Take responsibility or take the blame

11 comments on “Take responsibility or take the blame ”

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1. Daveski 1

   27 March 2009 at 12:11 pm

   This is a confused post. National is not to blame but they are to blame? We need to be more like the US?

   There has been a consistent failure here to acknowledge that the problems NZ faces are not the same as the US, UK or Europe yet you demand we do the same as them.

   “Ambitious Green New Deals”? Nice ring to it but the reality is that the US in particular is a basket case and the short term strategies they have been forced into will hound them for years to come.

   Undoubtedly, NZ as a trading nation will be affected by the world-wide recession. It’s unfair to blame any political party for that. We can’t prevent that. But we can ensure that we are better placed to recover and rebuild and improve our economic performance in the long term.
   • Tigger 1.1

     27 March 2009 at 12:33 pm

     I didn’t take the post to read that we should do the same as overseas – but we should do something. And at the moment ‘something’ isn’t happening. We have a lot of distractions and no actual concrete action beyond lurching us to the right, stripping away workers’ rights and jettisoning sensible transport initiatives to line the pockets of ex-Nat MPs.

     And no one can argue that NACT are behind a huge number of the job losses in this country. They’re meant to be creating jobs, so why are they so determined to make people redundant (which costs of course, any redundancy payment ain’t gonna make government departments’ budget balance look blacker this year).

     So I’m with Eddie, step up government. For all their words I still feel this lot haven’t actually taken responsibility.
2. fraser 2

   27 March 2009 at 12:21 pm

   “We can’t prevent that. But we can ensure that we are better placed to recover and rebuild and improve our economic performance in the long term.”

   absolutely

   “all Key has produced is a watered-down version of the unions’ 9-day fortnight idea and back of a napkin plans for a cycleway that is neither a necessary nor a sufficient response to the worst economic crisis in a lifetime.”

   im guessing that the point being made is that keys response doesnt cut it.

   Doesnt have to be the same response as other countries because as you point out, our situation isnt the same, but a nine day fortnight that only 2 (?) companies have signed up for and a cycleway budgeted on the back of a napkin falls somewhat short in my book.

   National won the election – its now their job to do something (or not do, but be honest about it) about the current NZ economic situation – IMHO no-one is blaming them for the situation, its all about the response or lack thereof
3. Pascal's bookie 3

   27 March 2009 at 12:28 pm

   Eddie’s post is confused?
4. Ianmac 4

   27 March 2009 at 1:38 pm

   I have it on good authority, that Baldrick has a “cunning plan”! He has offered it to John Key, (which is very generous of him) because poor old John doesn’t have one. Cheers for Baldrick.
5. Peter Johns - bigoted troll in jerkoff mode 5

   27 March 2009 at 2:00 pm

   New Green Deal – what a croc of shit. Even Nasa’s data from GISSTEMP has showed 0 (zero) warming in the past 8 years. This is overseen by James Hansen, Obama’s & Al ‘fat’ Gore’s buddy.

   Don’t shoot the messenger, but this is a fact. Do the maths yourself if you wish, http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts.txt

   NGD will increase price for electricity & cap & trade will overtax the USA to oblivion.
6. Observer 6

   27 March 2009 at 2:02 pm

   A cunning stunt, that shows the world we are indeed the new leaders of the financially responsible world, is what is needed. As our businesses clean up their balance sheets (thank Gaia, I can get rid of all that out-of-date and old-technology stock now,) and reduce their labour force, (that has grown beyond true need as they have had to add people to do the work of people they can’t afford to get rid of because of the ERA,) and blame it all on the recession, our leaders can develop nice little strategies that will create new niches for future economic growth.

   IN the mean time, we are spending 10% more than we are earning – still – and that number can only go up as our imports get more expensive as our dollar’s value goes down. So on to a cunning stunt!

   How about we convert to a simple one-level persona and business income tax bracket of 10%, and set our OCR also at 10%.
   – mortgages will go up, but enough earned income will be retained to make the difference bearable.
   – term deposit rates will provide a reasonable return for pensioners with savings, causing them to move their money to the banks and so providing enough available cash to fund growth lending
   – interest in foreign investment will go up, and so there will be opportunities for employment growth through expansion into mainstream on-line services that can be sold world-wide
   finally
   – the cost of government will go down, as it will take far fewer public servants to worry about which of us have used tax evasion instead of avoidance, as well as calculate the tax liabilities of Government Owned Enterprises and SOEs.

   Of course,
   – there will be less work for tax lawyers and accountants here in New Zealand, but no doubt the influx of foreign investment will result in their being able to work overseas and remit vast amounts to help balance our current account.
   – several millions of people will want to immigrate here to take advantage of our wonderful economic climate, and as long as they agree, in writing, not to claim benefits or live anywhere other than the South Island for at least 10 years, that won’t be a problem.

   There’s one cunning stunt, any one else thought of any yet?
   • BLiP 6.1

     27 March 2009 at 2:26 pm

     Take one spoonerism, apply liberally to your cunning stunt and that would about sum up the whom ever came up with that suggestion.
7. randal 7

   27 March 2009 at 2:04 pm

   this lot of shifty eyed apparatchiks are only any good when they are quote “going forward”
   when it comes down to actually being responsible and governing for the benefit of all they haven’t got a clue
   they though they were going to get an easy run at the state assets but they are going to have to work for everything now
8. John Dalley 8

   27 March 2009 at 7:32 pm

   The size of my Pea-brain is only this big!
9. Irascible 9

   27 March 2009 at 10:31 pm

   The Guardian has got its analysis of the neo-liberal policies of the Douglas – Key government just right.
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/26/anticapitalism-protest-recession-g20

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