The War on P
National Party strategist and Dominion Post columnist Richard Long declared war on “P” today. The “P’” word that is. Privatisation. Labour and the […]
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Will you vote for higher levies?
If National wins the election, it will privatise the Work Account of ACC (and maybe other ‘profitable’ accounts). We know that this may […]
Taxing choices
There are four options open to National regarding the tax expectations it will deliver large tax cuts ($20+ per person a week = […]
Would Nats introduce work-for-the-dole?
Judith Collins, who has made it her mission in life to attack benefits at every turn, has been meeting with Mission Australia, the […]
False idol
We’ve said this before but, seeing as BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander is in the Herald this morning saying ‘the October 1 tax […]
Nats unable to justify ACC policy
Unlike some of our counterparts, the Standardistas aren’t into vanity posts. So, in this clip from TVNZ7’s Back Benches on Wednesday, ignore who’s […]
PSA rips Bagrie report
Good piece in the Herald yesterday (and the Dom Post the day before) from PSA national sec Richard Wagstaff critiquing ANZ National chief […]
Nats’ ACC policy all about ideology
National’s ACC privatisation policy is another of its one page wonders (this time with three page backgrounder skimming the history of ACC and […]
Not ready for prime time
John Key tries to reassure us that National’s policy to privatise ACC would keep the scheme’s principles intact. Here’s how he defined those […]
CTU rips Nats’ ACC policy
The Council of Trade Unions has put out a detailed, devastating critique of each of National’s arguments for privatising ACC. I’ve copied it […]
ACC and the rhetoric of ‘choice’
National says its ACC policy will provide ‘choice’ on accident compensation, but choice for who? Employers will be able to choose between a […]
Previewing the Nats’ work rights policy
The biggest protests during this term of Parliament were against National’s 90 Day Bill when it came up as a private members’ bill. […]
Nats’ ACC plan only good for insurance companies and lawyers
National has confirmed it intends to privatise the ACC scheme starting with opening the work account to private competition. This would see private […]
Key comes out against wage increases
This morning on Sunrise, John Key said “wage inflation” is a problem causing inflation and needs to be reduced. Wage inflation is a […]
90 Day No Rights policy, why?
Why does National want to remove the right of workers to appeal against unjustifiable dismissal in the first 90 days of employment? The […]
Inflation up but interest rates must come down
Inflation was 1.6% in the last quarter, 4% annually, the highest in 13 years. Petrol is driving inflation. By itself petrol accounted for […]
Contrary to Key, Govt does target waste
The idea that a government would purposely spend money in a wasteful manner is patently absurd. Voters want more government services and lower […]
On flat tax
We have a progressive tax system, whereby the portion of income paid in tax increases with income. Many on the Right argue that […]
Running on empty
A worrying report on the future of petrol prices is out today. It predicts petrol could hit $10 a litre in a decade. […]
National’s Bank
After reading Steve’s post this morning mocking ANZ National for putting out confused National Party talking points dressed up as research, a reader […]
More anti-worker policy from the Nats
On Sunday, Bill English let slip that National still intends to take away the work rights of employees of small businesses for the […]
Turnoff
UPDATE: Thanks to commenter T-Rex for reversing the cartoon to show workers taking a disastrous right turn. Far too much time on your […]
Sacked
In perhaps the most unsurprising announcement of the year, National has let slip it’s going to maintain its 90 day no rights policy, […]
The right incentives?
National tells us that, if we put the right incentives in place, people will work harder and their incomes will go up. National […]
Beyond the political showboating
Ok. Now that the political theatre is done maybe National and its allies would like to engage in proper debate on the freight […]
On Freedom
It is time for the Left to take back the language of freedom. At its heart freedom, power for the ordinary person, is what […]
Report shows incomes up, inequality down
The MSD’s Incomes Report provides a wealth of information. For instance, here’s how the mean and median household incomes have moved since 1982. […]
Question
Howcome when capital goes on strike over political issues it’s seen as a legitimate part of democracy, but if workers tried the same […]
Time to front up on ACC
Some excellent journalism by Vernon Small has revealed that Australian insurers expect National to privatise the ACC scheme and they see $200 million […]
Merrill Lynch: Nats will privatise ACC
It’s refreshing to see some proper investigative journalism in this morning’s Dominion Post, with a revelation from Vernon Small that while National continues […]
All aboard KiwiRail
Today marks the launch of KiwiRail. It’s great to have rail back in Kiwi hands, after a decade of asset-stripping. Now comes the […]
March GDP figures
As expected, the economy contracted 0.3% in the March quarter. The drought brought activity in the agricultural sector down after a recent strong […]
Johnny Key and the magic $500 million
Whenever John Key is asked to explain how he will fund some new spending or his still secret tax cuts, he says ‘we’ll […]
Lost highway
Petrol is over $2.10 a litre. The price will keep rising both with the ever upward march of the price of crude and […]
Bill to protect workers from labour-hire vultures
Labour, with the support of New Zealand First, has developed a bill based on Darien Fenton’s private members’ bill that will ensure tens […]
ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)
In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill […]