Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Written By: - Date published: 7:01 am, June 8th, 2017 - 24 comments
The Sunday Star Times had some gut wrenching coverage of the conditions in some of Auckland’s slum boarding houses. How can anyone vote for three more years of this?
Written By: - Date published: 4:48 pm, June 3rd, 2017 - 136 comments
A wee bit of speculation for a long week-end.
Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, June 2nd, 2017 - 11 comments
The Government starts to make cannabidiol more available.
Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, June 2nd, 2017 - 103 comments
The Ministry of Social Development illegally penalised a woman who refused to name the rapist father of her child. The case shines a spotlight on an issue that needs fixing.
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, June 1st, 2017 - 3 comments
Part of an occasional series. It all seems to be going according to plan.
Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, May 31st, 2017 - 16 comments
One of the nasty little fishhooks in the budget was the cutting of the home insulation scheme (Warm Up New Zealand). The scheme had a benefit-cost ratio of $6 for every $1 invested. Around 1,600 people die in NZ a year of cold-related factors. Hope the tax cuts are worth it eh?
Written By: - Date published: 11:13 am, May 31st, 2017 - 34 comments
Thank you Robert Smellie QC, I’m sure your donation will be put to great use. Smellie said: “I am a practising Anglican and as such I see socialism as being far closer to the Gospel than free enterprise.”
Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 31st, 2017 - 66 comments
The pace of change in transportation may mean that some time soon private ownership of petroleum cars may disappear.
Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, May 30th, 2017 - 40 comments
Bill English knows that our low wage economy is a ticking time-bomb for the government. He must be starting to get worried. The repeated promises of jam tomorrow are well worn out now.
Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, May 30th, 2017 - 92 comments
“The Budget is what allows National to govern. If National failed to pass the Budget, all its legal ability to tax and spend would dry up and the Government would fall apart. There is no way we would vote for the Budget, because that would be supporting the National Government and its agenda.” Metiria Turei and James Shaw, Green Party blog.
Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, May 29th, 2017 - 70 comments
Radio New Zealand has reported that the Government ignored two year old treasury advice to implement the increase in the accommodation supplement.
Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, May 29th, 2017 - 150 comments
Wondering about what the Greens are voting for? It might not be what you think.
Written By: - Date published: 6:25 am, May 29th, 2017 - 13 comments
Despite rumours to the contrary, the Green Party was highly critical of National’s Budget.
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 am, May 28th, 2017 - 138 comments
The Green Party caucus decision to support the Government’s tax reduction legislation is hard to comprehend and has created a perception of messiness in the way the Labour-Green MOU operates.
Written By: - Date published: 7:19 am, May 28th, 2017 - 141 comments
How nice of the government to help out property investors.
Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, May 27th, 2017 - 19 comments
Rohan Lord this week pulled out from being a Labour candidate because he thought his prospects of being elected were remote because he was a white middle class male. His comments displayed a complete lack of understanding of how the Labour Party works and ignores the fact that having a truly representative caucus is a virtue.
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, May 27th, 2017 - 31 comments
Campbell: “As I asked Joyce at the Budget lockup: ‘What is to stop landlords from treating this increase as a green light to hike up rents?’ … In reply, Joyce said that the government would be ‘keeping an eye’ on landlords, to ensure they did not abuse the situation.”
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 27th, 2017 - 31 comments
Drilling for oil we shouldn’t use, in a place that should remain untouched. Is this really what NZ wants?
Written By: - Date published: 3:01 pm, May 26th, 2017 - 8 comments
I/S at No Right Turn writes: “The Court has ruled that the High Court was right to declare that National’s 2010 prisoner voting restrictions (the ones which were so shabby and shoddily passed that they brought Parliament into disrepute) were inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act“
Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, May 26th, 2017 - 72 comments
James Shaw on National as the masters of the shell game.
Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, May 26th, 2017 - 72 comments
It was National’s best budget. Which means there are only three critical areas of failure.
Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, May 25th, 2017 - 23 comments
A useful piece from Keith Ng on myths about tax. It’s an extract from The PSA’s “Progressive Thinking: Ten Perspectives on Tax” booklet.
Written By: - Date published: 6:04 am, May 25th, 2017 - 20 comments
Budget Day.
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, May 24th, 2017 - 39 comments
I don’t know of a single piece written in support of Bennett’s proposal. She has been in the bubble too long, and lost touch with the values of NZ.
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, May 23rd, 2017 - 10 comments
Geddis: “So either Bill English was lying to Susie Ferguson on the radio, or his advisors lied to him about what TPP11 will require, or the Crown’s lawyers are lying to the Waitangi Tribunal.”
Written By: - Date published: 1:37 pm, May 22nd, 2017 - 10 comments
National does the bare minimum that it thinks it can get away with for those in need. This positioning is just preparing the ground for a budget that does more the same not enough.
Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, May 22nd, 2017 - 27 comments
The Herald has reported that ordinary New Zealanders are paying 500 times as much for water as corporations who export it.
Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, May 20th, 2017 - 85 comments
In New Zealand, neoliberal reforms have widened inequality and undermined the country’s self-image as an egalitarian paradise.
Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, May 20th, 2017 - 17 comments
Gordon Campbell: “The TPP has literally become a cargo cult ritual that’s being performed in the hope that someday, one day, the Americans will return, bearing gifts.”
Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, May 19th, 2017 - 134 comments
The Government is attempting through coercion and cajoling to get Auckland Council to privatise Ports of Auckland.
Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, May 18th, 2017 - 26 comments
Richard Harman on the Politik blog: “Overall, to use a favourite Government saying, it was an ‘untidy’ weekend capped by a flat speech from English which saw delegates ignore placards they’d been given to wave when he finished speaking.” The B-team is missing John Key.
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