Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Written By: - Date published: 7:48 am, November 8th, 2012 - 18 comments
The deficit so far this year is half a billion dollars worse than expected in the first 3 months of this fiscal year. But English says don’t worry – he’s going to make the 2014/15 surplus, and he doesn’t care what he cuts. Meanwhile, the new Reserve Bank Governor says that borrowing is out of control and the dollar is too high – but he won’t do anything about it. Neoliberal dinosaurs both.
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 7th, 2012 - 17 comments
Today is Housing Crisis Day of Action with a march on parliament in Wellington (see Facebook page). The government’s plan will benefit private developers and property speculators, and involves risks of “cutting red tape”. Instead, they should be building more state houses. Updates: General Debate. John Banks heckled by protesters.
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, November 7th, 2012 - 81 comments
Yesterday, 60 highly paid jobs at Rakon where lost and we learned 5,700 manufacturing jobs had been lost in the past year. The reason, the high dollar made manufacturing here untenable. Steve Joyce shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing to do with him. But it’s his government’s failures that are forcing Kiwi manufacturers overseas.
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, November 6th, 2012 - 12 comments
National’s strategy around the Pike River report is to try to get the media story over in a day. But this won’t go away. For one, there’s Key’s claim that our safety standards were up to Aussie’s and our safety record was good. Then, there’s the larger question of the Government’s whole neoliberal approach that leads to such disasters.
Written By: - Date published: 10:05 pm, November 5th, 2012 - 99 comments
The Pike report is welcome good sense.
But why has it taken the deaths of 29 men to get attention to health and safety regulations in mining?
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, November 5th, 2012 - 184 comments
Breaking news: Kate Wilkinson has resigned her portfolio due to the Pike River Mine report. Updates: News reports. Damning official report: cold comfort for the families of the victims. Video of John Key’s press conference today. International news coverage. Video of Shearer’s response (7 mins)
Written By: - Date published: 11:19 am, November 5th, 2012 - 33 comments
John Key won’t be on the West Coast today when the Pike River report will be released. He’ll have a tightly managed press conference at the Beehive, instead. Key promised that he would stand by the Pike River families. He promised that all efforts would be put in to get the bodies out, no matter the cost. It was all hollow talk from a hollow man.
Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, November 5th, 2012 - 37 comments
The bosses justify their huge pay packets by saying they’re the elite, the wealth creators. They get the money because their genius makes sure things work. But, when it all goes to hell it’s the minions who get blamed. While the CEO gets a $100K bonus when she quits after 11 months! Nice work if you can get it, which is why the bosses congratulated themselves with a 10% pay rise this year.
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, November 4th, 2012 - 138 comments
Kim Dotcom is promising ultra-cheap broadband for NZ. If he pulls it off, he is going to put our local entrepreneurs to shame – not to mention our government.
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, November 4th, 2012 - 1 comment
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. This week: inequality, language on social media, and feminism.
Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, November 3rd, 2012 - 14 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, the sad links between poverty and suicide, and Key’s response…
Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, November 3rd, 2012 - 173 comments
The UK’s biggest daily newspaper’s lead about Britain’s favourite son today:
Written By: - Date published: 11:27 am, November 2nd, 2012 - 50 comments
Buried in Audrey Young’s puff piece on Secretary of Education Lesley Longstone is an interesting insight into Longstone’s thinking on poverty and education. Longstone tries to downplay the link. Ignorance, or overt right-wing agenda?
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, November 1st, 2012 - 28 comments
As National cuts services, incomes, and pushes more Kiwi’s into the gutter, their real agenda it seems apart from creating an underclass is removing them from the Government tit, and after that supporting them with charity. Corporations see charity as tax free advertising, with the added bonus of being able to lobby & pressure the Government of the day.
Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, October 31st, 2012 - 60 comments
Sugarbags are a symbol of self-help in the 1930s Depression. Foodbanks are a symbol of the failure of consumer capitalism. Should the left reclaim Labour’s original core values? What are those core values, and are they still relevant today?
Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, October 31st, 2012 - 34 comments
The Secretary for Education has drawn the wrong conclusions from data on educational performance, and a bunch of commentators (including a particularly egregious anonymous editorial in The Herald) have been quick to follow. We certainly have a world class education system. The fact that not every child can take advantage of it is our real failing and our shame.
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, October 31st, 2012 - 62 comments
National are economic failures. Unemployment is up two thirds under their watch and still rising. Household incomes are falling behind inflation. Manufacturing firms are closing up and making workers redundant. People are fleeing to Aussie in record numbers looking for jobs and decent wages So, what’s Key’s solution? Drive down wages by attacking workers’ right to organise.
Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, October 30th, 2012 - 178 comments
It’s fine not to agree with someone’s politics. It’s fine to weigh up the attributes of one prospective leader against another and decide that one is the better choice. But the Anyone But Cunliffe clique didn’t do that. They literally wanted anyone who wasn’t Cunliffe. When Parker wasn’t going to win, they went to Shearer. It was a childish way to play with Labour’s future.
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, October 29th, 2012 - 22 comments
Gillard’s ‘Asian Century’ white paper, and negotiations of the ASEAN trade agreement (RCEP) are significant developments in US-China struggle for dominance in the region. Aussie wants to be a major player. How should NZ respond?
Written By: - Date published: 7:18 am, October 29th, 2012 - 112 comments
The latest Roy Morgan also includes a poll of what people think is the single most important issue facing New Zealand.It makes informative reading. Jobs is the largest: 1 in 5 consider it the most important issue. Combined, the economic categories are 57% of people’s top issue, up from 49% a year ago, and 43% the year before that.
Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, October 28th, 2012 - 18 comments
On Planet Key natural body processes are ignored, and nature has been tamed into a golf course. It’s a place where mothers don’t lactate or have a heightened sensitivity to their babies’ cries; a place disconnected from the chaotic consequences of climate change.
Written By: - Date published: 11:32 am, October 27th, 2012 - 13 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, a party that wants to help, and a party that doesn’t.
Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, October 26th, 2012 - 9 comments
Yet National’s position is that there isn’t a problem, let alone that they can do anything about it.
Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, October 25th, 2012 - 10 comments
Two recent posts from NRT on aspects of sexism in NZ, and a scathing reply to Business NZ from Sue Moroney.
Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, October 25th, 2012 - 19 comments
Here’s Business NZ’s shill on extending paid parental leave: “Employers who have been forced to bear considerable replacement costs, or to find those amongst their other employees willing to provide cover, may well think hard before again employing a woman of child-bearing age”. 1) that makes no sense 2) it’s illegal under the Human Rights Act.
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, October 25th, 2012 - 46 comments
A TV3 poll shows that 49% to 46% of people believe National is failing to build its promised “brighter future”. The two big weaknesses: jobs and education. By nearly 2 to 1 margins, people believe that National is failing to provide full employment (it says something that this isn’t actually a National Party goal) and failing to provide the best education system possible.
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, October 24th, 2012 - 27 comments
The government is vulnerable around Sue Moroney’s Paid Parental Leave Bill. The Nats don’t want it to pass, but they risk losing support from women. A government veto of an entire Bill is on experimental ground, and Bill English has shifted his reasons for not supporting the Bill. Updates: BusinessNZ submission
Written By: - Date published: 7:44 am, October 24th, 2012 - 64 comments
The Nats have decided to try to lean on the judiciary to get asset sales handled the way they want. The Judge is ‘Red Ron’. The Court shouldn’t try to decide water rights at a level of general principle. The Maori Council mustn’t get legal aid. The case should be kicked straight up to the Supreme Court and settled before March. It’s not working. It’s not going to work. And the costs are mounting. Updated
Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, October 23rd, 2012 - 28 comments
As expected, the High Court advised today that the government should hold off sale of Mighty River Power. The government is complying.
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, October 23rd, 2012 - 8 comments
Union members are the ones who win decent wages and conditions for everyone. And the good news is union membership is increasing, despite rising unemployment.
Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, October 22nd, 2012 - 100 comments
I’ve been thinking about what you might call a ‘good problem’ for the Left.. but it leads me to a ‘problem problem’. OK, so let’s say we win the next election – as the Left must do and should do given how unpopular the Nats’ policies are and, for the last year, how inept their political management has been. How do you share the economic portfolios out?
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