 1848 – all those rabbly poor revolting all over the place, ewww
– 1916 – nasty idealist Spartacist poor people
– 1917 – more of those wretched disaffected hijacking Russian ships
– all those rotten leftie wars of liberation in the entire 20th century in China and Russia and Africa and South East Asia
Dammit those lefties ain’t wollen-condom-wearing rope-haired tie-died hold-hands-around-the-Pentagon-to-levitate-it peaceniks either.
According to Jamie Whyte and Roger Douglas, all of them, and any economic failure missing since Adam bit the apple, were caused by Marxist intervention in the market. John Key, as a pragmatic centrist, only blames the Marxist left for 50% of those.
Your view I think supported by the successful operation of Temasek, NZSuper Guardians, and many other big state pension fund managers.
Gosman, we know you are Dumb, you have no need to offer up even more proof, the US Government has presided over the ‘production’ of trillions of dollars in the past 7 years and if any society were to as you put it ‘lose faith’ in the currency and start producing other currencies with which to facilitate trading it would have occurred in the ‘land of the free’…
Surly, it would depend upon why the people have lost faith in the government as you would need to address that. Corruption, making decisions against the will of the people etc etc.
Goedemorgen, standardistas. Some observations from my hols. Firstly, the majority of Scots want independence, but the majority won’t actually vote for it. Economics will beat emotion, unless Braveheart’s on the telly the night before the vote.
Secondly, the Tories are claiming credit for the end of a recession they prolonged. The ‘conservative recovery’ is the meme they’re pushing. Look for our Tories to copy that line.
Thirdly, UKIP, the leadership of the premier league, and Jeremy Clarkson are all rotten to the core, but they reflect the values of little Britain. That is, they reflect fear, ignorance and bigotry.
re:UKIP, they’ll stroll through the European elections, which nobody cares about, but they’ll also bugger up the conservatives in the council elections held the same day, which David Cameron does care about.
Lastly, it’s 22 degrees at 9.40 in the evening here in den Haag. Hit 27 this arvo. It’s only May, that shouldn’t be happening. Further to the east, Bosnia is being destroyed by unprecedented flooding. Strange days, indeed. It’s almost like the climate’s changing.
Great time to be in Scotland – presuming you won’t be able to extend it to the COmmonwealth Games and the whole Glasgow insanity?
I reckon we are only a really good Enoch Powell-esque speech away here from a UKIP -type surge in NZFirst.
Hope you get to Berlin – truly amazing.
As way of comparison how is the French economy going considering they didn’t take the cuts to government expenditure approach that the Coalitionm government in the UK took?
Ruth Dyson not seeking a Labour list placement. She’ll stand only for her electorate.
In some ways I hoped she would step down entirely. My family’s experience of her as representative of the Labour party’s bene bashing in their last go at ghovernment revealled her to be very akin to the Nats that so many despise.
Under her guidance the Ministry sent letters to my family outlining new measures for evaluating one of our members and getting him into the workforce. That’s how they put it. he is physically and mentally disabled by cerebral palsy. Apparently Ruth’s minions came up with a possible cure cos they wanted to re-do his assessment every year… and remove help to what was previously called shltered workshops.
My family member had worked once in mainstream employment, in ZIP industries. Was very good on hispart of the assembly line, looked after his machine and knew it inside out BUT was too slow. Apart from the bullying and being pushed down stairs by able bodied co-workers, with no action taken by management following complaints, he was first to go when ZIP hit trouble. He was unemployed for years, slipped into depression until getting work at Killmarnock enterprises. The work there gave him somewhere to go, gave him a sense of community and contributing. His benefit went to Killmarnock and he received about $25 per week cash. There was a place for this kind of “employment.”
They used to do the poppies each year, but then it went to China… China was cheaper than a sheltered workshop…. ask yourselves something about how that is possible.
So I am only sorry that Ruth is not retiring altogether.
i wish she wd just go…and take a few more of those uncaring/unreconstructed-neo-lib bastards from that clark-govt..
..with her..
..those who are stalling/blocking the ongoing rejuvenation/re-newing of labour…
(hint:..rhymes with ‘fuck off!’…)
Because the financial system is delusional as it fails to take into account actual physical costs.
Arrogant prick. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/10062393/Overvalued-houses-could-force-rents-up
New Zealand Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said the report would prompt landlords to raise rents. “Rents are actually undervalued and should be higher.”
The average rent, he said, was $350 a week – at least $40 below what it should be – and tenants should expect increases soon.
“We’re trying to get them used to the idea . . . and hopefully they’ll be a bit more planned and prepared for those rent increases when they do come.”
OUT OF WHAT ANDREW?
Yep, unbelievable. A sign of where their head space is at ….. loops ..
In Christchurch I hear people say how great it is the returns you can get from rentals. Great great, yeah good money blah bah blah ….
What these fools don’t appreciate is that this money is being made by duress effectively. It is being made by taking advantage of people’s troubles and bad times. People are not willingly paying these new high rents because they have more money and feel like an upgrade, they are paying them because they have no choice. They are being taken advantage of. It isn’t even the free market as there is no willing buyer and willing seller. It is a simple rort, taking advantage of people when they are down.
These foolish landlords seem to have forgotten this.
I predict that when the rental market turns (which it will) there will be no mercy shown to the greedy landlords. They will be chopped down and shown no mercy.
Christchurch, post-earthquakes…… a true exercise in the more extreme aspects of human nature …
I wonder who lives in the three home sin Ilam and fendalton and Bryndwer that Gerry doesn’t live in? And at what rental?
This is way beyond ignorance and a joke.
And never forget, it’s not communisim, socialism, community mindedness or marxism that reeks havoc every decade or so on our economies, it’s the much vaunted profit motive system. Who can make the most money wins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_economic_crises
“..I wonder who lives in the three home sin Ilam and fendalton and Bryndwer that Gerry doesn’t live in? And at what rental?..”
we should actually get to know this..
..to see if brownlee is profiteering off of that misery..
..(see how much his rents have gone up since the earthquakes/housing-shortage..
..and other mp’s who own rental properties in chch too..
..no matter from what party..)
I didn’t know that Brownlee had three houses in that area but I did know that he lived in a 5-star hotel for at least a year or more after the quakes ( at our expense of course ).
on his pecuniary interests he is listed as owning 4 hours in Ilam, Fendalton and Bryndwer. He has other property which is his holiday home elsewhere.
+100 vto
John Key being as clear as his garbled confusion and qualifications. What does he know about GCSB operastions in Afghanistan?
The Andrea Vance article begins:
But later in the article we get this:
So that’s all totally clear then?
My bold. But then, all of his smoke and mirrors could be just as significant/telling.
Trust me, I don’t know what I’m seeing”
“Key would not say whether he believed Jones’ death was justified.”
Didn’t Key say initially a few weeks back that the killing of Jones was justified?
Pretty simple really. Don’t go hang with terrorist groups.
Yes. Good advice for Key.
NB: powerful states can be terrorists.
To clarify, an entity that attacks targets, including civilians, is engaging in terrorism. Gordon Campbell spells it out:
Raining death out of the sky with no warning, on your village, on your wedding party, sounds like terrorism to me.
And of course, hitting unarmed civvies who cannot strike back in any way shape or form is not “war” it is a massacre – according to an Israeli Jewish commentator critical of Israel’s use of drone strikes.
Pretty simple really. Don’t be alleged to hang with terrorist groups.
fify
If you’d stopped at the first sentence you would have nicely summed up Key’s responses
NZ Herald headline writer needs to check the articles they are headlining.
This article has the headline: “Labour and Greens support law change”
The article begins:
jeesh, that’s sloppy as hell. Editors too busy writing opinion pieces?
The headline has now been amended.
but not before it was widely shared 🙂
little by little we can all help to expose the blatantly corrupt political bias of the NZ MSM.
If you are not pissing off your friends by now, you’re doing it wrong 🙂
Where is Peter George these days? I miss him. Just kidding.
He was banned for being a dick, or something. Unfortunately not a permanent ban.
Paula Bennett is installing him in a low decile school.
The Stuff.co budget poll is still alive, this time found in the Taranaki Daily Times, up from the 600 odd respondents last time i looked, 1353 have now cast a vote,
The 3 categories for voting to ”like” Bills budget now total 44.6%,
The 2 categories that hoick a big one giving the Budget the thumbs down, 55.5%,
Peter Jackson is said to be considering a new ‘blockbuster’ titled ”Nightmare on Wing-nut street”…
One for Rosie from wellingtons Dominion/Post, the Capital and Coast DHP has gone into panic mode over a 5% blow-out in its budget,(no wonder your last hospital visit was a nightmare),
Having dragged its deficit down from 67 odd million dollars to some 9 million dollars i have to wonder just who is the ”gate-keeper” when it comes to who will be denied services from Capital and Coast DHP, it wouldn’t be the Radiologists contracted to supply services in the DHB’s region would it,
Staff employed by Capital Coast have been told to consider taking a holiday to ensure the budget blowout is contained…
Yes, heard that on the news this morning bad12……………and thought of your radiologist………….
Shit, if only hospitals didnt have to provide services to ill people, they could be thriving surplus giving somethings.
Lol, don’t give them ideas Tracey.
Just cut more mental health services save money now and watch the suicides spike in a years time.
Great news for Wellington that the Hilton will build a 5 star hotel and a 2500 people convention centre. Great news for NZ that a second and third internet fibre cable are about to be confirmed. Further signs of the brighter and brighter future that can be maintained only if we vote for Three More Years
Is there room in that hotel or convention centre for a few homeless people?
Where do the cables go to? The Bahamas?
great news that homes are the most unaffordable in the world
great news that more rivers are being shat in
great news that government debt has been increased five-fold
great news that New Zealanders will be paying $1,500 per every single person this year ($30 per week, almost $5 today) by way of interest on government debt
but yeah moron, great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to stay in
fuck you’re onto it
Gee. That would be a bit tough for that lovely Auckland SkyCity Convention Centre Gambling Den that the nice Mr Key organised. Be awful if Wellington trumped Auckland. Any chance of the Nat dirty tricks brigade sabotaging the Wellington plan?
the nearer we get to the election..
..the more distasteful the idea of ‘three more years’ will seem..
..the we-haven’t-really-got-a-fucken-clue-what-to-do about housing..
..is just the latest example of what an ideas-free-zone key/national are…
..asset-stripping and bubble-building and benificiary-bashing –
is all these useless bastards know how to do..
This cable that will connect to Oregon via Hawaii?
Given that the US harvests the metadata of all communications that go to the US, and plants back doors into US IPs so it can access all metadata?
And that the US is now accessing all the full content of phone calls in some countires (eg the Bahamas) and is planning to do so for more countries?
So you can keep whining about it, or you can do something about it. Encrypted your and use ssl sites.
Or, don’t use international sites.
Your response to illegal surveillance is pretty much the same to your response to illegal extra-judicial killings.
Why are you so soft on crime?
surely the very people the agencies say they are after use encryption and ssl sites, so they will have powerful de-encryption stuff, won’t they?d
As far as I know, it would still take until the end of the universe to decrypt a 128 bit encryption algorithm. IMO, this would tend to indicate that the spy agencies aren’t really interested in what the bad guys are saying but they are most interested in what the general populace are saying. It is, after all, the general populace that is a threat to the status quo.
Note how it wasn’t all that long ago that a secure email service in the US shut down due to the new laws of the US.
interesting observation. ..
They’ve already thought of that. Which is why every commercially available encryption method has been deliberately weakened by the NSA through agreement with corporate software developers.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24165-how-nsa-weakens-encryption-to-access-internet-traffic.html#.U3rb0ulZo8E
/shrug
Commercial encryption isn’t the only type available.
@ infused..and if you do that..
..you will attract the interest/attention of the american-spooks..
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/11/anonymous-web-nsa-trail-janet-vertesi
Like I wrote yesterday about trigger words, have a laugh at the spies expense.
When I call my ma back in Blighty, I nearly always start the conversation with how’s al quaeda, bin laden and the atomic bomb plan going? Knowing that two sets of spooks half a world away will then tune in for the hour or so listening to tales of me mum’s lumbago and her diabetic dog 😆
What part did government policy or executive intervention did central government play in the proposed Wellington deal? If none, your point invalid.
Would you also point out the government policy or intervention in a proposal for a third internet cable. Same applies as above.
To save us all time, demonstrate how either of these deals would be negatively affected by a Labour government.
So that’s Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington all getting the ONE international convention centre NZ needed…
and queenstown
And a few years ago every major town needed a new stadium.
Civic leaders never were ones to read fashion.
MONORAIL!
oops, thats right.
🙄 fucktard
[lprent: Where is your point? Read the policy. ]
Your cheerleading gives us much amusement Fisiani. The capitalist model is a boom and bust cycle. A brighter future looks rosie one month, then a share market crash the next.
Yours is a big what if, or more likely to be if only.
Way back when i used to enjoy cricket – we’d often set up a social game, pick teams, keep scores and have a beer afterwards. Sadly greed has fouled the game and the gallant defense of the castle by the knight is just a big illusion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11258122
I still love cricket, though not the t20 no skill, swing and hope version.
A shame the game is in the mire. I hark back to the days when all you had to worry about were uncouth Australians dominating the game.
Cairns, the legend, not any more. Guess he’ll be offering to pay back the libel damages he won in London the other year.
it’s just not cricket – makes professional wrestling look sincere – all the cricket stats are buggered – might as well use win/loss from professional boxing or maybe win/place from horsey racing – just meaningless rubbish imo.
but whenever a grassy meadow or flat beach is there and a stick/bat and a ball – well, we will once again enjoy the game.
It so isn’t cricket, but you are correct, swatting a ball coming at your face at a rate of knots will never get old.
Sometimes the simple solutions work best. Cut the bookies off at the knees and ban sports betting on cricket.
Sports betting IS illegal in India.
True enough, but I think on-line gambling may be the real problem.
oh yes, and betting with foreign and black market bookies. I just meant that banning betting wont solve it and may have caused it…
It’s a right old mess. I suggest we ban all nations from playing the game except England and Scotland.
Melt down a deep fried mars bar in batter, stick it in a tupperware bowl and England can always look forward to a 50/50 chance of winning a trophy again.
Failing that, blame the Aussies for everything.
ENGLand who brought the game such cheats as dr w g grace?
The same England that brought us such good sports as I 🙂
ah the old adage
“methinks he doth protest too much”
Explains his choice to live in Dubai all those years. meet all the players half-way, as it were.
I noticed JK announcing he’s off to visit Obama soon.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/john-key-invited-white-house-5976272
I suspect TV3 will be sending over a contingent of ‘reporters’ to cover the ‘historic’ event. Shame they can’t save the cash and spend it on new programming. I mean, seriously, Rambo, it was only on Ch 4 a month or two back.
At least they won’t have to cough for more trips to SA now Mandela has finally passed on.
Interesting timing.
Not long before the election.
Problems over story about drone attacks.
he’s going to get migraines. Imagine the reading he will have to do if he is going to discuss TPP, international issues with Obama…
Of course it’s electioneering at it’s most obvious, the question is whether it’s really such a big deal to the NZ public that our PM is summoned to Washington.
I’m guessing a selfie with Kevin Spacey would carry more kudos.
On National radio the leading news is “John key says he WILL NOT be discussing drone strikes”on his please explain summons to White House. “Yip”, he said, “we won’t be bringing up drone strikes” Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing.
If key is stupid enough to think that we are stupid enough to believe that discussing drone strikes is not the reason for this sudden summons then he is stupider than I thought. Obama has obviously heard key’s various explanations of what he might know, what he thinks he doesn’t know, what he is sure he doesn’t know, yes,I did know that. No, I did not know that. But I am sure if it did happen I know it would be legal. And so on. Spinning.spinning, spinning.
All above IMO.
“Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing.”
To quote Paul the alien, “How much can I learn from an ass?”
The alarming thing about Key’s National radio piece discussing Obama and drone strikes is that Key said he was “mostly” (or word of same meaning) happy with the legality of the drone strikes.
Now that should mean that there are some drone strikes that he acknowledges are extra-legal and wrong, and about which he should be unhappy.
FFS, if there is one death or injury from an illegal or wrong drone strike (IMO they’re all wrong) as Key himself sees it, then he should be concerned, even talking to Obama, and the media should have been picking him up on this use of language.
“.. Apparently Obama wants to probe key’s mind or some such thing..”
heh..!…
As an aside, where is Queen Of Thorns these days?
yes Rosie ….i miss her and her quirky provocative upbraiding comments …she stirred the pot from her thrown…
She made me smile.
…me too
GREAT turn of phrase
“i miss her and her quirky provocative upbraiding comments”
ok, so now I’m seeing Pippi Longstocking.
And Rogue, I have a gift for him if he ever shows up again.
…and Rhino is keeping a low profile these days …must be busy ….used to enjoy his diatribes ( he is best in a pincer attack)…he has a great facility with language…like our Phil..lol
I approve of the red green lights in the avatart
I was fond of Roguey’s presence here – a gentle compassionate intelligent person he is.
Cerebral and obscure, a winning combination in my book.
I had an old original xbox game of Rogue trooper to give him, but I thought I’d lost it.
It appears not only do I have still have the game in the wardrobe of doom, but an old ex rental xbox console I bought of united video when they flipped them off and a couple of controllers.
Works on any TV with red/yellow/white inputs, even old stylee through the aerial.
Gunner’s still got your back, Rogue.
Excellent The AlIen! What a fabulous thought and a fabulous gift 😀
All he has to do is mail me at al1en.org and I’ll post it off. It’s not doing anyone any favours in the cupboard, and even if he has a play and gives it away, it’s all good.
Just checked it and all the wires and connectors are there, two controllers (though one looks iffy) and all in a neat carry case.
Has the Rogue trooper game, Halo 1 and 2, Area 51, Shadow ops:Red mercury and Hello Kitty.
All except Hello Kitty are on my newer, old xbox360, so if you see Rogue, tell him. 😉
Good question Rosie, haven’t seen her for quite some time 🙁 , and her last blog post was back in Feb. I hope she is ok.
……..And we haven’t had a sing song in a while fender.
I have an earworm and the feeling and energy in the song somehow reminds me of Judith Collins, her self advancing actions and how it’s all going to implode one day and she “will just reap that fuck up”. While the lyrics don’t refer literally to what we see unfolding, the whole big train wreck that is the National coalition government, there is a sense of impending calamity in the song which feels to me like what the Government will sooner or later come to face. So Jude is there in the song and so is the Government, to my ears at least.
Suckers to their own cause.
Chickens coming to roost an’ all…………
The Wolfgang Press: Sucker
Can’t wait to see the back of her Rosie…
I see you on my tel-e-vision, corrupt politician
Collins is one evil woman
Oi! Oi! Oi! 😀
Tell-lies-vision ?
Yep, freeview channel 22; Nathan Guy 20/5/2014: “Knocking on doors in Waikanae at the weekend everybody told me this is a great budget”. Unless he only knocked on National party members doors I don’t believe him..
And in her haste to return to work to tell more lies Judith forgot to change out of her dressing gown..
Wealthy Waikanae, the same place he parked his stupid promo trailer over the mobility park. He must be too scared to leave the safe confines of the immediate area.
I bet he won’t be knocking on doors in Kena Kena.
Lol moment though, the last time I was out on the Kapiti Coast it looked like someone had thrown something squishy and wet at the huge photo of himself on the outside of his electorate office. It had been scrubbed off but had left a stain all over his goofy face. I guess he inspired some strong feelings in someone or some people……
Fear not, the sweary godmother watches over you all. But fuck I’ve needed a break from this politics malarkey.
Kia kaha QoT
Enjoy your break.
You have been missed.
I too have missed you.
Good to see you QoT 😀
Hope you are back permanently Queenie!
Hi. Hope thing’s are going well for you.
Yeah…….QoT !!!
Good. And keep up with the swears – some days it’s the only way to relieve the pain. A spell away from the poli’s can be healthy and restorative too 🙂
Hopefully see you back in action during the wild celebrations that will be occurring over the weekend of the 20th September. Take it easy.
You swear? Nah.. Besides which I’m sure that “sweary” isn’t a word. You must have meant “sweaty”
😈
[happiness]
JOHN BANK’S TRIAL QUESTION:
The report on his trial states that after entering the plea that he was not guilty, Banks was given permission to leave the dock and sit behind his counsel in the courtroom.
I have no particular problem with that procedure if it is the norm, except to query whether consideration of his status was the reason for the permission or is this a common practice that is applied to other less worthy and common defendants too?
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Kim-Dotcom-to-give-evidence-at-Banks-trial-today/tabid/423/articleID/344886/Default.aspx#ixzz32CjKCyqK
I have never been at a criminal trial where the defendant sits near their council and not in the dock. I am NOT saying it doesn’t happen, just that over the years I have witnessed over 50 and never seen it, unless they were representing themselves.
The publicity surrounding Key’s visit to Washington will benefit him a great deal. It seems three more years of him as Prime Minister are unavoidable because unless a miracle happens National appears to be winning hands down.
John key is not going to win next time around !…..and nor is Len Brown!
From Martyn Bradbury;
“Dear Len Brown – Auckland must not privatise any more of its public spaces…When Len Brown and Cameron Brewer are shoulder to shoulder on any issue, you know the slimy has met the politically expedient…..
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/20/dear-len-brown-auckland-must-not-privatise-any-more-of-its-public-spaces/
Do y’all know that Backbenchers is back on, on Prime TV at 10.30 pm on Wednesday’s?
It’s past my bedtime, I have no way of recording it and Prime don’t do “video on demand” but I am viewing it later at a friends house who has a recording. He was the pub during filming last week and said Peter Dunne had a bit of a crack at People’s Power Ohariu. I hope it that bit was filmed! Lol, Dunne – will you be done for come 20th September?
Backbenches is shit TV and not worth watching. Wallace Chapman is boring, hopeless, and useless.
Suit yourself Clean power. Maybe “The Block” is more your thing.
Yep, Paul Henry is more C_p’s idea of a political tv host.
Wallace certainly isn’t Kim Hill but Backbenches is not “shit TV” IMO. I like it, caught it last week and have to admit Trevor Mallard (shock horror) impressed (he seemed more human), as did Jan Logie.
You can view it online here: http://www.skygo.co.nz/product/641870.aspx
You need to create a “skygo” account (just an email signup, you don’t need to be a sky subscriber)
Excellent! Thank you felix, that is THE tip of the day, much appreciated 😀
http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/germ-agenda-sucks-money-out-public-education/5/190583
‘More than $12m over two years is being transferred to five charter schools (which currently teach a total of just 367 children) and $1.145m into Public-Private Partnerships.
That is $16348 per pupil per year!!!!!
This is user pays. They use and we pay.
My understanding is the usual rate is $7000 per pupil per year, so that is over twice the going rate for public schools.
Great news that more houses and consents for houses are being built than ever before. Building costs reduced and RMA changes to allow people to extend their homes will be an election aim. Great news that rivers are cleaner now than they were last year. Great news that debt is finally under control and will never be unending as projected in 2008. Great news that the rich will have a flash hotel to spend the night in and spend thousands in Wellington retail. Great news that Wellington retail will be more profitable and pay higher wages.
🙄
🙄
I hope they leave their bags in their rooms 🙂
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/02/dry-erase-marker-opens-all-hotel-room-doors/
🙄 Yep, truly a fucktard
Swopped the fizzy lemonade for champagne? You might be getting previous.
Minarch do you think breaking into hotel rooms is clever?
The device is pretty clever, yes.
The design of the hotel door lock on the other hand is pretty damn stupid. Handy for government spooks and others who want easy egress to wherever they want in a hotel, a visiting dignitary’s or journalist’s room, etc.
Never one to miss a pun
“Handy for government spooks and others who want easy egress to wherever they want in a hotel, a visiting dignitary’s or journalist’s room, etc.”
Key stone card cops
Edit: Can’t strike out ‘stone’ which ruins the whole thing really. 🙁
It’s the thought that counts Mr Al1en
Would have been spectacular CV
Im just minimizing my tax burden via my fence….
US charges 5 Chinese military offices with cybercrimes…China counters will allegations that US has back-doored thousands of Chinese websites and taken over more than 1M Chinese computers using botnet techniques.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-19/china-publishes-data-claiming-us-worlds-largest-cyber-attacker
So here’s my main point: let’s not move NZ elections online, OK?
Seems ironic that it is the USA that is complaining about cyber spying. NSA etc.
That hit me like an out of control brick too…
lol
Don’t be silly CV.
Like Draco said, it’s not that big a problem and hardly ever happens
but you can completely secure a system with, like, portals and [waves hands] stuff
So, has Labour got some fresh dirt on Collins? This question from Maryan Street to Judith Collins suggests they might have.
http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/33096
Yes Anne. Wondered about that. The questions were very specific. The answers were denials and a degree of defensiveness. It may be a setting for followup questions which might cause Judith distress. Having committed herself in the House, what happens next (tomorrow?) could be very interesting.
Doubling of Antarctic ice loss revealed by European satellite
It’s getting warmer and wetter.
Watching TV3 news just now you can see why the Nats have put in so much effort to destroy Cunliffe before the election campaign. One on one Cunliffe is going to rip Key a new one.
Cunliffe played Key at his own game beautifully in Question Time today and he won the last word. Proof positive Key has met his match.
I look forward to watching QT after Campbell Live. Cunliffe is growing in leaps and bounds it seems to me. He had a pretty good stoush with Mary Wilson on Checkpoint tonight.
john campbell is promising a new spooking-scandal..@ 7…
GCSB Fletcher, John Key. et al
Yep. I have the impression Campbell and co. have been working on this – quietly and even secretively- for some considerable time.
JC said earlier before the 6pm news that it was 3 years in the making……..
Gonna sure show how much of a liar Key is
TV3 is Live Streaming it online – they must think it’s very important.
Incredible John Campbell! He has assembled all the details including the lies Key told regarding Ian Fletcher, the relationship with the hugely powerful USA Intelligence. Wow!
This an exceptional production and watch out for the denials from Key and the dirty tricks brigade who will set out to discredit Campbell.
A must must watch show!
Not up online yet!
video now up
http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive.aspx
key has set up our spooks as a branch office of the american spooks…
..we have become a chattel-state of america..
..in all but name..
..key has made them our new overlords..
..and sold us out..
..i think it must be time to take back our country..
..throw key out..and then throw them out..
..let them become four-eyes..
You have been smoking far to much weed Philip.
Watch Campbell Live’s expose today on Key’s actions in 2011.
Then explain why phil’s statement is wrong.
which part have i got wrong..?
the way things stand at the moment..
..everytime we see a drone-kill on television..
..we can know that this killing is partly our work..
..i dunno about you..
..but i am not very comfortable with that…
..we are mercenary killers..
..killers for trade…
..killing innocent men women and children..
..that fucken sucks..!
.
+111
We’re an obedient outpost of the US surveillance and security empire. After Snowden, it’s not even a controversial assertion anymore.
+1
It’s Time To Meet Your Neighbours. Online.
Looks like it could be interesting.