Has anything highlighted NZ Heralds right wing/National party bias as much as the Auckland issue. So refreshing to read Metro’s great piece on this issue:
The main reason we have runaway increases in house prices is that there are votes in it. The government believes home owners do not want it to control rising property prices.
And the main reason the transport impasse exists is the government believes there are votes in that too. It will not allow anything that looks like a penalty for car drivers, and it does not believe public transport is the key to solving congestion on our roads.
and yet the car drivers and home owners amongst the metro reading crowd will vote for national again and again for precisely the stated reason. Stupid, greedy, shortsighted. But as the old saying goes, i have mine and to hell with you.
There is plenty of soft Nat Jaffa’s that are starting to resent foreigners outbidding them on property. Add the resentment of close to 50,000 migrants arriving each year, many settling in Auckland and you have a catalyst for a blow back at the voting booths.
Peters seems to be the only one making much noise. Labour have given Phil Goff Off the plumb Auckland Issues portfolio so he can enhance his changes of winning the Auckland mayoralty. If anyone needs to get angry it should be Goff Off. Come on you gutless wonder you should be all over this screaming from the top of sky tower. Perform or pass the portfolio on to someone who has some guts to front up.
Goff Off played it safe by making the minimum amount of noise. He never pushed for the deep water port in Northland, Peters was campaigning in the buy election but had the sense to way into the reclamation debate. We all know Brown is woefully useless!
Phil Twyford as Labour’s Transport spokesperson was very quiet on the issue actually, another play it safe stance. Admittedly he had been busy with Housing, but still it is his duty holding the portfolio. Spare me the put down nonsense I detest Labour wasting plum opportunities to be front footing issues that put them at the forefront.
I think you will find that the government is not controlling property and transport due to receiving generous donations, to make money for themselves and ideology.
Do not agree it is Home Owners fault.
Most people agree with more public transport, but it is how it is implemented that is the problem.
Most people myself included would expect the council to be spending our rates on transport for example, not propping up barristers by supporting illegal action by Ports of Auckland.
It is the ridiculous waste of money, by the government and councils, that is one of the biggest problems and the hypocrisy of extra rating and taxes for transport and reduction of social services while they waste money against the interests of the rate payers.
Labour should take a book out of the Nats, mimic the right discourse.
Clean up government and councils to stop the out of control spending.
The whole rates increase is a very bad joke on ratepayers. Blame Len Brown for his lack of leadership, and Rodney Hide for giving us the monstrous Super City. (Carnal) Left and (greedy) Right together to screw the population.
Blame Key and co for failure to allow Auckland Council the proper process to raise the funds for developing needed infrastructure – so they have to lump it on ratepayers. By the way – if you live in Auckland – how do you feel about the possibility of Auckland in almost constant gridlock in a few years from now?
“I think any ordinary person will realise a process when you don’t advise the person that you’re considering something, you don’t let them attend, you don’t even give them a chance to respond to allegations, is no proper process,”.
Greek parliament has voted 178-120 for a referendum but it looks moot after this statement (courtesy Zerohedge) form the Eurogroup:
“The Eurogroup takes note of the decision of the Greek government to put forward a proposal to call for a referendum, which is expected to take place on Sunday July 5, which is after the expiration of the programme period. The current financial assistance arrangement with Greece will expire on 30 June 2015, as well as all agreements related to the current Greek programme including the transfer by euro area Member States of SMP and ANFA equivalent profits.”
The financial markets will be interesting on Monday!!
It’s going to be interesting times for the world watching on.. I assume the Government wants the referendum so they then have a mandate from the public to pull out of the Euro.
Of course they do. Then at the negotiating table they can say “we” might see the sense of what you say but our people want buy it… it’s one negotiating tactic our current government threw away a long time ago by being so noddingly compliant
Just to clarify for general readers, Greece (for example) might exit the “euro”, as in the currency or Eurozone or EZ which is the monetary union, but could still remain within the European Union or EU that is the single market politico-economic union.
Denmark and the United Kingdom are of course in the EU but are exempt from the EZ.
Sweden was required to join but their people voted down the move in their 2003 referendum and has stayed outside the EZ since then.
The thing is, maybe Greece is playing a “nothing left to lose” game of chicken. At this point just maybe the EU and the bankers have more to lose if Greece pulls out cos they have to worry, that IF Greece ends up no worse off out than they are today, can find a better deal from another “bank” or Nation, which other EU countries might say “fuck it, we will default too”> THAT is one risk the IMF EU etc are taking by asking Greece’s fewer number of employed to work and pay tax to send out of their economy to meet interest payments…
Since the austerity conditions attached to finance Greece’s unemployment has fallen not risen.
Exactly. That is why the EU is playing hardball. They are terrified it will encourage other countries to tell them to sod off. I think it is appropriate that Greece be the first country to go down this path.
Apparently there is precedent for sovereign default of debt and I am not suggesting defaulting will be easy for the Greek people but perhaps the best outcome is actually to give a 3-5 moratorium on interest payments…
Perhaps printing their own money again might cause problems but it might also see more money in the local economy?
BUT I definitely think that NOT just sitting meekly and nodding to the big boys would help Greece (as the previous government was doing while piling on more pain), so I say bravo for their stand. They are fucked whichever path they go down, for a while anyway.
It is time for the online left to be sure to expose at every opportunity the astro-turf “Auckland Ratepayers Alliance” for what it is – a out-and-out deceptive front for the extreme right, National party aligned so-called “tax payers union” created by Jordan Williams and that enemy of democracy, the right wing courtier David Farrar.
This so-called alliance tells lies about itself – on the “about” page of this “alliance” it claims the “Taxpayers’ Union” is a politically independent organisation. http://www.ratepayers.nz/about It has a couple of useful idiot muppets mentioned, presumably to give it a bit of credibility, but make no mistake – it is simply the right wing of the National party with a lampshade on it’s head as a disguise.
This front group will try, by the look of Farrar’s frantic pushing of it, to run as a front for the Auckland Remuera elite and it’s hard right agenda.
All Standardnista’s must be vigilant to expose this dishonest astroturf group in comments sections whenever it seeks publicity, be it on Facebook or in online electronic media. Attack them at every turn, and don’t let these anti-democratic right wing bastards get any media or popular traction through these sort of dishonest fronts!
One of the most shameful parts of NZ history is the White New Zealand policy that began at the start of the 1880s and culminated in 1920 legislation that finally barred the door to pretty much all Chinese immigration to NZ.
This latest piece examines what was happening in NZ society – NZ was now clearly a (capitalist) nation-state, in the early 1890s the long depression was still in process, the big estates (or a section of them) were being broken up, thwarted on the industrial field labour had turned to parliamentary politics and elected a LIberal government, in the early 1890s the suffrage movement was a big force.
The main forces campaigning for White New Zealand were liberals, mainstream trade unionists, feminists, social improvers and do-gooders.
Later, of course, the liberal racists would be joined by the early Labour Party, as we shall see in one of the articles to come.
Who or what am I, and what do I do? (Avoid post-plumber shock)
(tl;dr skip to video at end)
Feeling lost. We’ve all been there, at some point in our lives. Sometimes the answer is to do the modern equivalent of running away to join the circus, without having any acrobatic skills, and there is no circus anywhere near us, they wouldn’t have us even if we asked nicely and we‘re so confused that even the act of running away turns into a stumbling lolloping shuffle.
It doesn’t matter how old we are, how much stuff we own, the balance of our bank account, or the long string of success or failure in our past. All we want is to be free to discover whatever it is that feels like it’s missing.
So one day we’re sitting in a paddock together, me and a new friend of mine, and she was exasperated with herself and screamed out at the world that was far, far, away from where we were that moment, “What the fuck am I doing with my life!”. At the time, to my ears, it sounded ungrateful and ironic. You’ll get to hear a lot between the fence posts of a farm, doing what no one else really wants to do that much – unless they’re taking the wages back to the Islands.
Such a place is one of NZ’s versions of The Circus for the Lost. It’s not very exciting, but has nice views, and while there is miles of wire there are no trapeze artists. You do get to hear a lot of detail about other people’s lives, although you never really meet the actual person, until maybe much later. So this gal was, despite her gold-star personality and high level of skills in a particular area; despite the considerable success she’d had overseas in her efforts; despite the more-or-less-privileged circumstances she (we) could maintain to even be where she (and we) was and were; she was discouraged and confused.
And then there was the other dimwit, me, who had no idea which way was up, none of that gal’s talent, skill, or success, scratching my head thinking, she does know who she is, right, she knows what she can and does do, right? We weren’t young either. We were in our thirties, she was a few years older than me.
Now the Buddhists just avoid all this trouble with a good belly laugh and a reminder that life is what it is – why encourage the anxiety? In NZ, though, we have a cultural aversion to large, perpetually jolly, people – by the time we’re ten we’re taught to be suspicious of them unless they come bearing gifts in December. Even the more yoga-pants oriented among us still want to know that our investment will return the percentage we thought it would. So we scrape around in self-help courses, community education, religions, go see an advisor, join the circus, find a counsellor or psychotherapist, or just talk to our friends endlessly about our troubles – trying to find some direction. It’s the Western way, and not many can completely escape it if they’re born into it. And in those books, lecture theatres, workplaces and coffee groups we find little snippets of information on what to do that doesn’t help one bit. Something is still missing. The steps are too far apart, or obscured.
“All you have to do is buckle-up, stick at it, work hard and it’ll turn out. Takes time.” But time keeps running out. No amount of buckling, perseverance or hard work changes the situations they get into.
“Get an education, choose an area that pays well and work hard!” They do have an education, but it’s “worthless”. No one will hire them
“Start your own business!” With what? In what? How?
“You have to really really really want it.” So what is that the definition of?
“You have to get out there, off your ass and ask around.” They did, but couldn’t do it well enough. Everyone turned them down.
“You just need to get back into the habit.” You mean you’ll make their life unnecessarily hard for kicks?
“Keep your head down, knuckle down, don’t talk, pay your dues.” They found what they wanted, the thing they’re told they need – can momentarily attain it – but can’t hold onto it very long.
The best we can see is pieces of a method but not the complete picture, the bits missing, who it might relate to or its overall relevance. Worse, you might run into this stuff:
“Hey, Mary, these cakes you make, they taste great you should totally do this for a living!” Encouraged by her friends’ chatter, Jan makes several attempts, learns a lot, but ultimately fails. Why?
“Find what you love and the money will follow!” Find what I love? What does that mean? Or you meet someone on your search who tells you if you were really doing what you loved it wouldn’t matter about them paying you below legal, unliveable wages.
“Find out what makes you cry, and do that!” Some people don’t really feel all that passionately about anything, let alone love anything. Why should it matter anyway?
“What are your interests? Find an industry that suits.” This person finds out that there is more to an industry than just applied skill and interest, and their attempts fail.
And all the while, time passes, lots of it. These people still have to deal with their everyday lives, the additional task of neutralising repeated failure so as not to distort their ability to see straight, and culture and politics never lets-up telling them they’re lazy, bludgers, miscreants, losers. It’s not their fault. Not at all. In fact, there is nothing wrong with them that could be considered a fault.
Why does “good” advice fail?
Because to use “good” advice, people have to be the same personality type as the advice-giver (similar dominant cognitive functions), have very similar experiences within a similar culture (experience a similar trend in external events as the advice-giver did when they did what they did), similar intellectual skills (to re-interpret anything they are told to suit their specific situation), and hear the advice at the right location to act, and the right time in their life.
Also, the advice-giver has to be particularly skilled to make sure the advice given carries all the necessary steps (which is very rare, most likely you’ll get slogans, as above). There’s a lot of details to consider when giving advice, and dismissing those details is more a favour to the ignorance of the advice-giver than the person who needs help.
It’s how living in a bubble-of-belonging works. No one inside the bubble knows the steps to get in or out, because they never stepped outside the bubble and were born into it – they were moving along nicely inside the bubble because their personality type suited the values of the bubble. When you’re outside the bubble, the job of the bubble is to keep you out, and this is related to how privilege works. Unchecked, a person can unwittingly whack other people from inside the bubble, as with those slogan type advice snippets above. However, there is a happy ending to this story, because conforming to a culture of privilege is only one way to live your life, or one way to find a life to live, if you prefer.
Is this an advice post?
Nope, it’s more a unsolicited commiseration party, one you never knew you needed: However easy it is to do stuff once you find the start line or get into the swing of things, it can be difficult to find a start line or make that first swing in a world that is full of unusable, fragmented, misapplied advice – so lighten up on yourself. The people who rag on you for not being like them, they don’t know much.
So what is this?
Just undoing some of the common tangles before offering a different knot to try to tie-up loose ends. One particular piece of advice isn’t going to be universally suitable for everyone. 99.9% of the advice for finding direction I’ve heard in circulation has been totally useless to me. In it they ask questions that are usually oriented in one direction: What can we get from the World? Sometimes there’s slight variation: What do we feel we could get from the World? And if I hear another, “What would you do if you had all the money in the World…” again, I might just start burning down libraries. It’s amazing that human life has developed so far technologically, and yet no one can answer the simplest of questions – What am I? Who am I? Where am I?
So when I heard a talk on TEDx recently, by chance, it caught my attention (because generally I don’t like TED talks. I think this one was part of a youtube autoplay). Here was someone changing the orientation of the questions: Yes, they were ego-centric and risked the associated pitfalls, but not as risky as most, they were even somewhat political,
Who are you?
What do you do?
Who do you do it for?
How do they change as a result?
How do they change? But… where’s the money… you didn’t mention passion… or finding what I love to do… or what I’m interested in…. or what I want to do… where’s the focus on what I get? That’s the point. These questions weren’t just about work, careers, personal sensory satisfaction or financial gain; they were about finding a personal reference point by noticing effect of actions; they were about identifying who you are at any particular time – and potentially working forward from there. How other people changed, and the name given to that change, was the description of what you did, and what you were. The obvious answers are obvious, but also there are hidden answers. For example, you might work at a gas station, and your name is Alice,
Who are you? I’m Alice.
What do you do? I pump gas, clean windows, check the oil, chat with people. Sometimes I’m here alone at night, watching the forecourt.
Who do you do it for? You mean other than me earning minimum wage? I do it for the customers I guess. I mean, sure I work for the boss, but it’s the customer’s cars.
How do they change as a result? They move on their way, knowing that they aren’t going to run out of gas, or their tyres ain’t going to pop on a dark road, or their engines burn out, or when I give directions, so they get to where they’re going.
Alice works at a gas station, but she doesn’t often pump gas. She reinforces in people a sense of security, if they need it, reinforces a form of certainty that they might be running low on. She makes sure people don’t stop for avoidable problems. What is Alice really? What does Alice really do?
Using that approach – a metaphorical interpretation of actions – anyone can locate where they are at, no matter where they are, regardless of socio-economic status. Everyone does something, and more importantly, they do it in a certain way and the effect it has is measureable.
Although it’s not a silver bullet, it’s a lot more stable than thinking, “I’m plumber, therefore I fix pipes, dig holes and break small things. When I retire, or if I loose my job, I’ll be nothing, because I won’t be plumbing anymore.”. Avoid post-plumber shock.
The title of the TEDx talk says “How to know your life purpose in five minutes”, which to me sounded a bit grandiose, because life circumstances often change, don’t they? People go through cycles with specific times for activities that come and go. “Life Purpose” isn’t always static. Also, that everyone’s life has an inherent purpose is a philosophical choice people make that might be true for some, but not a proven certainty for all… and the video takes ten minutes… so that’s funny too. I don’t agree with everything the speaker says (e.g. examining is living… for someone), but the questions are good for anyone stuck in common Western mind-traps. It did sound like a good way to track down some common themes that run through people’s lives.
If people are thinking, “I need to do something, but what? There is so much going on in the world, but my skills don’t fit…”, or if they find themselves in any of the can’t-follow-good-advice catch-22s above and need to know what they are right now or have been while they’ve been in their current cycle, they can at least find that reference point and decide where to go from there. Some of the movement forward, after finding out, will take no effort at all, and may reveal why things didn’t work out earlier. It’s an out of the ordinary method, I thought, and useful to someone.
+100…thanks Charles ….yes I am going to have to reread this tomorrow….there is a lot of thought in this…reminds me of a sociology text found in a university bookshop years ago ( I cant remember the name of the author but he was American and wrote 3 volumes and I was riveted…stood reading it for hours before i decided I would have to buy it)….the big existential questions…who am I? …what is my life purpose?…where do I fit into the scheme of things….questions of meaning
…seems to me that networks, family and friends are really important these days….(to keep the wolves of alienation, anxiety and depression at bay, especially for those most disadvantaged… the unemployed, the young and the low income earner…the un housed, the mentally and emotionally fragile, the children and the elderly…and those without supportive families close by)
…and that the little people have to stand up for themselves and their own human value …..and fight to get their rights/ wants/needs recognised …..they have to fight for their grassroots democracy ….against corporate, media , bankster, vested, overseas and systemmic religious institution interests….some of which are indistinguishable
Thanks Charles, very thought provoking. I’m at a stage in my life where this is very appropriate. I find it interesting the expectations that capitalism has created, for instance it’s expected if you’re “working” you should be working a 40 hour week. Indeed in most cases this is what is required for survival.
Also from doing some job searches on the net lately it seems the most frequent jobs going are construction, aged care, sales, administration. Either it was just me or most of the jobs seemed to be about keeping capitalism alive. There were few jobs that involved making the country/world a better place, I guess these jobs fall into what society calls unpaid “volunteer” work.
I’ve also been investigating personality types lately (i.e Myers-Briggs) and it seems some personalities don’t like being told what to do and how to do it. Their whole world view is doing things their own way for causes they believe in. How could they then ever work effectively as an employee for a company?
I was recently at a jobs expo and in a room full of stall holders there wasn’t much to get excited about. All the stalls were pretty sterile, commercialised and with an air of fakeness to them. One of the university stalls tried to lure you in with lego type robots on their desk – as if there was a job out there where you could build and play with robots all day.
Jane is providing regular updates of developments in Greece …. FYI
EUROPE MUST SWITCH OVER FROM THE PRIVATE CREATION OF MONEY TO SOVEREIGN MONEY IMMEDIATELY
Central to eurozone plans to handle a Greek default must be a switch over from the private creation of money to sovereign money.
A default is now on the cards after controlled Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras torpedoed negotiations with the announcement of a trick referendum without warning the Greek delegation.
A referendum makes a default inevitable but also blocks legislation to manage that default.
As a result Greece will now default in chaotic circumstances, the Syriza government could be toppled, social division will increases and the danger of a civil war looms. The Greek parliament is due to vote on the referendum tonight.
The impementation of the Chicago Plan Revisited could, and must, be done by legislative decree immediately. It would bring a return of prosperity to Europe. It would also drain the bankers of the funds they use to control the media and stage false flags and pave the way for political stability.
Iceland has already prepared legislation to make the transition, and other countries must follow suit.
If European leaders do not act soon, chaos may engulf all of Europe. It cannot be ruled out that the ECB and German central bank will be razed to the ground altogether by angry Germans, when they realize they have to foot the bill for Greece’s fractional reserve banking debt and their money is worthless.
The bank runs in Greece are just a foretaste of what could happen across Europe in the coming days unless the creation of money is taken out of the hands of private banks and returned to soveriegn national banks.
Well Penny, if banks are stripped of their ability to create money and can only loan out deposits – I hope the banks loan out your savings first. How would we expand the money supply Penny? Would the bank phone the government every time someone wants money for a house – a bit inefficient Penny!
Or Penny, are you suggesting people only get home loans from the government directly?
While there’s no real problem with your second option, the first is already the case. Only a moron would suggest that banks would employ someone to draw funds from the government for each and every mortgage, just because their reserve ratio needs to be 1:1.
Restricting banks lending on houses to only the amount of bank deposits is exactly what is needed. At present overseas banks are exporting billions in profits from NZ in money created solely from their unmitigated lending. This is not only ripping off the people of NZ – but also fuels the housing market causing escalation and inflationary pressures in the housing market.The only time where banks should be allowed to lend above and beyond their deposits is where that money is going into the creation of productive capacity and jobs within the economy. Lending on existing housing does not do that.
The need for them to “have to create” all the extra money so that people can buy a house is a direct result of them creating and inflating the price of houses in the first place. If money was restricted – the price of houses would fall. What needs to happen is a slow but steady credit squeeze slowly reducing the money supply so that people would have surety in a managed reduction. Houses would then fall into line with the prices of other capital items in the economy, and not be overvalued as they are now.
This is not a new concept nor is this the first time that economist have queried the freedom of allowing banks to create money unchecked. John Mc Murtry in his book “Unequal Freedoms – the Global market as an ethical system” Published in Canada in 1998 states on pp 316 -317
How ca a regime so prejudicial to the public good persist with so little public opposition? The answer is that what is no seen is not opposed. Significantly, the Global market’s international co-ordinating body that has led the substitution of privatised government bonds for bank reserves is the Swiss based Bank of International Settlements, a socially accountable private banker committee that plots the world’s norms of money creations and supplies outside of the public’s gaze. The Bank Of International Settlements originally set up to bring German war reparations under banks control before the 1929 crash and Great Depression, later handed over Czechosolvarkia’s gold to Hitler after his invasion of Prague in 1938. Today it leads a policy of abolishing all reserves for bank loans, a carte blanche secretly passed into law in 1991. The banks view is that every one must have collateral for loans, but banks themselves do not have to have cash reserves to back up loans to governments or to individuals. Cash reserves are called an “unfair tax”, an Orwellian conception that Central Bankers cheerfully repeat. The logic of the bankers’ code exempts them they themselves prescribe as inviolate to everyone else. This is another symptom of our social disorder.
He goes on – but I shall end there – so what Penny has referred to is not out of left field – nor it is un-thought – it is the concern of many who prefer to take a more expansive view of economic policy than the limited and failed economic policy of the conventional “wisdom”
Well what Penny is suggesting is out of left-field because she suggested stopping banks (expanding the money supply by) creating money in the form of loans. If banks used a ‘fractional reserve 1:1 ratio’ – Banks would still be creating money through loans.
Penny originally suggested banks should be “stripped of their ability to create money” – obviously she has amended her post~!!!
At the present time we have given Banks carte blanche to create money at the press of a key board. This is unhealthy to our economy and has to stop. Banks should be limited a 1:1 lending ratio on existing houses – they create no new productive capacity, nor extra employment. Obviously having let the cat out of the bag it is going to be extremely difficult to get it back in, and many people would suffer if a direct limitation was imposed at once. The only way banks can effectively be brought into line now, is to manage a steadily tightening credit squeeze with full public knowledge of why it was happening, and with full advice as to how and when it was being implimented, with appropriate advice for those affected, in order that people could plan accordingly.
Yes those who buy at the top of the market would find themselves with a house that would not sell for what they paid. This is going to happen sooner or later anyway when the market collapses in the not too distant future. http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/interviews/reserve-bank-fears-housing-bubble-will-burst#axzz3eLks5tVX http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/picking-stocks-and-housing-bubbles-ck-150761
A housing bubble occurs when there is an accelerating growth in real estate prices without a commensurate increase in the underlying fundamental value, Greenaway-McGrevy said. The bubble ends when the ability of people to buy or rent properties is compromised.
“Eventually at some point economic fundamentals limit the degree to which people can pay for property,” he said. Income was the biggest factor. “If it becomes hard for people to rent or purchase a property in Auckland then you will begin to see demand for housing in Auckland tail off,” he said.
In Auckland that point has not been reached.
“Buyers are wary of being priced out by further increases in prices so as a result seem to be willing to pay premiums to secure properties,” said Quotable Value’s Auckland valuer James Wilson said.
“Investors are still very active in the market, capitalising on low interest rates, high equity across their portfolios and rapidly rising prices.”
I disagree with having a ‘reserve ratio of 1:1’ – the money supply should be expanded as need. What you are suggesting sounds an awful lot like austerity.
I like the BitCoin currency because it’s not dependent of continued expansion unlike ALL other paper currencies I know of.
Lending to The Government and lending to Private Citizens are two different things. Though both expand the money supply. I don’t see the whole country lining up outside The Reserve Bank to take out loans.
I disagree. The money supply would be expanded when banks loan out money. The only time it would NOT be is if:
A. The bank takes your money (deposit) without your permission and loans it to your neighbour (which is theft)
B. The government outlaws banks and becomes the lender
Are you shitting me? The bank doesn’t label your money, it promises you it will give you back that amount of money when you ask for it.
“Your” money is almost immediately lent to someone else or used to pay a depositor who is making a withdrawal.
If you ask for your money, and it can’t pay you back, it would get in shit – insolvency rumours, run on the bank, bam it’s broke. So if it lends to a hose purchaser at 6% to get a profit, what is the bank to do in case you want your money back? It borrows from the reserve bank at 3%. It credits your account 2%. And makes 1% profit.
With a fractional reserve of 10%, a bank borrows $1million from the reserve bank. That covers it lending up to $10million. Hence the expansion in the money supply.
With a reserve of 1:1, if the bank borrows $10million it can only lend out $10million.
The reduction in elasticity therefore gives the reserve bank more direct control over the economic accelerator. It would only be the RB that creates the cash (the digits it lends to the banks).
Nobody other than banks need borrow from the reserve bank – the banks just borrow the aggregate of what they think they’ll need at that particular OCR.
Nobody other than banks need borrow from the reserve bank – the banks just borrow the aggregate of what they think they’ll need at that particular OCR.
Indeed. And ordinary people and companies cannot have accounts with the RBNZ; only registered banks.
If you ask for your money, and it can’t pay you back, it would get in shit – insolvency rumours, run on the bank, bam it’s broke. So if it lends to a hose purchaser at 6% to get a profit, what is the bank to do in case you want your money back? It borrows from the reserve bank at 3%. It credits your account 2%. And makes 1% profit.
the other thing to note is that the bank can always pay out the money first in the form of an electronic credit to your nominated bank account, and go looking for any additional reserves it needs to balance things out at the end of the day (either on the open market or from the RBNZ) *afterwards*.
The Bank doesn’t loan my money out as such, it creates money on top of my deposit and loans that out. Then the whole process starts again when the newly created money is deposited.
The Reserve Bank is creating the money you say, ok fine, BUT the demand for the money creation is coming from the likes of ANZ, ASB, BNZ – so directly or indirectly these bank are creating the money. And dynamically (and corruptly sometimes, granted) responding to consumer demand.
Again, I don’t see the whole of New Zealand lining up outside the Reserve Bank to take out a loan.
BUT the demand for the money creation is coming from the likes of ANZ, ASB, BNZ – so directly or indirectly these bank are creating the money.
…but the demand for the banks to lend money that the reserve bank created comes from people who wish to borrow money, so by you logic mortgagees directly or indirectly create money.
I think you’re running around in circles. The point being, however, that a 1:1 ratio makes government policy, not bank self interest, the major determinant of the money supply.
I disagree with having a ‘reserve ratio of 1:1′ – the money supply should be expanded as need. What you are suggesting sounds an awful lot like austerity.
Expanding the money supply would be done either by the central bank (RBNZ) increasing central bank money available to the retail banks and instructing the retail banks to increase certain types of lending as the economy is deemed to require – or by Government spending the money into existence, investing those monies into strategic areas of the nation.
The retail banks could then take that increased availability of money and act as savings societies (which use a reserve ratio of 1:1) to extend private loans into the economy.
So no, it wouldn’t necessarily be austerity, its just that the Government determines whether the money supply needs to be expanded or tightened, and for what purposes.
Of course, we also need to be cogniscent that the world bankster cartel have taken down entire nations for less.
Good Post, I’m inclined to think you’re onto something with saving societies (it sounds good anyway). However, the ‘Government determining whether the money supply needs to be expanded’ – I’m not sure how they would determine that? Or if it would be more dynamic than the current system.
BitCoin is the best currency I’ve ever seen. Your ideas are interesting for sure Colonial Rawshark .
Granted you did say private banks – I suppose there is something/much to be said for that in our current ‘reserve banking system’. Over issuance of new currency (money printing) obviously devalues a currency (see history for examples).
“Again Athens finds itself at loggerheads with its creditors, particularly the IMF. The Greeks appear to be willing to do only enough to stay in the Eurozone, while the rest of Europe is willing to offer it just enough support to stay afloat – all awhile making the Greek economy almost impossible to grow. Is the Euro a failure?
CrossTalking with Mitch Feierstein, Stephen Haseler, and Scheherazade Rehman.
I wouldn’t call the Euro a failure – it’s a unification of Europe at best, succeeding where many failed. The cracks seem to be showing though. Prophetically speaking I’d suggest on the horizon is the fast pace emergence of a religious system (papal), which will begin dominating Europe and the political systems therein.
I have no doubt the Greek people are being denied dignity and austerity needs to end. Greece have been offered participation in the BRICS bank – so maybe some light at the end of the proverbial ‘tunnel’ for them?
On a different note, Turkey must be breathing with a big sigh of relief that, despite their constant knocking on the doors of the white Judeo-Christian club, they were fobbed off with tonnes of excuses constantly and may well have saved themselves of a lot of ‘pain’.
Let me guess – Turkey is not that enthusiastic about joining the EU now?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
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David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
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Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
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Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
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Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
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Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
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Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
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The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Has anything highlighted NZ Heralds right wing/National party bias as much as the Auckland issue. So refreshing to read Metro’s great piece on this issue:
http://www.metromag.co.nz/editors-blog/len-brown-the-brave/
And these quote sum things up perfectly.
and yet the car drivers and home owners amongst the metro reading crowd will vote for national again and again for precisely the stated reason. Stupid, greedy, shortsighted. But as the old saying goes, i have mine and to hell with you.
There is plenty of soft Nat Jaffa’s that are starting to resent foreigners outbidding them on property. Add the resentment of close to 50,000 migrants arriving each year, many settling in Auckland and you have a catalyst for a blow back at the voting booths.
Peters seems to be the only one making much noise. Labour have given Phil Goff Off the plumb Auckland Issues portfolio so he can enhance his changes of winning the Auckland mayoralty. If anyone needs to get angry it should be Goff Off. Come on you gutless wonder you should be all over this screaming from the top of sky tower. Perform or pass the portfolio on to someone who has some guts to front up.
@Skinny
Goff came out against the wharves. A 1000 times better than gutless Brown.
Goff Off played it safe by making the minimum amount of noise. He never pushed for the deep water port in Northland, Peters was campaigning in the buy election but had the sense to way into the reclamation debate. We all know Brown is woefully useless!
Phil Twyford is pretty good on the issue. But then its always a good day to just put down Labour it seems.
Phil Twyford as Labour’s Transport spokesperson was very quiet on the issue actually, another play it safe stance. Admittedly he had been busy with Housing, but still it is his duty holding the portfolio. Spare me the put down nonsense I detest Labour wasting plum opportunities to be front footing issues that put them at the forefront.
I think you will find that the government is not controlling property and transport due to receiving generous donations, to make money for themselves and ideology.
Do not agree it is Home Owners fault.
Most people agree with more public transport, but it is how it is implemented that is the problem.
Most people myself included would expect the council to be spending our rates on transport for example, not propping up barristers by supporting illegal action by Ports of Auckland.
It is the ridiculous waste of money, by the government and councils, that is one of the biggest problems and the hypocrisy of extra rating and taxes for transport and reduction of social services while they waste money against the interests of the rate payers.
Labour should take a book out of the Nats, mimic the right discourse.
Clean up government and councils to stop the out of control spending.
The whole rates increase is a very bad joke on ratepayers. Blame Len Brown for his lack of leadership, and Rodney Hide for giving us the monstrous Super City. (Carnal) Left and (greedy) Right together to screw the population.
So how would you fix the transport and housing problems?
Blame Key and co for failure to allow Auckland Council the proper process to raise the funds for developing needed infrastructure – so they have to lump it on ratepayers. By the way – if you live in Auckland – how do you feel about the possibility of Auckland in almost constant gridlock in a few years from now?
Almost $200 Million Donated to Representatives to Pass TPA
http://economyincrisis.org/content/almost-200-million-donated-to-representatives-to-buy-yea-votes-to-pass-tpa
On a similar note of ‘donations’, I actually think they should be called by their proper names, Bribes.
In good old NZ we call it a facilitation payment
Colin Craig, hypocrite:
“I think any ordinary person will realise a process when you don’t advise the person that you’re considering something, you don’t let them attend, you don’t even give them a chance to respond to allegations, is no proper process,”.
Long read, but worth it. The perfidy of Richard Cheney the Dick. This must never be allowed to happen here.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/fracking-whats-killing-the-babies-of-vernal-utah-20150622?page=3
Greece voting right now on whether to have referendum on EU/ECB/IMF so-called “bailout package”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jun/27/greek-crisis-mps-referendum-tsipras-eurogroup-ministers-live
Queues at the ATM’s overnight.
Greek parliament has voted 178-120 for a referendum but it looks moot after this statement (courtesy Zerohedge) form the Eurogroup:
“The Eurogroup takes note of the decision of the Greek government to put forward a proposal to call for a referendum, which is expected to take place on Sunday July 5, which is after the expiration of the programme period. The current financial assistance arrangement with Greece will expire on 30 June 2015, as well as all agreements related to the current Greek programme including the transfer by euro area Member States of SMP and ANFA equivalent profits.”
The financial markets will be interesting on Monday!!
It’s going to be interesting times for the world watching on.. I assume the Government wants the referendum so they then have a mandate from the public to pull out of the Euro.
Of course they do. Then at the negotiating table they can say “we” might see the sense of what you say but our people want buy it… it’s one negotiating tactic our current government threw away a long time ago by being so noddingly compliant
Just to clarify for general readers, Greece (for example) might exit the “euro”, as in the currency or Eurozone or EZ which is the monetary union, but could still remain within the European Union or EU that is the single market politico-economic union.
Denmark and the United Kingdom are of course in the EU but are exempt from the EZ.
Sweden was required to join but their people voted down the move in their 2003 referendum and has stayed outside the EZ since then.
See further:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_the_euro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_and_the_euro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_and_the_euro
The thing is, maybe Greece is playing a “nothing left to lose” game of chicken. At this point just maybe the EU and the bankers have more to lose if Greece pulls out cos they have to worry, that IF Greece ends up no worse off out than they are today, can find a better deal from another “bank” or Nation, which other EU countries might say “fuck it, we will default too”> THAT is one risk the IMF EU etc are taking by asking Greece’s fewer number of employed to work and pay tax to send out of their economy to meet interest payments…
Since the austerity conditions attached to finance Greece’s unemployment has fallen not risen.
Exactly. That is why the EU is playing hardball. They are terrified it will encourage other countries to tell them to sod off. I think it is appropriate that Greece be the first country to go down this path.
Apparently there is precedent for sovereign default of debt and I am not suggesting defaulting will be easy for the Greek people but perhaps the best outcome is actually to give a 3-5 moratorium on interest payments…
Perhaps printing their own money again might cause problems but it might also see more money in the local economy?
BUT I definitely think that NOT just sitting meekly and nodding to the big boys would help Greece (as the previous government was doing while piling on more pain), so I say bravo for their stand. They are fucked whichever path they go down, for a while anyway.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/assets/news/42087/eight_col_Cairn_erected_in_Cathedral_Squre_in_protest_at_elected_members_being_dumped_from_Environment_Canterbury_in_2011._Credit_RNZ_Conan_Young.jpg?1435292137
This is a fine statement of broken rights that is a historic document in New Zealand’s history.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/201760029/insight-for-28-june-2015-democracy-and-water-rights
It is time for the online left to be sure to expose at every opportunity the astro-turf “Auckland Ratepayers Alliance” for what it is – a out-and-out deceptive front for the extreme right, National party aligned so-called “tax payers union” created by Jordan Williams and that enemy of democracy, the right wing courtier David Farrar.
http://www.taxpayers.org.nz/ratepayers_alliance_launch
This so-called alliance tells lies about itself – on the “about” page of this “alliance” it claims the “Taxpayers’ Union” is a politically independent organisation. http://www.ratepayers.nz/about It has a couple of useful idiot muppets mentioned, presumably to give it a bit of credibility, but make no mistake – it is simply the right wing of the National party with a lampshade on it’s head as a disguise.
This front group will try, by the look of Farrar’s frantic pushing of it, to run as a front for the Auckland Remuera elite and it’s hard right agenda.
All Standardnista’s must be vigilant to expose this dishonest astroturf group in comments sections whenever it seeks publicity, be it on Facebook or in online electronic media. Attack them at every turn, and don’t let these anti-democratic right wing bastards get any media or popular traction through these sort of dishonest fronts!
One of the most shameful parts of NZ history is the White New Zealand policy that began at the start of the 1880s and culminated in 1920 legislation that finally barred the door to pretty much all Chinese immigration to NZ.
I’ve stuck up seven lengthy pieces up on Redline on the development of the White New Zealand policy. The list is here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/07/pieces-on-the-white-new-zealand-policy/
A few minutes ago, I pasted up the 7th; it looks at the context of the 1890s parliamentary debates: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/white-new-zealand-pt-7-analysing-and-contextualising-the-parliamentary-debates-over-white-new-zealand-in-the-1890s/
This latest piece examines what was happening in NZ society – NZ was now clearly a (capitalist) nation-state, in the early 1890s the long depression was still in process, the big estates (or a section of them) were being broken up, thwarted on the industrial field labour had turned to parliamentary politics and elected a LIberal government, in the early 1890s the suffrage movement was a big force.
The main forces campaigning for White New Zealand were liberals, mainstream trade unionists, feminists, social improvers and do-gooders.
Later, of course, the liberal racists would be joined by the early Labour Party, as we shall see in one of the articles to come.
Phil
Naomi Klein accepts invitation to Papal Climate Conference in Rome
Says the Pope provides moral leadership on a topic too dominated by economic considerations.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/28/pope-climate-change-naomi-klein
Who or what am I, and what do I do? (Avoid post-plumber shock)
(tl;dr skip to video at end)
Feeling lost. We’ve all been there, at some point in our lives. Sometimes the answer is to do the modern equivalent of running away to join the circus, without having any acrobatic skills, and there is no circus anywhere near us, they wouldn’t have us even if we asked nicely and we‘re so confused that even the act of running away turns into a stumbling lolloping shuffle.
It doesn’t matter how old we are, how much stuff we own, the balance of our bank account, or the long string of success or failure in our past. All we want is to be free to discover whatever it is that feels like it’s missing.
So one day we’re sitting in a paddock together, me and a new friend of mine, and she was exasperated with herself and screamed out at the world that was far, far, away from where we were that moment, “What the fuck am I doing with my life!”. At the time, to my ears, it sounded ungrateful and ironic. You’ll get to hear a lot between the fence posts of a farm, doing what no one else really wants to do that much – unless they’re taking the wages back to the Islands.
Such a place is one of NZ’s versions of The Circus for the Lost. It’s not very exciting, but has nice views, and while there is miles of wire there are no trapeze artists. You do get to hear a lot of detail about other people’s lives, although you never really meet the actual person, until maybe much later. So this gal was, despite her gold-star personality and high level of skills in a particular area; despite the considerable success she’d had overseas in her efforts; despite the more-or-less-privileged circumstances she (we) could maintain to even be where she (and we) was and were; she was discouraged and confused.
And then there was the other dimwit, me, who had no idea which way was up, none of that gal’s talent, skill, or success, scratching my head thinking, she does know who she is, right, she knows what she can and does do, right? We weren’t young either. We were in our thirties, she was a few years older than me.
Now the Buddhists just avoid all this trouble with a good belly laugh and a reminder that life is what it is – why encourage the anxiety? In NZ, though, we have a cultural aversion to large, perpetually jolly, people – by the time we’re ten we’re taught to be suspicious of them unless they come bearing gifts in December. Even the more yoga-pants oriented among us still want to know that our investment will return the percentage we thought it would. So we scrape around in self-help courses, community education, religions, go see an advisor, join the circus, find a counsellor or psychotherapist, or just talk to our friends endlessly about our troubles – trying to find some direction. It’s the Western way, and not many can completely escape it if they’re born into it. And in those books, lecture theatres, workplaces and coffee groups we find little snippets of information on what to do that doesn’t help one bit. Something is still missing. The steps are too far apart, or obscured.
“All you have to do is buckle-up, stick at it, work hard and it’ll turn out. Takes time.”
But time keeps running out. No amount of buckling, perseverance or hard work changes the situations they get into.
“Get an education, choose an area that pays well and work hard!”
They do have an education, but it’s “worthless”. No one will hire them
“Start your own business!”
With what? In what? How?
“You have to really really really want it.”
So what is that the definition of?
“You have to get out there, off your ass and ask around.”
They did, but couldn’t do it well enough. Everyone turned them down.
“You just need to get back into the habit.”
You mean you’ll make their life unnecessarily hard for kicks?
“Keep your head down, knuckle down, don’t talk, pay your dues.”
They found what they wanted, the thing they’re told they need – can momentarily attain it – but can’t hold onto it very long.
The best we can see is pieces of a method but not the complete picture, the bits missing, who it might relate to or its overall relevance. Worse, you might run into this stuff:
“Hey, Mary, these cakes you make, they taste great you should totally do this for a living!”
Encouraged by her friends’ chatter, Jan makes several attempts, learns a lot, but ultimately fails. Why?
“Find what you love and the money will follow!”
Find what I love? What does that mean? Or you meet someone on your search who tells you if you were really doing what you loved it wouldn’t matter about them paying you below legal, unliveable wages.
“Find out what makes you cry, and do that!”
Some people don’t really feel all that passionately about anything, let alone love anything. Why should it matter anyway?
“What are your interests? Find an industry that suits.”
This person finds out that there is more to an industry than just applied skill and interest, and their attempts fail.
And all the while, time passes, lots of it. These people still have to deal with their everyday lives, the additional task of neutralising repeated failure so as not to distort their ability to see straight, and culture and politics never lets-up telling them they’re lazy, bludgers, miscreants, losers. It’s not their fault. Not at all. In fact, there is nothing wrong with them that could be considered a fault.
Why does “good” advice fail?
Because to use “good” advice, people have to be the same personality type as the advice-giver (similar dominant cognitive functions), have very similar experiences within a similar culture (experience a similar trend in external events as the advice-giver did when they did what they did), similar intellectual skills (to re-interpret anything they are told to suit their specific situation), and hear the advice at the right location to act, and the right time in their life.
Also, the advice-giver has to be particularly skilled to make sure the advice given carries all the necessary steps (which is very rare, most likely you’ll get slogans, as above). There’s a lot of details to consider when giving advice, and dismissing those details is more a favour to the ignorance of the advice-giver than the person who needs help.
It’s how living in a bubble-of-belonging works. No one inside the bubble knows the steps to get in or out, because they never stepped outside the bubble and were born into it – they were moving along nicely inside the bubble because their personality type suited the values of the bubble. When you’re outside the bubble, the job of the bubble is to keep you out, and this is related to how privilege works. Unchecked, a person can unwittingly whack other people from inside the bubble, as with those slogan type advice snippets above. However, there is a happy ending to this story, because conforming to a culture of privilege is only one way to live your life, or one way to find a life to live, if you prefer.
Is this an advice post?
Nope, it’s more a unsolicited commiseration party, one you never knew you needed: However easy it is to do stuff once you find the start line or get into the swing of things, it can be difficult to find a start line or make that first swing in a world that is full of unusable, fragmented, misapplied advice – so lighten up on yourself. The people who rag on you for not being like them, they don’t know much.
So what is this?
Just undoing some of the common tangles before offering a different knot to try to tie-up loose ends. One particular piece of advice isn’t going to be universally suitable for everyone. 99.9% of the advice for finding direction I’ve heard in circulation has been totally useless to me. In it they ask questions that are usually oriented in one direction: What can we get from the World? Sometimes there’s slight variation: What do we feel we could get from the World? And if I hear another, “What would you do if you had all the money in the World…” again, I might just start burning down libraries. It’s amazing that human life has developed so far technologically, and yet no one can answer the simplest of questions – What am I? Who am I? Where am I?
So when I heard a talk on TEDx recently, by chance, it caught my attention (because generally I don’t like TED talks. I think this one was part of a youtube autoplay). Here was someone changing the orientation of the questions: Yes, they were ego-centric and risked the associated pitfalls, but not as risky as most, they were even somewhat political,
Who are you?
What do you do?
Who do you do it for?
How do they change as a result?
Here is the actual TEDx talk… credit where credit is due…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVsXO9brK7M
How do they change? But… where’s the money… you didn’t mention passion… or finding what I love to do… or what I’m interested in…. or what I want to do… where’s the focus on what I get? That’s the point. These questions weren’t just about work, careers, personal sensory satisfaction or financial gain; they were about finding a personal reference point by noticing effect of actions; they were about identifying who you are at any particular time – and potentially working forward from there. How other people changed, and the name given to that change, was the description of what you did, and what you were. The obvious answers are obvious, but also there are hidden answers. For example, you might work at a gas station, and your name is Alice,
Who are you?
I’m Alice.
What do you do?
I pump gas, clean windows, check the oil, chat with people. Sometimes I’m here alone at night, watching the forecourt.
Who do you do it for?
You mean other than me earning minimum wage? I do it for the customers I guess. I mean, sure I work for the boss, but it’s the customer’s cars.
How do they change as a result?
They move on their way, knowing that they aren’t going to run out of gas, or their tyres ain’t going to pop on a dark road, or their engines burn out, or when I give directions, so they get to where they’re going.
Alice works at a gas station, but she doesn’t often pump gas. She reinforces in people a sense of security, if they need it, reinforces a form of certainty that they might be running low on. She makes sure people don’t stop for avoidable problems. What is Alice really? What does Alice really do?
Using that approach – a metaphorical interpretation of actions – anyone can locate where they are at, no matter where they are, regardless of socio-economic status. Everyone does something, and more importantly, they do it in a certain way and the effect it has is measureable.
Although it’s not a silver bullet, it’s a lot more stable than thinking, “I’m plumber, therefore I fix pipes, dig holes and break small things. When I retire, or if I loose my job, I’ll be nothing, because I won’t be plumbing anymore.”. Avoid post-plumber shock.
The title of the TEDx talk says “How to know your life purpose in five minutes”, which to me sounded a bit grandiose, because life circumstances often change, don’t they? People go through cycles with specific times for activities that come and go. “Life Purpose” isn’t always static. Also, that everyone’s life has an inherent purpose is a philosophical choice people make that might be true for some, but not a proven certainty for all… and the video takes ten minutes… so that’s funny too. I don’t agree with everything the speaker says (e.g. examining is living… for someone), but the questions are good for anyone stuck in common Western mind-traps. It did sound like a good way to track down some common themes that run through people’s lives.
If people are thinking, “I need to do something, but what? There is so much going on in the world, but my skills don’t fit…”, or if they find themselves in any of the can’t-follow-good-advice catch-22s above and need to know what they are right now or have been while they’ve been in their current cycle, they can at least find that reference point and decide where to go from there. Some of the movement forward, after finding out, will take no effort at all, and may reveal why things didn’t work out earlier. It’s an out of the ordinary method, I thought, and useful to someone.
Thanks for sharing that Charles.
+100…thanks Charles ….yes I am going to have to reread this tomorrow….there is a lot of thought in this…reminds me of a sociology text found in a university bookshop years ago ( I cant remember the name of the author but he was American and wrote 3 volumes and I was riveted…stood reading it for hours before i decided I would have to buy it)….the big existential questions…who am I? …what is my life purpose?…where do I fit into the scheme of things….questions of meaning
…seems to me that networks, family and friends are really important these days….(to keep the wolves of alienation, anxiety and depression at bay, especially for those most disadvantaged… the unemployed, the young and the low income earner…the un housed, the mentally and emotionally fragile, the children and the elderly…and those without supportive families close by)
…and that the little people have to stand up for themselves and their own human value …..and fight to get their rights/ wants/needs recognised …..they have to fight for their grassroots democracy ….against corporate, media , bankster, vested, overseas and systemmic religious institution interests….some of which are indistinguishable
Thanks Charles, very thought provoking. I’m at a stage in my life where this is very appropriate. I find it interesting the expectations that capitalism has created, for instance it’s expected if you’re “working” you should be working a 40 hour week. Indeed in most cases this is what is required for survival.
Also from doing some job searches on the net lately it seems the most frequent jobs going are construction, aged care, sales, administration. Either it was just me or most of the jobs seemed to be about keeping capitalism alive. There were few jobs that involved making the country/world a better place, I guess these jobs fall into what society calls unpaid “volunteer” work.
I’ve also been investigating personality types lately (i.e Myers-Briggs) and it seems some personalities don’t like being told what to do and how to do it. Their whole world view is doing things their own way for causes they believe in. How could they then ever work effectively as an employee for a company?
I was recently at a jobs expo and in a room full of stall holders there wasn’t much to get excited about. All the stalls were pretty sterile, commercialised and with an air of fakeness to them. One of the university stalls tried to lure you in with lego type robots on their desk – as if there was a job out there where you could build and play with robots all day.
+100 thanks Charles….finally had time to watch the Ted Talk….and it is very good!…have passed it on!
Familiar with the work of Jane Burgermeister?
Jane is providing regular updates of developments in Greece …. FYI
EUROPE MUST SWITCH OVER FROM THE PRIVATE CREATION OF MONEY TO SOVEREIGN MONEY IMMEDIATELY
Central to eurozone plans to handle a Greek default must be a switch over from the private creation of money to sovereign money.
A default is now on the cards after controlled Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras torpedoed negotiations with the announcement of a trick referendum without warning the Greek delegation.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/auch-griechische-delegation-ueberrascht-tsipras-verschwieg
A referendum makes a default inevitable but also blocks legislation to manage that default.
As a result Greece will now default in chaotic circumstances, the Syriza government could be toppled, social division will increases and the danger of a civil war looms. The Greek parliament is due to vote on the referendum tonight.
The impementation of the Chicago Plan Revisited could, and must, be done by legislative decree immediately. It would bring a return of prosperity to Europe. It would also drain the bankers of the funds they use to control the media and stage false flags and pave the way for political stability.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/9623863/IMFs-epic-plan-to-conjure-away-debt-and-dethrone-bankers.html
Europe’s leaders have dodged the necessity to end the private creation of money, and in doing so, have brought Europe to the brink ot disaster.
Even Martin Wolf from the Financial Times warned last year that private banks must be stripped of the power to create money.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/7f000b18-ca44-11e3-bb92-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F7f000b18-ca44-11e3-bb92-00144feabdc0.html%3Fsiteedition%3Dintl&siteedition=intl&_i_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ie%2F
Iceland has already prepared legislation to make the transition, and other countries must follow suit.
If European leaders do not act soon, chaos may engulf all of Europe. It cannot be ruled out that the ECB and German central bank will be razed to the ground altogether by angry Germans, when they realize they have to foot the bill for Greece’s fractional reserve banking debt and their money is worthless.
The bank runs in Greece are just a foretaste of what could happen across Europe in the coming days unless the creation of money is taken out of the hands of private banks and returned to soveriegn national banks.
Well Penny, if banks are stripped of their ability to create money and can only loan out deposits – I hope the banks loan out your savings first. How would we expand the money supply Penny? Would the bank phone the government every time someone wants money for a house – a bit inefficient Penny!
Or Penny, are you suggesting people only get home loans from the government directly?
While there’s no real problem with your second option, the first is already the case. Only a moron would suggest that banks would employ someone to draw funds from the government for each and every mortgage, just because their reserve ratio needs to be 1:1.
Restricting banks lending on houses to only the amount of bank deposits is exactly what is needed. At present overseas banks are exporting billions in profits from NZ in money created solely from their unmitigated lending. This is not only ripping off the people of NZ – but also fuels the housing market causing escalation and inflationary pressures in the housing market.The only time where banks should be allowed to lend above and beyond their deposits is where that money is going into the creation of productive capacity and jobs within the economy. Lending on existing housing does not do that.
The need for them to “have to create” all the extra money so that people can buy a house is a direct result of them creating and inflating the price of houses in the first place. If money was restricted – the price of houses would fall. What needs to happen is a slow but steady credit squeeze slowly reducing the money supply so that people would have surety in a managed reduction. Houses would then fall into line with the prices of other capital items in the economy, and not be overvalued as they are now.
This is not a new concept nor is this the first time that economist have queried the freedom of allowing banks to create money unchecked. John Mc Murtry in his book “Unequal Freedoms – the Global market as an ethical system” Published in Canada in 1998 states on pp 316 -317
He goes on – but I shall end there – so what Penny has referred to is not out of left field – nor it is un-thought – it is the concern of many who prefer to take a more expansive view of economic policy than the limited and failed economic policy of the conventional “wisdom”
Well what Penny is suggesting is out of left-field because she suggested stopping banks (expanding the money supply by) creating money in the form of loans. If banks used a ‘fractional reserve 1:1 ratio’ – Banks would still be creating money through loans.
Penny originally suggested banks should be “stripped of their ability to create money” – obviously she has amended her post~!!!
At the present time we have given Banks carte blanche to create money at the press of a key board. This is unhealthy to our economy and has to stop. Banks should be limited a 1:1 lending ratio on existing houses – they create no new productive capacity, nor extra employment. Obviously having let the cat out of the bag it is going to be extremely difficult to get it back in, and many people would suffer if a direct limitation was imposed at once. The only way banks can effectively be brought into line now, is to manage a steadily tightening credit squeeze with full public knowledge of why it was happening, and with full advice as to how and when it was being implimented, with appropriate advice for those affected, in order that people could plan accordingly.
Yes those who buy at the top of the market would find themselves with a house that would not sell for what they paid. This is going to happen sooner or later anyway when the market collapses in the not too distant future.
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenry/interviews/reserve-bank-fears-housing-bubble-will-burst#axzz3eLks5tVX
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/picking-stocks-and-housing-bubbles-ck-150761
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/68222217/Aucklands-housing-bubble-expected-to-spread
I disagree with having a ‘reserve ratio of 1:1’ – the money supply should be expanded as need. What you are suggesting sounds an awful lot like austerity.
I like the BitCoin currency because it’s not dependent of continued expansion unlike ALL other paper currencies I know of.
The money supply is still expanded. Just not by the banks, whose primary focus is on their short term profit.
It’s the reserve bank that expands the money supply by lending government bonds.
Lending to The Government and lending to Private Citizens are two different things. Though both expand the money supply. I don’t see the whole country lining up outside The Reserve Bank to take out loans.
I disagree. The money supply would be expanded when banks loan out money. The only time it would NOT be is if:
A. The bank takes your money (deposit) without your permission and loans it to your neighbour (which is theft)
B. The government outlaws banks and becomes the lender
Are you shitting me? The bank doesn’t label your money, it promises you it will give you back that amount of money when you ask for it.
“Your” money is almost immediately lent to someone else or used to pay a depositor who is making a withdrawal.
If you ask for your money, and it can’t pay you back, it would get in shit – insolvency rumours, run on the bank, bam it’s broke. So if it lends to a hose purchaser at 6% to get a profit, what is the bank to do in case you want your money back? It borrows from the reserve bank at 3%. It credits your account 2%. And makes 1% profit.
With a fractional reserve of 10%, a bank borrows $1million from the reserve bank. That covers it lending up to $10million. Hence the expansion in the money supply.
With a reserve of 1:1, if the bank borrows $10million it can only lend out $10million.
The reduction in elasticity therefore gives the reserve bank more direct control over the economic accelerator. It would only be the RB that creates the cash (the digits it lends to the banks).
Nobody other than banks need borrow from the reserve bank – the banks just borrow the aggregate of what they think they’ll need at that particular OCR.
Indeed. And ordinary people and companies cannot have accounts with the RBNZ; only registered banks.
the other thing to note is that the bank can always pay out the money first in the form of an electronic credit to your nominated bank account, and go looking for any additional reserves it needs to balance things out at the end of the day (either on the open market or from the RBNZ) *afterwards*.
The Bank doesn’t loan my money out as such, it creates money on top of my deposit and loans that out. Then the whole process starts again when the newly created money is deposited.
The Reserve Bank is creating the money you say, ok fine, BUT the demand for the money creation is coming from the likes of ANZ, ASB, BNZ – so directly or indirectly these bank are creating the money. And dynamically (and corruptly sometimes, granted) responding to consumer demand.
Again, I don’t see the whole of New Zealand lining up outside the Reserve Bank to take out a loan.
…but the demand for the banks to lend money that the reserve bank created comes from people who wish to borrow money, so by you logic mortgagees directly or indirectly create money.
I think you’re running around in circles. The point being, however, that a 1:1 ratio makes government policy, not bank self interest, the major determinant of the money supply.
Expanding the money supply would be done either by the central bank (RBNZ) increasing central bank money available to the retail banks and instructing the retail banks to increase certain types of lending as the economy is deemed to require – or by Government spending the money into existence, investing those monies into strategic areas of the nation.
The retail banks could then take that increased availability of money and act as savings societies (which use a reserve ratio of 1:1) to extend private loans into the economy.
So no, it wouldn’t necessarily be austerity, its just that the Government determines whether the money supply needs to be expanded or tightened, and for what purposes.
Of course, we also need to be cogniscent that the world bankster cartel have taken down entire nations for less.
Good Post, I’m inclined to think you’re onto something with saving societies (it sounds good anyway). However, the ‘Government determining whether the money supply needs to be expanded’ – I’m not sure how they would determine that? Or if it would be more dynamic than the current system.
BitCoin is the best currency I’ve ever seen. Your ideas are interesting for sure Colonial Rawshark .
Granted you did say private banks – I suppose there is something/much to be said for that in our current ‘reserve banking system’. Over issuance of new currency (money printing) obviously devalues a currency (see history for examples).
Interesting discussion on the issues…
‘Greek pain’
http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/269752-greek-pain-eurozone-creditors/
“Again Athens finds itself at loggerheads with its creditors, particularly the IMF. The Greeks appear to be willing to do only enough to stay in the Eurozone, while the rest of Europe is willing to offer it just enough support to stay afloat – all awhile making the Greek economy almost impossible to grow. Is the Euro a failure?
CrossTalking with Mitch Feierstein, Stephen Haseler, and Scheherazade Rehman.
I wouldn’t call the Euro a failure – it’s a unification of Europe at best, succeeding where many failed. The cracks seem to be showing though. Prophetically speaking I’d suggest on the horizon is the fast pace emergence of a religious system (papal), which will begin dominating Europe and the political systems therein.
I have no doubt the Greek people are being denied dignity and austerity needs to end. Greece have been offered participation in the BRICS bank – so maybe some light at the end of the proverbial ‘tunnel’ for them?
On a different note, Turkey must be breathing with a big sigh of relief that, despite their constant knocking on the doors of the white Judeo-Christian club, they were fobbed off with tonnes of excuses constantly and may well have saved themselves of a lot of ‘pain’.
Let me guess – Turkey is not that enthusiastic about joining the EU now?
thanks penny.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11472481
An interesting opinion on what’s happening in the antarctic.
wow! an excellent article from the Herald – not normally given to such in depth articles on this topic.