Open mike 23/07/2024

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 23rd, 2024 - 18 comments
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For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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18 comments on “Open mike 23/07/2024 ”

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  1. Descendant Of Smith 1
    23 July 2024 at 8:04 am

    As companies become wealthier they turn back to the 1800's. Company towns apartment buildings.

    https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/costco-housing-apartments-south-la-19541521.php

    “I think the comparison to a prison wasn’t perfect,” Cohen candidly admits of his post, which X says has been viewed nearly 3 million times. “Living inside it won’t be like living in a prison, obviously. But it is a bunch of small units along these long hallways, with a massive recreation center as an amenity space. From a plan view, it looks like an old school prison design.”

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 1.1
      23 July 2024 at 1:54 pm

      Reading that put in my mind that old song…"Sixteen tons" , with the classic line "I owe my soul to the company store", with, as i then saw this..

      Under this scrip system, workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with non-transferable credit vouchers that could be exchanged only for goods sold at the company store. This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or houses, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Tons

      And..a lot of versions of that song !

  2. Visubversa 2
    23 July 2024 at 8:40 am

    Saltaire and the others built by Victorian industrialists – many of them religious non-conformists, are still held up as model developments today.

    They replaced the Victorian slums – "back to back" housing with families in basements and one pit toilet at the end of the "close".

    We have been to Saltaire – built by Titus Salt on the banks of the Aire river and a major tourist attraction, And for contrast, we stayed a night in the Leeds suburb of Harehills (where they had riots this week). Here there were rows of back to back housing surrounding a red brick woolen mill. No services, no amenity.

    • Descendant Of Smith 2.1
      23 July 2024 at 9:07 am

      Todays use is a far cry from past use. Paternalism.

      Must be time to rewatch a "A Wonderful Life" the film the capitalists wanted banned.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town#:~:text=A%20company%20town%20is%20a,schools%2C%20markets%20and%20recreation%20facilities.

      Paternalism, a subtle form of social engineering, refers to the control of workers by their employers who sought to force middle-class ideals upon their working-class employees. Paternalism was considered by many nineteenth-century businessmen as a moral responsibility, or often a religious obligation, which would advance society whilst furthering their own business interests. Accordingly, the company town offered a unique opportunity to achieve such ends.

      • Visubversa 2.1.1
        23 July 2024 at 11:46 am

        Well, if providing schools, hospitals, recreation facilities, clean and dry homes at reasonable rents is paternalistic that is fine. I know where I would have rather lived in the 19thC.

  3. Kay 3
    23 July 2024 at 9:33 am

    How Seymour sees the population as nothing more than 'economic units'.

    Pharmac is being asked to consider a drug’s impact on economic productivity. This means assessments would consider whether a medicine helps people remain at work because they don’t get sick, or helps return them to work after an illness.

    Time away from work – lost productivity – can be measured using a “friction cost” approach (which counts the hours not worked until another employee takes over a sick person’s work), or a “human capital” approach (where the indirect cost is the amount of time lost due to illness, valued at the market wage).

    But there is a risk those who aren’t considered “productive” and those in low-wage jobs could be deemed less important to treat. This could include older people, those with disabilities and their carers, those with conditions that mean they might never work, and those facing discrimination in the workplace (women, Māori and Pasifika, for example).

    If Pharmac is to consider productivity, then the government needs to acknowledge this could exacerbate existing inequities. (My bold)

    https://theconversation.com/dear-pharmac-do-things-differently-what-david-seymours-expectations-could-mean-for-the-drug-buying-agency-234897

    • Incognito 3.1
      23 July 2024 at 10:29 am

      He tangata productivity, he tangata productivity, he tangata productivity.

    • tc 3.2
      23 July 2024 at 11:25 am

      Seeing Rimmer as acting PM was dystopian enough after winnies effort.

      • georgecom 3.2.1
        25 July 2024 at 10:21 pm

        rimmings party wasted $89 million last time in govt on charter schools. not content with that wastem rimming is now going to waste an extra $60 million on top of that this time round, $149 million.

  4. SPC 4
    23 July 2024 at 11:09 am

    Trump who once claimed he could shoot someone and his followers would not mind

    https://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/23/politics/donald-trump-shoot-somebody-support/index.html

    now says he took a bullet for democracy

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4ngwzd4y83o

    The shooter was someone who was rejected from his high school gun club (as being a really bad shot), was interested in government and history and had done a school project on the Kennedy assassination.

    • Georgecom 4.1
      23 July 2024 at 4:33 pm

      No he didnt, the bullet missed

      Amusing today to see him demanding a "refund" for money spent campaigning against Biden. Shows what a total winner he is.

      Also claiming the democrats " stole" the election from Biden. Pot and black kettles

      • David 4.1.1
        23 July 2024 at 5:54 pm

        I’m being pedantic… But the bullet hit Trump, fortunately just his right ear. Another 5 to 20mm further to the right it would have been a very messy, and not in a good way

        • georgecom 4.1.1.1
          23 July 2024 at 6:24 pm

          yup understood what you meant, my comments were about yet further Trump lies and distortions. he didn't take a bullet and trump and democracy are accidental bed fellows. No comment regards his ear, 5 to 20 mm further to the right, being bloody etc but accept your point that he was a bad shot

  5. gsays 5
    23 July 2024 at 12:44 pm

    While pursuing the internet, I came across this article. Less about the title (although that does give food for thought), the essay contains a video about leaving neo-liberalism in the '80s.

    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/07/22/the-lesson-from-the-40-year-neoliberal-experiment-for-the-nz-political-left-and-can-they-win-back-the-male-vote/

    It is from Economic Well-being Alliance with an urge to join and help undo this horrible experiment.