Teetering on the brink

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, July 23rd, 2011 - 84 comments
Categories: capitalism, economy, International, us politics - Tags: , ,

The global economy has never really recovered from the recession. Over the last couple of months two potential crises have been unfolding in two very different countries. Both of them looked to be in danger of defaulting on their huge debts and triggering a cascade of disastrous consequences (like those that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008).

The first of these, of course, was Greece. There have been months of negotiations, austerity measures, demonstrations, predictions of the death of the Euro, and confusion. In the end, Europe decided that the Greek debt was “too big to fail” (yet), and the bailout that most expected was agreed. In fact, Europe is trying to think beyond the immediate crisis:

Bailed out – again. Eurozone throws Greece €109bn lifeline

Bailout fund turned into much more ambitious instrument in deal hatched following months of dithering

European leaders have sealed a new €109bn bailout for Greece and erected defences against the debt crisis spreading to Italy and Spain by turning the eurozone’s 15-month-old bailout fund into a much more ambitious instrument resembling an infant European monetary fund.

Whether this contains the European situation remains to be seen of course. But Greece is by no means out of the woods yet:

The deal, hatched at an emergency summit in Brussels of eurozone leaders, following months of dithering and division, also entailed large losses for Athens’ private creditors, making it almost certain that Greece would become the first eurozone country to be deemed to be in some form of default on its sovereign debt.

The second country facing a debt default crisis is America. America established a theoretical “debt ceiling” in 1941, and has been steadily raising it ever since (it currently stands at $14.294 trillion). Republicans seem determined to block the current ritual ceiling rise, which would cause America to default on its debts, almost certainly destroying whatever confidence is left in the dollar and its role as the world’s reserve currency. After several weeks of brinksmanship and frustration, Obama appears to have been forced into a bold but risky gamble:

President’s debt offer: risky but could be win-win

It’s hard to know which is more surprising: a Democratic president pushing historic cuts in spending, including Social Security and Medicare. Or a Republican-controlled House refusing to accept the deal and declare a huge victory for long-sought GOP goals.

Political orthodoxy has been turned on its head ever since President Barack Obama stepped up his call for a bipartisan “grand bargain” to raise the national debt ceiling and avert a default on U.S. obligations. The deal would include $4 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years, mainly through steep spending cuts but also including up to $1 trillion in new federal revenue. …

Some pundits and political insiders say Republicans should leap at the offer. But there’s a hitch: The new revenue — mainly from overhauling the tax code and lowering rates by eliminating or limiting a broad swath of loopholes, deductions and tax breaks — presumably would violate a no-net-tax-hike pledge that scores of Republican lawmakers have signed.

Mostly for that reason, House Republicans so far have rejected Obama’s overture, despite the interest shown by Speaker John Boehner. Some pro-Republican analysts seem bewildered.

… If Congress approves a version of the “grand bargain,” Obama can run next year as a president who began taming the runaway deficit, extracted concessions on higher taxes from Republicans and put Medicare and Social Security on a possible path toward greater stability. If congressional Republicans block the plan — and especially if the Aug. 2 debt ceiling deadline is missed — Obama might persuasively argue that he tried his best to strike a compromise, at some political risk to himself.

A high stakes game of chicken indeed!

Europe has acted to contain the Greek situation, but for how long? Will Republicans accept Obama’s (possibly poisoned) chalice, or will they really drive America over the edge and in to turmoil just to spite him? Even if we dodge both bullets this time the underlying problems are still there, and they’ll be back. And then what about the next crisis, and the next one, and the next? It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the world’s economy is teetering on the brink of a precipice.

84 comments on “Teetering on the brink ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. tc 1
    23 July 2011 at 9:17 am

    Get a piece of fertile godzone to help sustain your intake people, you’re going to need it.

  2. Colonial Viper 2
    23 July 2011 at 9:30 am

    It’s hard to know which is more surprising: a Democratic president pushing historic cuts in spending, including Social Security and Medicare. Or a Republican-controlled House refusing to accept the deal and declare a huge victory

    Are we all clear yet that the Land of the Free and the Brave has now had for a long time a choice of The Bankers Party, and The Other Bankers Party?

    This is what the leading kleptocracy of the world has become.

    • mel 2.1
      23 July 2011 at 3:19 pm

      You are exactly right!!!! The lack of regulation, as well as lack of any moral ethics, in the banking industry in the US has brought the world into this extended financial crisis. The bankers are responsible for the crisis NOT the public, yet around the world we see the public being asked to pay the price in terms of ‘austerity measures’.

      It is similar in NZ, where most debt is private debt, yet the National party are proposing to reduce this debt with a fire sale of NZ assets, at the expense of nearly $1 billion dollars in revenue each year. Does the National party really expect that NZers will be buying assets they already own. Within 5-6 years we would be back where we started without the benefit of the revenue, and probable loss of further NZ jobs.

      Asset sales are a scam perpetrated on the public of NZ, just as they are being forced on people in countries around the world.

  3. mikesh 3
    23 July 2011 at 10:22 am

    Bring back the greenbacks.

  4. Nick K 4
    23 July 2011 at 10:29 am

    It wasn’t too long ago that the economic writer on this blog (who has now disappeared) was praising the USA for its textbook quantative easing Keynesian response to the economic crisis; and how Key didn’t spend as much so we were facing oblivion.

    On that analysis all Obama has to do now is to spend more. That’s bound to work, aye.

    • mik e 4.1
      23 July 2011 at 10:54 am

      IF inflation is low and the Ponzi scheming banks shut up shop it is an option but if inflation is growing the best options are to reduce spending increase taxes increase savings increase spending on r&d innovation spread wealth.If the US hadn,t done some quantitve easing the NZ economy would be stuffed because the ponzi banks had shut up shop so borrowing Bill English would have no where to borrow his $16Bilion a year for the next four years . I,m surprised at the economic illiteracy of the right bloggers ,maybe not because their leaders seam to have the same problem.

    • Eddie 4.2
      23 July 2011 at 12:18 pm

      Actually, Obama’s response was textbook and it worked. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that Obama’s economic polices haven’t worked as well as could be hoped. The US economy has actually been growing.

      What we have a is political crisis around a politically-created artifice, the debt ceiling. The republicans are hoping to force such savage spending cuts that US economic growth will be undermined ahead of the 2012 elections.

  5. Todd 5
    23 July 2011 at 10:56 am

    Greece,Spain,Italy Ireland,Portugal, the IMF thinks it can throw money at these counties to fix the problem.It will never work to simply ignore these problems without fixing the causes will lead to long term stagnation and woe.Then we have the USA,what a joke Obama is,his policy of high inflation will ring throughout the world for years to come.My pick buy gold,look for it reaching $5000 an ounce over the next 1-2 years.

    • ghostwhowalksnz 5.1
      23 July 2011 at 11:48 am

      No one is ‘throwing money’ at these countries.

      They are merely being given loans which they pay back with interest. Do you perhaps not understand the word LOAN

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1
        23 July 2011 at 3:43 pm

        Further the loans are not designed to fix shit, they are designed to buy enough time for international financiers and bankers to position themselves to either

        a) make enough money raping and pillaging sovereign assets which will be sold off at cents on the dollar

        b) clear the resulting financial blast zone, leaving tax payers in other states carrying the tab

        c) all of the above

        Todd is a complete ignorant idiot but even he got this right

        My pick buy gold,look for it reaching $5000 an ounce over the next 1-2 years.

        (although it might take 3-4 years to get to that price)

    • Zaphod Beeblebrox 5.2
      23 July 2011 at 3:34 pm

      Has the U.S. had high inflation? Even with record low Interest Rates and rising oil prices it has stayed pretty modest.

      • Rusty Shackleford 5.2.1
        23 July 2011 at 3:49 pm

        A 99% decline in the value of the dollar over the last 90 years seems like pretty high inflation to me.

  6. Afewknowthetruth 6
    23 July 2011 at 10:58 am

    If it is widely reported by the mainstream media you know it is a sideshow and the real action is elsewhere.

    We are not witnessing a recession: we are witnessing the end of a corrupt and lethal system which has been running for four centuries and has almost run out of the capacity to create money out of thin air and has almost run out of things to loot. The times we are in are otherwise known as the never-ending depression, the great turning, the long emergency, post peak everything etc.

    The predicament we are in is due to

    1. over-population
    2. over-consumption
    3. fractional reserve banking, leveraging and debt

    If we ask the criminals who are in control (politicians, money-lenders and corporations) what the solution to the predicament is, they say it is population growth, increased consumption and more debt.

    They also say that 1+1 = 3

    • RedLogix 6.1
      23 July 2011 at 11:10 am

      Yes I have to agree.. it never an accident that the money-changers had set up shop in the courtyard of the temple of the priests. They always were acting in collusion to control us.

      In simple terms the world has never been richer. We are at the peak of an oil driven explosion in technology that has created immense wealth… yet virtually all of this new wealth has been captured by a tiny elite of game players in the finance world. (I’m reluctant to call them ‘bankers’… in the ordinary run of affairs bankers do have useful, albeit modest, role to play in running the exchange of credit needed for the everyday economy.) The rest of us have gained little, or gone backwards, over the last 30 years.

      They make the plays in the grand game, they look to screw every possible gain for themselves … yet when they fail they always find a way to push the losses onto us ordinary people. Truly they have become a parasite bloated beyond all reason and tolerance.

      • dave brown 6.1.1
        23 July 2011 at 12:07 pm

        Well Capitalism will not fall down by itself. As we see countries will be bailed out so long as they have governments that will mortgage future generations of workers to pay back the debt plus compounding interest. And so long as workers let them get away with murder.

        The real problem is that capitalism is no longer a progressive force for change but a destructive force. It was progressive so long as it destroyed feudalism and other tributary modes of production and gave us the industrial revolution. But since start of the 20th century, capitalism has become a top heavy, destructive juggernaut that grinds the masses under it wheels. It survives only by wars and counter-revolutions that smash the masses rebelling against its rule. Its productive capacity is on a long decline punctuated by depressions and wars that only kick start upturns by the sheer destruction of physical and social capital.

        The current so-called ‘great recession’ is a deep cyclic recession among a series of such cycles since the end of the post-war boom, itself no more than a long-upturn brought about by the destruction of physical and social capital by the Great Depression and WW2. If there is another cyclic upturn following this recession it will be weak and rapidly swing downwards again. The reason for this is not overpopulation, underconsumption, or the bubble banking system, which are no more than surface symptoms of capitalism in terminal decline.

        The underlying cause of capitalist crisis is that it can no longer as a global system extract sufficient surplus from human labour power to produce profits on the total capital accumulated. Since profit is the driving force of capitalist production the motivation to invest stops. Keynes’ ‘solution’ to prime the pump by paying workers to consume to leads to stagflation that only delays the decision as to when bosses stop investing. That is why the only real productive growth is now in East Asia and the other BRICS where the conditions of early capitalism, low wages, and technical innovation allows labour to be exploited profitably for the moment. And yet even this productive burst will lead to stagflation which will produce a real test of state capitalist systems to survive.

        In the rest of the world where capitalism has been long established, despite falling wages and new technology, productivity is lagging. Hence, surplus capital that is not shipped off to China etc, must be diverted into speculation in existing commodities. This is a ponzi scheme to try to delay the inevitable devaluation of money that is not invested productively. No new value is added to these commodities, and their rising prices represent ‘fictitious’ value or capital. Hence when these fictional bubbles burst, the accumulated surplus money is devalued massively. It is a consequence not cause of the current crisis.

        The only thing keeping capitalism alive at the moment is the capacity of the ruling capitalist classes to use THEIR state to syphon the wages and taxes of workers to pay for the bad debts run up by speculation. Bailing out private capital debt, turning it into sovereign debt, shifts the burden of repaying the debt onto the working class its total effects now referred to as ‘austerity’. But this trick of making the working class pay for the huge costs of capital;s survival is reaching its limit. The contradiction of workers both producing the wealth, and then propping up a system that destroys it, has dawned when ‘austerity’ drives the masses of workers into poverty and misery. The ability of capitalism to mask this ‘destruction’ of society and nature as as ‘natural’ and ‘necessary’ no longer works. Capitalism is losing its clothes. The unions and social democratic parties that have long kept the lid on workers struggles are as bankrupt as capitalism. Spanish and Greek workers have lost their faith in this political class. The corrupt power of the system of bosses, bankers, media barons and the armies of bureaucrats who keep the lid on popular discontent is being blown apart.

        But as the melodrama of Murdoch in the dock shows, the bosses still have a lot of power to spray bullshit over the most damaging revelations. Capitalism will stagger from one crisis to the next so long as we let it. Capitalism won’t die until we bury it alive and drive a stake through its heart. We will see bigger rebellions, general strikes, and working class struggles against fascist movements to keep capitalism alive in the next years. For workers to win they have to pull off the scales that capitalism places over their eyes and open their eyes to the nature of the enemy so as to be able to defeat it. That is why the Marxist critique of Capital is as essential today is it was when it was first written some 150 years ago.

        • uke 6.1.1.1
          23 July 2011 at 12:41 pm

          “The real problem is that capitalism is no longer a progressive force for change but a destructive force. It was progressive so long as it destroyed feudalism and other tributary modes of production and gave us the industrial revolution.”
           
          I can’t agree that the industrial revolution as the outcome a wholly “progressive” force. Surely it has also been destructive of the biosphere, of the self-sufficiency for ordinary people, of older technologies (which we are only now rediscovering to be more efficient and sustainable than the new)?

          • dave brown 6.1.1.1.1
            24 July 2011 at 10:36 am

            The industrial revolution was progressive in leaping out of small scale rural based craft production into mass factory based production. Its destructive impact in the 20th century is down to capitalist control of production where everything is subbed to profit. Is only in that period that industry has run amok in destroying the biosphere (also that of the Stalinist regime that has nothing to do with Marxism or communism, just as the current Chinese state is nothing to do with socialism). So its not industry that has to be sacrificed by returning to earlier technology that uses up more labour time, but who controls industry. Workers control can harness the latest technology with sustainable economics. Society and nature back into harmony.

        • Afewknowthetruth 6.1.1.2
          23 July 2011 at 12:47 pm

          You are not taking into account energy. Without energy nothing happenes. That is why there will never be a recovery. The peak in per capita energy was around 1979, and we are into declining net gobal eenrgy.

          The only recovery we might witness night be a recovery FROM the system, not a recovery OF the system. That very much depends on whether the system has already pushed the global environment beyong the point of no return; much evidence indicates it has.

          An economic system predicated on the use of oil must implode if the oil supply is declining: simple mathematics, simple logic. We are progressing towards a ‘game over’ scenario, but it will not be reached overnight. Most informed analysts suggest the collapse will take place over the next decade.

      • Reality Bytes 6.1.2
        23 July 2011 at 10:03 pm

        “..In simple terms the world has never been richer…”

        ^this.

        All this talk of recession etc is utter bullshit generated from our flawed monetary systems.

        The reality is as a species we now have immense technological capabilities and learnings that we should now be leveraging for immense benefit of all mankind. But the primary focus seems to be on statistics and benchmarks relating to this economic experiment.

        We have the capability to be living in utopia, yet we lack the leadership/vision/inertia to implement it, because it’s all about silly economic benchmarks and ‘consumerism growth above all else’, not practical real outcomes. That’s what sucks with mankind’s general direction these days.

  7. Lanthanide 7
    23 July 2011 at 11:25 am

    America won’t default on 2nd of August.

    If worst comes to worst, Obama can invoke the 14th amendment to the constitution that can be interpreted to say that the debt limit is unconstitutional. This would almost certainly end up at the supreme court in a Bush election style case. On one hand the country defaults, and on the other they don’t – guess which way the judges will vote (imagine being remembered as the incompetent judge that bankrupted the country?).

    • ghostwhowalksnz 7.1
      23 July 2011 at 11:52 am

      He has ruled this option out.
      Your use of the word default is misleading, as there is no suggestion of not being able to ‘pay’ the creditors.
      Its like if you were told you had reached your credit card limit , doesnt mean you have defaulted on your house loan.

      The debt limit ceiling affects spending so is most likely for a short period to hit those working for the US government

      • Colonial Viper 7.1.1
        23 July 2011 at 12:05 pm

        as there is no suggestion of not being able to ‘pay’ the creditors.

        not meeting your obligations is a default. True the US can choose who NOT to pay (it might be a pensioner, a soldier or a Chinese bank) or it might choose to continue stealing funds to allow it to pay (e.g. raiding [‘temporarily utilising the funds of’ lol] public service retirement accounts, which it has been doing) but it all still looks like a default to me.

        Even the EU ‘selective default option’ for a ‘few days’ designed not to trigger CDS payouts…I mean, who is that fooling, really.

        One of the most interesting parts of this is…will the US lose its AAA credit rating.

      • Lanthanide 7.1.2
        23 July 2011 at 1:26 pm

        “He has ruled this option out.”

        Doesn’t mean he won’t do it if forced.

        It’s all pretty stupid anyway though, because if it actually gets to that point without a sensible agreement being made, damage will already have been done.

  8. Peter Bains 8
    23 July 2011 at 12:25 pm

    No pint having your own land, subscribers to this site will nationalise it all and make you share your own grown veges and fruit, GST free of course.

    • Colonial Viper 8.1
      23 July 2011 at 12:50 pm

      its been done before in NZ and it could be done again. So?

      • Rusty Shackleford 8.1.1
        23 July 2011 at 3:46 pm

        What is the point of improving your land if it can be taken away.

        • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.1
          23 July 2011 at 3:46 pm

          What’s the point of improving your life if it too can end?

        • Draco T Bastard 8.1.1.2
          23 July 2011 at 3:57 pm

          It’s not your land. It cannot be removed from the commons as what you do on it will affect everybody else.

          • Rusty Shackleford 8.1.1.2.1
            23 July 2011 at 4:07 pm

            That’s a nice platitude. But in reality, where you have lack of property rights you have poverty.

            • Colonial Viper 8.1.1.2.1.1
              23 July 2011 at 4:07 pm

              Sorry mate that’s a platitude right there

              The success of NZ’s modern agriculture industry, and in fact every farmer today, owes their livelihood to the land confiscations and title breakups of the 1890’s.

            • Draco T Bastard 8.1.1.2.1.2
              23 July 2011 at 4:15 pm

              Dictators can be identified by their cry of Property Rights.

              If you were so protective of peoples rights you’d be supportive of people not being affected by others actions without their say so. In fact, didn’t you link to a libertarian article that classed a persons body as his property?

              • Rusty Shackleford …
                23 July 2011 at 4:28 pm

                Probably. I don’t recall, but absolutely a person has full and singular ownership of hos body. Libertarians are extremely concerned with the effect actions have on others. Positing that pollution is mostly a function of poorly defined property right (as an example).

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  23 July 2011 at 5:18 pm

                  And yet you still can’t see that the effects of pollution, which disperse through the land no matter what affecting everybody else, makes it so that land cannot be owned by an individual?

                  • Rusty Shackleford …
                    23 July 2011 at 5:38 pm

                    “And yet you still can’t see that the effects of pollution, which disperse through the land no matter what affecting everybody else,…”
                    What does this even mean?

                    “…makes it so that land cannot be owned by an individual?”
                    Therefore this.

                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      23 July 2011 at 6:09 pm

                      Rusty, either DTB’s point is dumb or you are. Don’t be so quick to put your life on the line on that distinction is my suggestion.

                    • Rusty Shackleford …
                      23 July 2011 at 6:17 pm

                      Feel free to clarify his point, if you want. I feel safe in admitting I had trouble gleaning what the central thesis of his statement was. Something about pollution therefore private property ownership is bad. I wouldn’t like to read anymore into it than that.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      23 July 2011 at 6:26 pm

                      The point did not seem to focus on pollution, it seemed to focus on pollution adversely affecting the commons and impacting on others.

                      Externalities, in other words.

                    • Draco T Bastard …
                      23 July 2011 at 9:35 pm

                      If something you do has an effect upon everyone else then you have no right to do it unless you get permission. Land is one of those things where what you do to it will filter out to everyone else and so you would need to get permission before you did anything with it. This effectively precludes ownership as ownership gives exclusive rights over that owned object and, as we see, rights over land cannot be exclusive.

                      All land should be shifted to a leasehold with the ownership held by the local community.

            • mik e 8.1.1.2.1.3
              24 July 2011 at 10:05 pm

              Tell Maori that,Someone on the right has finally figured it out,it only took 150 years. Maori were supposed to have the rights of British citizens but they had their land removed from their ownership by shonkey land traders and brute force while they didn,t understand the meaning of of the European model of ownership and look whats happened as you have described. Better not tell Don Brash that he might have to vote with the Maori party!

    • Draco T Bastard 8.2
      23 July 2011 at 1:21 pm

      Peter Bains proves, once again, that the RWNJs are terrified of people having a good life through cooperation.

      • mik e 8.2.1
        24 July 2011 at 10:07 pm

        Yeah DTB the very few of them would rather be lauding it over the rest in a feudal state

    • Reality Bytes 8.3
      24 July 2011 at 6:57 pm

      Peter, think about this:

      At the beginning of World War II the U.S. had a mere 600 or so modern fighting aircraft and a woefuly equipped armed forces in general. They rapidly overcame this shortage and produced more than 90,000 planes a year.

      Did they have enough money or gold to pay for these implements of war? No they did not.
      But what they did have was more than enough resources. It was the organisation and utilisation of these resources that enabled the US and it’s allies to achieve the production levels required to win the war, not money. And this would have been a similar to the same approach of all major nations, UK, Russia and even the axis.

      So does that mean that USA and the allies won because they were communists? No they won the war because they realized money has it’s limitations and is far from the most ideal productive system and would hinder REAL progress and even their very national survival if they relied on it.

      Unfortunately, this practical way of dealing with emergencies is only considered in times of war.

  9. Bright Red 9
    23 July 2011 at 12:26 pm

    it’s interesting that the textbooks say the US can’t default. As the world’s reserve currency, with everyone else keeping the bulk of their foreign reserves in T-Bills, the US can simply print more money – as it has done – if money gets tight and that passes the cost on to foreign holders of US debt whose currency appreciates vs the USD.

    If we did that, the world would react by demanding a higher price for buying our debt – ie higher interest rates, a lower credit rating – but the fact that everyone else holds so many T-bonds means they can’t react like that against the US, not without further devaluing their own foreign reserves.

    Of course, the textbooks assume rational actors. This is the ruling class of a crumbling empire doing what such ruling classes always do – factionalising and tearing themselves apart and failing to guard against the enemy at the gates.

  10. Colonial Viper 10
    23 July 2011 at 12:53 pm

    As the world’s reserve currency

    One reason the USD is in play is because some big groups want to change that. A new global currency in the form of IMF SDRs is being designed.

    You’ll know that the USD is history when the trade in oil starts moving to other currencies.

    Of course, the textbooks assume rational actors.

    Mainly neoliberal economics text books. Psychology textbooks definitely do not.

    • mik e 10.1
      24 July 2011 at 10:19 pm

      CV they,ve already by passed currency and are now speculating on oil [a finite resource as opposed to money which can be printed] thats why it jumps every time a currency weakens. In the US all printed money these days has to be repaid as would a loan most of the money printed has already bean repaid .Its had a beneficial effect in keeping imports down and local production up as well giving the Chinese yuan a shot across its bow because they refuse to float. therefore creating a huge balance of payments deficit.

  11. Afewknowthetruth 11
    23 July 2011 at 1:02 pm

    Current economic and financial arrangements were established towards the end of the Second World War, when Britain was dethroned and the US was ‘crowned king’ at Bretton Woods.

    At that time the US was THE major exporter of oil -money coming out the ground for almost no cost- and extraction was increasing. The tuirning point for the US was 1970-71, when extraction peaked and began to fall. Rising consumption and falling extraction has put the US (and most of the world) into an increasingly dire predicament.

    The US will continue to create money out of thin air until it can’t (just as Britain or the Eurozone will). But that which underpins the entire system is in decline. Only one conclusion is possible, though the route to that conclusion is anyone’s guess at the moment.

  12. Bored 12
    23 July 2011 at 1:11 pm

    I have been watching the whole thing roll out for the last few years since the initial financial dam burst and bail out. I would like to comment on the role of the media.

    To date the NZ news media has been totally light weight with both coverage and analysis. This is the biggest story of the decade along with its much related cousins, climate change and resource depletion. What do we get? Duncan Pea Brain Garner from Washington standing on a lawn saying, “The US economy is in crisis, it appears serious”, or words to that effect, stern faced, attempting to ellicit emotion. Well done Duncan, anybody who reads widely has known for a while, its not news.

    One minute per day if we are lucky, but hours of “market” reports, this is up, that down, big fucking deal. Lazy bastard media? Or perhaps deliverately evading the real iissues?

    • Draco T Bastard 12.1
      23 July 2011 at 1:26 pm

      Lazy bastard media? Or perhaps deliverately evading the real issues?

      A little bit of both, a large helping of ignorance and a complete incapability of applying logic to anything. That applies to the economists as well who wouldn’t know an economy if it bit them.

    • Afewknowthetruth 12.2
      23 July 2011 at 2:05 pm

      The media are primairly corporate businesses. Thier motto therefore is: ‘corportae business is good and will get better’. Anything that challenges that delusion is:

      a) ignored
      b) ridiculed
      c) ackowledged as a minor problem that can be readily overcome via a corporate ‘solution’.

      The real problem is that corporations run the government, so anything that challenges corporate business as ususal is:

      a) ignored
      b) ridiculed
      c) ackowledged as a minor problem that can be readily overcome via a corporate ‘solution’.

      by the government (and by local government).

      Since most people only beleive something if they’ve seen it on a mainstream source or it is official policy, they keep supporting the present dysfunctional political and economic arrangements.

      Therefore we are well and truly screwed. And the next generation is utterly screwed. You only have to read some of the comments (based on gross ignorance) on this forum to see that.

      (My guess is there are a couple of thousand people in NZ who understand what is going on and where it is leading.)

      • Colonial Viper 12.2.1
        23 July 2011 at 4:32 pm

        Oh relax, NZ will do just fine. At a 1910’s / 1920’s energy per capita kind of civilisation, but that’s no real problem.

        • uke 12.2.1.1
          23 July 2011 at 5:12 pm

          To some extent I agree.
           
          But there will definitely be much increased pressure on fish stocks in surrounding oceans, from foreign fishing fleets. I would also expect that as populous nations like the US start to break down, a mass exodus to farflung safe havens like NZ, which will put pressure on land and resources.
           
          But most NZers (Pakeha, Maori, Pacific Islanders, Chinese) are not far removed from former generations that got by on subsistence living. We’re a nation of scroungers and scavangers. Most people will soon discover – shock, horror – that they don’t actually need a car, flat-screen TV or even a computer!

          • Colonial Viper 12.2.1.1.1
            23 July 2011 at 6:33 pm

            I have to say that one bonus of being a country with such a large under class/squeezed middle class, is that we’ve already got the informal skills and systems to scrounge and survive in tough times. (The kind of comment that Dmitri Orlov might make).

          • Draco T Bastard 12.2.1.1.2
            23 July 2011 at 9:45 pm

            a mass exodus to farflung safe havens like NZ, which will put pressure on land and resources.

            Yep, which is why we will be putting in place a population cap and stopping immigration at some point in the near future. We cannot house/feed the entire world here.

        • Afewknowthetruth 12.2.1.2
          23 July 2011 at 6:26 pm

          You are forgetting that the 1910/1920s lifestyle and energy per capta civilisation was dependent on the consumption of huge amounts of coal, e.g. gas was manufactured from coal, railways used coal, coal was used domestically etc. All the easy coal has been extracted and burned, just as with oil.

          I suspect a 14th century level of civilisation will be closer to the mark, assuming abrupt climate change doesn’t render NZ largely uninhabitable. (we won’t be able to go back to the 1800s lifestyle because that was based on whale oil: not many whales around these days).

          • Colonial Viper 12.2.1.2.1
            23 July 2011 at 6:41 pm

            Come now, NZ still has several tens of millions of tonnes of coal buried under our ground.

            Yes, it is not high quality anthracite (nice as that would be). But we will be quite OK. As long as we save it for ourselves and don’t export it.

            Admittedly getting to some of these deposits will be hard without easy access to heavy machinery and millions of litres of diesel, but we’ll figure something out.

            I suspect a 14th century level of civilisation will be closer to the mark, assuming abrupt climate change doesn’t render NZ largely uninhabitable.

            Nah, your 14th C estimate is way too pessimistic: we have coal, we have electricity and we have the knowledge of modern science and technology.

            We will still be able to make mild steel, aluminium, pasturise milk, have hot showers, make soap and run trains. That’s somewhat beyond 14th Century living wouldn’t you agree?

            As for NZ becoming uninhabitable – that’s very doubtful in the next 100 years anyways. 500 years and beyond – who knows.

            • Robert Atack 12.2.1.2.1.1
              24 July 2011 at 8:55 am

              “Come now, NZ still has several tens of millions of tonnes of coal buried under our ground.”

              How many man hours would it take to get Pick River coal without the use of machinery? Because in a post crash world we are back to less than shovels and buckets, at best we could make the odd greenstone axe, it is bloody hard to dig through rock with sticks and finger nails, all the easy to get energy is gone baby gone, we burnt it baby burnt it.
              We are heading back to the Jurassic period http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQloUVD88h4

              NZ may not become uninhabitable but without the inputs from coal, gas, and oil it will fast become uninhabited, as our food production will fail to feed 4 million people, and you can bet dollars to doughnuts we will not have the ability to stop the refugees arriving in their nuke powered boats. NZ is a ripe plum waiting to be picked

              But if we all stay behind the rose coloured maternity ward windows, things look fine.

              Maori will be one of the last groups alive in NZ as
              1 – they have the strongest connections with each other via their Marae
              2 – they don’t mind eating people )

              “We have 300-400 years worth of coal if we don’t export it. To maintain some degree of civilisation through that time it gets used, full stop.”
              The only way that coal will be extracted is via slaves digging with their hands
              It may only take another 20 years of coal extraction (at current rates) to turn this planet into …a rock.

              • Colonial Viper …
                24 July 2011 at 12:54 pm

                without the inputs from coal, gas, and oil it will fast become uninhabited, as our food production will fail to feed 4 million people, and you can bet dollars to doughnuts we will not have the ability to stop the refugees arriving in their nuke powered boats. NZ is a ripe plum waiting to be picked

                Please stay consistent.

                If we can’t even feed our own population as you suggest (BTW I think you are dead wrong, its just that 20% of our labour force will have to move into ag/hort) why on earth would refugees come here, and why on earth would we be considered a ‘ripe plum’ if we had no food to offer.

              • Colonial Viper …
                24 July 2011 at 1:21 pm

                How many man hours would it take to get Pick River coal without the use of machinery? Because in a post crash world we are back to less than shovels and buckets…the only way that coal will be extracted is via slaves digging with their hands

                btw do you also believe that humans are going to forget about the wheel, levers, how to sharpen a blade, crop rotation and how to make fire?

                Get a grip dude, don’t become part of the problem.

          • Draco T Bastard 12.2.1.2.2
            23 July 2011 at 9:43 pm

            And you forget that we’ve built up a hell of a lot of renewable energy supplies since 1910. They aren’t going away and neither is the knowledge to of how to make and maintain them.

            Yes, there will be some pain involved with the reduction and eventual removal of oil as a transport fuel but we’ll be able to maintain nearly everything else. Reduction in per capita energy use and the end of the oil age does not automatically result in the end of industrialism.

            Climate Change is the real problem but I think NZ will be able to weather that storm as well. It won’t be nice and easy but it will be a damn site better than central Europe/N&S America.

            • Afewknowthetruth 12.2.1.2.2.1
              23 July 2011 at 11:17 pm

              DTB and CV.

              I assume neither of you are aware of the forecast for a 3.5oC rise in average temperature by 2035. That wil be utterly devastating. Burning the last of the coal will make such a temperature rise a certainty. (of course NZ is just a bit player as far as global emissions go, but the per capita emissions are little short of appalling).

              And I think you are forgetting that the so-called renewable infrastructure is dependent on oil for maintenance. What happens when the blades fall off, the gearbox breaks, lightning strikes etc. ?

              I am not suggesting we will immediately transition to a 14th century lifestyle, but ultimately that is the only sustainable lifestyle above the stone age level. (some commentators suggest a most regions of the Earth will descend to the stone age level before 2030).

              The southern states of the US may be a foretaste of what is to come climatewise (no rain to speak of for 4 months, cattle dying, crops dying: I believe they are praying for hurricanes instead of praying for no hurricanes.)

              These certainly are interesting times.

              • Colonial Viper …
                23 July 2011 at 11:31 pm

                Question is not what the avg global temp rise is going to be, but what is it going to be in NZ? Let’s say that on avg we get 3.5 deg C warmer throughout NZ by 2035. That would lead to massive changes in agriculture and horticulture, no doubt. Southland would become the premier grape growing region of the country and Northland will have no problems with their citrus harvests.

                BTW I appreciate that if you are in New Mexico or Darwin, a 3.5 deg C temp rise is a very very bad thing.

                And I think you are forgetting that the so-called renewable infrastructure is dependent on oil for maintenance. What happens when the blades fall off, the gearbox breaks, lightning strikes etc. ?

                We should do OK on a mix of a ‘salvage society’ and basic new fabrication. We’ll should more than Cuba has to work with eh?

                Sheep skin drums and gut strings for the guitar, cane and fruit sugars to feed the still, I’m already looking forwards to some wicked partying.

                And best of all, no need to turn up at the office at 8am come Mon morning to work in front of a screen 🙂

                That wil be utterly devastating. Burning the last of the coal will make such a temperature rise a certainty.

                We have 300-400 years worth of coal if we don’t export it. To maintain some degree of civilisation through that time it gets used, full stop.

                Solid Energy must not be sold to foreign interests

                • Locus …
                  23 July 2011 at 11:46 pm

                  There were some early civilisations that did well without guzzling energy, emitting GHGs and the benefits of modern technology. But then they had slavery…. Let’s hope we don’t see the power hungry nations enslaving the world – though it looks like we’re well down that road already

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    23 July 2011 at 11:53 pm

                    Actually it won’t be a case of one nation enslaving another or some kind of formalised slavery or neo-feudalism with distinct lords and serfs.

                    It will be more likely a case of the ruling classes in our very own towns and cities making the rest of us work for them for next to nothing, with no breaks, no access to unions, no chance of career progression, no job security, no promise of respect or fair treatment, a way of living where we are barely able to house, feed, clothe ourselves and our families, where we can lose our livelihoods for no reason, with no warning.

                    Oh shit…

              • Draco T Bastard …
                24 July 2011 at 10:01 am

                And I think you are forgetting that the so-called renewable infrastructure is dependent on oil for maintenance.

                No they’re not or, to put it another way, they don’t have to be.

                What happens when the blades fall off, the gearbox breaks, lightning strikes etc. ?

                We make new ones. NZ’s steel mills are powered by electricity not coal or oil. They have to be because it’s the only way to refine our iron sands due to their high titanium content. The blades are made from fibre reinforced epoxy resins which are not dependent upon oil for their manufacture either and, as mines don’t go anywhere, we’ll be able to power those with electricity as well.

                I am not suggesting we will immediately transition to a 14th century lifestyle, but ultimately that is the only sustainable lifestyle above the stone age level.

                No it’s not as we will be able to maintain industrial processes. Not to the same scope as we do now but we will be able to. And, yes, some areas will be worse off than others. It’s most likely that those areas won’t be inhabited as a major change coming is the drop in human population.

            • Robert Atack 12.2.1.2.2.2
              24 July 2011 at 9:34 am

              DTB- “we’ve built up a hell of a lot of renewable energy supplies since 1910”

              Are you talking about all the dams that are all fast silting up? That are heavily dependent on China et al for all the oil/coal/natural gas by products ie steel to make/maintain the turbines, power lines etc? And the diesel fuelled trucks etc needed to maintain the system, we couldn’t even stop the power lines earthing out without gangs of people keeping the trees from touching the cables, have you seen what sort of gear a line gang have to maintain our grid? = truck loads of shit………. including helicopters.
              And what are we going to use all this electricity with? 50 inch TVs from China? fridges, washing machines? ….. traffic lights 😉 I know milk processing plants, just need the diesel powered trucks to keep that supply chain functioning.
              And take plastic out of the equation and we have next to nothing …. right down to syringes and all the shit hospitals need to maintain there function
              How will we cope with all the smelly crutches without panty liners? And I can just see us all using chewed sticks to brush our teeth.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                24 July 2011 at 10:30 am

                Are you talking about all the dams that are all fast silting up?

                Yes and no. Yes in the fact that we do have them and can use the electricity that we generate from them and no because, after we tear them down, we can still get power from the water flow.

                In-stream power also gets called “low-impact hydro” and “hydro without the dam.” By any name, it may be an idea whose time has finally come.

                That are heavily dependent on China et al for all the oil/coal/natural gas by products ie steel to make/maintain the turbines, power lines etc?

                WTF are you smoking? We’ve produced high quality steel in NZ for half a century.

                And the diesel fuelled trucks etc needed to maintain the system, we couldn’t even stop the power lines earthing out without gangs of people keeping the trees from touching the cables, have you seen what sort of gear a line gang have to maintain our grid?

                Horse and cart’s fine and, being an ex-lineman, I have seen the gear that needs to be carted around. I didn’t say that it was going to be easy – merely that we would be able to maintain a reasonable level of industrial society.

                And what are we going to use all this electricity with? 50 inch TVs from China? fridges, washing machines?

                Most likely we’ll make them here rather than importing with a very strict use and recycling regime.

                I know milk processing plants, just need the diesel powered trucks to keep that supply chain functioning.

                As I said, horse and cart’s fine. And the electric rail.

                And take plastic out of the equation and we have next to nothing …. right down to syringes and all the shit hospitals need to maintain there function

                Don’t need plastic. Ceramics can be used as a replacement in many products (power sockets, monitors, etc), syringes used to be made of glass and can be again.

                And I can just see us all using chewed sticks to brush our teeth.

                More likely to be animal hair brushes actually or it could be bioplastic.

                Not everything we do is dependent upon oil and there are replacements which is where you go wrong as you seem to think there isn’t.

          • mik e 12.2.1.2.3
            24 July 2011 at 10:24 pm

            Theres plenty in Auckland Afew Thats WHALEOiL

  13. John D 13
    23 July 2011 at 8:32 pm

    The Euro crisis is the “beneficial crisis”. They will seek greater economic and political union out of this.

    This was the game, all along.

    The EUSSR is with us.

  14. M 14
    24 July 2011 at 2:27 am

    I think recession is too mild – we are entering GD2. The US may be able to lift the debt ceiling on 2 August but that just delays the day of reckoning and by then Americans will become the images they’re used to viewing on the TV – western Somalians – and when fuel reaches $6 per gallon then there may be petroleum springtime riots.

    Not many people know or want to imagine how grim things will become because that means they’d have to acknowledge their lives will change markedly. Even if we are self sufficent in coal and have good coverage with renewables people will have to get used to spotty electricity supply or maybe none at all, and will anyone be able to afford even half the energy they are used to using at the moment? There is potential for a lot of darkness in all senses of the word, particularly social interaction and this is where the government needs to step up and put things in place now, but won’t because it’s easier to keep to the script as it means the chance to govern.

    The left needs to be brave and honest about our energy predicament and get cracking on projects to conserve energy and increase renewable energy coverage – employment opportunities to mop up unemployed, particularly youth are there for the taking.

    • Afewknowthetruth 14.1
      24 July 2011 at 9:50 am

      The last time the left were in power they were cowardly and dishonest, and were more concerned with promoting short-term business as usual than with dealing with reality. Hodgson, Mallard, Parker and the other clowns assiciated with them maintianed the culture of denial throughout the years when there were windows of opportunity to put in place mitigation. Now most windows of opportunity have closed.

      And I see no change. The present crop of left politicians and hopefuls are no better than the clowns who were in office before (in fact several of them are the same clowns). They constantly promote the culture of denial, ignorance and complacency, all backed up by corporatism, even as the ‘Titanic’ sinks.

      The general populace should be terrified. But they’re not. They seem more concerned about rugby than their own futures. It’s quite surreal.

      • M 14.1.1
        24 July 2011 at 2:12 pm

        AFKTT, yes lying by omission or blind faith that things will turn out OK. I’m a peakist but also have concerns for the day to day social conditions for NZers and I’m not letting the last Labour government off the hook because IMHO they moved at a glacial pace when last in power in providing relief to lower income families and of course I haven’t forgotten 1984-1990; however, when you look at the record of the right in taking a scythe to working people from 1990-1999 and presently while they live like the French aristocracy of old holding all the trump cards in their hands I’d rather take my chances with a left leaning government that spreads the sacrifice more than the right ever will.

        I agree that hospitals are energy pigs and there is a great deal of waste but when petro-based supplies like plastic tweezers and syringes are difficult to obtain autoclaving and alcohol baths for injection needles will make a huge comeback. Choices will also be made as to whether extending a person’s life in their twilight is affordable and there may not be enough power to run all the equipment prem babies require. I think that a new mindset will come by necessity when it comes to having children and how many. IIRC correctly I read that part of the reason for the baby boom after the war was that people had delayed starting families because of the Depression and war, but yeah they went overboard. Uptake of sterilisation, I expect, will ramp up significantly because the pill and condoms will be victims of the breakdown of the industrial complex. Perhaps a new conservatism will emerge when the absence of condoms means there’s no protection against AIDS let alone drugs to limit the progression of the symptoms.

        The problems we face are huge and if I dwell on them for too long it becomes quite depressing, but I look to the Brits and the way they carried on in WWII despite seemingly insurmountable odds because the only alternative was to surrender and probably die. I’m not advocating a devil-may-care, live-for-today attitude with the attendant profligacy but for everyone to do all they can at a personal level to conserve, conserve, conserve and grow their own food if they have some land and enjoy modest treats using as few petro-based chemicals as possible. An honest government (yeah I know, we’re talking hen’s teeth) could accelerate the staving off of grimness a lot.

  15. dave brown 15
    24 July 2011 at 2:15 pm

    “The general populace should be terrified. But they’re not. They seem more concerned about rugby than their own futures. It’s quite surreal.”

    Only a minority is concerned about rugby to the point of seeing it as symbolic of what is ‘good’ about corporate capitalist society. I would say another minority see it as a fun and fulfilling activity in its own right. And another minority is turned off it because it has become a symbol of the ruthless capitalist patriarchy.

    Nothing about this is surreal, its about people seeing rugby through their values and interests.

    Should we be terrified by capitalism ‘teetering’. No, its demise is our opportunity. I don’t see capitalism’s decline and fall as quite so dramatic. I think that growing numbers will resist and create a socialist alternative within the wreckage. Evidence shows that disasters and dictatorships force rethinks where needs are reassessed by popular demand and not by the MSM and corporates. Japan after the Great East Earthquake and Fukushima. Christchurch on a small scale. The uprisings the dictatorships in North Africa and the Middle East prove that once people oppose tyranny, freedom is more than life.

    This means that capitalism will suffer its terminal decline in fits and starts. Those who worship corporate rugby in all its alienated gloss will see its just a game. Those who see it as just a game will then see it as a chauvinist opiate. There will be a rush to rehab. There will be victories little and big. The stock of science and technology will not be lost but put to better uses.

    Even if a cataclysmic collapse happens in some places, it’ll be a couple of steps back not a slide down the drain. Capitalism will have served its historic purpose creating the embryo of a socialist society within it, including its own gravediggers. We should aim to be around to celebrate.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • EGU2024 – An intense week of joining sessions virtually
    Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 hours ago

  • Submission on “Fast Track Approvals Bill”
    The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 hours ago

  • The Case for a Universal Family Benefit
    One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 hours ago

  • A who’s who of New Zealand’s dodgiest companies
    Submissions on National's corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law are due today (have you submitted?), and just hours before they close, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been forced to release the list of companies he invited to apply. I've spent the last hour going through it in an epic thread of bleats, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 hours ago

  • On Lee’s watch, Economic Development seems to be stuck on scoring points from promoting sporting e...
    Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 hours ago

  • New Zealand has never been closed for business
    1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 hours ago

  • Stop the panic – we’ve been here before
    Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago

  • Melissa Lee and the media: ending the quest
    Chris Trotter writes –  MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    11 hours ago

  • The Hoon around the week to April 19
    TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago

  • The ‘Humpty Dumpty’ end result of dismantling our environmental protections
    Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    12 hours ago

  • Nicola's Salad Days.
    I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    13 hours ago

  • Study sees climate change baking in 19% lower global income by 2050
    TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago

  • Weekly Roundup 19-April-2024
    It’s Friday again. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week on Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered at the government looking into a long tunnel for Wellington. On Wednesday we ran a post from Oscar Simms on some lessons from Texas. AT’s ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    14 hours ago

  • Jack Vowles: Stop the panic – we’ve been here before
    New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  The data is from February this ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    16 hours ago

  • Clearing up confusion (or trying to)
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    17 hours ago

  • How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log iPhone Without Computer
    How to Retrieve Deleted Call Log on iPhone Without a Computer: A Step–by–Step Guide Losing your iPhone call history can be frustrating, especially when you need to find a specific number or recall an important conversation. But before you panic, know that there are ways to retrieve deleted call logs on your iPhone, even without a computer. This guide will explore various methods, ranging from simple checks to utilizing iCloud backups and third–party applications. So, let‘s dive in and recover those lost calls! 1. Check Recently Deleted Folder: Apple understands that accidental deletions happen. That‘s why they introduced the “Recently Deleted“ folder for various apps, including the Phone app. This folder acts as a safety net, storing deleted call logs for up to 30 days before permanently erasing them. Here‘s how to check it: Open the Phone app on your iPhone. Tap on the “Recents“ tab at the bottom. Scroll to the top and tap on “Edit“. Select “Show Recently Deleted“. Browse the list to find the call logs you want to recover. Tap on the desired call log and choose “Recover“ to restore it to your call history. 2. Restore from iCloud Backup: If you regularly back up your iPhone to iCloud, you might be able to retrieve your deleted call log from a previous backup. However, keep in mind that this process will restore your entire phone to the state it was in at the time of the backup, potentially erasing any data added since then. Here‘s how to restore from an iCloud backup: Go to Settings > General > Reset. Choose “Erase All Content and Settings“. Follow the on–screen instructions. Your iPhone will restart and show the initial setup screen. Choose “Restore from iCloud Backup“ during the setup process. Select the relevant backup that contains your deleted call log. Wait for the restoration process to complete. 3. Explore Third–Party Apps (with Caution): ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    19 hours ago

  • How to Factory Reset iPhone without Computer: A Comprehensive Guide to Restoring your Device
    Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How to Call Someone on a Computer: A Guide to Voice and Video Communication in the Digital Age
    Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #16 2024
    Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications: Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 day ago

  • Where on a Computer is the Operating System Generally Stored? Delving into the Digital Home of your ...
    The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How Many Watts Does a Laptop Use? Understanding Power Consumption and Efficiency
    Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How to Screen Record on a Dell Laptop A Guide to Capturing Your Screen with Ease
    Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How Much Does it Cost to Fix a Laptop Screen? Navigating Repair Options and Costs
    A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • How Long Do Gaming Laptops Last? Demystifying Lifespan and Maximizing Longevity
    Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Climate Change: Turning the tide
    The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago

  • How to Unlock Your Computer A Comprehensive Guide to Regaining Access
    Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Faxing from Your Computer A Modern Guide to Sending Documents Digitally
    While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Protecting Your Home Computer A Guide to Cyber Awareness
    In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Server-Based Computing Powering the Modern Digital Landscape
    In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
    Gareth’s WorldBy admin
    1 day ago

  • Vroom vroom go the big red trucks
    The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • Jones finds $410,000 to help the government muscle in on a spat project
    Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • Again, hate crimes are not necessarily terrorism.
    Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 day ago

  • Despair – construction consenting edition
    Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Coalition promises – will the Govt keep the commitment to keep Kiwis equal before the law?
    Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • An impermanent public service is a guarantee of very little else but failure
    Chris Trotter writes –  The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • What happens after the war – Mariupol
    Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    1 day ago

  • Babies and benefits – no good news
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Should the RBNZ be looking through climate inflation?
    Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours, as of 9:16 am on Thursday, April 18 are:Housing: Tauranga residents living in boats, vans RNZ Checkpoint Louise TernouthHousing: Waikato councillor says wastewater plant issues could hold up Sleepyhead building a massive company town Waikato Times Stephen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the public sector carnage, and misogyny as terrorism
    It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    2 days ago

  • Meeting the Master Baiters
    Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023
    This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blog In 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Backbone, revisited
    The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Ministers are not above the law
    Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • What’s the outfit you can hear going down the gurgler? Probably it’s David Parker’s Oceans Sec...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point  of Order first heard of the Oceans Secretariat in June 2021, when David Parker (remember him?) announced a multi-agency approach to protecting New Zealand’s marine ecosystems and fisheries. Parker (holding the Environment, and Oceans and Fisheries portfolios) broke the news at the annual Forest & ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Bryce Edwards writes  – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Matt Doocey doubles down on trans “healthcare”
    Citizen Science writes –  Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • A TikTok Prime Minister.
    One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Texas Lessons
    This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    3 days ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours as of 6:06 am on Wednesday, April 17 are:Must read: Secrecy shrouds which projects might be fast-tracked RNZ Farah HancockScoop: Revealed: Luxon has seven staffers working on social media content - partly paid for by taxpayer Newshub ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Fighting poverty on the holiday highway
    Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm
    Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • At a glance – Is the science settled?
    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
    3 days ago

  • Apposite Quotations.
    How Long Is Long Enough? Gaza under Israeli bombardment, July 2014. This posting is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • What’s a life worth now?
    You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Howling at the Moon
    Karl du Fresne writes –  There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Newshub is Dead.
    I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...
    Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
    David Farrar  writes –  The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
    PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
    We are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
    Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Long Tunnel or Long Con?
    Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • Smoke And Mirrors.
    You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • What is Mexico doing about climate change?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • State of humanity, 2024
    2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycl...
    Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • The case for cultural connectedness
    A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
    David Farrar writes –    The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated.   While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
    Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal
    Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • True Blue.
    True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Who is running New Zealand’s foreign policy?
    While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #15
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 7, 2024 thru Sat, April 13, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week is about adults in the room setting terms and conditions of ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
    New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago

  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago

  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago

  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago

  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.    “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.  During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner.  The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Finance Minister travels to Washington DC
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlords
    The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being considered
    State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel.    “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says.    "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plans
    Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board.   “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti.  “I have asked her to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Roads of National Significance planning underway
    The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Navigating an unstable global environment
    New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States.    “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for Winter
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
    New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Joint US and NZ declaration
    April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research.   “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-04-19T10:03:47+00:00