Smile!

Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, July 7th, 2018 - 98 comments
Categories: capitalism, Deep stuff, Economy, labour, Left, liberalism, national, political alternatives, Politics, social democracy, socialism, vision - Tags: , , , ,

If we imagine the extent of our politics to be represented by a line similar to the line drawing of a smile, then apart from a happy wee graphic, we might have the beginnings of a useful if basic schematic to envisage or capture current political possibilities and realities.

One side of the smile then, represents politics being steadily more dominated by social democratic political settings that culminate in statism. The other side of the smile represents increasingly market dominated politics of liberalism that culminate in a free market.

If we imagine a vertical line bisecting the smile at some subjective point where liberalism and social democracy are reckoned to form a “balance” such that neither market nor state really dominates, then the picture’s complete. For simplicity, we might place that vertical line at the centre point.

Whether politics are traveling in the direction of the free market or statism, conservatism will be located closer to that vertical line, acting as a brake or moderating influence on whatever movement is underway in the realm of politics.

So, in a social democratic setting (ie – when social democratic priorities are to the fore), we’d expect a Tory Party/National Party to be occupying the conservative space set somewhere towards that centre line, and pulling back on what conservatives would view as social democratic excesses. And similarly, in a liberal settings (ie – when market priorities are to the fore) we’d expect a Labour Party to be occupying the conservative space set towards that centre line and pulling back on perceived excesses of liberalism.

Generally speaking, that’s what we see.

But when there’s a reversal in movement (and obviously it’s not always a smooth or gradual transition) things can change in odd ways. So in NZ, when the Labour Party jumped from favouring social democratic settings to preferring liberal settings, it temporarily left the National Party occupying the newly formed space of conservative liberalism.

Nowadays, the Labour Party is back in that conservative position (essentially a conservative liberal one) and the National Party is positioned more towards the free market end point of liberalism.

The position of NZ Labour as conservative liberals contrasts somewhat with the UK Labour Party that, having embraced social democratic priorities these days, isn’t merely putting a brake on liberalism, but is seeking to change the direction of politics.

Last bit to the graphic.

Extend the lines from the top of the smile until they come together to form a circle. (Make it a dotted one if you want). See. That’s the totality of capitalism. And both social democracy and liberalism are wholly contained within it. And every parliamentary party gives succour to a mix of liberal and/or social democratic ideas and ideals of capitalism.

There’s a reason the term “left” hasn’t been used up until now. “Left” has always been an alternative to capitalism, not a variant of it, and so has no place in the rudimentary schemata drawn up above.

Some social democrats might disagree with that assertion.

Original Labour Parties were formed with the promise of bringing socialism about by parliamentary means afterall. Which is a fairly “left” intent. But that idea was always contested on the grounds it wasn’t logical or realistic. And after over 100 years with nothing to show on that front, I think we can safely conclude that social democracy is not a bridge between capitalism and socialism that we’ll all traipse across some fine day, but rather,  just a variant on capitalism that reigns in aspects of market liberalism while tending towards authoritarian statism.

If people who self identify as Left can’t break with capitalism in all of its forms, as well as the parliamentary parties of capitalism and rediscover the political roots of what the Left is and always has been all about, then we have a problem beyond simply and for ever seeking to avoid authoritarianism of whichever bent.

As William Hawes puts it in a recent article entitled “Ecology: The Keystone Science”

there will be no squaring the circle of mass industrial civilization and an inhabitable Earth.”

before going on to observe that

“many with the most influence on the Left today, such as Sanders, Corbyn, and Melenchon want to preserve industrial civilization. Theirs is an over-sentimental outlook which warps their thinking to want to prop up a dying model in order to redistribute wealth to the poor and working classes.”

Taking that as a read –  and I do –  it’s just as well we drew a wee smiley graphic for ourselves then, aye? But what do you say (anyone with pretensions to be being left or progressive), that we stick two wee eyes on this post’s graphic, and then open them? (Might want to draw up a pair of legs to walk away on too 😉 )

98 comments on “Smile! ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. patricia bremner 1
    7 July 2018 at 5:00 pm

    “Walk away?” or could it be “Walk towards a different future?”
    We can’t continue as we are without the doomsday guys getting it right.

  2. Draco T Bastard 2
    7 July 2018 at 5:53 pm

    many with the most influence on the Left today, such as Sanders, Corbyn, and Melenchon want to preserve industrial civilization.

    Actually, the problem is that they want to maintain capitalism.

    Industry can be done sustainably. Capitalism can’t.

  3. greywarshark 3
    7 July 2018 at 6:12 pm

    Business confidence is down – not so low for 7 years. Labour Anti Business. The link between confidence and performance is fragile. It is just political bias.

    Amy Adams in her ‘confident’ voice. Low business aptitude and National had to puff up their pillows. That is why Fletchers have had to restructure etc. – Greedy boys wanting all the goodies and elbowing other competitors out of the way.
    Oooh er.
    Higher fuel taxes
    Reforms
    Shutting down oil and gas.

    The task for all NZ people caring citizens – Find a businessman or woman and help
    them by smoothing their brows, and offering them panaceas to help them get out of their fright. Be kind, but firm.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/focusonpolitics/audio/2018652563/focus-on-politics-for-6-july-2018 16+mins

  4. McFlock 4
    7 July 2018 at 6:26 pm

    Good luck with the revolution, comrade. In the meantime I’ll keep trying to help people in the real world.

    • Bill 4.1
      7 July 2018 at 6:57 pm

      Do you have anything worthwhile to say about the descriptive analysis offered? Maybe some intelligent opinion on the viability of capitalist arrangements in the face of global warming?

      Or is petty put down and puffery all you’ve got by way of engagement?

      • McFlock 4.1.1
        7 July 2018 at 7:11 pm

        Do you know how many drafts I went through for that? Tour post strikes me as just another flavour of why Tories have such an advantage in a democracy: lefties love to pretend that they are the only left in town.

        Firstly, the vertical line is not a balance that most social democrats would aspire to, where corporations are just as strong as governments.

        Secondly, complete removal of capitalism is fine, unless people want to own or sell something. Then your flavour of socialism butts horns against democracy. Therefore Democratic socialism can’t exist, simply because your trite smiley face lets you claim the words “left” and “socialist” for yourself.

        • R.P Mcmurphy 4.1.1.1
          7 July 2018 at 7:20 pm

          that is just twaddle flocky and barely coherent. just adducing a string of perjorative words does in no way constitute a well formed argument

        • marty mars 4.1.1.2
          7 July 2018 at 7:30 pm

          why you bother I’ll never know McFlock

          • David Mac 4.1.1.2.1
            7 July 2018 at 7:54 pm

            I love McFlock’s comments. I think he/she has an active mind, tells no fibs and a wonderful turn of phrase. Agree or disagree, what more could one wish for in a blog jockey?

            I think you have much in common with McFlock Marty.

            • McFlock 4.1.1.2.1.1
              7 July 2018 at 8:04 pm

              Wow. Thanks 🙂

            • marty mars 4.1.1.2.1.2
              7 July 2018 at 8:16 pm

              Yeah I rate him too.

              • David Mac …
                7 July 2018 at 8:28 pm

                You 2 and a few dozen others keep me coming back here. The authors are crucial, firestarters, but It’s the potpourri of opinion where the intrigue lives.

                Over the Herald, weather, utube and Trademe, I click on my Standard link, curious to hear what the dirty 2 dozen have to say.

                To all the regular contributors here, thanks, love your work.

        • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.3
          7 July 2018 at 11:57 pm

          Secondly, complete removal of capitalism is fine, unless people want to own or sell something.

          False dichotomy.

          Removal of capitalism means the removal of private ownership of capital assets. Not the private ownership of products.

          So, the self-owned business you work for can still go to the factory (self-owned business) to buy their products and then on sell them. You yourself will still be able to go to the shop and buy them and they would then be yours.

          That’s if we still use a market system to distribute goods and resources.

          If we don’t then you’d simply order the product from the factory and it will be delivered. Once it’s delivered it will be yours. The factory would be a self-owned ‘business’.

          • McFlock 4.1.1.3.1
            8 July 2018 at 7:18 pm

            Money is capital. As long as we have a means of exchange in private possession, capitalism exists to some degree.

            • Pat 4.1.1.3.1.1
              8 July 2018 at 7:33 pm

              ‘Money’ is a promise….not capital.
              Even so the majority of us are capitalists….whether we know it or not.

              • McFlock …
                8 July 2018 at 7:41 pm

                If a corporation raises caputal, what does it usually accrue?

                • Pat …
                  8 July 2018 at 7:58 pm

                  lol…these days an electronic transfer…so data, and in times gone by, bits of paper…. nothing real or tangible.

                  • McFlock …
                    8 July 2018 at 8:02 pm

                    Transfer of what? Paper with what writing – Tolstoy? No. Money. The means of exchange.

                    • Pat …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:09 pm

                      means of exchange where and when…what is the constant?…there isn’t one. ‘Money” is a promise that someone will exchange your bits of paper (or data) for something you desire….what guarantees that? the strength of the issuer…if the issuer cannot meet the promise what is its use?

                    • McFlock …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:18 pm

                      You might as well ask what guarantees the ownership that is exchanged, as well as the money which is often the means of such an exchange.

                      All interesting questions, but money is still capital.

                    • Pat …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:26 pm

                      and therein lies the misconception….you can create all the ‘money’ you desire and have insufficient capital…..real capital is useable resources, for without them nothing else matters.

                    • McFlock …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:35 pm

                      A misconception that is our current reality.

                    • Pat …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:39 pm

                      No…a misconception thats our current misconception….reality dont care what we think.

                    • McFlock …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:42 pm

                      Well, maybe you barter for goods more often than I do.

                    • Pat …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:47 pm

                      lol…probably not…but I suspect I’ll be less surprised than yourself when my bits of paper cant supply my needs.

                    • McFlock …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:52 pm

                      Lol yeah but when that happens there are worse things to worry about than the ATM.

                      Edit: I’m one of those people who needs complex infrastructure to stay alive. A real collapse of society would have me immobilised and screaming in a week after my meds run out.

                    • Pat …
                      8 July 2018 at 8:55 pm

                      indeed…except if it was understood then perhaps the impact could be lessened….but that seems very unlikely.

            • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.3.1.2
              8 July 2018 at 9:47 pm

              Actually, money isn’t capital. Even the economists admit that. That’s why they have the term financial capital. To differentiate between money and capital.

              It is the ownership of capital (Land, factories, etc) that makes someone a capitalist.

              And trade is not solely capitalist. That is another wrong assumption on your part. The Australian aborigines traded but they neither owned land nor had money.

              • McFlock …
                8 July 2018 at 10:28 pm

                So money is a form of capital. The financial bit.

                And yes, if we restricted ourselves to barter I doubt capitalism could exist.

        • Bill 4.1.1.4
          8 July 2018 at 10:45 am

          There is no suggestion that most social democrats would aspire to that balance. The post was fairly explicit in suggesting most would want to take things off in the direction of more statism.

          Did you even attempt to understand where I was coming from with the post, or did something in there press a button that set you off?

          • McFlock 4.1.1.4.1
            8 July 2018 at 7:17 pm

            The bit where you literally said that the left “has no place in the rudimentary schemata drawn up above” (the schema that includes social democracy) pissed me off a bit, but everything else in the post seems to me to be a contrivance to support that bit of apparent exceptionalusm.

            • Bill 4.1.1.4.1.1
              9 July 2018 at 12:02 pm

              Can you point me to any writings by Marx or Bakunin or any other writer who might sensibly be regarded as either socialist or anarchist or communist (ie- Left), whose proposition was a variation of capitalism?

              Social Democracy sought to accommodate capitalism, and bring about socialism by parliamentary and legislative means. I covered this in the post. It’s an idea that Labour Parties originally ascribed to. And after over 100 years, where is the instance of social democracy unfolding into socialism? There isn’t one, and on the basis it’s a precursor to statism, there won’t be one. (Did you never wonder why Labour Parties attracted statists like the Trots and Leninists?)

              Anyway, wikipedia has a fairly succinct take on social democracy as it exists today.

              Social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and capitalist economy. (my bold)

              As for the rest of the post, it offers up a way to place and understand the positioning of (in a NZ context) the Labour Party, NZ First and the Greens – something that seems to have bamboozled people if past commentary is anything to go by.

              • McFlock …
                9 July 2018 at 12:32 pm

                The Fabians seem a bit more moderate than the communists.

                And again, my point isn’t that social democrats don’t believe in eliminating capitalism, my point is that their acceptance of some level of capitalism doesn’t mean they’re other than “left”.

                And after 100 years, there isn’t any instance of a socialist or communist state either, by your definition. Has there been any state where the production has been controlled by the people rather than a select elite, with no capitalist trade at all?

                As for placing and understanding the positioning of the government, your smiley face is no help at all. All it says is that your exceptionalist definition of “left” is somehow different from every political organisation of any note in the country, with no indication of the depth of the gulf or how we might cross it, or the direction existing organisations might move in order to do so.

                The idea of a contest between the state and capital for control over society is equally useless if it doesn’t describe the nature and objectives of that control.

                • Bill …
                  9 July 2018 at 1:12 pm

                  Point me to the writings of recognised major thinkers/theorists of the left where the proposition is for a variation of capitalism.

                  Left was and is an anti-capitalist position – even the original idea embedded in social democratic theory was (as I keep repeating) that socialism could be brought about by legal and parliamentary processes.

                  I don’t understand your point about there never having been a socialist state. It’s a howling contradiction of statism and socialism in theory and (in practice) statism – eg the USSR.

                  There’s nothing “exceptionalist” in what I’ve written. And unless you’re going to maintain that just because ‘everyone’ says a thing, it must mean that thing is true, then so what if it’s different to an acceptable way of viewing things? The point is whether it’s accurate and coherent. And as far as I can tell, and in that absence of any substantive argument to the contrary (“I don’t like what you’re saying!” doesn’t count), it’s both of those things.

                  I’ve been explicit on where the contest between capital and state can go. (Fck, Again. Did you actually read the post before commenting?)

                  There is only one example I can think of where a serious effort was made to use existing structures to bridge the gulf you mention. That was and is the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela – seeking to use the power of the state to undermine the state through supporting the formation of parallel, highly democratic governing structures.

                  By the way, was there any comment from the leader of NZ Labour on the occasion of Chavez’s death? What about from UK Labour? I’ll help you out here. Andrew Little said fuck all. Corbyn noted the man and his achievements.

                  But then, one of those leaders is a conservative liberal and the other a social democrat – so that silence versus acknowledgement is to be expected.

                  And maybe while we’re on the topic of this social democracy you claim to hold so dear, what was your take on Sanders and the re-awakening of social democracy in the US he represented again? I seem to recall you basically decrying the fact he hadn’t packed up and gone home to Vermont sooner. And what has been the depth of support you’ve expressed for Corbyn, or for the SNP (those being the other two instances of a social democratic push in the English speaking world)?

                  I’m asking because, surely, as a committed social democrat, your support should be more vociferous than my anarchist and therefor conditional voice of support, no?

                  • McFlock …
                    9 July 2018 at 1:40 pm

                    Point me to the writings of recognised major thinkers/theorists of the left where the proposition is for a variation of capitalism.

                    Do you regard Fabians as left wing?
                    Was Norman Kirk a socialist?

                    Dunno about committed or holding it dear, I’ve never been overly concerned with labels. But I quite liked Sanders. If a chunk of his followers hadn’t been a bunch of self-immolating jerks who went to trump, life would have been nicer, though. Trump would probably still have won if that alone changed, but it was a shame seeing once again supporters of “the left” support capitalists just because their ordained one true path wasn’t followed by their closest allies.

                    Further reading of your comments tells me that apparently statists can’t be socialists, so therefore can’t be left wing either. Nobody is left wing except a few anarchists and pan-globalist communists, it seems.

                    A very roundabout way of returning to my initial comment.

                    • Bill …
                      9 July 2018 at 1:56 pm

                      Of course statists aren’t socialist. Where and how the necessary level of democracy for socialism in a statist set up?

                      How many supporters of Sanders voted for Trump? Are there any indicative and reliable numbers been produced or published anywhere?

                      The Democrats lost the US election for the same reason that Brexit went the way it did and May nearly blew a General Election – people are “over it”.

                    • McFlock …
                      9 July 2018 at 2:42 pm

                      Was Norman Kirk a socialist?
                      Are the Fabians socialist?

                    • Bill …
                      9 July 2018 at 3:09 pm

                      From the Fabian Society’s NZ page – we will focus on the fundamental requirement that New Zealand shapes a sustainable economic future for itself. Via a series of lectures and seminars, we will provide a forum for critiquing the prevailing economic orthodoxy and the advocacy of viable alternatives and reforms.

                      Turning a blind eye to their promotion of Blair and what not, Social Democratic then.

                      And Norman Kirk was a solid social democrat.

                      Maybe you’d rather label them as socialist, just like many in the media and beyond label Corbyn as socialist? And you can do that. But in doing it, you’re ignoring reality and the limits of both parliamentarianism and the legislature in relation to socialism and/or that democracy and socialism are synonymous.

                    • McFlock …
                      9 July 2018 at 3:11 pm

                      So neither the Fabian Socialists nor Norman Kirk are/were socialist – most would call them pretty “left”, though.

      • McFlock 4.1.2
        7 July 2018 at 7:54 pm

        OK, answer me this. So you’re the latest champion of the people to realise he’s beyond or outside the conventional political paradigm, and anyone who disagrees is a Tory apologist. Great. Now: how does that observation change anything or help anyone?

        Except 1% who like to see the other 99% bickering amongst themselves.

        • adam 4.1.2.1
          7 July 2018 at 8:35 pm

          Liberalism or the highway, ah Mcflock?

          Of if it not gradualism it’s not working for people?

        • Bill 4.1.2.2
          7 July 2018 at 8:47 pm

          I didn’t say I was “outside the conventional political paradigm”. You know full well what my politics are and have known for years. You’re also aware I’m supportive of a social democratic shift – as is happening in the UK, and (so I hoped) was going to happen in NZ with Cunliffe leading NZ Labour.

          Neither have I called you or anyone else a “Tory apologist”.

          So basically you’ve invented a position for me to answer to instead of engaging with the substance of the post.

          But to answer you in a broader sense, perceiving something of the nature of a thing is a prerequisite, or at least an aid, to understanding that thing, and understanding can lead to relevant decisions and actions being better, clearer or more complete.

          In relation to the substance of the post

          If you don’t think capitalism is a mix of social democracy and liberalism (except at the political extremes), then what is it that you think it is?

          If you don’t think that social democracy is bound to capitalism, then put forward an argument to that effect.

          If you think that Left and Progressive exists within capitalism and can (through a social democratic platform or otherwise) bring about socialism, then make the case.

          If you think the Left or Progressive has nothing to do with socialism, then again, make the case.

          Or otherwise offer up some form of acceptable engagement.

          But if all you’re going to do is engage at the level of personal abuse and accusation, then please, leave the thread instead of derailing it.

          • McFlock 4.1.2.2.1
            7 July 2018 at 9:16 pm

            No you just said that the term “left” has no place on the same chart as social democracy.

            Whatever. There’s a good film on telly so I can’t be bothered.

            • Bill 4.1.2.2.1.1
              7 July 2018 at 9:59 pm

              Well no McFlock, I didn’t “just say”, but laid out some basic reasoning as to why (which can be contested) and sign-posted the historical roots of when the Left was initially co-opted by parliamentarian politics (which again, can be contested).

              Hope the film was enjoyable.

              • McFlock …
                7 July 2018 at 10:37 pm

                Yeah it was quite a sweet wee film. Not a huge roller coaster, but nor a saccharine overload neither.

                Anyway, some on the left use parliamentary politics, and I don’t believe that to be left or socialist one must exclude all capitalism.

                The opponent the left faces is the same one that goes back to Wat Tyler. Now they use stockpiles of money to stake their fiefdoms. You can pretend there’s much of a difference between conservatism and liberalism, but they’re basically the same thing.

                There’s the people who have the power and want more of it, and there are the people who want the power distributed more equitably. That’s really the only taxonomy that matters.

                • Bill …
                  7 July 2018 at 11:02 pm

                  I haven’t said that parliamentary politics or the parliamentary environment should not be used or engaged with. What I am saying is that there are limits to how far things can be taken via those vehicles or routes.

                  And I certainly haven’t said that “to be left or socialist one must exclude all capitalism”. No socialist I’ve ever known has “excluded” capitalism. They’ve confronted it, engaged it, sometimes found alternatives to it…but never excluded it. That would (I think) mean living the life of a hermit in a cave or some such.

                  When I use the term conservative, I’m using in the classical sense – ie, “averse to change” (not necessarily a bad thing). That’s why I’m saying that politically, that space can be occupied by a Tory Party or by a Labour Party depending on which way the wind blows (ie – towards free markets or towards statism).

                  On your last para. Capitalism will always concentrate power and wealth. And to be very short hand about it, a Liberal will tend to celebrate that, while a Social Democrat will seek to limit it, and a socialist to dissipate it.

          • Gabby 4.1.2.2.2
            7 July 2018 at 10:02 pm

            What’s on the vertical axis? What is signified by the height of the corners of the smile relative to the centre?

            • Bill 4.1.2.2.2.1
              7 July 2018 at 10:10 pm

              The “smile” terminates in authoritarianism. On one side, the authoritarianism associated with statism, and on the other, the authoritarianism and brutality inherent to a free market.

  5. CHCOff 5
    7 July 2018 at 7:19 pm

    Socially conservative and pragmatic when it comes to collectivism.

    Socially progressive and sensible when it comes to co-operation.

    NZ1st!

    • corodale 5.1
      7 July 2018 at 7:42 pm

      Would NZF be brave enough to lunch a digital currency, crypto at the Central Bank level, aiming to stablise Pacific Island economies? As the required global debt default kicks in… It’s that level of innovation and change that is required, if this Smile writing of Bill’s has anything of substance.

  6. David Mac 6
    7 July 2018 at 7:27 pm

    A government can steer capitalism. I don’t think solutions lie in crushing it but the manipulation of it.

    Not punitive measures but incentives to do the right thing by our nett society.

    Make it work for more, like a co-op of family orchardists with a few acres each providing the blueberries for a Fonterra fridge ready dairy product for the Chinese market. Joe and Suzie’s place vs Nestle.

    Great NZ marketing story to tell in a corporate maelstrom like urban China.

    • corodale 6.1
      7 July 2018 at 7:49 pm

      Good plan. Though risk of co-op struggling against other strong businesses, under debt pressure, leading to casualties. Govt would have to back with State Cash, and work towards a Globle Agreement on Debt Default.

      • David Mac 6.1.1
        7 July 2018 at 8:51 pm

        A government has the power to make such a venture less risky for participants. A weather bomb could wipe out a crop in one growing region, if a co-op the weather unaffected growing regions could prop up the bottom line.

        It’s just an example. I’m of the opinion – give 25% of the company to the workers = above average prosperity. People with a direct stake in outcomes care more.

        • David Mac 6.1.1.1
          7 July 2018 at 9:10 pm

          With a percentage of ownership in the company the rise of the robots becomes something to be welcomed, bring on the 3 day weekend.

          • David Mac 6.1.1.1.1
            7 July 2018 at 9:49 pm

            Sweden don’t have the same hassles we do with our provincial locations. They’ve got a 1000 year head start on us with this global trade malarkey but they’ve made a great job of injecting prosperity into their Taihapes, Kawakawas and Turangis.

            Provincial locations became specialists. Where I lived, they had been digging up and shipping iron ore to Sheffield for 100’s of years. My modern provincial neighbourhood was built on the back of Swedish company Sandvik. Half of the locals worked there. Their tool steel is the best money can buy. People that work there got a sweetheart deal on share ownership, I didn’t meet any Sandvik workers that didn’t own some of it. I think it prompted them into making sure their tool steel is the best in the world. From the cleaners on up, they were all in it together.

            From what I could see, it worked quite well.

            • greywarshark 6.1.1.1.1.1
              7 July 2018 at 10:42 pm

              David Mac
              If a company like Sandvik made a success in NZ it would have very quickly been sold to an overseas firm and a pub built on the incomes earned by the workers.

              Unless it was like Taits that I believe was put into trust.

              • David Mac …
                7 July 2018 at 10:55 pm

                Yeah I hear you grey but a government has the power to tip favour towards the guys with sweat on their brows.

                There is little Sandvik workers could do about an aggressive attack on the Swedish share market.

                A government has the power to instruct the new controlling entity that nothing changes re: those that make it happen, the workers and their 25% share.

                • greywarshark …
                  7 July 2018 at 11:22 pm

                  David Mac
                  Hail to that.

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  8 July 2018 at 12:35 am

                  Yeah I hear you grey but a government has the power to tip favour towards the guys with sweat on their brows.

                  And the best way to do that is to remove the business owners.

                  • David Mac …
                    8 July 2018 at 1:09 am

                    Business owners are not out to get you Draco, relax. Count the Matariki stars. I can only speak for me but I don’t want to see you hobbled.

                    Fly Draco ….(I’ll catch you if you fall)

        • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.2
          8 July 2018 at 12:33 am

          People with a direct stake in outcomes care more.

          You may not have noticed but workers at a business have a direct stake in the outcomes. If the business fails they’re out of a job, can no longer afford the mortgage and may even lose their family.

          In the capitalist paradigm those workers have no say in how well the business is run.

          • David Mac 6.1.1.2.1
            8 July 2018 at 1:28 am

            When everyone’s Christmas bonus is geared to how well the company does, everyone cares Draco. Everyone does their best or feels like an outsider.

      • Gosman 6.1.2
        8 July 2018 at 6:23 am

        Why would a country that NZ exports to allow the State to fund the exporters? There would be immediate calls of unfair trade practices.

        • Hongi Ika 6.1.2.1
          8 July 2018 at 8:27 am

          The problem NZ has is country’s like the USA impose import tariff’s on our product, like our dairy products and this is actually a form of protectionism and is against Free Trade Principles ?

    • Draco T Bastard 6.2
      8 July 2018 at 12:30 am

      A government can steer capitalism.

      No they can’t. In fact, all indications are that it’s the capitalists that steer government making us an oligarchy or plutocracy.

      I don’t think solutions lie in crushing it but the manipulation of it.

      There are no solutions that way – we’ve tried. Had the fastest rising living standards in history – until the capitalists fucked it over and now we have the fastest rising poverty.

      Make it work for more, like a co-op of family orchardists with a few acres each providing the blueberries for a Fonterra fridge ready dairy product for the Chinese market.

      We can’t actually afford the exportation of our scarce resources. A country can only feed the people living in it and even then only if the food produced is properly recycled back to growing more food.

      • David Mac 6.2.1
        8 July 2018 at 1:32 am

        Hey you know how you hate capitalists, where on Earth do you get your internet connection?

        Are you touching the enemy on the willy Draco?

      • Gosman 6.2.2
        8 July 2018 at 6:25 am

        There is no evidence supporting your view that there is the fastest rising poverty here (or anywhere else).

    • Bill 6.3
      8 July 2018 at 10:34 am

      Hey David. I think the jury’s back. Capitalism and its attendant industrialism is incompatible with a worthwhile future.

      Now, you can tweak it and twiddle it as much as you like, but no matter which way you look at it, and no matter what you do with it, capitalism’s dead.

      The only question remaining is whether we are noble, desperate and stupid enough to go down with the ship, or whether we give ourselves a chance by abandoning it.

  7. Hongi Ika 7
    7 July 2018 at 7:52 pm

    Reminds be of John Key ? The most popular PM in the history of NZ ?

  8. Robert Guyton 8
    7 July 2018 at 8:23 pm

    “If we imagine the extent of our politics to be represented by a line similar to the line drawing of a smile, then apart from a happy wee graphic, we might have the beginnings of a useful if basic schematic to envisage or capture current political possibilities and realities.”
    What ?!?
    You’d have us accept the open curve as a metaphor for politics in New Zealand here and now?
    On a butter-yellow, ACTiod, schizoid (just yoking) background? With echoes of a relentlessly happy emoticon, only lacking eyes and nose, blind as justice and unable to sniff the breeze?

    Why???

    • Bill 8.1
      8 July 2018 at 10:29 am

      Because I’m a bad mushroom? Because a McDs graphic was a step too far? Because of an Eric Idle ditty?

      Whatever, deaf, dumb and blind does seem somewhat appropriate, no?

      The line terminates at both ends btw. We’re not talking in terms of “above the curve” and “below the curve” 😉

  9. Robert Glennie 9
    7 July 2018 at 9:31 pm

    New Zealand I think is tiring of both National and Labour. People have realized both are wedded to the neoliberal model. This is why house prices are sky high, why although Labour is spending a lot of money it also has not made a real swing to the left and back to its core – when it does, that means it has made an honest go of:

    1) Fixing the housing crisis
    2) Sorting out the tax system – I think scope for raising taxes on high incomes (say over $180,000) exists, but that too much emphasis is on incomes and G.S.T.
    3) Fixing our bung ministries – particularly M.S.D., Health and Education
    4) Initiate a waste revolution: simply having a review is not good enough when e-waste for example creates 600 kilogrammes of gold waste a year and 600 tons of copper waste – good money to made out of this

  10. Gabby 10
    7 July 2018 at 9:53 pm

    In what sense is ‘that’ the totality of capitalism?

    • Bill 10.1
      7 July 2018 at 10:03 pm

      Can you identify any other politics that support, underpin or work within capitalism? Social democracy (and its statist extreme) through liberalism (and its free market extreme) would seem to encapsulate it. But I could be wrong and am open to suggestions.

      • Gabby 10.1.1
        7 July 2018 at 10:05 pm

        What lies in the area beneath the upper semicircle, dotted or not?

        • Bill 10.1.1.1
          7 July 2018 at 10:14 pm

          tsk. Have you any other organised polities in mind, besides shades of social democracy and liberalism that you think might accompany capitalism?

          • Gabby 10.1.1.1.1
            8 July 2018 at 9:43 am

            Are there any others?

            • Bill 10.1.1.1.1.1
              8 July 2018 at 10:21 am

              Obviously Gabby, if there are, I’m not aware of them.

              If you want to fill in the space below the dotted line (and yes, I know the suggestion of closing the circle was messing with things by jumping from a simple linear representation of politics to a Venn Diagram), then I’d suggest filling it with such things as consumerism, chrematistics, racism, sexism, competition, industrialism, greed, patriarchy and a whole lot besides – a frothing, somewhat oozing mass of overlapping bubbles that all needs blowing away.

              And maybe we could incorporate a thousand rainbow sheens into the whole caboodle – an oil theme as it were?

              • Gabby …
                8 July 2018 at 10:24 am

                So, what’s outside the circle described by solid and/or dotted curves, but inside the outline? Where does pompous conceit fit into the grand design? Is the torso absent because it disappeared up its own arse into a selfcontradicting vacuum?

                • Bill …
                  8 July 2018 at 11:13 am

                  What’s a “selfcontradicting vacuum” when it’s at home? Does it have a home? What’s on the mantle piece? And why bother with space bars when f’s and c’s can get all cozy like that sans socialising? What drinks do they sell btw? And can customers ever arrive without messing up the vacuous nature of space?

  12. David Mac 12
    7 July 2018 at 11:12 pm

    Prosperity is worth pursuing, it offers choice, freedom’s bicycle.

    We need to get better at getting more of us on bikes.

  13. Jenny 13
    8 July 2018 at 4:30 am

    “there will be no squaring the circle of mass industrial civilization and an inhabitable Earth.”
    William Hawes

    We’re hearing it from everywhere nowadays.

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2173636-chris-packham-lets-stop-sleepwalking-towards-mass-extinction/

  14. cleangreen 14
    8 July 2018 at 8:45 am

    I am glum now because I haven’t seen any photos of the new PM’s baby.

    So I am suffering from (SNSBS) ‘sick not seeing baby syndrome.

  15. Pat 15
    8 July 2018 at 9:01 am

    Unfortunately the demise of politics will not solve the problem, that requires the demise of a species.

    Of course the former may lead to the latter.

    • Bill 15.1
      8 July 2018 at 10:07 am

      Politics other than those that are hide bound to capitalism might be good.

      But I’m not seeing much prospect for that at a world wide scale.

      It struck me last night, that most of the people reading here-a-bouts (older readership) have a chance of seeing their lives out (ie – not ended by some effect of AGW). In other words, many of us will fall over and be gone before our world arrives at the cliff top. It’s the generations coming behind, propelled or pulled on by the momentum we’ve built and maintained that will be going over the edge in their droves and billions.

      On the bright side, in a 100 years or so, there probably won’t be much in the way of anyone spitting on the graves of those who chose to do nothing against the stampeding herd that’s currently around us.

      They’ll be far too occupied eking out an existence to rail against the ghosts from today who just kept on dropping the kids off at school in the SUVs, and flying around the world with “off-sets” clearing their conscience – who generally and persistently, by their habits and actions, supported these economic arrangements that are to oil as a vampire is to blood… because retirement; because success; because wealth; because fear; because stupid.

      • marty mars 15.1.1
        8 July 2018 at 10:32 am

        Exactly bill.

        Most here will be gone and the next generations will have to face it. That’s why I don’t go doomer – what’s the point? Its just self indulgence – I focus on building resilience and community and frankly anyone not doing those things is in a form of denial and arrogance imo and just continuing the habits that fucked us up in the first place.

      • Pat 15.1.2
        8 July 2018 at 11:03 am

        If politics is the organisation of resources by those with power then what form it takes is irrelevant…there are simply insufficient….and thats not even accounting for the character flaws that exist within us all….but as you note, we are unlikely to experience the worst of it….cold comfort.

        • Bill 15.1.2.1
          8 July 2018 at 11:24 am

          I’d have thought economics should be about the “organisation of resources”, and that politics (in part) would be the array of decisions and processes that impact on that.

          None of the above has to be predicated on the exercise of some concentration of power. It could be democratic.

          But all and whatever, I suspect most of us will have to settle for that cold comfort.

          • Pat 15.1.2.1.1
            8 July 2018 at 7:07 pm

            fair enough…but I’d suggest that politics and economics are so intertwined as to be indistinguishable….two sides of the same coin as it were, for both in essence are concerned with the allocation of the necessities of (human) life.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #39
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 24, 2023 thru Sat, Sep 30, 2023. Story of the Week We’re not doomed yet’: climate scientist Michael Mann on our last chance to save human civilisation The renowned US ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 hours ago

  • Clusterf**ck of Chaos.
    On the 11th of April 1945 advancing US forces liberated the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald near Weimar in Germany. In the coming days, under the order of General Patton, a thousand nearby residents were forced to march to the camp to see the atrocities that had been committed in ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    8 hours ago

  • The party of business deals with the future by pretending it isn’t coming
    Years and years ago, when Helen Clark was Prime Minister and John Key was gunning for her job, I had a conversation with a mate, a trader who knew John Key well enough to paint a helpful picture.It was many drinks ago so it’s not a complete one. But there’s ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    9 hours ago

  • 2023 More Reading: September (+ Old Phuul update)
    Completed reads for September: The Lost Continent, by C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne Flatland, by Edwin Abbott All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque The Country of the Blind, by H.G. Wells The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    22 hours ago

  • Losing The Left.
    Descending Into The Dark: The ideological cadres currently controlling both Labour and the Greens are forcing “justice”, “participation” and “democracy” to make way for what is “appropriate” and “responsible”. But, where does that leave the people who, for most of their adult lives, have voted for left-wing parties, precisely to ...
    Bowalley Road
    23 hours ago

  • The New “Emperor’s New Clothes”.
    “‘BUT HE HASN’T GOT ANYTHING ON,’ a little boy said ….. ‘But he hasn’t got anything on!’ the whole town cried out at last.”On this optimistic note, Hans Christian Andersen brings his cautionary tale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to an end.Andersen’s children’s story was written nearly two centuries ago, ...
    Bowalley Road
    24 hours ago

  • BRYCE EDWARDS: The vested interests shaping National Party policies
      Bryce Edwards writes – As the National Party gets closer to government, lobbyists and business interests will be lining up for influence and to get policies adopted. It’s therefore in the public interest to have much more scrutiny and transparency about potential conflicts of interests that ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: A conundrum for those pushing racist dogma
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – The heavily promoted narrative, which has ramped up over the last six years, is that Maori somehow have special vulnerabilities which arise from outside forces they cannot control; that contemporary society fails to meet their needs. They are not receptive to messages and ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER:  The greater of two evils
    Not Labour: If you’re out to punish the government you once loved, then the last thing you need is to be shown evidence that the opposition parties are much, much worse.   Chris Trotter writes – THE GREATEST VIRTUE of being the Opposition is not being the Government. Only very ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Sept 30
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Labour presented a climate manifesto that aimed to claim the high ground on climate action vs National, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Litanies, articles of faith, and being a beneficiary
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two weeks.Friday 29Play it, ElvisElection Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • Litanies, articles of faith, and being a beneficiary
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two weeks.Friday 29Play it, ElvisElection Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • The ‘Recession’ Has Been Called Off, But Some Households Are Still Struggling
    While the economy is not doing too badly in output terms, external circumstances are not favourable, and there is probably a sizeable group of households struggling because of rising interest rates.Last week’s announcement of a 0.9 percent increase in volume GDP for the June quarter had the commentariat backing down ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    2 days ago

  • Climate Change: The wrong direction
    This week the International Energy Association released its Net Zero Roadmap, intended to guide us towards a liveable climate. The report demanded huge increases in renewable generation, no new gas or oil, and massive cuts to methane emissions. It was positive about our current path, but recommended that countries with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • “Racism” becomes a buzz word on the campaign trail – but our media watchdogs stay muzzled when...
    Buzz from the Beehive  Oh, dear.  We have nothing to report from the Beehive. At least, we have nothing to report from the government’s official website. But the drones have not gone silent.  They are out on the election campaign trail, busy buzzing about this and that in the hope ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Play it, Elvis
    Election Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t have time for. You’re welcome, etc. Let us press on, etc. 1.  What did Christopher Luxon use to his advantage in ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Pure class warfare
    National unveiled its fiscal policy today, announcing all the usual things which business cares about and I don't. But it did finally tell us how National plans to pay for its handouts to landlords: by effectively cutting benefits: The biggest saving announced on Friday was $2b cut from the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Ask Me Anything about the week to Sept 29
    Photo by Anna Ogiienko on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for an hour, including:duelling fiscal plans from National and Labour;Labour cutting cycling spending while accusing National of being weak on climate;Research showing the need for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 29-September-2023
    Welcome to Friday and the last one for September. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Matt highlighted at the latest with the City Rail Link. On Tuesday, Matt covered the interesting items from Auckland Transport’s latest board meeting agendas. On Thursday, a guest post from Darren Davis ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago

  • Protest at Parliament: The Reunion.
    Brian’s god spoke to him. He, for of course the Lord in Tamaki’s mind was a male god, with a mighty rod, and probably some black leathers. He, told Brian - “you must put a stop to all this love, hope, and kindness”. And it did please the Brian.He said ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Labour cuts $50m from cycleway spending
    Labour is cutting spending on cycling infrastructure while still trying to claim the higher ground on climate. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Labour Government released a climate manifesto this week to try to claim the high ground against National, despite having ignored the Climate Commission’s advice to toughen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • The Greater Of Two Evils.
    Not Labour: If you’re out to punish the government you once loved, then the last thing you need is to be shown evidence that the opposition parties are much, much worse.THE GREATEST VIRTUE of being the Opposition is not being the Government. Only very rarely is an opposition party elected ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #39 2023
    Open access notables "Net zero is only a distraction— we just have to end fossil fuel emissions." The latter is true but the former isn't, or  not in the real world as it's likely to be in the immediate future. And "just" just doesn't enter into it; we don't have ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Chris Trotter: Losing the Left
    IN THE CURRENT MIX of electoral alternatives, there is no longer a credible left-wing party. Not when “a credible left-wing party” is defined as: a class-oriented, mass-based, democratically-structured political organisation; dedicated to promoting ideas sharply critical of laissez-faire capitalism; and committed to advancing democratic, egalitarian and emancipatory ideals across the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Hipkins fires up in leaders’ debate, but has the curtain already fallen on the Labour-led coalitio...
    Labour’s  Chris Hipkins came out firing, in the  leaders’ debate  on Newshub’s evening programme, and most of  the pundits  rated  him the winner against National’s  Christopher Luxon. But will this make any difference when New  Zealanders  start casting their ballots? The problem  for  Hipkins is  that  voters are  all too ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago

  • Govt is energising housing projects with solar power – and fuelling the public’s concept of a di...
    Buzz from the Beehive  Not long after Point of Order published data which show the substantial number of New Zealanders (77%) who believe NZ is becoming more divided, government ministers were braying about a programme which distributes some money to “the public” and some to “Maori”. The ministers were dishing ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • MIKE GRIMSHAW: Election 2023 – a totemic & charisma failure?
    The D&W analysis Michael Grimshaw writes –  Given the apathy, disengagement, disillusionment, and all-round ennui of this year’s general election, it was considered time to bring in those noted political operatives and spin doctors D&W, the long-established consultancy firm run by Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Known for ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • FROM BFD: Will Winston be the spectre we think?
    Kissy kissy. Cartoon credit BoomSlang. The BFD. JC writes-  Allow me to preface this contribution with the following statement: If I were asked to express a preference between a National/ACT coalition or a National/ACT/NZF coalition then it would be the former. This week Luxon declared his position, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • California’s climate disclosure bill could have a huge impact across the U.S.
    This re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Andy Furillo was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The California Legislature took a step last week that has the potential to accelerate the fight against climate ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Untangling South East Queensland’s Public Transport
    This is a cross post Adventures in Transitland by Darren Davis. I recently visited Brisbane and South East Queensland and came away both impressed while also pondering some key changes to make public transport even better in the region. Here goes with my take on things. A bit of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    3 days ago

  • Try A Little Kindness.
    My daughter arrived home from the supermarket yesterday and she seemed a bit worried about something. It turned out she wanted to know if someone could get her bank number from a receipt.We wound the story back.She was in the store and there was a man there who was distressed, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • What makes NZFirst tick
    New Zealand’s longest-running political roadshow rolled into Opotiki yesterday, with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters knowing another poll last night showed he would make it back to Parliament and National would need him and his party if they wanted to form a government. The Newshub Reid Research poll ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • September AMA
    Hi,As September draws to a close — I feel it’s probably time to do an Ask Me Anything. You know how it goes: If you have any burning questions, fire away in the comments and I will do my best to answer. You might have questions about Webworm, or podcast ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago

  • Bludgers lying in the scratcher making fools of us all
    The mediocrity who stands to be a Prime Minister has a litany.He uses it a bit like a Koru Lounge card. He will brandish it to say: these people are eligible. And more than that, too: These people are deserving. They have earned this policy.They have a right to this policy. What ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • More “partnerships” (by the look of it) and redress of over $30 million in Treaty settlement wit...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point of Order has waited until now – 3.45pm – for today’s officially posted government announcements.  There have been none. The only addition to the news on the Beehive’s website was posted later yesterday, after we had published our September 26 Buzz report. It came from ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • ALEX HOLLAND: Labour’s spending
    Alex Holland writes –  In 2017 when Labour came to power, crown spending was $76 billion per year. Now in 2023 it is $139 billion per year, which equates to a $63 billion annual increase (over $1 billion extra spend every week!) In 2017, New Zealand’s government debt ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • If not now, then when?
    Labour released its fiscal plan today, promising the same old, same old: "responsibility", balanced books, and of course no new taxes: "Labour will maintain income tax settings to provide consistency and certainty in these volatile times. Now is not the time for additional taxes or to promise billions of ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • THE FACTS:  77% of Kiwis believe NZ is becoming more divided
    The Facts has posted –        KEY INSIGHTSOf New Zealander’s polled: Social unity/division 77%believe NZ is becoming more divided (42% ‘much more’ + 35% ‘a little more’) 3%believe NZ is becoming less divided (1% ‘much less’ + 2% ‘a little less’) ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the cynical brutality of the centre-right’s welfare policies
    The centre-right’s enthusiasm for forcing people off the benefit and into paid work is matched only by the enthusiasm (shared by Treasury and the Reserve Bank) for throwing people out of paid work to curb inflation, and achieve the optimal balance of workers to job seekers deemed to be desirable ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • Wednesday’s Chorus: Arthur Grimes on why building many, many more social houses is so critical
    New research shows that tenants in social housing - such as these Wellington apartments - are just as happy as home owners and much happier than private tenants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The election campaign took an ugly turn yesterday, and in completely the wrong direction. All three ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Old habits
    Media awareness about global warming and climate change has grown fairly steadily since 2004. My impression is that journalists today tend to possess a higher climate literacy than before. This increasing awareness and improved knowledge is encouraging, but there are also some common interpretations which could be more nuanced. ...
    Real ClimateBy rasmus
    4 days ago

  • Bennie Bashing.
    If there’s one thing the mob loves more than keeping Māori in their place, more than getting tough on the gangs, maybe even more than tax cuts. It’s a good old round of beneficiary bashing.Are those meanies in the ACT party stealing your votes because they think David Seymour is ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • The kindest cuts
    Labour kicks off the fiscal credibility battle today with the release of its fiscal plan. National is expected to follow, possibly as soon as Thursday, with its own plan, which may (or may not) address the large hole that the problems with its foreign buyers’ ban might open up. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • Green right turn in Britain? Well, a start
    While it may be unlikely to register in New Zealand’s general election, Britain’s PM Rishi Sunak has done something which might just be important in the long run. He’s announced a far-reaching change in his Conservative government’s approach to environmental, and particularly net zero, policy. The starting point – ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    5 days ago

  • At a glance – How do human CO2 emissions compare to natural CO2 emissions?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • How could this happen?
    Canada is in uproar after the exposure that its parliament on September 22 provided a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran who had been invited into the chamber to participate in the parliamentary welcome to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a Ukrainian man who volunteered for service in ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    5 days ago

  • Always Be Campaigning
    The big screen is a great place to lay out the ways of the salesman. He comes ready-made for Panto, ripe for lampooning.This is not to disparage that life. I have known many good people of that kind. But there is a type, brazen as all get out. The camera ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • STEPHEN FRANKS: Press seek to publicly shame doctor – we must push back
    The following is a message sent yesterday from lawyer Stephen Franks on behalf of the Free Speech Union. I don’t like to interrupt first thing Monday morning, but we’ve just become aware of a case where we think immediate and overwhelming attention could help turn the tide. It involves someone ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Competing on cruelty
    The right-wing message calendar is clearly reading "cruelty" today, because both National and NZ First have released beneficiary-bashing policies. National is promising a "traffic light" system to police and kick beneficiaries, which will no doubt be accompanied by arbitrary internal targets to classify people as "orange" or "red" to keep ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Further funding for Pharmac (forgotten in the Budget?) looks like a $1bn appeal from a PM in need of...
    Buzz from the Beehive One Labour plan  – for 3000 more public homes by 2025 – is the most recent to be posted on the government’s official website. Another – a prime ministerial promise of more funding for Pharmac – has been released as a Labour Party press statement. Who ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: The Vested interests shaping National Party policies
    As the National Party gets closer to government, lobbyists and business interests will be lining up for influence and to get policies adopted. It’s therefore in the public interest to have much more scrutiny and transparency about potential conflicts of interests that might arise. One of the key individuals of ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • Labour may be on way out of power and NZ First back in – but will Peters go into coalition with Na...
    Voters  are deserting Labour in droves, despite Chris  Hipkins’  valiant  rearguard  action.  So  where  are they  heading?  Clearly  not all of them are going to vote National, which concedes that  the  outcome  will be “close”. To the Right of National, the ACT party just a  few weeks  ago  was ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS: Will the racists please stand up?
    Accusations of racism by journalists and MPs are being called out. Graham Adams writes –    With the election less than three weeks away, what co-governance means in practice — including in water management, education, planning law and local government — remains largely obscure. Which is hardly ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on whether Winston Peters can be a moderating influence
    As the centre-right has (finally!) been subjected to media interrogation, the polls are indicating that some voters may be starting to have second thoughts about the wisdom of giving National and ACT the power to govern alone. That’s why yesterday’s Newshub/Reid Research poll had the National/ACT combo dropping to 60 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Tuesday’s Chorus: RBNZ set to rain on National's victory parade
    ANZ has increased its forecast for house inflation later this year on signs of growing momentum in the market ahead of the election. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: National has campaigned against the Labour Government’s record on inflation and mortgage rates, but there’s now a growing chance the Reserve ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • After a Pittsburgh coal processing plant closed, ER visits plummeted
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Katie Myers. This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Pittsburgh, in its founding, was blessed and cursed with two abundant natural resources: free-flowing rivers and a nearby coal seam. ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • September-23 AT Board Meeting
    Today the AT board meet again and once again I’ve taken a look at what’s on the agenda to find the most interesting items. Closed Agenda Interestingly when I first looked at the agendas this paper was there but at the time of writing this post it had been ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • Electorate Watch: West Coast-Tasman
    Continuing my series on interesting electorates, today it’s West Coast-Tasman.A long thin electorate running down the northern half of the west coast of the South Island. Think sand flies, beautiful landscapes, lots of rain, Pike River, alternative lifestylers, whitebaiting, and the spiritual home of the Labour Party. A brief word ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Big money brings Winston back
    National leader Christopher Luxon yesterday morning conceded it and last night’s Newshub poll confirmed it; Winston Peters and NZ First are not only back but highly likely to be part of the next government. It is a remarkable comeback for a party that was tossed out of Parliament in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • 20 days until Election Day, 7 until early voting begins… but what changes will we really see here?
    As this blogger, alongside many others, has already posited in another forum: we all know the National Party’s “budget” (meaning this concept of even adding up numbers properly is doing a lot of heavy, heavy lifting right now) is utter and complete bunk (read hung, drawn and quartered and ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    6 days ago

  • A night out
    Everyone was asking, Are you nervous? and my response was various forms of God, yes.I've written more speeches than I can count; not much surprises me when the speaker gets to their feet and the room goes quiet.But a play? Never.YOU CAME! THANK YOU! Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • A pallid shade of Green III
    Clearly Labour's focus groups are telling it that it needs to pay more attention to climate change - because hot on the heels of their weaksauce energy efficiency pilot programme and not-great-but-better-than-nothing solar grants, they've released a full climate manifesto. Unfortunately, the core policies in it - a second Emissions ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • A coalition of racism, cruelty, and chaos
    Today's big political news is that after months of wibbling, National's Chris Luxon has finally confirmed that he is willing to work with Winston Peters to become Prime Minister. Which is expected, but I guess it tells us something about which way the polls are going. Which raises the question: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • More migrant workers should help generate the tax income needed to provide benefits for job seekers
    Buzz from the Beehive Under something described as a “rebalance” of its immigration rules, the Government has adopted four of five recommendations made in an independent review released in July, The fifth, which called on the government to specify criteria for out-of-hours compliance visits similar to those used during ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Letter To Luxon.
    Some of you might know Gerard Otto (G), and his G News platform. This morning he wrote a letter to Christopher Luxon which I particularly enjoyed, and with his agreement I’m sharing it with you in this guest newsletter.If you’d like to make a contribution to support Gerard’s work you ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Alarming trend in benefit numbers
    Lindsay Mitchell writes –  While there will not be another quarterly release of benefit numbers prior to the election, limited weekly reporting continues and is showing an alarming trend. Because there is a seasonal component to benefit number fluctuations it is crucial to compare like with like. In ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON: Has there been external structural change?
    A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase.   Brian Easton writes –  Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU 2023) was ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • CRL Progress – Sep-23
    It’s been a while since we looked at the latest with the City Rail Link and there’s been some fantastic milestones recently. To start with, and most recently, CRL have released an awesome video showing a full fly-through of one of the tunnels. Come fly with us! You asked for ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • Monday’s Chorus: Not building nearly enough
    We are heading into another period of fast population growth without matching increased home building or infrastructure investment.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Labour and National detailed their house building and migration approaches over the weekend, with both pledging fast population growth policies without enough house building or infrastructure investment ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Game on; Hipkins comes out punching
    Labour leader Chris Hipkins yesterday took the gloves off and laid into National and its leader Christopher Luxon. For many in Labour – and particularly for some at the top of the caucus and the party — it would not have been a moment too soon. POLITIK is aware ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Tax Cut Austerity Blues.
    The leaders have had their go, they’ve told us the “what?” and the “why?” of their promises. Now it’s the turn of the would be Finance Ministers to tell us the “how?”, the “how much?”, and the “when?”A chance for those competing for the second most powerful job in the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • MIKE GRIMSHAW:  It’s the economy – and the spirit – Stupid…
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Over the past 30-odd years it’s become almost an orthodoxy to blame or invoke neoliberalism for the failures of New Zealand society. On the left the usual response goes something like, neoliberalism is the cause of everything that’s gone wrong and the answer ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago

  • Safeguarding Tuvalu language and identity
    Tuvalu is in the spotlight this week as communities across New Zealand celebrate Vaiaso o te Gagana Tuvalu – Tuvalu Language Week. “The Government has a proven record of supporting Pacific communities and ensuring more of our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated,” Pacific Peoples Minister Barbara Edmonds said. “Many ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago

  • New community-level energy projects to support more than 800 Māori households
    Seven more innovative community-scale energy projects will receive government funding through the Māori and Public Housing Renewable Energy Fund to bring more affordable, locally generated clean energy to more than 800 Māori households, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. “We’ve already funded 42 small-scale clean energy projects that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Huge boost to Te Tai Tokerau flood resilience
    The Government has approved new funding that will boost resilience and greatly reduce the risk of major flood damage across Te Tai Tokerau. Significant weather events this year caused severe flooding and damage across the region. The $8.9m will be used to provide some of the smaller communities and maraes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Napier’s largest public housing development comes with solar
    The largest public housing development in Napier for many years has been recently completed and has the added benefit of innovative solar technology, thanks to Government programmes, says Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods. The 24 warm, dry homes are in Seddon Crescent, Marewa and Megan Woods says the whanau living ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Te Whānau a Apanui and the Crown initial Deed of Settlement I Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me...
    Māori: Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna te Whakaaetanga Whakataunga Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna i tētahi Whakaaetanga Whakataunga hei whakamihi i ō rātou tāhuhu kerēme Tiriti o Waitangi. E tekau mā rua ngā hapū o roto mai o Te Whānau ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Plan for 3,000 more public homes by 2025 – regions set to benefit
    Regions around the country will get significant boosts of public housing in the next two years, as outlined in the latest public housing plan update, released by the Housing Minister, Dr Megan Woods. “We’re delivering the most public homes each year since the Nash government of the 1950s with one ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Immigration settings updates
    Judicial warrant process for out-of-hours compliance visits 2023/24 Recognised Seasonal Employer cap increased by 500 Additional roles for Construction and Infrastructure Sector Agreement More roles added to Green List Three-month extension for onshore Recovery Visa holders The Government has confirmed a number of updates to immigration settings as part of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Poroporoaki: Tā Patrick (Patu) Wahanga Hohepa
    Tangi ngunguru ana ngā tai ki te wahapū o Hokianga Whakapau Karakia. Tārehu ana ngā pae maunga ki Te Puna o te Ao Marama. Korihi tangi ana ngā manu, kua hinga he kauri nui ki te Wao Nui o Tāne. He Toa. He Pou. He Ahorangi. E papaki tū ana ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Renewable energy fund to support community resilience
    40 solar energy systems on community buildings in regions affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events Virtual capability-building hub to support community organisations get projects off the ground Boost for community-level renewable energy projects across the country At least 40 community buildings used to support the emergency response ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • COVID-19 funding returned to Government
    The lifting of COVID-19 isolation and mask mandates in August has resulted in a return of almost $50m in savings and recovered contingencies, Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Following the revocation of mandates and isolation, specialised COVID-19 telehealth and alternative isolation accommodation are among the operational elements ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Appointment of District Court Judge
    Susie Houghton of Auckland has been appointed as a new District Court Judge, to serve on the Family Court, Attorney-General David Parker said today.  Judge Houghton has acted as a lawyer for child for more than 20 years. She has acted on matters relating to the Hague Convention, an international ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Government invests further in Central Hawke’s Bay resilience
    The Government has today confirmed $2.5 million to fund a replace and upgrade a stopbank to protect the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant. “As a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, the original stopbank protecting the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant was destroyed. The plant was operational within 6 weeks of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Govt boost for Hawke’s Bay cyclone waste clean-up
    Another $2.1 million to boost capacity to deal with waste left in Cyclone Gabrielle’s wake. Funds for Hastings District Council, Phoenix Contracting and Hog Fuel NZ to increase local waste-processing infrastructure. The Government is beefing up Hawke’s Bay’s Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up capacity with more support dealing with the massive amount ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Taupō Supercars revs up with Government support
    The future of Supercars events in New Zealand has been secured with new Government support. The Government is getting engines started through the Major Events Fund, a special fund to support high profile events in New Zealand that provide long-term economic, social and cultural benefits. “The Repco Supercars Championship is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • There is no recession in NZ, economy grows nearly 1 percent in June quarter
    The economy has turned a corner with confirmation today New Zealand never was in recession and stronger than expected growth in the June quarter, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. “The New Zealand economy is doing better than expected,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s continuing to grow, with the latest figures showing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Highest legal protection for New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs
    The Government has accepted the Environment Court’s recommendation to give special legal protection to New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs, Te Waikoropupū Springs (also known as Pupū Springs), Environment Minister David Parker announced today.   “Te Waikoropupū Springs, near Takaka in Golden Bay, have the second clearest water in New Zealand after ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • More support for victims of migrant exploitation
    Temporary package of funding for accommodation and essential living support for victims of migrant exploitation Exploited migrant workers able to apply for a further Migrant Exploitation Protection Visa (MEPV), giving people more time to find a job Free job search assistance to get people back into work Use of 90-day ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Strong export boost as NZ economy turns corner
    An export boost is supporting New Zealand’s economy to grow, adding to signs that the economy has turned a corner and is on a stronger footing as we rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle and lock in the benefits of multiple new trade deals, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “The economy is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Funding approved for flood resilience work in Te Karaka
    The Government has approved $15 million to raise about 200 homes at risk of future flooding. More than half of this is expected to be spent in the Tairāwhiti settlement of Te Karaka, lifting about 100 homes there. “Te Karaka was badly hit during Cyclone Gabrielle when the Waipāoa River ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Further business support for cyclone-affected regions
    The Government is helping businesses recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and attract more people back into their regions. “Cyclone Gabrielle has caused considerable damage across North Island regions with impacts continuing to be felt by businesses and communities,” Economic Development Minister Barbara Edmonds said. “Building on our earlier business support, this ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • New maintenance facility at Burnham Military Camp underway
    Defence Minister Andrew Little has turned the first sod to start construction of a new Maintenance Support Facility (MSF) at Burnham Military Camp today. “This new state-of-art facility replaces Second World War-era buildings and will enable our Defence Force to better maintain and repair equipment,” Andrew Little said. “This Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Foreign Minister to attend United Nations General Assembly
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will represent New Zealand at the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week, before visiting Washington DC for further Pacific focussed meetings. Nanaia Mahuta will be in New York from Wednesday 20 September, and will participate in UNGA leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Midwives’ pay equity offer reached
    Around 1,700 Te Whatu Ora employed midwives and maternity care assistants will soon vote on a proposed pay equity settlement agreed by Te Whatu Ora, the Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service (MERAS) and New Zealand Nurses Association (NZNO), Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. “Addressing historical pay ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • New Zealand provides support to Morocco
    Aotearoa New Zealand will provide humanitarian support to those affected by last week’s earthquake in Morocco, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “We are making a contribution of $1 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help meet humanitarian needs,” Nanaia Mahuta said. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Government invests in West Coast’s roading resilience
    The Government is investing over $22 million across 18 projects to improve the resilience of roads in the West Coast that have been affected by recent extreme weather, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today.  A dedicated Transport Resilience Fund has been established for early preventative works to protect the state ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Government invests in Greymouth’s future
    The Government has today confirmed a $2 million grant towards the regeneration of Greymouth’s CBD with construction of a new two-level commercial and public facility. “It will include a visitor facility centred around a new library. Additionally, it will include retail outlets on the ground floor, and both outdoor and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

  • Nanaia Mahuta to attend PIF Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will attend the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in Suva, Fiji alongside New Zealand’s regional counterparts. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply committed to working with our pacific whanau to strengthen our cooperation, and share ways to combat the challenges facing the Blue Pacific Continent,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

  • PREFU shows no recession, growing economy, more jobs and wages ahead of inflation
    Economy to grow 2.6 percent on average over forecast period Treasury not forecasting a recession Inflation to return to the 1-3 percent target band next year Wages set to grow 4.8 percent a year over forecast period Unemployment to peak below the long-term average Fiscal Rules met - Net debt ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

  • New cancer centre opens in Christchurch
    Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall proudly opened the Canterbury Cancer Centre in Christchurch today. The new facility is the first of its kind and was built with $6.5 million of funding from the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group scheme for shovel-ready projects allocated in 2020. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2023-10-01T02:08:51+00:00