Labour want to raise the minimum wage to $15. The Nats say that will cost jobs (they want to lower the minimum wage instead). Documents obtained by 3 News show that Treasury think the Nats are wrong. A vote for increasing the minimum wage will not cost jobs.
The first of the CTU’s online election ads.
Nothing separates the political Right and Left like their attitude to welfare. The difference is very starkly highlighted in the recent policies from National and Labour. Which approach better serves the children of New Zealand? How much do we care?
Labour released its excellent children’s policy yesterday that will lift 150,000 children out of poverty and enhance families’ quality of life. The Right is wailing. Fuck ’em. They’ve turned a blind eye while 32,000 more kids have fallen into poverty. Only a Labour-led government will have the policies for a truly brighter future for all Kiwis, especially our kids.
In an Editorial that would not have been out of place as a post on ‘The Standard’ The Herald praises the Occupiers of city squares around the country, (and around the world).
Sunday morning’s RNZ Insight program was an excellent examination of poverty in NZ. Labour’s policies were slowly reducing poverty. National’s are making it worse again. How much do we care?
1980 saw the election of Ronald Regan as US president. On taking office at the start of 1981 he ushered in a package of right wing economic policies that soon picked up the nick-name “Reganomics”. How did that work out for workers and for inequality?
This address from Dr David Suzuki to the world, delivered to a gathering at Occupy Vancouver, attracted some attention in comments yesterday. Well worth watching.
Yesterday was a dramatic day for Occupy Dunedin. A trespass eviction deadline of 8pm came and went, but after a big show of public support, the Occupation is still there. Dunedin North Labour candidate David Clark lends his support to the movement.
National’s got 60,000 more on benefits after 3 years. Nats’ plan: get 46,000 off in 4 years (only 11,000 into work, the rest?)
So, National’s welfare plan = 14,000 more on benefits 7 years after coming to power. Ambitious for New Zealand?
Where’s National plan to reduce corporate welfare? Like the $400m free irrigation they want to give farmers and keeping them out of the ETS.
John Key has announced National’s IR policy and it’s all about cutting back workers negotiating power.
The message from Key is clear – big business might have made this recession but you’re the ones who are gonna pay for it.
The Nats want to extend the new entrants wage from 200hrs/3 months to 6 months. Won’t create jobs. Most businesses don’t bother with the new entrants wage anyway. word is, though, that the NE wage is a red herring. The guts of the policy will be a broad-spectrum on the rights of workers to organise and bargain designed to drive down wages
“The truth is, the world cannot be made perfect” says Deborah Hill Cone, arrogantly dismissing the Occupy movement. And she may be right. But that does not mean we are living in the best of all possible worlds and that the injustices and imperfections of our world are things we just have to accept. Rijab takes her on.
On this Labour Day it is good to see that the Labour Party is staying true to its roots, and is out there working for a labour policy to lift the wages and conditions of the workers of New Zealand.
A second message is emerging from the Occupation movement: “One citizen. One dollar. One vote.”
Signs of the Occupation 1 – Everything is OK.
A very thoughtful piece from Simon Collins in today’s Herald: “Deep divisions over $1000 for a Rugby World Cup game as poverty grows”.
It’s disappointing to see the Dom joining with the Right’s mouthpieces in attacking Labour’s work and wages policy. The editorial says of course “something” must be done about low and inequitable wages but opposes introducing a system modeled on the one that delivers high wages in Australia. Meanwhile bosses are putting the screws on to cut workers’ pay.
The Occupation movement has bankers worried. So far, however, the protests have been peaceful. In fact, the Occupation is quickly shaping up as the biggest ever, world wide test of the efficacy of non-violent protest.
Amidst growing evidence of yet another broken 2008 election promise, John Key has nothing to offer except tired excuses and attacks on the poor.
Will the protests around the world hit the brick wall of ingrained habits? Or will we manage to get over, around or beneath that particular barrier to progress?
By the time this post appears a showdown will have taken place in New York. Check out the morning media, there should be plenty of coverage of events as they unfold.
When John Key was elected to power in 2008, he was estimated to have a personal wealth of about 40-50 million dollars.
So how much is John Key worth now?
The median (‘typical’) Kiwi income has fallen 6% under National after inflation. It’s worse if you’re Maori – 16%. And if you’re PI? 21%. That’s more than a hundred dollars a week. It’s a disgrace. In fact, ordinary people’s incomes have shrunk faster than the economy under National. Their policies have driven more of what’s left to the rich.
The Occupation, now into its third week, seems to be growing. As is the Police response. In the latest development police have arrested more than 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge.
It’s not often that ‘bald truths’ escape the filtration of the msm. The video below is an example of one of those rare moments.
Have you heard of Occupy Wall Street? If you are one of the 99%, you should have…
The Child Poverty Action Group has released yet another shaming report on child poverty in NZ. The Nats’ cuts to Working for Families are making matters worse. If the election doesn’t return a Labour government, then we’re going to have three more years of inaction punctuated by brief ritual hand-wringing over each new report.
Big time businessman Damien Grant thinks we’re either rich or irrelevant commodities. And Granny Herald thinks it’s reasonable to give him a platform to preach this vile social darwinism. Suddenly the careless deaths of Kiwi workers and the systemic poverty of so many of our children becomes less surprising.
Robert Reich writes about the impact of growing inequality in the United States. He has a graphic that shows the effects over the past hundred years. As the US and Europe come closer to their Niagara fall, the logic is compelling. Edmund Burke’s saying that those who don’t know their history are destined to repeat it comes to mind.
Once again recent headlines prompt me to ask if in 2008 we really chose a brighter future after all.
The New York Times has a graphic comparing the outcomes of economic policy in the US, specifically comparing the broadly social democratic policies prevalent between 1847 and 1979, and the NeoLiberal policies since 1980. The differences are astounding.
The stories coming out of the Pike inquiry paint a picture of a company with a basic disregard for workers’s safety.
But we shouldn’t expect anything else after thirty years of putting the interests of business ahead of everyone else.
The wealthy elite in Europe are now joining Warren Buffett in these calls for higher taxes for the rich (including CGT), why? Maybe it’s because they know the truth, they know that the world is likely to enter another global recession, and they know the risk this will bring to social cohesion, which they rely on for maintaining the lifestyle they enjoy.
One of the lies at the heart of the Nats’ approach to industrial relations is that negotiating directly with the employer “empowers” the individual worker and allows them to get better wages and conditions. The facts prove otherwise.
Brian Gaynor notes vampire economics of neoliberalism means nearly all the largest listed companies are either privatised former public assets and/or monopolies thanks to government regulation. The capitalist elite has failed to generate wealth and stripped previously privatised assets. Now, their party, the Nats, plans to suck out more of our public wealth.
