Cartoon: Attacking the poor
The Child Poverty Action Group thinks that National’s welfare policy is likely to hurt vulnerable children.
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Gordon Campbell on Nats’ welfare plan
Dog whistle politics to some, beneficiary bashing to others. But is there logic to National’s policy on benefits? Gordon Campbell asks: Will John Key’s policy […]
Nats bashing on solo mums
Wonder of wonders, the Nats’ benefits policy has an 11 page document attached to it. Oh, wait, it’s mostly just stats ripped from […]
Ambitious for beneficiary-bashing
That nice man, Mr Key, the one who says the old Left/Right divide is over, that he’s a new man with a new […]
Policies for the wrong time (again)
We’ve heard a lot about the ‘private’ opinions of some senior National MP’s this week. What we haven’t heard much about is the […]
On botox and pet grooming
Pansy Wong’s supposed outrage over ACC “shelling out $750,000 for staff to indulge in day spas, manicures, and botox” has nothing to do […]
Key-nesian economics
I’m really starting to wonder why it’s the worst academics who seem to get the most media, Maybe it’s because the good ones […]
Academic, youse are paid too much
Professor John Gibson from Waikato University says public servants should be paid less because they get paid more than their private sector equivalents […]
Unemployment to 3.9%
Unemployment rose again last quarter but remains under 4%. It has now been under 4% for 16 of the last 17 quarters. Interestingly, […]
Collins beats up on the sick, again
The dreadful Judith Collins is once again peddling lies about sickness beneficiaries to try and soften the ground for National to throw our […]
Kiwisaver cuts to fund Nats’ tax cuts?
So, the rumour is that Kiwisaver will be slashed to fund National’s tax cut policy. Currently, the Government spends up to the following […]
Employment, wages up
Despite the economic slowdown, the labour market is holding up well and wages are up at the record rate. The average hourly wage […]
Spin-busting: ‘A growth problem, not a debt problem’
To justify borrowing for tax cuts, National’s new line is that New Zealand has ‘a growth problem, not a debt problem’. Untrue. (source) […]
Key’s vision: tax cuts for rich, more debt for youse
In a speech described by attendees as ‘more bullet points’, John Key announced to the National Party conference today that National would borrow $5 […]
Spinbusting: Nats’ borrowing not for tax cuts
Today, Bill English is outlining National’s plan to undo the work of the past fifteen years and take this country further into debt. […]
Workers stand up for their rights, Nats still evasive
The EPMU launched its ‘Work Rights Wage Drive’ today with a rally in Christchurch. Despite the rain, over 1500 Kiwi workers turned out […]
Lucky Aussies, they kept their work rights
Some of our friends on the Right have been putting themselves through strange mental contortions over the recent series of posts we’ve had […]
90 Day no rights makes no sense
The National party may prefer not to have their policy examined in great detail, but in today’s Herald Nigel Haworth, professor of human resource development at […]
EPMU cleared to campaign
The Electoral Commission has decided the EPMU can register as a third party under the Electoral Finance Act despite the National Party spending […]
Electoral Finance Act victory for free speech
The Electoral Commission has ruled that several unions affiliated to the Labour Party are able to register as third parties under the Electoral […]
Larger slice of the cake for workers under Labour
The essential debate in New Zealand politics (and all capitalist economies) is between Right and Left over how big a share of the […]
Does anyone care about the gender wage gap?
I recently caught a story on the radio about the gender wage gap of new graduates – and in the failed search to locate […]
CTU critiques National’s employment policy
Last week the Council of Trade Unions issued a devastating point-by-point critique of National’s ACC policy. Now they’ve followed up with an excellent […]
Fact: The Left has risen wages during its time in power
Inevitably, reaction from some to the post showing incomes fell 6.1% under National between 1990 and 1997 has not been horror at the […]
Fact: Nats cut wages last time they were in power
For anyone who still doesn’t want to believe that National cut incomes for most Kiwis last time they were in power (and would […]
Will the real National policy please stand up?
A reader noticed a difference between National’s workplace policy as quoted by us and as quoted elsewhere. We and some others have: “Continue […]
Nats painted into a corner
John Key has announced Working for Families would be kept unchanged by a National-led government. That’s the same Working for Families that National […]
Seeking better work rights
Seek has released analysis of the pay-rates offered by employers advertising on its site. It’s not a perfect measure and the figures are […]
Reaction roundup: Nats’ work rights policy
Democratic, voluntary organisations of workers: Finsec: “Within the current framework, many workers have been able to achieve real wage increases like the 5% […]
Pride in your work
Some of our rightwing commentators are rejecting the argument that National’s ‘workplace policy’ strips workers of their rights. Problem is, every workers’ rights […]
Take the money and run
I just read Gordon Campbell’s latest Scoop column about the omnibus tax bill and quickly followed it with Frog’s piece on the matter […]
Finance companies – a graphic explanation
With the collapse of Hanover Finance, the 25th finance company to go under, Hanover co-owner Mark Hotchin has declared ‘the finance companies’ model […]
Between the lines: Nats’ work rights policy
You know you’re in for a treat when a political party’s ‘policy’ (I still refuse to consider half a dozen bullet points a […]
Bollard cuts the OCR
The Reserve Bank has dropped the Official Cash Rate from 8.25% to 8%. Inflation is well outside the Bank’s 1-3% target range but […]
EMA Kiwisaver campaign in breach of EFA?
The Employers and Manufacturers Association’s advertising campaign to defend the ability of employers to make workers pay their own Kiwisaver employer contribution while […]
Previewing National’s employment policy
Word around the traps is that National is going to be releasing its industrial relations policy this afternoon. My prediction is the policy […]