Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, January 8th, 2014 - 170 comments
The Southland Times devoted the whole of the front page to celebrate Shell’s decision to do some exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin. The best scenario will be that they discover a sizable gas field similar to the one in Taranaki. Then royalties we will get are only 5% of the value of what is sold, almost 40% less than the OECD average AND we will have to pay full commercial rates to have any of it ourselves. The worst case scenario…. Well that is really bad and has no effective cover
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 pm, January 7th, 2014 - 361 comments
New Zealand was once considered one of the best places on earth to live. It could be again …
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, January 6th, 2014 - 117 comments
Garth George’s latest newspaper column has a progressive prescription for the abolishing of poverty, some marxist analysis, a heavy criticism of Australian Banks and a conclusion that laissez-faire capitalism has to go. I never thought he was a radical …
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, January 6th, 2014 - 47 comments
In The Matrix Neo discovers that his “reality”, is a virtual world that had kept him from seeing “the desert of the real”. George Monbiot cites research that shows how capitalism is eating itself and its consumers. The marketing con of “the good life” – desert of the real.
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, January 3rd, 2014 - 110 comments
Celebrity golf! Which one will get voted off the island first!? Meanwhile the world burns, the poor struggle, and the wealth gap continues to be a blight on our country.
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, January 1st, 2014 - 252 comments
In 2014 the New Zealand Left must have more on its agenda than “win power”. We should want to create a better New Zealand, and doing that is about so much more than economic policy (which is also, obviously, important). It has to touch everything. And it’s going to take people working in different areas on different parts of the plan to make it all happen.
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, December 30th, 2013 - 14 comments
The Herald says the regions have rising incomes, but caution against reading anything into it. DPF reads everything into it anyway. But when people with jobs stay in the regions and those without jobs go to where some jobs are – average incomes rise in the provinces. It is what you expect to see when there is a jobless ‘recovery’ like National is paying for with debt.
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, December 30th, 2013 - 230 comments
Here & in the UK: food poverty, increases in queues to foodbanks, in diseases of poverty, a crisis in affordable housing, & struggles & insecurites of the working poor. But poverty denialists blame the poor, smear beneficiaries, & talk of (always-around-the-corner) “brighter futures”.
Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, December 29th, 2013 - 194 comments
It appears that America is becoming rich in name only as more and more of its people in jobs rely on state assistance to make ends meet. And many of these jobs are in highly profitable industries such as the Banks and Wal Mart where people at the top of those organisations make huge amounts. And the payments are a drain on the State’s finances and prevent it from funding important things such as asset renewal and education.
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, December 28th, 2013 - 47 comments
John Key’s great idea for job creation – his cycleway project – has produced some benefits, but is a patchwork production. Some sections will be user pays to fund maintenance. Meanwhile the job creation benefits have been limited.
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, December 27th, 2013 - 90 comments
The cult of the super rich, cheer led by the uncritical echo chamber in the MSM. Those struggling in poverty receive a few crumbs of charity, promoting superficial “good will” by those indulging in the orgy of consumerist excess. Underlying causes & solutions are ignored.
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, December 26th, 2013 - 17 comments
25 December is a good day to visit historic sites. Yesterday I visited the Savage Memorial in Auckland. Political heritage in today’s environment. A memorial for workers? Remember the Savage government! Remember the Bastion Point protests! Lessons for today?
Written By: - Date published: 11:20 pm, December 25th, 2013 - 49 comments
Exactly 40 years ago to the day I was having a white Christmas – on the summit of Mr Fyfe overlooking Kaikoura. Today I celebrate another Christmas, high on another mountain, in another part of the world – with a light dusting of very dry, very icy snow drifting on the wind. The decades in […]
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, December 25th, 2013 - 34 comments
To all those making a difference and working for a more inclusive, equal, fair and sustainable society. Special thanks to Lynn for all his work for The Standard.
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, December 24th, 2013 - 29 comments
Media beat-ups around personality politics divert from Auckland’s real problems: an undemocratic council structure that panders to corporates, & that does not represent Auckland’s diversity, while doing little to counter the destructive impact of the inequality gap.
Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, December 24th, 2013 - 11 comments
Some suggestions on ethical gifts and what you can do to get away from the consumerism of the current Christmas and celebrate it in a meaningful way. Merry Christmas to one and all and may you and your families enjoy your time together and may your christmas celebrations go light on the planet yet improve the plight of humanity.
Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, December 22nd, 2013 - 32 comments
Articles in the Sunday papers online, showing John Key’s “brighter future” is only for the well off, while more people than ever are struggling to get by.
Written By: - Date published: 10:03 pm, December 19th, 2013 - 91 comments
It was the best of times in Wellington today. Council workers will get a living wage, and parking wardens will become council employees so they will get decent pay also. It was the worst of times in Auckland as the right-wing Scrooges having failed to remove Mayor Len Brown took it out on their workers by overturning his call for a living wage for Council staff.
Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, December 19th, 2013 - 141 comments
John Key’s attacks on Hone Harawira for his trip to South Africa were hypocritical: an attempt to smear a significant political opponent, and divert from the governments failings & its gradual falling out of favour with many (potential) voters.
Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, December 19th, 2013 - 171 comments
The Cullen fund is doing more for the country’s finances than selling our Assets. Who would have thunk it?
Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, December 18th, 2013 - 246 comments
The right wing NZ Herald editors, have misused their position in the news mediascape to produce some shameless, highly partisan and manipulative propaganda. They do not have the interest of all Aucklanders at heart. More considered analysis needed. Let’s wait for tomorrow’s public meeting.
Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, December 18th, 2013 - 145 comments
The government & many of its cheerleaders are joining in a re-vitalised chorus of a brighter future right around the corner of “Christmas cheer”. Many Kiwis are struggling with the realities of poverty. How was your year on the inequality scale?
Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, December 18th, 2013 - 30 comments
No Right Turn looks at some of the past history of the company that this government trusts to deepsea drill at 1500 metres off the coast of Raglan.
They are cowboys who have a history of deliberately avoiding cleaning up their messes.
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, December 17th, 2013 - 35 comments
The Government appears to be softening us up for a financial contribution to Chorus in the realm of $250 million so that it can do what it has a contractual obligation to do anyway. And TUANZ thinks that some insider trading is going on with Chorus’s shares.
Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, December 16th, 2013 - 77 comments
The NZ government changes to NZ’s screen industry incentives is a mixed bag. Some (not fully developed) support for a sustainable NZ industry. Selling out NZ workers; bowing to Hollywood corporate, neo-colonial values.
Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, December 16th, 2013 - 170 comments
The detail of the Ernest and Young report on Len Brown clears him of all significiant wrongdoing on the local government purse. The hotel room upgrade values are just complete bullshit for someone who had a regular family timeouts at one hotel – which did most of the almost all of the upgrades. The type of customer that all hotels want. The political question is about receiving anything “free” from Skycity.
Written By: - Date published: 5:43 pm, December 15th, 2013 - 17 comments
…and into the world.
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, December 15th, 2013 - 175 comments
In post WWII UK, working class people were gaining a stronger voice in public life. Then came Thatcher and middle class capture of politics & the media. Something similar happened in NZ. How can those on low incomes and/or from the working classes gain a stronger voice in NZ politics?
Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, December 14th, 2013 - 47 comments
The summer holiday period is a time when consumerism is rampant, contradicting the traditional Christian message . It adds pressure to those already struggling, especially those with young families. Places to support via time, donations, gifts, etc.
Written By: - Date published: 5:44 pm, December 13th, 2013 - 23 comments
So according to John Key, turnout in the referendum is so low it doesn’t mean anything to him (despite his government working hard to get turnout down). But he reckons it does mean David Cunliffe needs to promise to buy back the assets..?
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, December 13th, 2013 - 157 comments
… will be one that has effective policies to make a more equal, inclusive and democratic society, will seriously address the concerns of those least well-off, and not just pander to the concerns of people on (comfortable) middle incomes.Values in need of a slogan?
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