The anxiety levels in west Auckland from simultaneous level 4 lockdown and a flood require free distribution of 6 deep chocolate marijuana cookies to everyone.
We’ve all grown tired of lockdowns, border closures and other restrictions. So the promise of a freer life, when 70% and then 80% of Australians aged 16 and older are vaccinated, feels like a beacon on the horizon.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, some premiers, and leading public servants have promised us at 80% we can live “safely” with COVID-19, or come out of our “caves” in the PM’s parlance.
The narrative is one of Team Australia and we are “all in this together”. But are we really?
The fundamental problem with socialism is that it contradicts the most basic human instincts. Ultimately the self contradictions contained within it's ideology begin to eat away from within, and the state is then forced to introduce draconian measures to ensure it's ongoing survival. The evidence is the array of socialist states that have broken down under the weight of failing economies and brutal authoritarianism.
Socialism failed in the 20th century, and it is failing in the 21st century. At best it is an illustration of why we should never give the state any more power than is necessary to ensure the worst excesses of the free market are curtailed.
There are nine democratic socialist countries currently. (Although some of those would be disputed – many have some form of private ownership and investment). When compared to the number of countries that have market economies as their political preference, perhaps that tells a story in itself. But those DS countries have far from eliminated inequality. Venezuela has substantial inequality. Ecuador rejected socialist policies in favour of the free market, affirmed again earlier this year. And so it goes on.
Ultimately it is mixed market economies that have been the most successful, with the democratic process determining the precise mix of state and private engagement.
Australian commentator claims that military occupation brought women's rights to Afghanistan; Jenny-May Coffin fails to challenge a single thing she utters.
Breakfast, TVNZ1, Tuesday 31 August 2021, 8:20 a.m.
Jenny-May Coffin assumed her most concerned face this morning and interviewed, via Skype, one Jane Caro, billed as a "social analyst" from the Hunter Valley, NSW. Jane Caro averred that women in Afghanistan had only had the chance to dress freely and live a full life in the last twenty years, thanks to the country "being occupied by the United States, and its allies like Australia." [1]
That is untrue. The secular Daoud government, which came to power in Kabul in 1978, instituted sweeping reforms, including especially equal rights for women and universal education. [2] The United States and Great Britain, instead of praising and supporting this, worked assiduously with extremist Muslim groups to embark on a campaign of terror and sabotage against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, for no other reason than that the Daoud government was endorsed by the Soviet Union. This U.S.-sponsored terror and sabotage started six months beforethe Soviets sent military aid to the beleaguered government.
Jane Caro either knew this, and was simply lying with her claim that women's rights only arrived with the U.S. military invasion, or she was ignorant of the very fact of the Daoud government, in which case she should not have been commenting on anything to do with Afghanistan. Instead of challenging Caro's nonsense, Jenny-May Coffin merely nodded gravely and tried to look concerned.
So you think that the U.S. decision in 1978 to organize and arm the extremist Muslim opponents of women's rights was the right one?
By the way, Scott Levi is almost as dodgy a source as poor old Jane Caro. This sentence from his potted history is a model of mendaciousness: “In the mid-1980s, the United States (and others) began to supply the Mujahidin with financial support and military equipment.”
In fact, as Scott Levi—but maybe not Jane Caro or Jenny-May Coffin—knows perfectly well, the United States was arming and supporting the Mujahidin long before the mid-1980s.
I tell you what, I'll do a post on the top 20 biggest US boots on the ground interventions and you can armchair your chinwags until the cows come home.
Well that post would read like horror story of fascist proportions, the only good place for American boots on the ground, would be in the ground buried deep deep down.
Yes, if the US military gave a shit about women and girls, it would have marched into the White House and arrested Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Also would have lined outside every abortion clinic in the USA and used lethal force on any Bible bashing bigot that even looked like they were going to harrass staff and patients.
If I understand the politics of Afghanistan correctly (doubtful) and to sufficient granularity (also doubtful), ISIS-K are to the Taliban what the Taliban were to the rest of the Afghan Mujahiddeen.
Really depends on the region within the "country". A lot of the problem is based on fixing "borders" that overlap multiple cultures and ethnic groups (for a given value of demographic granularity), and then expecting centralised policy and control.
Wait until we read about the US giving intel to the Taleban to target ISIL-K because that would hurt [insert country here's] influence in the region. Unthinkable now, but complex situations make strange bedfellows.
Today is September the 1st. It will be interesting to see if peace will prevail. Hopefully lessons from 1 September 1939 will be learnt. Interesting that America did not enter World War 2 until the bombing of Pearl Harbour 7 December 1941. America did support their allies with war supplies prior to Pearl Harbour.
US, Russia, China, India (to screw with the Pakistanis), Pakistan, Iran, and a couple of others all playing silly buggers with guns, bombs, money, and suchlike. Get as much power as they can to get resources and bleed the others while not bleeding too much oneself.
If a journalist's first instinct in recent days hasn't been to dig out a short, potted history of Afghanistan from somewhere on the web – they shouldn't be in the job. They'd do this because they'd know that we all live inside history – history is not 'was', but 'is'. They don't necessarily need to draw any particular conclusion about Afghanistan in the 1970's-80's from such a shallow dive – but you'd expect them to know some of the facts and be able to put them on the table as a challenge to an interviewee. I guess the mistake here is to believe that Jenny-May is employed as a journalist. She's not – this is breakfast tv and it's about having congenial hosts that are liked by a target demographic and deliver eyeballs to advertisers. A decent non-commercial tv channel might help.
So the coup is complete. National is now run by the evangelist right of the party.
From today’s NZH.
”Overall, the select committee reshuffle moves the caucus' liberal MPs to less powerful and less high profile committees.
In the case of Muller, the move is to be expected. Retiring MPs are often shuffled into less high profile roles.
Moving Willis from finance and expenditure is a significant step, given the committee's prominence, influence, and power.
Bishop's relative demotions are to be expected. His previous select committee positions were commensurate with his role as shadow leader of the house.”
The word is Evangelical and they aren't all one thing, just like adherents of the several other faiths and cultures elected to represent NZ in Parliament.
A culture change in National is badly needed — but not the current Trumpish path they seem to be heading down.
John Key seems to be the most recent example of a cult of personality, propped up by a cynical right wing establishment, attempting to appeal to the working class, but in reality doing a lot of underhanded stuff.
National is looking for another Muldoonish strong leader to bully NZ into submission. They are engaging in GOP style obstructionism and Fox news talking points with no basis in reality (aka. lies).
Someone with a media profile and who appears plausible? Mark Richardson would be my guess
Growing up in a suburb of Auckland heavily dominated by state housing, I remember the affection in which he was held by my parents friends and neighbours.
His Superanuation scheme would have been the saviour of NZ if Muldoon had not destroyed it, Local Bodies could borrow from it with very low interest rates.
I remember being proud of our Government and Kirk's stand against nuclear activity in the Pacific. Our lone frigate accompanied by a flotilla of concerned Kiwis.
" Local Bodies could borrow from it with very low interest rates.".
That is one of the main problems with all these schemes. You get a great big pool of money that is supposed to provide for the retirement income of the general populace and the thing that almost always happens is that politicians decide to try to use it to pay for schemes that simply waste the money.
I was never a great fan of Michael Cullen but at least he tried to keep the so-called Cullen Fund away from the reach of short-sighted politicians who saw it simply as a slush fund to pay for their fanciful dreams. Spend it on Public Transport, or cycleways, or anything else that they like the look of rather than on something that will build the value of the fund and actually provide a retirement income for people who are forced to belong to it. After all, those politicians will be long gone when people discover there is really nothing there to pay super people were promised.
The Muldoon scheme, although far too generous and starting at too early an age had a rational basis to it. Make it Universal and pay it out of current taxation. There is no incentive for political zealots to try and plunder the fund because there isn't one.
As most of the money paid to pensioners, is immediately spent back into the local economy, and it is a charge on a share of local resources especially current goods and services, PAYGO makes more sense. Same as it does with ACC.
Muldoon made sense on that one.
The idea that Labours super scheme would still be in existence now, without being plundered and/or privatised by the later Neo-liberals, as they did with almost everything else, is a nice fantasy.
Paying it out of the current taxation was the irrational part of Muldoon's scheme. The country's fertility rate had halved and stabilised. It was obvious that the boomers would be a large demographic bubble. Ignoring that amounted to intergenerational theft.
There are a lot of people who are moderately wealthy. They have enough to live on from other means and super is just extra for overseas holidays and alike.
Your thinking about retirement savings like an individual, you need to think about it like a government if you want to say something about super annuation.
The appropriate income for retirees is not determined by taxation revenue, its more or less what the govt thinks appropriate (as are taxation decisions). There are no hard fiscal constraints on these decisions, just a bunch of opinions on what is fair.
If you want an analogy imagine your household has a chore roster and a bunch of weekly privileges for participants. Last week you recorded 2 chores per member per day (which is like retirement payments, though its for chores) and you cancelled those at week end and handed out rewards (this is taxation). Now in your world you might think if there were more chores to do you would be financially unable to do them (even though your tax rate is 100%). But obviously in reality you can just record more chores next week, your not limited in what gets recorded, or if thats perceived as fair, and so on.
,"The finance industry have been creaming their pants, for a return to the halcyon days, before the tax rebates were removed from superannuation savings. When they got to play with our money for free, and the negative returns and high charges were ignored, because of tax payer subsidies. Egged on by the neo-liberals who prefer the elderly, the unemployed and the sick to starve in the streets, as an incentive to scare working people into accepting starvation wages, while they continue to get 17% increases in wealth, the finance industry is dreaming of getting more of their sticky hands on our wealth, with private super funds. Since the 70's they have been constant in the meme that we cannot afford super. A meme that has been driven entirely by the self interest of those, who are too wealthy to need super and too mean to pay taxes, and a greedy finance industry. Unfortunately, it is true, that if you repeat bullshit often enough, even those who should know better come to believe it. We cannot afford super is code for, "we should leave our elderly to beg on the streets". So that wealthy people can pay less tax and the finance industry can again lose our savings for us".
Surely in your opinion too if you think it needs a wealth tax to make it work. That is not something Muldoon would have considered. Muldoon was reckless, and not just with this.
It was later Governments who replaced taxes on the better off, I paid 63% top rate, with GST on the poor.and there were inheritance and other wealth taxes since removed.
Oh, so you are talking higher paye and inheritance not a comprehensive wealth tax.
There was also free tertiary education and universal student loans and help to buy your first house and lots of other stuff. If all those settings had been left in place we would still have been in the shit once the boomer bulge came through to retirement age. Muldoon ignored this because it would not be his problem. He could have set up a Cullen Fund back then to deal with it, but he didn't.
The requirements to live, for people who can no longer work, do not change whether it is paid for by, "savings" current taxes or Government super funds.
We eieither allocate enough resources for the elderly to live from current production and services, or we leave them to live in poverty.
Private "savings" including Government funds investing in things that don't increase capacity are the most expensive way to provide for super, as there is always extra creamed off by outside interests. From current taxes is the cheapest way.
As is making it universal.
Muldoon was right on this one, even though he was wrong in so many others
If you want to keep it then a good place to start would be to acknowledge that Muldoon was reckless in not taking account of the boomer demographic bulge and that this has made it unfair for younger generations. But just disregarding that does not put you in a strong position.
Muldoon had many failings, but Universal Super wasn't one. It shows that a UBI is a necessary and humane response to the unrestrained capitalism that has ruined the lives of working Kiwis for a generation.
The other issue is whether it's cheaper to go near-universal or regularly audit everyone's income – including "non-wealthy" people who pay a peppercorn rent to live in the mansion of a family trust, etc.
And the repercussions of a system that lets people in need be declined because they didn't keep up with the paperwork.
I saw a smug old coutt on tv the other night 89 years old living the life in the mount, reckoned he didnt need super but took it because it was his right, now hes had 29 years of super so hes only only probably 10 ish years away from getting super for as long as he worked. Given the age was 60 when he would have received it .
Did his work, including what he does in retirement contribute to society?
I know another who retired at 60 with the Muldoon pension. He continued and still does, carry on with his former job, social work and remedial reading for school kids. At 90 he teaches, unpaid, carving and remedial reading at the local school. He would not be able to do this without the pension.
I have know way of knowing that, I know an 86 year old who crowed to me how little tax he had paid in his life, very wealthy man he is , paid alot of interest to banks though, he said.
The Cullen fund is just as much a political football as anything used on local government. Thats why the National government makes a repeated point of not paying in and the Labour a point of paying in.
This comes to a head when its (presumably) eventually drawn down to reduce the budget deficit caused by demographic shifts, at which point we get to see who in govt likes having a pool of money up for investment to back their profitable investors rhetoric.
We should not of course mistake it for savings because (as is more obvious these days) the govt can't really save in the currency it issues, and just gets the RBNZ to issue more spending as needed anyway. Apparently it even likes to keep 'saving' while also having urgent spending needs anyway (like its borrowing to fill up its savings account) demonstrating that the saving aspect of this is just something for the plebs to believe.
Returns on the Cullen fund are much more than the cost of borrowing or printing and have been right through the life of the fund.plus the tax take from the profitable investments are higher than the contributions.
Just what is the marginal cost of printing, btw? Seems to be basically zero since its all electronic these days and if it wasn't then that cost can be printed in (I will claim borrowing is similar enough).
So it turns out that the govt is good at investing profitably given a cost of funds which is up to them. In fact as I highlighted this is just a gimmic to convince the plebs that the govt is a worthy funds manager. Well you appear to be convinced anyway.
Nic just printing money is not the answer to everything.The $30 billion of QE given to our banks recently to keep liquidity in the financial sector worked in that area but has lead to the banks funding only safe investment causing massive inflation in the housing market and massive increases in bank profits.
Thats not how QE works. People who say QE causes house price inflation, and actually understand QE are making a counterfactual of the country running a lockdown with no wage subsidy support. That could easily have caused a recession and associated house price slump, but its obviously not something you do as govt to target house prices. If the govt doesn't do QE (or any of their more unusual self funding options) but still does the wage subsidy, then they would pay more for their deficit (and less to themselves) but house prices would have jumped just the same, with the same people having the same access to wage subsidy and period of incentive to jump into the market. Ultimately the recent buyers decide what level of price rises they will borrow, this is not centrally planned.
It is certain that banks could have done the same lending with or without QE, their lending is basically constrained by the stream of credit worthy customers coming in the door, nothing more.
Having got that out the way, you seem to support the use of QE to stuff funds into the Cullen fund, rather than not using as much of the self funding mechanism. All I'm highlighting is that the self funding mechanism is always there, so any fiscal constraints (or prudent investor policies) you impose on the country are always voluntary and self imposed. Sometimes you may do things voluntarily for the marketing, sometimes this is called virtue signaling.
Nic When you have a recession looming bank deposits dry up bank lending becomes harder to get. Govts buy all the banks bad and poorly performing debt as in a recession businesses stop paying loans and Bill's the banks stop loaning to businesses ,banks struggle to borrow money to lend deposits dry up.so govts print money and lend it to banks , at the moment •25% so the govt profits .In exchange the reserve bank takes over banks under performing loans freeing up the banks to lend to safer clients .The banks during these times are preferring to lend for bricks and mortar than to businesses as business loans are far riskier.
So around the world where QE is being used house prices are inflating because it's easy to get a loan on an asset that is rising and can be repossessed in any mortgagee sale as opposed to a business ,creating house price bubbles around the World.
If govt printed money to fix productivity problems ie housing shortages I would be ok with that but even that needs careful managing as we see in NZ ,we have shortages of construction materials ie timber for construction and Labour for construction so causing inflation .
It's easy to believe that pressing a button and printing billions can solve problems instantly but it rarely does and when it works iit s in times of low inflation and no supply constrictions.
Your model of bank lending is demonstrably wrong. In practice, including in NZ banks don't face a reserve shortage constraint and its part of official policy that they won't. Thats what the OCR is about, as long as a bank is in good standing it can always (if the interbank market doesn't do it cheaper) borrow reserves from the RBNZ (at the OCR) should it need to in order to settle. As long as Paul Volker isn't central bank head then the bank can still pass on the interest rate difference there profitably.
We need another basis for additional bank credit drying up in this case. Of course this is obvious enough, during a recession you look a lot harder at a potential borrowers income and adjust the assessment of likely repayment. It also helps if there is a security attached to the loan, like a house.
This also explains why doing QE in spades has never worked as advertised, e.g the largest monetary policy intervention in history was unable to avoid a recession in the US (and other countries).
Of course NZ didn't escape from conventional policy very far so you should be contrasting QE against NZ recession (due to lack of lockdown fiscal policy intervention to offset domestic saving rate increases) because those are the alternatives the govt considered. In considering NZ I would say it worked so far, and with a bit of luck this lockdown it will keep working (the obvious point being its actually the sufficient fiscal policy working, even if the NZ govt was only willing to do that when self lending via QE).
Indeed yes. Norm was of course strongly opposed to allowing freer access to abortion and to homosexual law reform. If he had lived, and he could have easily still be head of the Parliamentary Labour Party right through to the early 1990's I don't think you would have seen the progress that was achieved after he died.
That would, I suspect, have been more in line with the attitudes of the union-led, traditional, Labour Party than some of the people in leadership roles today.
Unfortunately "Progress" in the 80's also included a fire sale of precious state assets and irresponsible deregulation, leading to the crash of '87 and an extended recession
You're right, mistakes were made. But painful as it was, the transformation of the economy in the 1980's was absolutely necessary. The strength of our economy since, and it's resilience to an array of economic and natural shocks since, is evidence enough.
FFS. Are their really people who still believe that myth.
The ,"reforms" that bought us from level pegging with Oz to 30% behind were a self inflicted disaster!
Some things had to go, such as the ,”social welfare for sheep” though noting that farming subsidies cost almost as much now. And the taxes on nascent industry such as the caravan tax.
You seem to be confused. The reforms of the Labour government in the 1980's transformed the NZ economy from a controlled economy that was close to defaulting on it's overseas obligations to one that has survived multiple economic and natural shocks. Our businesses compete with the very best in the world, and our economic performance has attracted numerous accolades.
Ultimately the decision is the peoples. Since 1984, the only governments elected have maintained the broad thrust of the reforms of the 1980's. The floating exchange rate, lower personal taxes, GST, monetary policy, independence of the RB the list is long and those reforms have served us well.
By the way no party has actually given us a choice in rolling back the Neo-liberal ," unfortunate experiment".
Even when we voted Labour out after only two terms because of our only self inflicted recession, And the destruction, National continued with it.
The only one of the people that did it, who had the guts to admit they were wrong was Bolger.
Never mind the fucking Reserve Bank Act, which punishes those of us who keep the country going with higher interest rates whenever wages and the economy shows signs of getting off the ground.
There are good reasons why voters wouldn’t have a bar of the party of those who carried out the reforms, ACT, until memories have faded of what they did.
Meanwhile we still get unthinking BS that you have just repeated, trying to justify destroying so many lives, by pretending it was "necessary".
On at least one policy, the nats explicitly lied: Lockwood Smith signed a pledge to cancel the nascent student loan scheme when campaigning, then skyrocketed fees and expanded the loan scheme while minister for education. That's the one I remember, there were no doubt other instances where the nats promised one thing and did the opposite. Not, like, weasel words. Explicit lies.
The student loan scheme was not not introduced until 1992. And it was certainly not part of the economic transformation Labour engineered in the 1980's.
As opposition education spokesman in 1990, Smith promised to remove the Labour Government's tertiary tuition fee of $1250, if elected. Once in office, he kept this promise on a technicality: he shifted the burden of charging fees for courses from the government to the institutions, who then had to charge even higher tuition fees due to decreased government funding.
Not so sure about the "technicality" bs, either: his signed pledge never said who charged the fee. His government increased student fees, the liar. I guess that's why there's no footnote for the "technicality" claim.
It's also real stretch to conflate tertiary fees with wider monetary reform when considering voter preference. The economic reforms were introduced at pace almost immediately upon the election of the Lange government in mid 1984. The tertiary sector reforms were not introduced until the late 1980's. The only election the Lange government won on the back of the economic reforms was in 1987, at which both major parties increased their % of the popular vote, Labour by 5%.
quick look at your link: "The standard tertiary fee was created." When? 1989-1990.
That was a major increase in course costs and the threshold for user pays. Who cares if the govt continued to pay some. It should pay all, for a variety of reasons.
It's also real stretch to conflate tertiary fees with wider monetary reform when considering voter preference.
Fair call, that's just the issue that was important to me at the time. Is it the only policy about which they lied (or, to use tory spin, used a "technicality")? Well:
The National Party was performing strongly — its leader, Jim Bolger, spoke repeatedly of "the Decent Society", saying that the reforms were doing significant damage to the social fabric of the country.
"Are you talking about the actual website that was developed in a mixed economy, or the infrastructure and protocols that were developed with US government funding?"
Actually I wasn't specifically thinking about the website, but I'll take that. Here's what happens when roblogic puts a comment up:
1. R types his comment on a device device designed and built by private enterprise.
2. R types his comment in a word processing/capture system designed and built by private enterprise.
3. R sends his message via a connection a medium called the internet, which is a collaborative creation of public and private actors.
4. R's message is transmitted via a communication medium in which the infrastructure and distribution is owned and operated by private enterprise.
5. R's message is displayed on a website that has been built by private enterprise.
Steve Wozniak would not approve of this bullshit. You're conveniently ignoring the essential role of public education, laws that protect intellectual property, the role of publicly funded NASA and CERN in kickstarting Silicon Valley, the assembly at Foxconn in China, supply chains that are dependent on infrastructure and the rule of law, public libraries, state funded electricity and telecoms networks (especially in NZ), public toilets, a public health system (without which I would probably be dead)
What is the use of a bunch of fucken bankers from Wall St or the City of London in any of that? Capitalists are worse than useless, they are a drain on productive society
what rot, on both counts. The internet is built on the back of US govt research, and the WWW was invented by employees at a govt run research consortium. Heck, even today not all companies are necessarily "private enterprise" – Huawei comes to mind.
As for the elections, in 1993 the will of the people was a Labour-alliance govt, and in 1996 the majority of people voted for parties that had promised an end to the National govt. Now we can debate whether Winston or Anderton screwed the deal, but don't go thinking Bolger continuing as PM was the people's decision (on a majority level). It wasn't even the wish of the majority of people who voted NZ1.
Literal tomes have been written about the elections in the 1990s and what polling and electoral returns indicated about what the people wanted vs what they got.
As for singing the praises for the free market, DARPA still created the internet, and CERN still developed HTTP just like 3m wouldn't be making velcro without NASA $$$.
We have enjoyed decades of prosperity as a result of those changes. If things were so bad, the changes would have been reversed. Successive Labour and National governments have kept the basic mechanisms of those changes in place.
"Meanwhile Democratic Socialist/ Actual Socialist, rather than totalitarian countries that say they are socialist, regimes are our most succesful States to date."
And yet you can;t name one. There are actually not many 'Democratic Socialist' states. Venezuela's one. And among that list, I'd hardly describe them as 'our most successful states to date'.
"Have a look at the proportion living in poverty and their GDP"
In 1989, in the death throws of socialism in the USSR, poverty was 20%. In the USA at the same time it was 12%. Socialism destroys everything in it's pathway. Freedoms. Economic prosperity. People.
As deluded as the US republicans. Whose views you are parroting.
Why did I know Venezuala would be mentioned. Neo-liberal apologists need a new script. They always forget to mention their low tax, small state nirvana's Haiti, or Somalia.
If,as one of your fellow parrots accepted, that the degree of socialism in a country is determined by the State share of the economy. Venezuala is less Socialist than the USA, which has a State share over 40%. Of course the problems with Venezuala have nothing to do with any sort of ism. But simply the USA "squeezing their economy until it bleeds". Because the USA cannot afford to have an example on their door step, of a country which puts it's people, not it's billionaires, first.
You still forgot to tell me what the percentage living in poverty in Russia was from 1917 compared to 1960.
You could also look at the USA from the 1950's when they had Socialist policies like the GI bill, the reason behind their explosion of innovation after WW2, and 90% taxes on millionaires, compared with their current decline and steep increase in people living in poverty, since their equivalent of Rogernomics
That seems a hyperbolic judgement, if indeed "In 1989, in the death throws of socialism in the USSR, poverty was 20%." Only the most one-eyed ideologue could equate ‘20% poverty’ to "detroys everything", but maybe I'm misinterpreting your evidence and/or PoV?
Democratic socialism might attempt to if not reverse then at least put the brakes on the unsustainable concentration of (ludicrous levels of) wealth in capitalist 'societies'. Who really believes this concentration of wealth is a net benefit to society?
If one aspires to extreme wealth then go for it – whatever floats your yacht. But it seems so pointless and short-sighted – an own goal.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
It's been great for the vast majority of New Zealanders. Labour pulled us kicking and screaming into the real world. Without them, we would have been buried by the increased globalisation that followed.
in the "real world" people co-operate to build a nation, they don't let pinstriped beancounters destroy the society they built with great cost and effort, and sell it off to corporate vultures
capitalism is an unsustainable model that measures everything in terms of dollars, but places no value on what really matters
the disgrace of Ron Brierley epitomises what those fuckers did to NZ
NZ's economic changes in the 1980's rebalanced the mixed market away from being dominated by state intervention to a greater degree of free market involvement. Capitalism will evolve, but it is firmly entrenched across the world, including in those countries in which command economics had failed. It is sustainable, and it isn't going away.
what planet have you been on? the global economy has been melting down, it was already massively unbalanced by QE and now Covid has been an opportunity for bankers to loot the public purse on an unprecedented scale
To prevent the collapse of the financial system, the FRS is launching a new program of measures worth $4 trillion. As a result, the sum spent on supporting the US economy in 2020 will exceed the scale of Quantitative Easing (QE) in 2008-2014.
"what planet have you been on? the global economy has been melting down, "
No, it really hasn't. Capitalism self corrects. It is an evolving model, and in virtually every country in which it is deployed it is simply one of two components of a mixed market economy.
"Of course, you can basically eliminate the working class from statistics if you take "averages". The top 10% wealthiest socioeconomic strata owns over 50% of the wealth so yes "kiwis are getting wealthier" might be true in a very stupid and selfish way, but all the gains are going to a tiny elite few.
We could have a discussion about inequality, sure. But I was addressing Stuarts specific claims.
Good grief no. I'm not arguing rising inequality is a good thing. I'm simply saying that rising inequality does not mean the majority of people are not better off. Free market policies have been an important contributor to lifting large numbers of people out of poverty around the world. It seems almost churlish to argue against the economic progress NZ has made using similar policies.
Yes even Marx observed the power of the profit motive. But he also recognised that capitalism corrupts democracy and causes widespread suffering & oppression of workers, and financial crashes
BTW the industrial revolutions of China and Russia were state driven and lifted people out of poverty more effectively than strategies based on wage slavery and attacking workers
"But he also recognised that capitalism corrupts democracy and causes widespread suffering & oppression of workers, and financial crashes"
Capitalism co-exists with democracy. Capitalism lifts people out of poverty. It is alternatives, socialism most notably, that enslaves people. It is no coincidence that most obvious socialist economies have been accompanied by totalitarian regimes.
"BTW the industrial revolutions of China and Russia were state driven and lifted people out of poverty more effectively than strategies based on wage slavery and attacking workers"
Russia is proof positive that state commanded economic progress is unsustainable. In both Russia and China, the most progress towards economic freedom and prosperity has come with the adoption of the free market.
Remember to, it was Stalin who drove the industrial revolution in Russia. He also just happened to have killed up to 20 million of his fellow citizens (depending upon which historian you believe).
I wasn't talking about painful political revolutions and bloodshed. But if you want to go down that track, capitalism is responsible for colonisation and mass impoverishment of billions, ongoing slaughters, and the destruction of life itself by insane profit driven policies that rely on destroying rainforests and filling the Earth with oil pollution
It is a cancerous ideology that cannot be sustained.
Socialism is democracy in action, the clue is in the name. Decisions are made for the good of society not only in the interests of a remote aristocracy
"It is a cancerous ideology that cannot be sustained."
So you've been arguing. On a forum invented within a free market economic system.
"Socialism is democracy in action, the clue is in the name. Decisions are made for the good of society not only in the interests of a remote aristocracy"
Tell that to the close to 100m people killed in communist/socialist regimes.
On a forum invented within a free market economic system.
Are you talking about the actual website that was developed in a mixed economy, or the infrastructure and protocols that were developed with US government funding?
A silly comment. By the same token I must assume that capitalists support fascist warmongering and mercantile Empires plundering the wealth of nations and genociding the natives
"A silly comment. By the same token I must assume that capitalists support fascist warmongering and mercantile Empires plundering the wealth of nations and genociding the natives"
You claimed that under socialism "Decisions are made for the good of society…". That's a nonsense claim when you consider the lessons of history. Historians estimate around 100m people lost their lives in those societies.
In most socialist regimes, individual freedoms are ruthlessly repressed. Religious and political liberty is stamped out, in fact socialism destroys the human spirit, and in the end that is at the heart of why it fails.
Meanwhile Democratic Socialist/ Actual Socialist, rather than totalitarian countries that say they are socialist, regimes are our most succesful States to date.
Or they were until so many bought into the "free market", low tax, Globalist religion.
Even the USA exists courtesy of the largest State funded welfare organisation on earth. Their military. Without that State funded transfer of wealth they would collapse. Which is why they need the constant wars with Eastasia and Westasia.
"Srylands statement of course comes from the laffer curve idea.
That expansion of Government provision of services always displaces the private sector.
If that was really the case then you would expect the countries with extremely large State shares in the economy to be the worst off. Which is obviously not the case.
Countries with large State investment in the economy are the most successful. Some States manage with no private sector at all. (Not what I would recommend though).
Every one from Singapore to Norway, Germany and Denmark.
Countries which have high State spending either/or both percentage wise or per capita.
How are your low tax, small Government countries doing? Srylands".
If you insist that The Soviet Union was "Socialist" however. Have a look at the proportion living in poverty and their GDP, compared with the UK in 1917? as against the same comparison in 1960?
Indeed have a look at the rise in proportion living in poverty in NZ, from the time of your great Neo-liberal “Reforms”..
With our wretchedly incompetent treasury wonks that's probably mostly true – one trick ponies on their best days.
Had they a ghost of a clue about how to do their job however, policies would have been very different – and we'd have recorded growth in excess of real estate inflation occasionally.
No-one is lining up to hire NZ's 'economic miracle' workers, in fact they're a global joke.
The fundamental changes to the economy in the 1980's prepared our economy for globalisation and competing with the world. It was a significant driver on our shifting trade reliance on the UK.
No-one is lining up to hire NZ's 'economic miracle' workers, in fact they're a global joke.
You are quite wrong. Our economy is far from perfect, but for a relatively small economy, the management of our economy by successive governments has been recognised internationally.
And yet our supposed miracle workers never achieve growth over 3% (underlying inflation), much less produce the 'rising tide that lifts all boats' which was the excuse for all their cruel and ineffectual policies.
NZ finance ministers are not recruited by the IMF or the World Bank – even with the politics those institutions prefer a plausible veneer of competence – they are lucky if they can get a job at Woolies.
It is fair to describe NZ's reigning economists as conservative, backward, myopic, and regressive – and since you seem to be their fanboi, you suffer by association.
It is one of life’s little ironies that Muldoon has been redeemed, not by his own miserable efforts, but by the inadequacy of his successors.
"NZ finance ministers are not recruited by the IMF or the World Bank"
Hardly a robust way of assessing NZ's economic reforms. But as a certain irony, one of the 'fanboi's' of NZ's economic performance is none other than the IMF's Christine Lagarde, Lagarde was the MD of the IMF, and was the Minister of Finance in France.
She is currently President of the European Central Bank. Since 2011 she has been in the top 10 of the Forbes Most Powerful Women list. In the last couple of years she has been at number 2, second only to Angela Merkel. That is one impressive lady.
Hardly a robust way of assessing NZ's economic reforms
Oh I agree – the increased wealth of median NZers would be the obvious data point, but of course that's seldom reported – being negative.
But this was your shoddy criterion – the views of foreign colleagues:
the management of our economy … has been recognised internationally
The peers of the Chicago Boys in Chile were reasonably satisfied with them – it was the people they robbed and impoverished that were obliged to put them in prison where they and their Rogergnomic colleagues belong.
So that was a transitionary period over two governments in which median wealth did increase.
"…the views of foreign colleagues…"
I never mentioned 'colleagues'. I'm referring to informed international critique. Which includes one of the people who fit YOUR criteria of moving from a FM position to employment with the IMF!
Oh really – "informed international critique is it?"
Let's see some then – and it had better be critical, not yet another empty paen to the fallen gods of mammon.
You are the fellow trying to justify the epic failure which is Rogergnomics – well, as your neoliberal kin put it:
Show us the money!
Most expensive electricity in the world
Fastest growing inequality in the OECD
Most expensive housing relative to income
You and your corrupt economist fellow travellers have a truckload of explaining to do – and frankly, we don't want any more excuses – only the improved outcomes they’ve lied about for getting on for four decades now.
The time for excuses is over – they are only ever a plea in mitigation – they don't exculpate the fraud that was perpetrated on NZ, that you for some reason are exerting yourself to defend.
Of course, you can basically eliminate the working class from statistics if you take "averages". The top 10% wealthiest socioeconomic strata owns over 50% of the wealth so yes "kiwis are getting wealthier" might be true in a very stupid and selfish way, but all the gains are going to a tiny elite few.
You still have fundamentally failed to substantiate your claim, that NZ is better off for the imposition of Rogergnomics.
That massive raft of corruption fundamentally pivoted the NZ civil service away from its core functions, to chase spurious crap.
So there is more expensive electricity somewhere – big whoop – your clowns still massively increased the price for ours, further emiserating our poor oppressed and cheated citizens.
You massively increased inequality – never mind the rest of the world, the lazy unproductive speculator class cleaned up here, massively eroding productivity – and this was the work of supposedly professional economists? For shame!
And your property piece is nonsense – fudged by the insertion of a square meterage factor that is neither here nor there. The crucial feature of housing is not its meterage, but that owner occupiers are able to escape rental costs which a landlord class inflate pretty much as and when they chose.
Home ownership is lousy in NZ now – you have taken us back to 1951 levels.
I guess it's a hard thing for corrupt public servants to understand, but a fundamental baseline is that you are supposed to leave the country better than you found it.
"So there is more expensive electricity somewhere – big whoop – "
The point is you have made a number of claims in this exchange that are simply false. That's either sloppy of dishonest, and pretty much discredits anything else you say.
Nothing. Every one of the things you cite were built as part of the governments investment in a mixed market economy. And paid for out of taxes generated by the private sector.
Yes we don't really have Democracy. Which is a shame.
If we did, the “Unfortunate experiment” which you are spruiking for, would have been nipped in the bud in 1993 if not 1987, when the foolishness of it was apparent..
Tricledrown, if you are reading this, here's how to get your commenting privileges back:
reply to this comment.
next time you open a TS page, look at the Replies tab in the right hand side (on a computer), and you will see a reply from me.
reply to my comment.
Do this each time you come to TS.
If you can do this, I will then talk you how to get your commenting privileges back.
Mods have spent a lot of time this year trying to get you to respond to moderation comments. The reason you can't comment at the moment is because you failed to respond in June and I got sick of chasing it up.
Hi Td. There's a long history of problems with your commenting. There are two to look at right now.
you don't use the Reply list, so when we moderate you are missing our messages. The first thing I need to know is if you understand how to use it. Please reply to this comment and let me know. If you don't know how to use it, that's ok, I can tell you, but I need to know if you do or don't.
please look at this comment https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-31-08-2021/#comment-1812844 and see how there is a typo in the user name. This means the system treats you as a new user and holds back your comment for approval by a mod. This creates work for the mods. It has been explained to you many times. Please reply to this comment tell me what device you are using. I will try and help you figure out what is going wrong.
I f 'd up again I have serious disabilities with impaired eyesight and have only barely one finger on my typing hand 1 finger on the other so it's very hard to get things right all the time.
Starting to look like Trudeau miscalculated calling a snap election. Not that suprising really I'm sure voters aren't that impressed given they're in the midst of their 4th wave and it looks very much like it was called because polls had his party thinking they would get a majority.
thanks everyone. Next test: write a comment, post it, then edit it and send it to Trash (delete it). Post a second comment telling me you've done that. Cheers.
ok, so you know how to swap between the two. Desktop give the Reply tab, Mobile allows commenting. This has been a problem for a while, I'll bring it up with lprent again.
This covid lockup has had to be the most tedious yet, longer mentally than any of the others to date. The 'novel' corona virus is proving anything but, 'tedious and tiresome' corona virus I am finding. I wondered about how we might shape the present and future covid responses. Auckland has carried much of the burden on lock downs, far more than any other region. They have the majority of MIQ facilities and have been hardest hit in the 3 lockdowns post the big one last year.
For that matter I wondered when Auckland is under level 4 or 3, and a level higher than other provinces, whether it's fair to add an extra 1% gst to transactions in other provinces that could be funneled to Auckland businesses to help pay rents and wages until such time they dropped to level 2. So when there are unequal level 4 and 3 lockdowns imposed regionally, the regions at a higher alert level receive some form of relief payments. Funded by a 1% in GST in regions at a lower alert level, eg level 2. The regions that can return to some semblance of normality provide economic relief for the hardest hit areas.
In terms of any purpose built or purpose adapted future MIQ facilities. Seems to me time some other provinces did some of that heavy lifting. Maybe time to locate dedicated facilities in Dunedin or Christchurch or Palmerston North. The Central and Southern regions can have a turn doing the work. Palmy seems a reasonable option. A military airport that can take large jets and a reasonably sized city with health facilities.
I am more miserable than I have been in years. Solitary confinement & isolation are psychological torture. L4 is some OTT bullshit. I feel for those who are dying alone because of these inhumane conditions
Stay in there, Roblogic. Thanks for your kind words the other day. Poetry and music, playing the blues, help when the black dog starts barking. Just been reading some of my verse, written when going through treatment for cancer.
One sonnet, written as I travelled to Picton on my way to resume radiation therapy for prostate cancer ends.
"Sorrow is for the present, /waiting to proceed from known past/ to a future not yet seen or sensed.
Present sorrow, prescient pain, / Fear is human of unknown gain.
Definitely agree about spreading things out – especially away from urban concentrations.
Find a nice picturesque area, and build a 500+ room facility with decent airflow control and the ability to separate cohorts. Do spa areas, tennis courts, gyms, all that shit. Have it store medical supplies like PPE. Run it as a hotel with close access to skifields etc, and use it as a quarantine or evacuation facility if we need one. Heck, it might even make money as a hotel.
Most people living near a big city travel in and bounce back on the same trajectory.
Travelling through Auckland is a small percentage. Met people at Akld hospital that travelled from Whangarei for treatment. Auckland serves Northland in many ways still.
"Can you demonstrate another nation with a median house price to median income ratio in excess of 20?"
That measure is valid, but it does have the problem of not including changes in interest rates. I have looked and can't find any long term comparisons based on median measure, which is surprising considering I would have thought it was a meaningful measure.
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Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 29 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, 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 up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
As a young gymnast, Aimee Didierjean was always conscious of making sure her underwear wasn’t showing on the competition floor. A peek of a bra strap, or briefs if a leotard rode up, would cost a gymnast points in her routines. “When I was growing and going through puberty, it ...
Jubi/West Papua Daily Repeated cases of Indonesian military (TNI) soldiers torturing civilians in Papua have been evident, as seen in the viral video depicting the torture of civilians in the Puncak Regency allegedly done by soldiers of Raider 300/Brajawijaya Infantry Battalion. There is a pressing need for stringent law enforcement ...
The anxiety levels in west Auckland from simultaneous level 4 lockdown and a flood require free distribution of 6 deep chocolate marijuana cookies to everyone.
The chocolate is fine, but the weed is illegal no matter the need.
But this is my old neighborhood, and waking up the news today was hard and sad.
Difficult interview for Grant Robertson on One ZB. Poor bloke is spinning like a top. Why didn't Hipkins front for this?
Grant Robertson denies that the Government delayed vaccine shipment (newstalkzb.co.nz)
Encouraging news in the midst of considerable catastropfizing over vaccine supplies:
And here’s an interesting ‘conversation’:
WA premier climbed into that stupid comment from popup Scotty.
WA's aren't living in caves and have a mining economy keeping Oz going thanks to effective border controls.
Lets all play covid weakest link with the country appears the scomo play backed by wuperts media.
"That seems a hyperbolic judgement, "
Mildly..
The fundamental problem with socialism is that it contradicts the most basic human instincts. Ultimately the self contradictions contained within it's ideology begin to eat away from within, and the state is then forced to introduce draconian measures to ensure it's ongoing survival. The evidence is the array of socialist states that have broken down under the weight of failing economies and brutal authoritarianism.
Socialism failed in the 20th century, and it is failing in the 21st century. At best it is an illustration of why we should never give the state any more power than is necessary to ensure the worst excesses of the free market are curtailed.
As to inequality – there was (and remains) substantial inequality in socialist countries. Much of this was hidden by poor record keeping, and took many forms.
There are nine democratic socialist countries currently. (Although some of those would be disputed – many have some form of private ownership and investment). When compared to the number of countries that have market economies as their political preference, perhaps that tells a story in itself. But those DS countries have far from eliminated inequality. Venezuela has substantial inequality. Ecuador rejected socialist policies in favour of the free market, affirmed again earlier this year. And so it goes on.
Ultimately it is mixed market economies that have been the most successful, with the democratic process determining the precise mix of state and private engagement.
Australian commentator claims that military occupation brought women's rights to Afghanistan; Jenny-May Coffin fails to challenge a single thing she utters.
Breakfast, TVNZ1, Tuesday 31 August 2021, 8:20 a.m.
Jenny-May Coffin assumed her most concerned face this morning and interviewed, via Skype, one Jane Caro, billed as a "social analyst" from the Hunter Valley, NSW. Jane Caro averred that women in Afghanistan had only had the chance to dress freely and live a full life in the last twenty years, thanks to the country "being occupied by the United States, and its allies like Australia." [1]
That is untrue. The secular Daoud government, which came to power in Kabul in 1978, instituted sweeping reforms, including especially equal rights for women and universal education. [2] The United States and Great Britain, instead of praising and supporting this, worked assiduously with extremist Muslim groups to embark on a campaign of terror and sabotage against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, for no other reason than that the Daoud government was endorsed by the Soviet Union. This U.S.-sponsored terror and sabotage started six months before the Soviets sent military aid to the beleaguered government.
Jane Caro either knew this, and was simply lying with her claim that women's rights only arrived with the U.S. military invasion, or she was ignorant of the very fact of the Daoud government, in which case she should not have been commenting on anything to do with Afghanistan. Instead of challenging Caro's nonsense, Jenny-May Coffin merely nodded gravely and tried to look concerned.
[1] https://www.theage.com.au/national/get-rid-of-the-prisoners-by-shooting-them-australian-commandos-tell-of-war-crimes-20190910-p52prl.html
[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/05/asia/gallery/afghan-women-past-present/index.html
Check out all those women and children flying back into Kabul at the moment. Not.
And those mighty drivers of female liberation: the mighty Communist coup in 1978. Then the late 1979 Soviet invasion. Female liberation!
History of women's rights in Afghanistan:
https://origins.osu.edu/print/67
So you think that the U.S. decision in 1978 to organize and arm the extremist Muslim opponents of women's rights was the right one?
By the way, Scott Levi is almost as dodgy a source as poor old Jane Caro. This sentence from his potted history is a model of mendaciousness: “In the mid-1980s, the United States (and others) began to supply the Mujahidin with financial support and military equipment.”
In fact, as Scott Levi—but maybe not Jane Caro or Jenny-May Coffin—knows perfectly well, the United States was arming and supporting the Mujahidin long before the mid-1980s.
I tell you what, I'll do a post on the top 20 biggest US boots on the ground interventions and you can armchair your chinwags until the cows come home.
Well that post would read like horror story of fascist proportions, the only good place for American boots on the ground, would be in the ground buried deep deep down.
Yes, if the US military gave a shit about women and girls, it would have marched into the White House and arrested Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Also would have lined outside every abortion clinic in the USA and used lethal force on any Bible bashing bigot that even looked like they were going to harrass staff and patients.
Capitalism believes in equal rights for all people groups to be ground into the dust
Do you think the US can work with the Taliban when it comes to diplomacy?
A line has been drawn militarily between the US and the Taliban after 20 years.
What position do you think ISIS-K will have in Afganistan?
If I understand the politics of Afghanistan correctly (doubtful) and to sufficient granularity (also doubtful), ISIS-K are to the Taliban what the Taliban were to the rest of the Afghan Mujahiddeen.
I meant to say ISIL-K. This group came from Syria and Iraq and Pakistan kicked them out.
I think Pakistan is the country which will have influence in Afganistan.
Really depends on the region within the "country". A lot of the problem is based on fixing "borders" that overlap multiple cultures and ethnic groups (for a given value of demographic granularity), and then expecting centralised policy and control.
Wait until we read about the US giving intel to the Taleban to target ISIL-K because that would hurt [insert country here's] influence in the region. Unthinkable now, but complex situations make strange bedfellows.
Today is September the 1st. It will be interesting to see if peace will prevail. Hopefully lessons from 1 September 1939 will be learnt. Interesting that America did not enter World War 2 until the bombing of Pearl Harbour 7 December 1941. America did support their allies with war supplies prior to Pearl Harbour.
WW2 isn't the model.
"The Great Game" is. SSDCentury.
US, Russia, China, India (to screw with the Pakistanis), Pakistan, Iran, and a couple of others all playing silly buggers with guns, bombs, money, and suchlike. Get as much power as they can to get resources and bleed the others while not bleeding too much oneself.
If a journalist's first instinct in recent days hasn't been to dig out a short, potted history of Afghanistan from somewhere on the web – they shouldn't be in the job. They'd do this because they'd know that we all live inside history – history is not 'was', but 'is'. They don't necessarily need to draw any particular conclusion about Afghanistan in the 1970's-80's from such a shallow dive – but you'd expect them to know some of the facts and be able to put them on the table as a challenge to an interviewee. I guess the mistake here is to believe that Jenny-May is employed as a journalist. She's not – this is breakfast tv and it's about having congenial hosts that are liked by a target demographic and deliver eyeballs to advertisers. A decent non-commercial tv channel might help.
They will be to busy planing which country next to invade
So the coup is complete. National is now run by the evangelist right of the party.
From today’s NZH.
”Overall, the select committee reshuffle moves the caucus' liberal MPs to less powerful and less high profile committees.
In the case of Muller, the move is to be expected. Retiring MPs are often shuffled into less high profile roles.
Moving Willis from finance and expenditure is a significant step, given the committee's prominence, influence, and power.
Bishop's relative demotions are to be expected. His previous select committee positions were commensurate with his role as shadow leader of the house.”
The word is Evangelical and they aren't all one thing, just like adherents of the several other faiths and cultures elected to represent NZ in Parliament.
A culture change in National is badly needed — but not the current Trumpish path they seem to be heading down.
The National Party is what the GOP was to Trump?
Here’s a little quiz question for you all: who is the NZ Trump?
John Key seems to be the most recent example of a cult of personality, propped up by a cynical right wing establishment, attempting to appeal to the working class, but in reality doing a lot of underhanded stuff.
National is looking for another Muldoonish strong leader to bully NZ into submission. They are engaging in GOP style obstructionism and Fox news talking points with no basis in reality (aka. lies).
Someone with a media profile and who appears plausible? Mark Richardson would be my guess
Yes, he ticked a few of the boxes, but he’s gone, isn’t he? Please tell me that John has left the building.
Edit: Mark Richardson is just a boy, politically speaking.
Nicky Hager is pretty sure it's not JuCo, so that's a positive
Nicky Hager: Five reasons why Judith Collins won’t be prime minister | The Spinoff
Today is 47 years since the death of Norman Kirk.
Growing up in a suburb of Auckland heavily dominated by state housing, I remember the affection in which he was held by my parents friends and neighbours.
Yes. One of our greatest Leaders.
His Superanuation scheme would have been the saviour of NZ if Muldoon had not destroyed it, Local Bodies could borrow from it with very low interest rates.
Good on you for reminding us of Big Norm.
I remember being proud of our Government and Kirk's stand against nuclear activity in the Pacific. Our lone frigate accompanied by a flotilla of concerned Kiwis.
" Local Bodies could borrow from it with very low interest rates.".
That is one of the main problems with all these schemes. You get a great big pool of money that is supposed to provide for the retirement income of the general populace and the thing that almost always happens is that politicians decide to try to use it to pay for schemes that simply waste the money.
I was never a great fan of Michael Cullen but at least he tried to keep the so-called Cullen Fund away from the reach of short-sighted politicians who saw it simply as a slush fund to pay for their fanciful dreams. Spend it on Public Transport, or cycleways, or anything else that they like the look of rather than on something that will build the value of the fund and actually provide a retirement income for people who are forced to belong to it. After all, those politicians will be long gone when people discover there is really nothing there to pay super people were promised.
The Muldoon scheme, although far too generous and starting at too early an age had a rational basis to it. Make it Universal and pay it out of current taxation. There is no incentive for political zealots to try and plunder the fund because there isn't one.
Saving for super has always been an oxymoron.
As most of the money paid to pensioners, is immediately spent back into the local economy, and it is a charge on a share of local resources especially current goods and services, PAYGO makes more sense. Same as it does with ACC.
Muldoon made sense on that one.
The idea that Labours super scheme would still be in existence now, without being plundered and/or privatised by the later Neo-liberals, as they did with almost everything else, is a nice fantasy.
Paying it out of the current taxation was the irrational part of Muldoon's scheme. The country's fertility rate had halved and stabilised. It was obvious that the boomers would be a large demographic bubble. Ignoring that amounted to intergenerational theft.
The "intergenerational theft," meme started by those who want to privatise super, is self serving bollocks.
Where do you think pensioners spend the money they get. And who benefits from the resulting employment and economic activity?
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-myth-of-retirement-savings/
Wealthy people receive super too.
They do.
Which is why we still have it.
Though, in a just world they would be paying much more in tax than they receive in super.
There are a lot of people who are moderately wealthy. They have enough to live on from other means and super is just extra for overseas holidays and alike.
Which is an argument for wealth taxes, not for removing or cutting universal state super.
We were discussing whether Muldoon's scheme was rational, it wasn't.
Your thinking about retirement savings like an individual, you need to think about it like a government if you want to say something about super annuation.
The appropriate income for retirees is not determined by taxation revenue, its more or less what the govt thinks appropriate (as are taxation decisions). There are no hard fiscal constraints on these decisions, just a bunch of opinions on what is fair.
If you want an analogy imagine your household has a chore roster and a bunch of weekly privileges for participants. Last week you recorded 2 chores per member per day (which is like retirement payments, though its for chores) and you cancelled those at week end and handed out rewards (this is taxation). Now in your world you might think if there were more chores to do you would be financially unable to do them (even though your tax rate is 100%). But obviously in reality you can just record more chores next week, your not limited in what gets recorded, or if thats perceived as fair, and so on.
http://kjt-kt.blogspot.com/2012/06/on-new-zealands-retirement-income.html?m=1
,"The finance industry have been creaming their pants, for a return to the halcyon days, before the tax rebates were removed from superannuation savings. When they got to play with our money for free, and the negative returns and high charges were ignored, because of tax payer subsidies. Egged on by the neo-liberals who prefer the elderly, the unemployed and the sick to starve in the streets, as an incentive to scare working people into accepting starvation wages, while they continue to get 17% increases in wealth, the finance industry is dreaming of getting more of their sticky hands on our wealth, with private super funds. Since the 70's they have been constant in the meme that we cannot afford super. A meme that has been driven entirely by the self interest of those, who are too wealthy to need super and too mean to pay taxes, and a greedy finance industry. Unfortunately, it is true, that if you repeat bullshit often enough, even those who should know better come to believe it. We cannot afford super is code for, "we should leave our elderly to beg on the streets". So that wealthy people can pay less tax and the finance industry can again lose our savings for us".
In your opinion.
Surely in your opinion too if you think it needs a wealth tax to make it work. That is not something Muldoon would have considered. Muldoon was reckless, and not just with this.
In Muldoons time there were wealth taxes.
It was later Governments who replaced taxes on the better off, I paid 63% top rate, with GST on the poor.and there were inheritance and other wealth taxes since removed.
Oh, so you are talking higher paye and inheritance not a comprehensive wealth tax.
There was also free tertiary education and universal student loans and help to buy your first house and lots of other stuff. If all those settings had been left in place we would still have been in the shit once the boomer bulge came through to retirement age. Muldoon ignored this because it would not be his problem. He could have set up a Cullen Fund back then to deal with it, but he didn't.
You are not understanding the point.
The requirements to live, for people who can no longer work, do not change whether it is paid for by, "savings" current taxes or Government super funds.
We eieither allocate enough resources for the elderly to live from current production and services, or we leave them to live in poverty.
Private "savings" including Government funds investing in things that don't increase capacity are the most expensive way to provide for super, as there is always extra creamed off by outside interests. From current taxes is the cheapest way.
As is making it universal.
Muldoon was right on this one, even though he was wrong in so many others
From my perspective you don't get the point. You just sound like another entitled boomer to me.
Thanks for the unthinking meme.
It has fuckall to do with generations. And everything to do with the wealthy screwing people in all generations.
Memes like that are just playing into their hands.
I will get super anyway. Provided my health after decades of shift and manual work lets me last that long.
I want it to be there for future generations.
I know if we give it up now, they will never get it back.
Which is why I fucking well fight for it. Along with decent wages and working conditions for those coming after me.
If you want to keep it then a good place to start would be to acknowledge that Muldoon was reckless in not taking account of the boomer demographic bulge and that this has made it unfair for younger generations. But just disregarding that does not put you in a strong position.
Muldoon had many failings, but Universal Super wasn't one. It shows that a UBI is a necessary and humane response to the unrestrained capitalism that has ruined the lives of working Kiwis for a generation.
Yes we can afford it, and morally we must do it.
https://thestandard.org.nz/support-for-raising-retirement-age/#comment-335490
The other issue is whether it's cheaper to go near-universal or regularly audit everyone's income – including "non-wealthy" people who pay a peppercorn rent to live in the mansion of a family trust, etc.
And the repercussions of a system that lets people in need be declined because they didn't keep up with the paperwork.
I saw a smug old coutt on tv the other night 89 years old living the life in the mount, reckoned he didnt need super but took it because it was his right, now hes had 29 years of super so hes only only probably 10 ish years away from getting super for as long as he worked. Given the age was 60 when he would have received it .
How much tax is he paid and is paying?
Did his work, including what he does in retirement contribute to society?
I know another who retired at 60 with the Muldoon pension. He continued and still does, carry on with his former job, social work and remedial reading for school kids. At 90 he teaches, unpaid, carving and remedial reading at the local school. He would not be able to do this without the pension.
I have know way of knowing that, I know an 86 year old who crowed to me how little tax he had paid in his life, very wealthy man he is , paid alot of interest to banks though, he said.
Winston Peters took the pension didn't he?
A most interesting post.
The Cullen fund is just as much a political football as anything used on local government. Thats why the National government makes a repeated point of not paying in and the Labour a point of paying in.
This comes to a head when its (presumably) eventually drawn down to reduce the budget deficit caused by demographic shifts, at which point we get to see who in govt likes having a pool of money up for investment to back their profitable investors rhetoric.
We should not of course mistake it for savings because (as is more obvious these days) the govt can't really save in the currency it issues, and just gets the RBNZ to issue more spending as needed anyway. Apparently it even likes to keep 'saving' while also having urgent spending needs anyway (like its borrowing to fill up its savings account) demonstrating that the saving aspect of this is just something for the plebs to believe.
Returns on the Cullen fund are much more than the cost of borrowing or printing and have been right through the life of the fund.plus the tax take from the profitable investments are higher than the contributions.
Just what is the marginal cost of printing, btw? Seems to be basically zero since its all electronic these days and if it wasn't then that cost can be printed in (I will claim borrowing is similar enough).
So it turns out that the govt is good at investing profitably given a cost of funds which is up to them. In fact as I highlighted this is just a gimmic to convince the plebs that the govt is a worthy funds manager. Well you appear to be convinced anyway.
Nic just printing money is not the answer to everything.The $30 billion of QE given to our banks recently to keep liquidity in the financial sector worked in that area but has lead to the banks funding only safe investment causing massive inflation in the housing market and massive increases in bank profits.
Thats not how QE works. People who say QE causes house price inflation, and actually understand QE are making a counterfactual of the country running a lockdown with no wage subsidy support. That could easily have caused a recession and associated house price slump, but its obviously not something you do as govt to target house prices. If the govt doesn't do QE (or any of their more unusual self funding options) but still does the wage subsidy, then they would pay more for their deficit (and less to themselves) but house prices would have jumped just the same, with the same people having the same access to wage subsidy and period of incentive to jump into the market. Ultimately the recent buyers decide what level of price rises they will borrow, this is not centrally planned.
It is certain that banks could have done the same lending with or without QE, their lending is basically constrained by the stream of credit worthy customers coming in the door, nothing more.
Having got that out the way, you seem to support the use of QE to stuff funds into the Cullen fund, rather than not using as much of the self funding mechanism. All I'm highlighting is that the self funding mechanism is always there, so any fiscal constraints (or prudent investor policies) you impose on the country are always voluntary and self imposed. Sometimes you may do things voluntarily for the marketing, sometimes this is called virtue signaling.
Nic When you have a recession looming bank deposits dry up bank lending becomes harder to get. Govts buy all the banks bad and poorly performing debt as in a recession businesses stop paying loans and Bill's the banks stop loaning to businesses ,banks struggle to borrow money to lend deposits dry up.so govts print money and lend it to banks , at the moment •25% so the govt profits .In exchange the reserve bank takes over banks under performing loans freeing up the banks to lend to safer clients .The banks during these times are preferring to lend for bricks and mortar than to businesses as business loans are far riskier.
So around the world where QE is being used house prices are inflating because it's easy to get a loan on an asset that is rising and can be repossessed in any mortgagee sale as opposed to a business ,creating house price bubbles around the World.
If govt printed money to fix productivity problems ie housing shortages I would be ok with that but even that needs careful managing as we see in NZ ,we have shortages of construction materials ie timber for construction and Labour for construction so causing inflation .
It's easy to believe that pressing a button and printing billions can solve problems instantly but it rarely does and when it works iit s in times of low inflation and no supply constrictions.
Your model of bank lending is demonstrably wrong. In practice, including in NZ banks don't face a reserve shortage constraint and its part of official policy that they won't. Thats what the OCR is about, as long as a bank is in good standing it can always (if the interbank market doesn't do it cheaper) borrow reserves from the RBNZ (at the OCR) should it need to in order to settle. As long as Paul Volker isn't central bank head then the bank can still pass on the interest rate difference there profitably.
We need another basis for additional bank credit drying up in this case. Of course this is obvious enough, during a recession you look a lot harder at a potential borrowers income and adjust the assessment of likely repayment. It also helps if there is a security attached to the loan, like a house.
This also explains why doing QE in spades has never worked as advertised, e.g the largest monetary policy intervention in history was unable to avoid a recession in the US (and other countries).
Of course NZ didn't escape from conventional policy very far so you should be contrasting QE against NZ recession (due to lack of lockdown fiscal policy intervention to offset domestic saving rate increases) because those are the alternatives the govt considered. In considering NZ I would say it worked so far, and with a bit of luck this lockdown it will keep working (the obvious point being its actually the sufficient fiscal policy working, even if the NZ govt was only willing to do that when self lending via QE).
+1. When Labour lived up to its name.
https://youtu.be/kvIqHFBofx8
a song to remember being on topic from ebony
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DJv_DfMZ7jU
please fix your email address typo on next comment.
And the last of the real Labour party.
Indeed yes. Norm was of course strongly opposed to allowing freer access to abortion and to homosexual law reform. If he had lived, and he could have easily still be head of the Parliamentary Labour Party right through to the early 1990's I don't think you would have seen the progress that was achieved after he died.
That would, I suspect, have been more in line with the attitudes of the union-led, traditional, Labour Party than some of the people in leadership roles today.
Unfortunately "Progress" in the 80's also included a fire sale of precious state assets and irresponsible deregulation, leading to the crash of '87 and an extended recession
You're right, mistakes were made. But painful as it was, the transformation of the economy in the 1980's was absolutely necessary. The strength of our economy since, and it's resilience to an array of economic and natural shocks since, is evidence enough.
FFS. Are their really people who still believe that myth.
The ,"reforms" that bought us from level pegging with Oz to 30% behind were a self inflicted disaster!
Some things had to go, such as the ,”social welfare for sheep” though noting that farming subsidies cost almost as much now. And the taxes on nascent industry such as the caravan tax.
You seem to be confused. The reforms of the Labour government in the 1980's transformed the NZ economy from a controlled economy that was close to defaulting on it's overseas obligations to one that has survived multiple economic and natural shocks. Our businesses compete with the very best in the world, and our economic performance has attracted numerous accolades.
Ultimately the decision is the peoples. Since 1984, the only governments elected have maintained the broad thrust of the reforms of the 1980's. The floating exchange rate, lower personal taxes, GST, monetary policy, independence of the RB the list is long and those reforms have served us well.
Bollocks.
By the way no party has actually given us a choice in rolling back the Neo-liberal ," unfortunate experiment".
Even when we voted Labour out after only two terms because of our only self inflicted recession, And the destruction, National continued with it.
The only one of the people that did it, who had the guts to admit they were wrong was Bolger.
Never mind the fucking Reserve Bank Act, which punishes those of us who keep the country going with higher interest rates whenever wages and the economy shows signs of getting off the ground.
There are good reasons why voters wouldn’t have a bar of the party of those who carried out the reforms, ACT, until memories have faded of what they did.
Meanwhile we still get unthinking BS that you have just repeated, trying to justify destroying so many lives, by pretending it was "necessary".
On at least one policy, the nats explicitly lied: Lockwood Smith signed a pledge to cancel the nascent student loan scheme when campaigning, then skyrocketed fees and expanded the loan scheme while minister for education. That's the one I remember, there were no doubt other instances where the nats promised one thing and did the opposite. Not, like, weasel words. Explicit lies.
Decision of the people, my arse.
The student loan scheme was not not introduced until 1992. And it was certainly not part of the economic transformation Labour engineered in the 1980's.
Maybe it was fucking fees then.
yup:
Not so sure about the "technicality" bs, either: his signed pledge never said who charged the fee. His government increased student fees, the liar. I guess that's why there's no footnote for the "technicality" claim.
Fees for tertiary education did not begin with the 1980's reforms. And after the reforms, the government continued to fund a large slice of the cost. So you might get third time lucky?
It's also real stretch to conflate tertiary fees with wider monetary reform when considering voter preference. The economic reforms were introduced at pace almost immediately upon the election of the Lange government in mid 1984. The tertiary sector reforms were not introduced until the late 1980's. The only election the Lange government won on the back of the economic reforms was in 1987, at which both major parties increased their % of the popular vote, Labour by 5%.
quick look at your link: "The standard tertiary fee was created." When? 1989-1990.
That was a major increase in course costs and the threshold for user pays. Who cares if the govt continued to pay some. It should pay all, for a variety of reasons.
Fair call, that's just the issue that was important to me at the time. Is it the only policy about which they lied (or, to use tory spin, used a "technicality")? Well:
Did fuckall about that, didn't they.
"Did fuckall about that, didn't they."
And yet they were re-elected in 1993 and 1996.
Well, the first was under FPP, so they got an outright majority of seats with 1/3 of the vote (52% voted for Labour or the Alliance), and the second relied on them going into coalition with a party that only 15% of whose voters wanted them to keep national in power.
Again, decision of the people? Bullshit.
"Are you talking about the actual website that was developed in a mixed economy, or the infrastructure and protocols that were developed with US government funding?"
Actually I wasn't specifically thinking about the website, but I'll take that. Here's what happens when roblogic puts a comment up:
1. R types his comment on a device device designed and built by private enterprise.
2. R types his comment in a word processing/capture system designed and built by private enterprise.
3. R sends his message via a connection a medium called the internet, which is a collaborative creation of public and private actors.
4. R's message is transmitted via a communication medium in which the infrastructure and distribution is owned and operated by private enterprise.
5. R's message is displayed on a website that has been built by private enterprise.
…etc.
"Well, the first was under FPP, so they got an outright majority of seats with 1/3 of the vote…"
Which was still more than any other party got.
".and the second relied on them going into coalition with a party that only 15% of whose voters wanted them to keep national in power."
Which they could do because they won 34% of the party vote compared with the next party who only won 28%.
Steve Wozniak would not approve of this bullshit. You're conveniently ignoring the essential role of public education, laws that protect intellectual property, the role of publicly funded NASA and CERN in kickstarting Silicon Valley, the assembly at Foxconn in China, supply chains that are dependent on infrastructure and the rule of law, public libraries, state funded electricity and telecoms networks (especially in NZ), public toilets, a public health system (without which I would probably be dead)
What is the use of a bunch of fucken bankers from Wall St or the City of London in any of that? Capitalists are worse than useless, they are a drain on productive society
what rot, on both counts. The internet is built on the back of US govt research, and the WWW was invented by employees at a govt run research consortium. Heck, even today not all companies are necessarily "private enterprise" – Huawei comes to mind.
As for the elections, in 1993 the will of the people was a Labour-alliance govt, and in 1996 the majority of people voted for parties that had promised an end to the National govt. Now we can debate whether Winston or Anderton screwed the deal, but don't go thinking Bolger continuing as PM was the people's decision (on a majority level). It wasn't even the wish of the majority of people who voted NZ1.
"The internet is built on the back of US govt research, and the WWW was invented by employees at a govt run research consortium."
That may have been it's origins, but then:
As the network grew, the Department of Defense began to find it difficult to know who even was using the network; this gave rise to serious concerns over security. Therefore, in the early 1980s, researchers and the private sector took over much of the development and expansion of the Arpanet, which then became the internet. During this period of innovation, developers and inventors typically turned over their technology to the public domain.
"As for the elections, in 1993 the will of the people was a Labour-alliance govt"
You don't know that, simply because that was never explicitly on the ballot.
"…and in 1996 the majority of people voted for parties that had promised an end to the National govt."
More people voted for National than any other party. More people supported that party's policies than any other party.
Literal tomes have been written about the elections in the 1990s and what polling and electoral returns indicated about what the people wanted vs what they got.
As for singing the praises for the free market, DARPA still created the internet, and CERN still developed HTTP just like 3m wouldn't be making velcro without NASA $$$.
Bored now, others can play with this tool.
The Greens have offered an alternative economic policy for several elections. What’s the highest vote % they have obtained?
What's the % of people who voted for successive governments to flog off State assets?
Bugger all.
And yet your rogernome mates sold everything, including Grandma and the kitchen sink.
But hey, at least John Key made us chuckle
It has taken us decades to struggle out if the damage caused in the 80's and 90's.
Unfortunately so much of it is irreversable, or like the privatisations and power "reforms" to expensive to reverse.
We have enjoyed decades of prosperity as a result of those changes. If things were so bad, the changes would have been reversed. Successive Labour and National governments have kept the basic mechanisms of those changes in place.
Tell that to the Māori kids in Moerewa.
Idiot!
"Meanwhile Democratic Socialist/ Actual Socialist, rather than totalitarian countries that say they are socialist, regimes are our most succesful States to date."
And yet you can;t name one. There are actually not many 'Democratic Socialist' states. Venezuela's one. And among that list, I'd hardly describe them as 'our most successful states to date'.
"Countries with large State investment in the economy are the most successful."
You're confused. If they have high state investment, then they have an element of private sector investment. That's not socialism.
"Have a look at the proportion living in poverty and their GDP"
In 1989, in the death throws of socialism in the USSR, poverty was 20%. In the USA at the same time it was 12%. Socialism destroys everything in it's pathway. Freedoms. Economic prosperity. People.
Again you prove you have NFI what Socialism is.
As deluded as the US republicans. Whose views you are parroting.
Why did I know Venezuala would be mentioned. Neo-liberal apologists need a new script. They always forget to mention their low tax, small state nirvana's Haiti, or Somalia.
If,as one of your fellow parrots accepted, that the degree of socialism in a country is determined by the State share of the economy. Venezuala is less Socialist than the USA, which has a State share over 40%. Of course the problems with Venezuala have nothing to do with any sort of ism. But simply the USA "squeezing their economy until it bleeds". Because the USA cannot afford to have an example on their door step, of a country which puts it's people, not it's billionaires, first.
You still forgot to tell me what the percentage living in poverty in Russia was from 1917 compared to 1960.
You could also look at the USA from the 1950's when they had Socialist policies like the GI bill, the reason behind their explosion of innovation after WW2, and 90% taxes on millionaires, compared with their current decline and steep increase in people living in poverty, since their equivalent of Rogernomics
Poverty in the USA | Oxfam (oxfamamerica.org)
That seems a hyperbolic judgement, if indeed "In 1989, in the death throws of socialism in the USSR, poverty was 20%." Only the most one-eyed ideologue could equate ‘20% poverty’ to "detroys everything", but maybe I'm misinterpreting your evidence and/or PoV?
Democratic socialism might attempt to if not reverse then at least put the brakes on the unsustainable concentration of (ludicrous levels of) wealth in capitalist 'societies'. Who really believes this concentration of wealth is a net benefit to society?
If one aspires to extreme wealth then go for it – whatever floats your yacht. But it seems so pointless and short-sighted – an own goal.
It's been great for the 1% and their mission to plunder our public assets.
NZ is now the least affordable country in the OECD.
Rogernomics is a disgusting lie and a betrayal of all that Labour once stood for.
It's been great for the vast majority of New Zealanders. Labour pulled us kicking and screaming into the real world. Without them, we would have been buried by the increased globalisation that followed.
in the "real world" people co-operate to build a nation, they don't let pinstriped beancounters destroy the society they built with great cost and effort, and sell it off to corporate vultures
capitalism is an unsustainable model that measures everything in terms of dollars, but places no value on what really matters
the disgrace of Ron Brierley epitomises what those fuckers did to NZ
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/96755666/housing-crisis-documentary-pulls-no-punches-on-eve-of-election
The "vast majority" I think you mean the top 10%. Everyone else has gone backwards.
The Side Eye: Inequality Tower 2018 | The Spinoff
"capitalism is an unsustainable model…"
NZ's economic changes in the 1980's rebalanced the mixed market away from being dominated by state intervention to a greater degree of free market involvement. Capitalism will evolve, but it is firmly entrenched across the world, including in those countries in which command economics had failed. It is sustainable, and it isn't going away.
what planet have you been on? the global economy has been melting down, it was already massively unbalanced by QE and now Covid has been an opportunity for bankers to loot the public purse on an unprecedented scale
https://twitter.com/ianpaulwright/status/1433079835514056705?s=20
"The "vast majority" I think you mean the top 10%. Everyone else has gone backwards."
Do you have any evidence that 90% of NZérs have 'gone backwards'? Increasing inequality can still mean everyone is better off.
Are you Don Brash?
"what planet have you been on? the global economy has been melting down, "
No, it really hasn't. Capitalism self corrects. It is an evolving model, and in virtually every country in which it is deployed it is simply one of two components of a mixed market economy.
capitalism looks good during the growth phase then it turns into a darwinian contest red in tooth and claw. no social conscience whatsoever
Four Reasons Civilization Won’t Decline: It Will Collapse – Resilience
"Of course, you can basically eliminate the working class from statistics if you take "averages". The top 10% wealthiest socioeconomic strata owns over 50% of the wealth so yes "kiwis are getting wealthier" might be true in a very stupid and selfish way, but all the gains are going to a tiny elite few.
We could have a discussion about inequality, sure. But I was addressing Stuarts specific claims.
Can you demonstrate another nation with a median house price to median income ratio in excess of 20?
https://www.reinz.co.nz/residential-property-data-gallery
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/labour-market-statistics-income-june-2021-quarter
Aint statistics grand!
"capitalism looks good during the growth phase then it turns into a darwinian contest red in tooth and claw. no social conscience whatsoever"
Economic systems don't have 'consciences'. That's the reason I would never advocate for unfettered capitalism.
"Are you Don Brash?"
Good grief no. I'm not arguing rising inequality is a good thing. I'm simply saying that rising inequality does not mean the majority of people are not better off. Free market policies have been an important contributor to lifting large numbers of people out of poverty around the world. It seems almost churlish to argue against the economic progress NZ has made using similar policies.
Yes even Marx observed the power of the profit motive. But he also recognised that capitalism corrupts democracy and causes widespread suffering & oppression of workers, and financial crashes
BTW the industrial revolutions of China and Russia were state driven and lifted people out of poverty more effectively than strategies based on wage slavery and attacking workers
"But he also recognised that capitalism corrupts democracy and causes widespread suffering & oppression of workers, and financial crashes"
Capitalism co-exists with democracy. Capitalism lifts people out of poverty. It is alternatives, socialism most notably, that enslaves people. It is no coincidence that most obvious socialist economies have been accompanied by totalitarian regimes.
"BTW the industrial revolutions of China and Russia were state driven and lifted people out of poverty more effectively than strategies based on wage slavery and attacking workers"
Russia is proof positive that state commanded economic progress is unsustainable. In both Russia and China, the most progress towards economic freedom and prosperity has come with the adoption of the free market.
Remember to, it was Stalin who drove the industrial revolution in Russia. He also just happened to have killed up to 20 million of his fellow citizens (depending upon which historian you believe).
I wasn't talking about painful political revolutions and bloodshed. But if you want to go down that track, capitalism is responsible for colonisation and mass impoverishment of billions, ongoing slaughters, and the destruction of life itself by insane profit driven policies that rely on destroying rainforests and filling the Earth with oil pollution
It is a cancerous ideology that cannot be sustained.
Socialism is democracy in action, the clue is in the name. Decisions are made for the good of society not only in the interests of a remote aristocracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPTaIIexSvk
"It is a cancerous ideology that cannot be sustained."
So you've been arguing. On a forum invented within a free market economic system.
"Socialism is democracy in action, the clue is in the name. Decisions are made for the good of society not only in the interests of a remote aristocracy"
Tell that to the close to 100m people killed in communist/socialist regimes.
Are you talking about the actual website that was developed in a mixed economy, or the infrastructure and protocols that were developed with US government funding?
"100m people killed in communist regimes"
A silly comment. By the same token I must assume that capitalists support fascist warmongering and mercantile Empires plundering the wealth of nations and genociding the natives
"A silly comment. By the same token I must assume that capitalists support fascist warmongering and mercantile Empires plundering the wealth of nations and genociding the natives"
You claimed that under socialism "Decisions are made for the good of society…". That's a nonsense claim when you consider the lessons of history. Historians estimate around 100m people lost their lives in those societies.
Socialism destroyed the Soviet Union. In 1989, tens of millions of soviet citizens lived in poverty – around 20% of the population. (In 2018 it was 12%).
In most socialist regimes, individual freedoms are ruthlessly repressed. Religious and political liberty is stamped out, in fact socialism destroys the human spirit, and in the end that is at the heart of why it fails.
Sigh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysw8_9NjWvk
Funny idea of what Socialism is.
Meanwhile Democratic Socialist/ Actual Socialist, rather than totalitarian countries that say they are socialist, regimes are our most succesful States to date.
Or they were until so many bought into the "free market", low tax, Globalist religion.
Even the USA exists courtesy of the largest State funded welfare organisation on earth. Their military. Without that State funded transfer of wealth they would collapse. Which is why they need the constant wars with Eastasia and Westasia.
Srylands? Or yet another Echo!
Open mike 04/08/2013 « The Standard
"Srylands statement of course comes from the laffer curve idea.
That expansion of Government provision of services always displaces the private sector.
If that was really the case then you would expect the countries with extremely large State shares in the economy to be the worst off. Which is obviously not the case.
Countries with large State investment in the economy are the most successful. Some States manage with no private sector at all. (Not what I would recommend though).
Every one from Singapore to Norway, Germany and Denmark.
Countries which have high State spending either/or both percentage wise or per capita.
How are your low tax, small Government countries doing? Srylands".
If you insist that The Soviet Union was "Socialist" however. Have a look at the proportion living in poverty and their GDP, compared with the UK in 1917? as against the same comparison in 1960?
Indeed have a look at the rise in proportion living in poverty in NZ, from the time of your great Neo-liberal “Reforms”..
There was no alternative?
With our wretchedly incompetent treasury wonks that's probably mostly true – one trick ponies on their best days.
Had they a ghost of a clue about how to do their job however, policies would have been very different – and we'd have recorded growth in excess of real estate inflation occasionally.
No-one is lining up to hire NZ's 'economic miracle' workers, in fact they're a global joke.
The fundamental changes to the economy in the 1980's prepared our economy for globalisation and competing with the world. It was a significant driver on our shifting trade reliance on the UK.
No-one is lining up to hire NZ's 'economic miracle' workers, in fact they're a global joke.
You are quite wrong. Our economy is far from perfect, but for a relatively small economy, the management of our economy by successive governments has been recognised internationally.
And yet our supposed miracle workers never achieve growth over 3% (underlying inflation), much less produce the 'rising tide that lifts all boats' which was the excuse for all their cruel and ineffectual policies.
NZ finance ministers are not recruited by the IMF or the World Bank – even with the politics those institutions prefer a plausible veneer of competence – they are lucky if they can get a job at Woolies.
It is fair to describe NZ's reigning economists as conservative, backward, myopic, and regressive – and since you seem to be their fanboi, you suffer by association.
It is one of life’s little ironies that Muldoon has been redeemed, not by his own miserable efforts, but by the inadequacy of his successors.
"NZ finance ministers are not recruited by the IMF or the World Bank"
Hardly a robust way of assessing NZ's economic reforms. But as a certain irony, one of the 'fanboi's' of NZ's economic performance is none other than the IMF's Christine Lagarde, Lagarde was the MD of the IMF, and was the Minister of Finance in France.
She is still going strong.
She is currently President of the European Central Bank. Since 2011 she has been in the top 10 of the Forbes Most Powerful Women list. In the last couple of years she has been at number 2, second only to Angela Merkel. That is one impressive lady.
Hardly a robust way of assessing NZ's economic reforms
Oh I agree – the increased wealth of median NZers would be the obvious data point, but of course that's seldom reported – being negative.
But this was your shoddy criterion – the views of foreign colleagues:
the management of our economy … has been recognised internationally
The peers of the Chicago Boys in Chile were reasonably satisfied with them – it was the people they robbed and impoverished that were obliged to put them in prison where they and their Rogergnomic colleagues belong.
"Oh I agree…"
Yet you used it as your chosen measure.
"…the increased wealth of median NZers would be the obvious data point, but of course that's seldom reported – being negative."
Why is that the 'obvious data point'? For starters, "data on wealth is far worse than data on income – the Government gathers a lot less data on wealth."
However I was able to find this comparison between 2015 and 2018:
"Median household wealth increased from $289,000 to $340,000. In 2015, 8.3 percent of Kiwis households had more than $1.5 million in net wealth; in 2018, 12.5 percent of Kiwi households were in that group. Fewer households held between $100,000 and $500,000 in wealth and more households held assets worth over $500,000."
So that was a transitionary period over two governments in which median wealth did increase.
"…the views of foreign colleagues…"
I never mentioned 'colleagues'. I'm referring to informed international critique. Which includes one of the people who fit YOUR criteria of moving from a FM position to employment with the IMF!
Oh really – "informed international critique is it?"
Let's see some then – and it had better be critical, not yet another empty paen to the fallen gods of mammon.
You are the fellow trying to justify the epic failure which is Rogergnomics – well, as your neoliberal kin put it:
Show us the money!
Most expensive electricity in the world
Fastest growing inequality in the OECD
Most expensive housing relative to income
You and your corrupt economist fellow travellers have a truckload of explaining to do – and frankly, we don't want any more excuses – only the improved outcomes they’ve lied about for getting on for four decades now.
The time for excuses is over – they are only ever a plea in mitigation – they don't exculpate the fraud that was perpetrated on NZ, that you for some reason are exerting yourself to defend.
"Let's see some then…"
I gave you one – someone you surely approve of because she is one of your chosen few – FM's who have 'graduated' to employment with the IMF.
You make a lot of claims yourself, Stuart. Few, if any, are supported by sources. So let's have a look at your latest claims:
"Most expensive electricity in the world"
Not even close.
"Fastest growing inequality in the OECD"
Not according to the OECD.
"Most expensive housing relative to income"
Wrong.
Of course, you can basically eliminate the working class from statistics if you take "averages". The top 10% wealthiest socioeconomic strata owns over 50% of the wealth so yes "kiwis are getting wealthier" might be true in a very stupid and selfish way, but all the gains are going to a tiny elite few.
Low income Kiwi households struggling with unaffordable housing, OECD report says | Stuff.co.nz
You still have fundamentally failed to substantiate your claim, that NZ is better off for the imposition of Rogergnomics.
That massive raft of corruption fundamentally pivoted the NZ civil service away from its core functions, to chase spurious crap.
So there is more expensive electricity somewhere – big whoop – your clowns still massively increased the price for ours, further emiserating our poor oppressed and cheated citizens.
You massively increased inequality – never mind the rest of the world, the lazy unproductive speculator class cleaned up here, massively eroding productivity – and this was the work of supposedly professional economists? For shame!
And your property piece is nonsense – fudged by the insertion of a square meterage factor that is neither here nor there. The crucial feature of housing is not its meterage, but that owner occupiers are able to escape rental costs which a landlord class inflate pretty much as and when they chose.
Home ownership is lousy in NZ now – you have taken us back to 1951 levels.
I guess it's a hard thing for corrupt public servants to understand, but a fundamental baseline is that you are supposed to leave the country better than you found it.
"So there is more expensive electricity somewhere – big whoop – "
The point is you have made a number of claims in this exchange that are simply false. That's either sloppy of dishonest, and pretty much discredits anything else you say.
Like your claim that Rogernomics "made the majority of New zealanders better off".
Oh please – lying doesn't concern you at all – you just endorsed Key's lie about ripping off state assets.
Besides, menkurt slave of the odious right, you have yet to show us the money – ie validated your dishonest position on Rogergnomics.
Show us some proof, my little cabbage, or come clean that you were lying all along.
"You're conveniently ignoring… "
Nothing. Every one of the things you cite were built as part of the governments investment in a mixed market economy. And paid for out of taxes generated by the private sector.
They are paid for out of work done, by everyone in society whether public or private.
Taxes and all Money, are just the way we decide to allocate resources.
"They are paid for out of work done, by everyone in society whether public or private. "
Yes, public servants pay tax. Your point?
Tax is a proportion of the earnings from the work someone does.
We allocate a part of our work earnings to pay for Government services.
It does not magically appear from private business, out of thin air.
"What's the % of people who voted for successive governments to flog off State assets? "
A lot, as it happens. In 2011, the Key government went to the election specifically promising asset sales. They received 48% of the votes.
Over 80% of New Zealanders polled, didn't want the assett sales to go ahead.
The idea that a Government is elected on just one policy, is rather comic.
"Over 80% of New Zealanders polled, didn't want the assett sales to go ahead."
We don't elect governments from opinion polls.
Yes we don't really have Democracy. Which is a shame.
If we did, the “Unfortunate experiment” which you are spruiking for, would have been nipped in the bud in 1993 if not 1987, when the foolishness of it was apparent..
Sooner or later NZ is going to punish a government that lies on that scale.
It won't be pretty – but it will be just.
Tricledrown, if you are reading this, here's how to get your commenting privileges back:
If you can do this, I will then talk you how to get your commenting privileges back.
Mods have spent a lot of time this year trying to get you to respond to moderation comments. The reason you can't comment at the moment is because you failed to respond in June and I got sick of chasing it up.
Ok Weka no problem I couldn’t reply because the box to type in comment wouldn’t open.
Hi Td. There's a long history of problems with your commenting. There are two to look at right now.
I f 'd up again I have serious disabilities with impaired eyesight and have only barely one finger on my typing hand 1 finger on the other so it's very hard to get things right all the time.
Thanks for letting me Td, we can work with that.
Can you please let me know if you can see the Replies tab on the upper right hand side of the page?
Starting to look like Trudeau miscalculated calling a snap election. Not that suprising really I'm sure voters aren't that impressed given they're in the midst of their 4th wave and it looks very much like it was called because polls had his party thinking they would get a majority.
Can someone please do me a favour. Reply to this comment, and I will put the comment in trash and see if I can bring it back again.
Hi Weka.
Only if you have magical powers on this site
thanks everyone. Next test: write a comment, post it, then edit it and send it to Trash (delete it). Post a second comment telling me you've done that. Cheers.
Done.
thanks solkta! Would you mind repeating that in Daily Review? Just the second test.
done.
thanks.
What I was trying to do doesn't work 🙁
Still cant paste links ph my ph.
Yes I can see your posts in replies
just to clarify, are you clicking on the Replies tab and seeing all the replies to you (not just from me)?
Yes but on most occasions it won't let me type a comment and has an icon box at the top of the comment box.Thanks for being patient and helpful.
are you on a desktop or a phone or a tablet/ipad?
Phone
If you scroll to the bottom of this page, can you see two links:
Which one are you using right now?
I am now on mobile ,I was on desk top to keep up with replies
ok, so you know how to swap between the two. Desktop give the Reply tab, Mobile allows commenting. This has been a problem for a while, I'll bring it up with lprent again.
In 'murica, they get thousands turning up to storm the halls of government.
Here in Nu Zillun we get one Karen outside the council office in Kaikohe.
The "passionless people" indeed!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/covid-19-coronavirus-delta-outbreak-northland-police-make-two-arrests-as-little-pockets-of-silent-protestors-gather-around-the-region/DG6WRRGG6WTNXHRWCIHKIBR4TI/
This covid lockup has had to be the most tedious yet, longer mentally than any of the others to date. The 'novel' corona virus is proving anything but, 'tedious and tiresome' corona virus I am finding. I wondered about how we might shape the present and future covid responses. Auckland has carried much of the burden on lock downs, far more than any other region. They have the majority of MIQ facilities and have been hardest hit in the 3 lockdowns post the big one last year.
For that matter I wondered when Auckland is under level 4 or 3, and a level higher than other provinces, whether it's fair to add an extra 1% gst to transactions in other provinces that could be funneled to Auckland businesses to help pay rents and wages until such time they dropped to level 2. So when there are unequal level 4 and 3 lockdowns imposed regionally, the regions at a higher alert level receive some form of relief payments. Funded by a 1% in GST in regions at a lower alert level, eg level 2. The regions that can return to some semblance of normality provide economic relief for the hardest hit areas.
In terms of any purpose built or purpose adapted future MIQ facilities. Seems to me time some other provinces did some of that heavy lifting. Maybe time to locate dedicated facilities in Dunedin or Christchurch or Palmerston North. The Central and Southern regions can have a turn doing the work. Palmy seems a reasonable option. A military airport that can take large jets and a reasonably sized city with health facilities.
I am more miserable than I have been in years. Solitary confinement & isolation are psychological torture. L4 is some OTT bullshit. I feel for those who are dying alone because of these inhumane conditions
Yeah, it's tough. You got someone to talk to over phone or video? It's not the same as face to face, but at least you get to use your voice.
Yeah just got off a Zoom call thanks. Feeling a bit better. Life is really out of balance right now
Stay in there, Roblogic. Thanks for your kind words the other day. Poetry and music, playing the blues, help when the black dog starts barking. Just been reading some of my verse, written when going through treatment for cancer.
One sonnet, written as I travelled to Picton on my way to resume radiation therapy for prostate cancer ends.
"Sorrow is for the present, /waiting to proceed from known past/ to a future not yet seen or sensed.
Present sorrow, prescient pain, / Fear is human of unknown gain.
Cheers Mac. You're a warrior poet.
Definitely agree about spreading things out – especially away from urban concentrations.
Find a nice picturesque area, and build a 500+ room facility with decent airflow control and the ability to separate cohorts. Do spa areas, tennis courts, gyms, all that shit. Have it store medical supplies like PPE. Run it as a hotel with close access to skifields etc, and use it as a quarantine or evacuation facility if we need one. Heck, it might even make money as a hotel.
Send 'em to Ripapa/Quail Island
Quarantine Barracks, Quail Island | discoverywall.nz
Why they want MIQ in urban areas is because hospitals are handy
Great way to piss off Invercargillites. A chopper ride (lol if they're lucky) is good enough for them, apparently.
It feels more tedious because of the unremmitting drumbeat of whinging about it. I quite like it.
Just thought I would check
Warkworth to Hamilton 178.3km
Warkworth to Kiataia 253km
Most people living near a big city travel in and bounce back on the same trajectory.
Travelling through Auckland is a small percentage. Met people at Akld hospital that travelled from Whangarei for treatment. Auckland serves Northland in many ways still.
virtually all Whangarei traffic goes thru Warkworth but yeah it is a bit shit when they have 0 community cases up North
"Can you demonstrate another nation with a median house price to median income ratio in excess of 20?"
That measure is valid, but it does have the problem of not including changes in interest rates. I have looked and can't find any long term comparisons based on median measure, which is surprising considering I would have thought it was a meaningful measure.