Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, February 3rd, 2011 - 27 comments
The same old formula has played out again: National appoints an expensive, hand-picked working group (the Savings Working Group). The working group comes up with predictable recommendations. The Nats extreme recommendations out of hand, to appear moderate, and do what they were planning to do. Here are the real savings solutions.
Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, February 2nd, 2011 - 36 comments
December 2007, John Key, speaking to Carolyne Brooks-Quan said: “We would love to see wages drop“. Key tried several conflicting excuses, including that he was talking about Australian wages (which became a mini-meme). But actions speak louder than words. Yesterday, we had more confirmation that wages have dropped under Key, except for union members.
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, February 2nd, 2011 - 13 comments
In America a federal enquiry has now confirmed what we already knew. The 2008 financial crisis was an “avoidable” disaster caused by multiple failures of regulation and good old fashioned greed. If we don’t make some fundamental changes it is all going to happen again…
Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, February 1st, 2011 - 44 comments
Pundits looking to talk up the economy are hopeful that things will improve in 2011. National have done more harm than good, but there some encouraging signs too, arising from external factors such as high food prices, and returns on old investments such as NZ Super. The NZ economy will eventually recover. Not because of the Nats, but in spite of them.
Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, February 1st, 2011 - 181 comments
Why the left needs feminism part II: why the centre vote is a lie and what Labour needs to do to reclaim its soul.
Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, January 31st, 2011 - 44 comments
John Key says he needs ‘advice’ on Mondayising ANZAC Day and Waitangi Day. The fact is the move would be right and popular but his business mates are too cheap to pay an extra 4 days every 7 years. Key’s just playing for time.
Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, January 31st, 2011 - 78 comments
Russel Norman followed Phil Goff and John Key’s state of the nation speeches with the annual Greens state of the planet address. The capital gains tax initiative grabbed headlines but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface. As we face myriad economic and environmental problems, the Greens have the real answers.
Written By: - Date published: 7:36 am, January 31st, 2011 - 134 comments
In the first part of a two part guest post, Queen of Thorns takes a look at feminism, the left, the labour party and funny old Chris Trotter.
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, January 30th, 2011 - 50 comments
Continual growth in the use of resources is not possible. Society and the economy has to be structured to allow a steady state economy where resource use is within sustainable limits.
Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, January 29th, 2011 - 65 comments
We could look at bailed-out TranzRail and Air NZ, with privatisation leading to risk-free pay-outs for the temporary owners of infrastructure that couldn’t be allowed to fail. Or Telecom that doesn’t look out for NZers interests, and needs us to pay for it to build us a fibre network. But let’s look at the “success” story of Contact, the closest privatisation to National’s new plans.
Written By: - Date published: 7:50 am, January 28th, 2011 - 171 comments
John Key, very optimistically, reckons he can raise $10 billion by selling our assets. Key’s Government gave massive tax cuts, averaging $16,000 each, to the richest 1% of taxpayers that they’ll get year after year. The present value of those tax cuts for the richest 1% is over $10 billion. He’s selling our assets to pay for tax cuts for the richest 1%.
Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, January 27th, 2011 - 38 comments
John Key is busy raising the canard of our economy being as indebted as the PIIGS countries that are in trouble in Europe. He’s talking about net foreign debt, and he’s suggesting lowering government debt is the solution. But New Zealand’s debt problem is not a government debt problem, and with asset sales he has the wrong solution to the wrong problem.
Written By: - Date published: 7:51 am, January 27th, 2011 - 99 comments
Just what is this political “courage” the Herald speaks of?
Written By: - Date published: 2:42 pm, January 26th, 2011 - 31 comments
Whilst John Key’s raising of privatisation is the first focus of his State of the Nation speech, perhaps equally as important is his intention for swingeing cuts to public services. Health and Education will have to pay higher wages from the same budget, but the likes of Police, Justice, Conservation and Social Services can expect cuts of more than 10%.
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, January 26th, 2011 - 160 comments
So John Key’s great bit of policy for the election is to sell off the family jewels. Generations of New Zealanders have built up these assets, and now, like in the 90s, National intend to flick them off to foreign investors, and drain the country’s wealth.
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, January 26th, 2011 - 21 comments
Good news for families of the Pike River miners. The Police have shown them video proving their mens bodies are still intact. It raises questions about the government’s actions. Why was this footage previously withheld? Why were the Nats spinning that there was nothing left to recover? And why was the recovery really abandoned so hastily?
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, January 26th, 2011 - 29 comments
It’s not radical, it’s not revolutionary but Phil Goff has laid out a positive, progressive, and affordable vision that contrasts with John Key’s directionless, lazy leadership. It seems to be popular. The PM’s state of the nation is expected to contain an interesting savings policy but always the question is: cue bono?
Written By: - Date published: 11:37 pm, January 25th, 2011 - 56 comments
John Key says that he can’t increase the minimum wage by a decent amount. The excuse this time round is that a decent increase will destroy jobs. Well, let’s check that out a little bit. Is it really true that lifting the minimum wages destroys jobs? If it is, do the benefits outweigh the gains? And what about the cost of letting wages fall?
Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, January 25th, 2011 - 203 comments
Phil Goff has just delivered an excellent speech to start a year of laying out Labour Policy. $100/week tax free, stopping tax-dodging bludgers, support for R&D and exporters, correcting housing market anomalies and encouraging investment in the productive sector. There was a lot to like.
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, January 25th, 2011 - 49 comments
The Legatum Prosperity Index looks beyond GDP, a failed measure that counts rebuilding after an earthquake as a gain. The Index is a broad measure of nations’ prosperity comprising 88 components. It shows that New Zealand is a relatively prosperous nation. It also shows that relative prosperity is falling under National.
Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, January 24th, 2011 - 42 comments
Higher commodity and food prices, we are told are a Good Thing. Our exporters (ie. Fonterra and foreign oil companies) get more money. But we consumers have to pay more to by the same products, so are we better off? And what about the poor saps overseas who are paying more for less, or the really poor saps who are priced out of the market?
Written By: - Date published: 7:23 pm, January 23rd, 2011 - 9 comments
It’s a bit late, but this post is in response partly to John Armstrong’s bouquet piece at the end of 2010 headlined “Forget the economy, watch the lemmings”, and partly to Fran O’Sullivan’s latest piece in yesterday’s Herald about Hone Harawira. Fran O’Sullivan was my political journalist of 2010, for one simple reason. She’s a […]
Written By: - Date published: 12:17 pm, January 23rd, 2011 - 259 comments
We have a national myth that everyone is in essence equal, yet we have a disparity of wealth where 10% own more than the other 90% put together and 50% have no net assets. How does one square away occupying a position of extreme privilege in a democratic society? Often, by convincing yourself that your privilege doesn’t exist.
Written By: - Date published: 7:23 am, January 21st, 2011 - 151 comments
It’s always so wonderful to load up Granny Herald and see some wealthy late middle-aged grump (I’m picking this one is John Roughan) taking a swipe at the poor in the editorial. Today, Granny says we can’t afford to give mums more paid leave or more Working for Families for young kids. Hmm. But we can still afford those tax cuts for the rich?
Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, January 20th, 2011 - 43 comments
Remember back when Labour was in power and the Right had this myth that dole numbers had only dropped because Labour had moved people to other benefits? It wasn’t true but that didn’t stop John Key saying it during one of the 2008 debates as he promised to get more people into work. Now, 2 years later, 83,879 more Kiwis are on benefits.
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, January 19th, 2011 - 74 comments
In 1951, New Zealand temporarily became a police state. Civil liberties were curtailed, freedom of speech denied, and the Government used force against its own citizens. This film tells the story of the infamous lockout of waterside workers and the nationwide strike which followed. The film won Best Documentary and John Bates was named Best Director, Documentary, at the 2002 New Zealand Television Awards.
Written By: - Date published: 2:08 pm, January 18th, 2011 - 243 comments
When the government, eventually, gets back from its month-long holiday, it needs to review the minimum wage. To keep up with inflation, the increase needs to be at least 50 cents an hour to $13.25. If we want to catch Australia, we should copy them and lift it to $15.
Written By: - Date published: 9:59 pm, January 17th, 2011 - 37 comments
In the last decade or so the right have taken the rhetoric of grievance and victimhood and used it to stifle debate. But there’s a big difference between real grievances like racial oppression and the so-called grievances rich, powerful right-wingers (or should that be right-whingers) subscribe to.
Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, January 17th, 2011 - 25 comments
The “Great Recession” saw a greater spike in unemployment in New Zealand compared to its drop in GDP than almost everywhere. Whilst GDP slumped, unemployment did less so in all but 2 countries across the world: NZ and Spain. The Government, far from being relentlessly focussed on jobs, has ensured with its policies that workers were laid off in swathes.
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, January 17th, 2011 - 207 comments
You would think that, to reassure the families and satisfy critics, the government would have released detailed technical analysis showing why re-entering Pike River will never be possible. Instead, we got vague, contradictory statements only after the media pressed Key for answers. Now, a mining expert has confirmed the mine’s atmosphere is stable and can be made breathable cheaply.
Written By: - Date published: 12:09 pm, January 15th, 2011 - 136 comments
The National Secretary of the miners’ union has warned important evidence may be lost if Pike River mine is sealed.
For making that rational observation he’s been smeared by National Party blogger, David Farrar.
It seems the Nats don’t just want to seal the mine, they want to seal the whole issue and they’ll be quick attack anyone who raises any awkward points.
Recent Comments