Tax the Rich An animated fairy tale
A short video produced by US unions “to support a fairer tax system”.
Economy
capitalism
The sharemarket moved because…
This is just something that gets my goat, and there was a particularly egregious example on the RNZ Business News this morning. Apparently […]
Trump and the NZ housing bubble
The bright orange trigger for a sharp rise in mortgage interest rates may have just arrived. Our over-indebted home owners are highly vulnerable.
The Trump peace dividend: opportunity for rapprochement
Walking back the last 5 plus years of escalating military, economic and diplomatic proxy war between Russia and the United States will be difficult. But it has to be done.
Flogging the dead TPP horse
The Nats are determined to keep flogging the TPP horse in Parliament. Someone should buy them a newspaper.
Trump final campaign ad
Donald Trump’s last campaign ad lifts the mood of a relentlessly negative campaign between two massively disliked candidates.
Nats backsliding on tax haven law changes
The Nats are backsliding on implementing the law changes brought on by the Panama Papers revelations. If European regulators blacklist us the consequences will be catastrophic.
Through the Looking Glass.
The culture being addressed will be familiar enough to many here in NZ who deal with Work and Income. Government strategies to address that culture? Well, that’s another story. This isn’t just happening half a world away. It might as well be happening in another universe – back on the sane side of some looking glass NZ has fallen through.
Follow the money
Phase 2 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act is due to come into force soon and will require lawyers, accountants and other professionals to verify the source of client funds. This will give the Government increased power to monitor capital flows. What will they discover?
The Dreamworld tragedy is a perfect metaphor for a failing system
The loss of four lives at the Dreamworld fun park in the Gold Coast suggests that the corporate greed is good mantra is not working as well as we should expect.
Michael Moore: why blowing up the system and voting for Trump will feel good
Trump is the “human molotov cocktail” that many Americans have been waiting for.
Tory MP resigns on point of principle
No, not in NZ, of course. With bonus notes on a “grotesque folly”.
Workers, unions and the Labour party
Convincing workers not to organise in their own best interests is one of the great successes of right-wing politics.
Maybe Karl Marx was right after all
Barack Obama recently talked about the possible need for a universal basic income because of the disappearance of work. Is a UBI so different to collective ownership of wealth?
Hickey on debt
Hickey in The Herald on Sunday: “Our household debt to income ratio of 165 per cent is now about 5 per cent above those previous highs of 2008 and rising quickly as debt rises around twice as fast as incomes.”
Racist Nats Attack Chinese Grannies Shock!
National have slammed the door shut on the parents of already settled migrants who wish to move to NZ to complete the family unit. Minister Michael Woodhouse accuses elderly Asians of bludging off the NZ taxpayer. You won’t believe the howls of outrage from the right!
Nothing’s Going to Happen.
A wee reflection on our psychological fuck-edness.
International Days of Prayer and Action with Standing Rock
What we know is coming largely from outside the mainstream. Which is how it should be.
Water and cultural values
Day one of the International Days of Prayer and Action with Standing Rock. Here’s a post on NZ’s relationship with water, and whether water is a resource or a taonga.
The Chief Prison Inspector’s report on Serco and MECF
The Chief Prison Inspector’s report on Mount Eden Corrections Facility has now been released and has presented a damning judgment on Serco’s management of the prison.
Why we need to stand with Standing Rock
For seven months the next movement of social and environmental justice and resistance has been growing. We should be paying attention.
“We’re no longer citizens, we’re customers”
Ann Pettifor, in New Zealand for lectures on the state of the financial world, talks to Nine-to-Noon about the most pressing problems. Worth a listen.
Economics is still lost
Paul Romer is an economist highly respected by his peers, and about to become the Chief Economist at the World Bank. He’s also just published a paper rubbishing the last 3 decades of macroeconomics.
Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times is challenging fractional reserve banking. It’s certainly time for some new ideas.
The “Intellectual Yet Idiot” Class – Knowing what’s best for you
When highly educated people end up being idiots, and uneducated people end up being smarter.
Fortress NZ
TS regular Tony Veitch has some practical ideas as to how we insulate NZ from the ravages of neoliberalism and climate change. Readers may agree with some, none or all of the suggestions. However, whichever way you look at it, the time for hand wringing is over. It’s time for action.
India’s general strike
The world’s biggest general strike ever occurred this month in India.
Big Oil in plain packaging
Big Tobacco was hit this week in New Zealand after Parliament passed laws requiring smokes to be sold in plain packaging. The science about the health threats posed by smoking is settled, as is the science over climate change. When can we expect laws being passed against the oil companies?
Video: neoliberalism as a colonising project
“If indigenous people were given a space to be able to think about what system would work for them, I don’t think that would look like capitalism” – Kassie Hartendorp speaking at the launch of ESRA last week.
NZ: Home of Rugby, Raping and Beer
The whitewash of the rugby players who assaulted a woman at a post season piss up has been released. A mightily relieved rugby boss Steve Tew can now go into the rest of the season knowing that the All Black squad will not be affected by the loss of any players to suspension. The only person to have lost their job over the incident is the victim. How cool is that?
Video: What comes after neoliberalism?
Nick Srnicek’s keynote talk at the launch of Economic and Social Research Aotearoa, on the role that left think tanks like ESRA can play in developing a post-capitalist politics for today.
‘Living Rent’ and other UK stories
A Tory think tank proposes a massive house-building plan, with a ‘Living Rent’ to make it affordable; and Nick Clegg lifts the lid on the Tories in the last government.
Race, Class, Global Warming and Democracy.
Nothing and no-one is separate in this world. Nothing and no-one is more important than anything else or anyone else; no voice greater and no voice lesser.
The Mayoral candidates and the living wage proposal
I attended the Living Wage People’s assembly this week in St Matthews in the City. The idea behind the meeting was to get Mayoral […]
Festival of Dangerous Ideas
The Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) brings leading thinkers and culture creators from around the world to the Sydney Opera House stages and online to discuss and debate the important ideas of our time.
European Union v Apple and the US
And in Europe the EU has taken steps against Apple for rampant tax evasion and an EU-US free trade deal appears to be dead.
Why I hate UBER
Uber is great for the consumer but terrible for its contractors.