Law firm sets out business wish list
Law firm Chapman Tripp has taken it upon itself to summarise the business community’s expectations for National’s second term. Back to youth rates, and that’s just for starters.
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Paradigm shift
In the Budget, we were told to expect 4.2% growth in 2012, which would make getting back into surplus and creating jobs possible. The Pre-election Update reduced it to 3%. Now, the OECD says ‘2.5%, providing Europe doesn’t go to crap .. oh, and Europe’s going to crap’. We’ve got to accept that economic growth won’t fall on us like manna from heaven anymore and work out how to build an actual brighter future.
100,000 reasons to vote Left
In the end its pretty simple for me. I’m asking you to vote for the Left this election, for 100,000 reasons.
Both Labour and The Greens have policies that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty.
Listen to us – Homebrew
We’ve been getting links to this song for a week or two. Wish I’d gotten round to posting it earlier. Just fantastic.
Hiding in his mansion/While half the population flies across the Tasman/The other half try to act like it’s not happening
There’s no depression in New Zealan’/ Just a slow sinking feelin’
Racism more than skin deep for Nats
This post originally appeared on the Hand Mirror and we reproduce it with their permission. It is an account of a National Party meeting in the Wairarapa, and a stark reminder of the dark heart of the Right that hates and fears anything different, which wants a New Zealand built for a rich, Pakeha, male, straight business-owning elite.
Last chance to save our Assets
This election is a referendum on Asset Sales – will you vote to save our Assets?
Keeping the help in line
Keeping up brand Key means keeping the help in line.
Just pity the poor buggers that have to help hold that facade up.
If we stick with the status quo
Another of those pictures that is worth a thousand words.
How we got where we are
Last election we had a choice between competent economic management and a bunch of hollow promises. We made a poor choice then, and the record shows that we have wasted three years as a result. Coming up to this election we don’t need more tired Nat excuses, we need solutions. Bring back Labour!
NoRightTurn – Catch-22
The Nats won’t give employees greater access to pay information to detect gender pay disparities, saying employees suspecting gender discrimination should a labour inspector to find the evidence. When 261 workers did just that the govt said it wouldn’t look for evidence of discrimination without evidence there was discrimination.
Nat asset sales lies
Last night TV1 revealed National’s lies on the explosive topic of asset sales. The Nats have no official advice to back up their asset sales claims, and information is being withheld from the public. Not good enough – vote them out.
Nats’ cuts cause benefit overpayments to rise
Checking out data matches that show beneficiaries may have moved overseas and stopping their benefit if they have. That’s back-office work, eh? Exactly the kind of ‘unsexy’ jobs National has been cutting. Well, MSD stopped data matching because its resource were stretched too thin – and overpayments doubled to $19m. Heck of a job, National.
3rd World New Zealand
25K Kiwi kids get infections like rheumatic fever and scabies each year. Disease sthey haven’t seen in Sweden since the 70s.We treat our kids like an expense, not an investment. Then we wonder why we have unhealthy, uneducated, unskilled adults and our country gets left behind. We’re becoming a 3rd world country. It’s 3rd world thinking that’s getting us there.
Five days to Save our Assets
Phil Goff said yesterday we had “Six days to save our assets” – now we have 5. Here’s what University of Auckland’s economics professor thinks about asset sales, and some more reasons why we desperately need to avoid a National-led government on November 27.
In memoriam
It’s a year since the explosion at Pike River killed 29 men. Just people like you and me doing their job. It seems some semblance of justice may be delivered to those who let this disaster happen. But the lasting legacy must be a change of culture and regulations to put people’s lives before companies’ profits. So no more suffer the fate of the Pike River 29.
Labour’s jobs policy
Now that we’re all over Nice Mr Key, maybe we can focus on minor details like the environment, the economy, assets, and jobs…
Wall St Occupation evicted
As has been widely reported, the Wall Street occupation at Zuccotti Park was evicted in an overnight raid yesterday. By refocusing media attention on the Occupation, will this eviction only make them stronger?
‘Dying off’?
Winston Peters is suggesting that in the transcript of the PM’s meeting with Banks, John Key made some derogatory remarks about the older New Zealanders that tend to support New Zealand First, along the lines of “not to worry [about Winston’s support] they’re dying off”. Slagging off older New Zealanders (ie. the ones that always vote) is a sure way to lose an election.
Could Key really be so clueless? Well yes, when you look at the excuses he’s trotting out – probably.
120 ways to say ‘dunno’
120 ‘policies’ and only 1 of them new. That’s National’s economic development “action plan“. It looks superficially impressive at first: 120 points – what a busy government. But then you read, and it’s all stuff that’s underway or already announced, or in some cases Labour policies that are already complete. This is a (bad) PR exercise, not a plan.
NoRightTurn: National on energy
NoRightTurn reviews the joke that is National’s energy policy: “National has released its energy policy. The short version? “Drill it, mine it, sell it”. Yes, seriously. A bright, shiny future, funded by magic money put in the ground by Leprechauns. Which we haven’t discovered yet. Its like basing your household budget on winning the lottery.”
Oram on the Nats’ ‘plan’
New Zealand has drifted under National for 3 years. They came to power with a plan they developed years earlier at the peak of the good times: cut taxes, sell assets, build roads. They haven’t altered that plan despite the weakest ‘recovery’ in history, no jobs, record borrowing, and the dark clouds on the economic horizon. Rod Oram fillets them
Labour moves on slave fishing
Labour’s fisheries policy will phase-in a requirement for fishing vessels to be at least 50% Kiwi-crewed and at least 50% of processing would have to occur here. Good start. It’s our fish – it should be harvested sustainably to create Kiwi jobs with fair pay and adequate conditions. The shame of slave fishing has to be ended.
Privatisation N Z Style
Economist Dr Rhema Vaithianathan from Auckland University will discuss Privatisation New Zealand Style, looking at the economic logic and evidence on privatisation of utilities and ask whether it will alleviate New Zealand’s current economic problems. St John’s Church, cnr Willis and Dixon, Wellington, Monday 14th Nov 5:30pm. All welcome. Register at Fabian Society www.fabians.org.nz.
A new type of coup?
In the old days soldiers marched onto the floor of parliament with fixed bayonets to replace governments and frustrate the popular will.
Now it is being done differently
Creating opportunities
The Nats admit that they’ve failed to close the gap between rich and poor. In fact, of course, it’s getting worse. Bill English says they’ve “created opportunities”, which is Tory speak for doing nothing at all.
State house evictions
In 2005 Labour wrote to State House tenants with a warning “Don’t let National sell your house.” We were criticised for scaring people. Now Tamaki residents have got the real letters. And the boot. Same old National.
Who really benefits from asset sales
Brent Sheather assesses the case for asset sales in today’s Herald. He cuts through the crap and concludes “selling the SOEs doesn’t look all that clever, particularly from the perspective of young people and those other sectors of society who won’t be able to participate in the offers in any material way. This is likely to be at least half the population.” He looks at who really benefits, and it’s the fortunate few once again.
Those nice men in suits
Treasury on the minimum wage
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.
Jobs for the boys, and girls
200,000 children abandoned so already rich can get richer
How many children is 200,000 in the context of New Zealand’s population? Statistics New Zealand says between June 2008-2011 around 62-64,000 children were born each year. So 200,000 amounts to every single child born in this country since National came to power three years ago, plus another 10,000 or so.
The new hole in National’s budget
National would get the books back into the black with a $1.5b surplus 2014/15. It’s on their ads, it’s in the PREFU. So, it’s gotta be true, eh? Well, we already know they’ve cooked the books by claiming both that they would have the revenue from asset sales and the dividends from those sold assets. Now, their ETS changes have opened a second great big hole in their budget.
The Recovery is here, it’s coming, it’s…
National want it both ways. They’ve brought us economic recovery through their brilliance (we’ve just not felt it yet), but also the lack of a recovery is not their fault and is in fact why all the stats are so bad. Here’s a reminder of what they’ve said…
Vote to keep us rich & you poor
The first of the CTU’s online election ads.
Are we a caring country?
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?
John Key’s Top Ten
Not as much fun as a Letterman Top Ten, but here’s John Key’s vital statistics – his record to be judged on. (h/t Phil Goff…)