Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, October 28th, 2019 - 20 comments
Happy Labour day everyone. Have a great day. And don’t forget the importance of the Labour movement and of collective action in preserving and enhancing our quality of life.
Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, October 25th, 2019 - 26 comments
The Sky City National Convention Centre fire brings the Government Auckland relationship to a very sharp edge. It was tense before. It’s worse now.
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, October 25th, 2019 - 29 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, October 25th, 2019 - 20 comments
Joe Carolyn from Unite Union has posted on the effects of the Sky Convention Centre fire on workers at Sky City.
Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, October 24th, 2019 - 21 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, October 18th, 2019 - 40 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 6:21 pm, October 14th, 2019 - 121 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 2:08 pm, October 8th, 2019 - 101 comments
The Government has announced a $7.5 billion dollar surplus. Is it time to start spending?
Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, October 8th, 2019 - 33 comments
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..
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, October 4th, 2019 - 110 comments
National’s plans to torment poor people for political gain have been leaked.
Written By: - Date published: 4:17 pm, October 1st, 2019 - 91 comments
October 1st is the National Day of the People’s Republic of China. They like to make it a big day, bigger than the United States’ July 4th. It’s called Golden Week because they all really holiday and reconnect across the country. They shop like lock forwards pack down. It’s massive. As the 70th event, it […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:35 am, September 30th, 2019 - 15 comments
Last week the government launched its Economic Development Plan, arguably late but with lots of useful initiatives.
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, September 29th, 2019 - 24 comments
Why New Zealand – and its government – need to engage much harder about Fonterra.
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, September 27th, 2019 - 35 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 24th, 2019 - 67 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, September 20th, 2019 - 19 comments
“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.”
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, September 19th, 2019 - 14 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 2:09 am, September 19th, 2019 - 21 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, September 16th, 2019 - 91 comments
Some suggestions on how Labour can retain power at the next election.
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, August 27th, 2019 - 47 comments
New Zealand’s poster boys for late stage capitalism’s dying throes are fools of the highest order.
Written By: - Date published: 3:35 pm, August 26th, 2019 - 44 comments
National has released its economic policies for the next 12 months and they have a decidedly backward feeling about them.
Written By: - Date published: 7:13 am, August 23rd, 2019 - 27 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, August 22nd, 2019 - 93 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, August 19th, 2019 - 95 comments
Fonterra is dragging New Zealand down, faster and faster. What is this Government going to do?
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, August 14th, 2019 - 39 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, August 13th, 2019 - 125 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, August 12th, 2019 - 49 comments
“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.
Written By: - Date published: 3:18 pm, August 8th, 2019 - 58 comments
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.
Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, August 7th, 2019 - 119 comments
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?
Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, August 6th, 2019 - 27 comments
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 …
Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, August 3rd, 2019 - 32 comments
Christchurch City Council have provided hundreds of social housing tenants with bubble wrap and a mop instead of insulating their houses.
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