Dog whistling Housing Corp tenants
National has announced that it will put an end to a “state house for life” if it gets into power next year. But its rationale is not only cruel but based on a faulty understanding of the local reality.
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Fire in the Sky – Smoke in the city
Joe Carolyn from Unite Union has posted on the effects of the Sky Convention Centre fire on workers at Sky City.
Farmers given a chance. I think National will screw it up for them.
One of the less endearing traits of National is their ability to screw almost anything up for short-term advantage regardless how it impacts long-term. Usually this comes from the results of in-fighting within the party. The agricultural emissions deal is likely to get caught again.
Why unions won’t give up on Fair Pay Agreements
The CTU has launched a campaign to raise awareness about a discussion paper released by the Government on fair pay agreements amongst media comment that government support may not be secure.
One News Colmar Brunton Poll Oct 2019
The October TV One/Colmar Brunton poll is out. Like yesterday’s devastating TV3 poll result showing National not waving, but drowning, today’s poll confirms that NZ is still heading toward an historic Labour/Green Government, despite the Tories flirting with numbers in the high fifties.
UPDATE: Some weirdness with the numbers: they add up to 101% and 47% does not actually give National 60 seats, so the ‘Poll Says National Can Govern’ headlines are a wee bit optimistic. TRP.
$7.5 billion surplus
The Government has announced a $7.5 billion dollar surplus. Is it time to start spending?
Rates, debt, growth and PPP
Stuff had an interesting piece looking at rates, taxes and local infrastructure “Rates are much lower than you think, and they’re responsible for miserable growth in cities”. They just missed out one crucial factor. The way that PPP debates often block infrastructure. Interesting that got missed..
National’s plans to torment poor people leaked
National’s plans to torment poor people for political gain have been leaked.
China independence day
October 1st is the National Day of the People’s Republic of China. They like to make it a big day, bigger than the […]
The Government’s Economic Development Plan
Last week the government launched its Economic Development Plan, arguably late but with lots of useful initiatives.
Fonterra, again
Why New Zealand – and its government – need to engage much harder about Fonterra.
Battery power gets way more interesting
Anyone who has been around tech for the last couple of decades will be aware of the liberating and industry disruptive effect of batteries. This caught my attention – “Tesla May Have Invented a Million-Mile Electric Car Battery”. It was well worth the read.
Fairy tales of eternal economic growth
Greta Thunberg has spoken at the UN Climate Change summit and has warned the world that it is stealing the dreams and hopes of young people through its failure to address climate change.
The NZIER Report on dairying and fresh water
“New Zealand does not face stark choices between having a dairy sector versus having clean waterways. Experience shows that, by focusing on profits, not production, farms can increase their economic returns and reduce their impact on the environment.”
Where is the Government on oil reliance?
Even though New Zealand is one of the most oil-reliant countries on earth, the Government has a disturbing lack of a plan for security of supply.
Macron speech – The end of Western hegemony
France President Macron’s remarkable and wide-ranging speech to French ambassadors after France hosted the recent G7 conference in Biarritz is well worth a read. He lays it all out – so much better than Trump’s tweets or BoJo’s bluster.
How This Government Can Still Win
Some suggestions on how Labour can retain power at the next election.
National are lighting political dumpster fires while the Amazon burns
New Zealand’s poster boys for late stage capitalism’s dying throes are fools of the highest order.
National tacks right
National has released its economic policies for the next 12 months and they have a decidedly backward feeling about them.
Kill us now, or choose life.
The Amazon burns. The Arctic is on fire. We won’t be able to eat or breath our electric cars, but we still have time to choose a different path.
Labour and welfare
Many of us wanted to believe that the Ardern-led compassion would apply to all New Zealanders, but Labour’s defence of highly punitive benefit sanctions tell us it doesn’t.
Fonterra failure and Government failure
Fonterra is dragging New Zealand down, faster and faster. What is this Government going to do?
Slowing economy?
In May this year the New Zealand Treasury was projecting growth accelerating from 2.4% to 3% in 2019-20 while the Reserve Bank has pessimistically cut interest rates to 1%. Both can’t be right.
Do poor people and women exist in right wing economics land?
David Seymour has written a critique of Deborah Russel’s review of the hard right economic tome “Economics in one lesson”. And totally missed the point of what she was saying.
Police – ignoring their job in Southland
“Allegations of trespassing and intimidation as Southland winter grazing protest escalates” yesterday. The reporter completely missed the most important salient point – the police don’t seem to be doing their job. Leaving a pissed lynch mob of farmers trying to force people out of their house to ‘talk’ to them is pretty clearly an act of intimidation. And that doesn’t even cover the original idiot farmer who is alleged to have rammed someone’s car.
Should the Government spend massively more?
With yesterday’s announcement by the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates by 1%, some are suggesting that the government should embark on a massive public works spree to stimulate the economy while increasing national debt at low interest rates. But Kiwisaver reform may be more effective.
Maybe we should take the plane
Activist Greta Thunberg is attending a United Nations global warming summit in New York, and will get there by boat not airplane. But should she consider flying?
Five days is a long time in politics
Five days ago Simon Bridges predicted that unemployment had gone up. The latest figures show that the unemployment rate is at its lowest rate for the past eleven years. Update: My enthusiasm was too high. It has been pointed out to me that the Bridges tweet was from last year. My apologies to Simon …
Institutional poverty
Christchurch City Council have provided hundreds of social housing tenants with bubble wrap and a mop instead of insulating their houses.
Memo from Crosby Textor – fake news
The Standard has obtained an internal memo from CTF Partners (formerly Crosby Textor) where it responds to allegations that it is a kindergarden for the rich children of Conservative Party donors, has engaged in misogynist behavior and ran anti and pro cycle astroturf campaigns to get a cycleway moved from near a client’s business premises to near an opponent’s premises.
Jacindamania
Despite the babies and the engagements, maybe it’s time to ditch the default Jacindamania.
Fool me twice?
Boris Johnson’s ruthless purge of Cabinet and hard right shift looks like preparation for an early election. Reminds me of 1984 at home, as a right wing coup is on the way. He lied his way to Brexit – will it work again?
When your Comms team goes rogue
Former UK Labour MP Jared O’Mara must be regretting not treating his staff better as his Comms adviser has announced his resignation via O’Mara’s own twitter account.
The strait of Hormuz
With the seizing of an oil tanker by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz today as a presumably tit-for-tat escalation for British seizing an Iranian ship, and the U.S. Navy harassing their coastline, we are in for a senseless and dangerous political escalation.
Brian Easton on methane
Brian Easton has put up a interesting post at Pundit which looks at how we should measure and constrain in our methane emissions. My initial impression is that his approach defeats the purpose of trying to reduce the effects of climate change over the coming century.
Nats must hate Auckland’s building consents boom
The rate at which the building consents have increased in Auckland, and the shift to a more useful mix, has been incredibly fast. You can understand why National after their decade of failure for housing and transport have been targeting the authors of that success. It highlights National’s economic incompetence.