An idea that could catch on
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
Bill English’s groundhog decades
Bill English is a strange denizen of National’s Wellington groundhog set. He keeps repeating the wet dreams that have been tried three times now and come up as failures each time. On Q&A yesterday he played with some silly numbers about dairy, ignoring the damage that it and National’s obsessive focus on the past has done on the resilience of our export economy.
School lunches – Key vs data
Key claimed that the number of hungry kids in schools was limited to “the odd one or two”. Everyone knew it was nonsense. Now a survey by the New Zealand Principals’ Federation indicates the true extent of the problem.
The Greek referendum
Update: the No vote is predicted to win a resounding victory with 61% support of the total valid vote.
Toil and Trouble.
In the hope of some informed comment…
That one time Government almost did something decent for workers
There was this one time when the Government understood that workers coming into NZ to help rebuild Christchurch were very vulnerable to exploitation.
There never was a rockstar
We’ve just seen the weakest quarterly growth in two years, and economists are warning of possible recession. The NZ economy needs to be fundamentally reshaped.
Nick Smith; Thick as a Short Plank?
National’s Nick Smith appears to have misled Parliament over the illegal export of Kauri logs. Thankfully for Smith, it’s nothing to do with the rumours swirling around who is responsible for the loss of our irreplaceable heritage timber, but more to do with the Minister’s inability to understand a clear and explicit piece of legislation.
Greece – damned if they do
Secret documents seen by The Guardian describe just how bad things will be for Greece if they accept the demands of the IMF / “troika”.
New Powers to Ministers to screw Iwi
The Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill allows designated Ministers to sell off state houses. Currently Housing New Zealand has no such power. Interestingly however this Government could introduce a Bill with criteria to enable sales to be signed off by the CE of Housing New Zealand but instead they are seeking that power for themselves. But within it there is a fishhook for iwi. UPDATE: comment from Turei and response from Bennett
Marching backwards to diesel
Replacing electric trains with diesel is the kind of short-term stupid decision making that is unfortunately typical of the way NZ is currently run.
Greece defaults
As the last Global Financial Crisis taught us, we’re in for another round of protecting the banks and letting the people suffer.
Greece and the Euro crisis
The invisible hand of the market is busy punching itself in the face today. Some observations on Greece and the Euro crisis, from the factual to the fun, courtesy of Twitter this morning.
Another disease of poverty making a comeback
Add another disease of poverty to the list of those that are making a comeback in NZ.
Will New Zealand social housing soon subsidise Australian social housing?
John Key’s interview on Morning Report this morning suggests that National does not know what it is doing with its social housing policy. Are we approaching a situation where profits from New Zealand social housing is going to underwrite the cost of Australian social housing?
Youth rates and youth employment
Remember how National’s youth rates were going to raise levels of youth employment? Turns out not so much.
Inequality – Treasury report
Last week Treasury came out with a detailed and interesting report, Inequality in New Zealand 1983/84 to 2013/14. It is no surprise to find that the last Labour government acted to reduce inequality, the current National government has acted to increase it.
Older white men paid double young ethnic women
That’s not my headline. That’s Stuff’s business section’s headline.
Selling state houses to Australia
English needs to explain why the government can’t find NZ buyers for their “social housing” plans. The Nats to explain how selling state houses helps a single family in need.
An open letter to Andrew Little
A respectful open letter to Andrew Little with suggestions for how to win the next election!
Universal Basic Income Experiment
Income in a world of climate change.
Sacrificing mental health to dragons
The Labour Party has had a sneak peek at the process our government is using to pick “providers” for its mercenary social impact bonds scheme, and it’s like something off television.
Destroying a savings culture
Key: “The removal of the $1,000 kick-start contribution will not make a blind bit of difference to the number of people who join KiwiSaver.” Wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.
Dickensian
Step 1: Make welfare assistance almost impossible to obtain. Step 2: Dismiss the concerns of the poor by telling them they should ask for more help. Done!
As the economy stalls it’s a great time to be a bank!
Ho ho – what am I saying? It’s always a great time to be a bank.
#Sheepgate – did National ask the Saudi Sheep Farmer to sue NZ?
It seems crazy but it appears that National may have asked the Saudi sheep farmer to sue New Zealand. And John Key seems to be relaxed about facilitation payments aka bribes.
NRT: Disgraceful
I/S at No Right Turn: “Since coming to power in 2008, the National government has sold more than a thousand state houses and tightened access to the remainder considerably. The net result? People not getting the assistance they need…”
Our assumptions about work and workers
Beyond discrimination against women, there’s a broader set of assumptions we make about work and workers, and it’s hurting us – workers, society, and business.
Lift the refugee quota
Refugees are people, but they get treated as a political football, as recent events in Australia and NZ have demonstrated once again. It is long past time that NZ raised its refugee quota.
Colin Craig’s Contempt for His Victim
The Conservative Party’s Colin Craig has victimised his former Press Secretary by deliberately breaching a confidentiality settlement in order to frame his inappropriate behaviour as a minor matter they were both equally responsible for. Well, that’s crap, Colin. It’s actually a rich man using his power and privilege to belittle a woman. Again.
Sexism, babies, and our assumptions about work
It’s 2015, and we’re constantly told that sexism is over, feminism has had its day – so why can’t this woman find a job?
The Best of British; The NHS, the Welfare State and David Bowie
Massive anti-austerity marches have just ended all over Britain. Tens of thousands of protesters have turned out to let the Tory government know that the fight against the right has not ended with the general election. Welsh singer Charlotte Church told the crowd in London that she is proudly British, but for all the right reasons.
Iain Lees-Galloway: how many meathooks to the head will it take?
Some strong stuff from Labour’s spokesperson for Labour, Iain Lees-Galloway, in Question Time yesterday.
The death of trickle down economics and the mess we’re in
Trickle down economics is pronounced dead by the IMF. Housing, the working poor and the economy – the policy settings are wrong everywhere.
Pope Francis on Climate Change
No beating about the bush.
Deadly “social bonds”?
The Nats want to turn over social problems to the private sector for profit. This account from the UK should give them pause.