Simon Bridges Going Blue in the Face Barking at Green Cars
Simon Bridges is barking madly at green cars.
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Toll by Stealth
A tunnel is like a wormhole to another dimension. It changes people’s behaviour ever so slightly, ever so briefly, without them realising.
Cannabis, teens, and fecal matter
I’ve been musing on the subject of minor drugs that are currently illegal and their supply chain. It is early days so far, but almost all of the news coming through from where the recreational use of cannabis has been decriminalised hasn’t indicated dire consequences. There are some pretty obvious benefits – especially in the quality of supply.
Guest post – Bucking the trend at ECAN
A guest post from Anthony Rimell about a very disturbing attempt by ECAN to allow the levels of nitrate leach into Christchurch’s water supply to increase.
On my reliable commute and dipshits like Mike Hosking
Traffic and parking in Auckland isn’t helped by ignorant conservative dipshit parasitic immigrants like Mike Hosking. They really don’t get how this city can’t just keep adding roads as the roads backup after accidents. Or why it is so much safer for ratepayer cyclists to not have to contend motorists trying to accidentally kill them.
National supports 47% tax rate for top income bracket *
* this is one possible interpretation for National’s praise of the Morrisonn Government’s change to Australian tax system.
Tamihere wants to privatise half of Watercare
John Tamihere has caused jaws throughout the region to drop by proposing that half of Watercare is privatised.
ANZ worried that it may be required to hold sufficient reserves
ANZ is complaining that the Reserve Bank wants it to hold additional capital in case of a run on the banks.
5G flip flop
Six weeks after banning China’s leading tech firm Huawei from contracts with U.S. businesses, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have reversed it after meeting China’s Premier Xi Jinping.
National offers to help with housing crisis
On behalf of the National Party Judith Collins has offered to help Labour deal with the housing crisis, the one that National is responsible for.
100% carbon free power generation?
The Interim Climate Change Commission has come out saying that making our electricity generation 100% renewable would be really expensive and that that expense would land on the poor of New Zealand. But the Government has already indicated it could be flexible on the target. ICCC should be helping us plan, not throwing road blocks in the way.
Regulating Bankers
Grant Robertson gets occasional criticism from the left but it is hard to fault him for his timing or his delivery in seeking to strengthen banking sector oversight.
What happened to Hisco?
Stuff has published details of a sweetheart deal where David Hisco bought the ANZ owned property they were living in for a greatly reduced price. But was this good investigative work or a leak from within ANZ?
National is pinning 2020 success on someone who is not in Parliament
An expensive advertising campaign suggesting that Christopher Luxon could be the next Prime Minister after the 2020 election has appeared.
Results matter
Everyone knows that getting employers to increase rates of pay and improve conditions of work takes real pressure and the only real way working people can exert pressure, in the unbalanced relationship that exists between individual employees and employers, is by acting together; collectively. And that’s what we’ve been doing week in, week out and getting real results.
Facebook is planning crypto currency service – what could possibly go wrong?
The corporation that has become renowned as the purveyor of fake news and the underminer of elections is planning to roll out a crypto currency service.
Bankers gonna bank
The former head of ANZ and the current owner of John Key’s Omaha property, David Hisco, has left the employment of the Bank in somewhat newsworthy circumstances.
Flact Tax
Act has proposed a tax increase for the bottom 64% of all tax payers.
What have Unions ever done for freeloaders?
Two teachers who support individual contracts and performance pay are upset that they are not going to immediately get the benefit the Teachers Unions negotiated for their members.
The Hong Kong protest worked
Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, has permanently suspended the legislative proposal to enable extradition of Hong Kong people to among other places mainland China.
Farewell Mr Makhlouf
Gabriel Makhlouf will be remembered because of events surrounding the unauthorised access of Treasury information by National. History should result in him being remembered for more positive things, like the creation of a new framework that has restructured how the government spends public money from the ground up.
The Teachers’ strike
Teaching is approaching a crisis point. Sure it has taken 9 years of the last Government’s rule to wreck the system. But this Government is expected to repair quickly the damage that the last Government caused.
Despatches from Surrealistan
London feels surreal. Joined the demo against Trump, in town to see the Queen, see off the Prime Minister, and plunder the NHS in the name of ‘free trade.’ Saw the play “The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson,” which might be prescient.
The Attack of the Snowflakes
National is playing the innocent victim of Budgetgate whilst being the aggressive attacker all along.
The Coming Global Economic Slowdown and New Zealand
With the United States – China trade war well underway, the sick chaos of Brexit is shrinking the U.K. economy and slowing much of Europe’s economy, and smaller economies such as that of Mexico in the crosshairs through further politically manufactured trade disputes, the second half of this year looks for New Zealand nowhere near as rosy as the first half.
Politicians Don’t Know Jack
Politicians rely on information provided to them, not on an encyclopaedic memory and an IQ of a genius.
Bene bashing
National has engaged in the most crass form of beneficiary bashing in opposing Government changes to the benefit system announced in the budget and passed under urgency.
The Treasury website hack that wasn’t
The police has confirmed that a poorly secured website partially searchable through Treasury’s website’s search function was the cause of the release of sensitive budget information.
Labour to relax fiscal responsibility rules
Grant Robertson has announced there will be a relaxing of the fiscal responsibility rules, although not until after the next election.
Parliament’s culture
The report into Parliament’s workplace culture has described behaviour that is of major concern.
Death tax fake news
Social media was responsible for the repeated broadcasting of the claim that Labor in Australia intended to bring in a death tax. What should happen when claims that are clearly wrong are made?
The hard change of forestry
Forestry is forcing an important tilting point between mitigating climate change and land use, and it’s going to affect the viability of some North Island towns.
Why Labour’s student debt policy is a success
National has claimed that Labour’s tertiary fees policy is failing because numbers applying for it have not increased. But National clearly has failed to understand that the policy is about reducing student loan totals or it is deliberately misinterpreting the reason for the policy.
Huawei go again
Mike Pompeo has just been in Britain trying to bully the UK government out of using Huawei for its 5G network. He and other officials have been heavying countries around the world. Its not working, but one thing is clear. It makes GCSB’s head Andrew Hampton’s assertion that its decision to reject Huawei was independent is simply not believable.
US China trade talks and New Zealand
Donald Trump’s trade war with China is way, way bad for New Zealand.
Zero carbon bill – let the battle commence
The Zero Carbon bill is already being attacked by farming groups who are clearly concerned at the implications for their industry. And National is already showing signs that it will play politics with the issue.