Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
George Monbiot wrote recently on how Canadian and United Kingdom public media reporting on corporate news are hopelessly pro business and lacking in any sort of balance. And how the volume of articles concerning environmental issues is declining. Is it the same in New Zealand?
Fracking has created a short term oil glut. That’s bad news for climate change. Could we at least find a silver lining in this carbon cloud, or will it be business as usual?
That’s as in spat. Characteristic. Richard Smith of Naked Capitalism questioned her Samoan fiduciary company fronting for a company delisted from GXG Markets, a small European exchange. It’s an interesting story, and Smith promises more to come from GXG about New Zealand if not Odgers.
Falling numbers yes, but falling through the cracks.
Sometimes a simple graph is much more eloquent and powerful than a whole lot of words …
I/S – “the Financial Markets Authority knew about almost 4,000 crimes and never bothered to prosecute any of them”…
Yesterday it was announced that Auckland is the ninth least affordable city in the world requiring 8.3 times their average wage to buy a home. Reducing regulation hasn’t worked, otherwise more than 20 homes would have been built under the 2013 fast track accord. The problem is a shortage of affordable housing.
An interesting milestone in inequality is about to be passed.
This the time of year when papers are thin and economic prognostications abound as the pop-star economists from banks and brokers look to […]
The evidence is surely mounting that the remedies to recession proposed by orthodox policy have failed.
The whole basis of monetarist policy is revealed to be a charade.
The continued rise of rheumatic fever is an indictment of our society.
New figures show that there is no quick fix for diseases of poverty.
Your move, National.
The United Kingdom is debating entry into the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which like the TPPA will allow investor-state disputes to be resolved by unappealable unaccountable private arbitration. George Monbiot in the Guardian describes the issue well and has suggestions on how the proposal can be challenged.
The self righteousness of the leaders who marched in Paris was there for all to see, but few in the media decry and […]
Political Scientists Bronwyn Hayward and Mark Boyd were interviewed on Radio New Zealand yesterday on New Zealand politics in 2014 and what happened during the election. They talked extensively on dirty politics, on the role of the media and how things can be improved in 2015.
Far from fading away into the Christmas haze, SkyCity looks likely to be one of the defining political issues for 2015.
bsprout on the Local Bodies blog, provides a case study, specific to Southland. At the same time, it outlines a more general pattern that can be seen in many places, each with their own local circumstances.
Whatever the reason for a person’s disability if it is to such an extent that they cannot work we condemn them to a life of subsistence living with a big pay rise when, and if, they reach retirement age to 65% of the average wage!
Charlie Mitchell of the Dominion Post has analysed John Key’s formal speeches since 2007 to see what has from time to time been uppermost in Key’s mind. The results are interesting to say the least.
I was astonished by an anonymous NZ Herald editorial on New Years day – “NZ economy is in a good place and thriving”. Obviously an inferior intellect was slow cooked in the warm holiday weather. It turned to mush and regurgitated one of Bill English’s wet dreams. Dairy prices are unlikely to rebound any time soon.
Yesterday, on Outspoken at RNZ, Craig McCulloch interviewed Jeanette Fitzsimons, Gareth Morgan and Metiria Turei on the future of the Green Party. Morgan wants the Greens to shift away from “scary” economic policies. Turei and Fitzsimons explain why not.
A July 2013 post by Helen Kelly was about Daniel Rockhouse who survived the Pike River Mine disaster, and then rescued Russell Smith. Yesterday Daniel Rockhouse got a bravery award. Read Kelly’s 2013 post here.
Happy New Year! Some songs for the times.
How can young unemployed people get help in finding a job, when they have been trying to get one for some time?
Pope Francis has created a stir recently. He has been instrumental in the ending by the United States of sanctions against Cuba, he has criticised the Curia for being inwardly focussed and not sufficiently concerned for the poor and he has reached out to Muslims. And to top things off he is intending to issue a Papal Encyclical on climate change and will be urging countries to enter into a meaningful agreement on climate change.
At last, some of our conservative short-term thinkers have woken up to the elephant in the room with the SkyCity convention centre subvention. Years late and their previous support has cost taxpayers dearly already. Perhaps they could learn to read reports? And think before committing us to be suckers?
Thomas Piketty in his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century came to the strong conclusion that capitalism left by itself will increase inequality and cause increased risk of social, economic and democratic upheaval. He has an unlikely supporter, albeit critical, in Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world.
The smug middle class National voter seems oblivious to how close they are to financial hardship…
The UK Green Party is gaining in popularity as many people turn away from the 3 established parties. The radical left Syriza party in Greece could possibly gain power in their election – what powerful international right wing forces would then be unleashed?
A new report shows that Steven Joyce’s MBIE fiefdom is failing miserably. Meanwhile the MBIE is under fire for the major cost blow out of the Sky City Casino deal – another deal with Joyce’s imprints all over it.
So suggestions on how to have an ethical christmas that is light on the planet and will improve the plight of humanity.
The government has failed to tackle NZ’s on-going housing crisis. Fuel/energy poverty is increasing, with a higher proportion of households unable to afford any heating. More Kiwis are renting than in the 2006 census, & more Aucklanders live in over-crowded households.
Another day, another crucial leak of information relating to a relentless drive by the USA to have control of as much data as they can, in as many countries as possible.
The price of crude oil has nearly halved in the past six months and is causing massive repercussions throughout the world with both the Russian economy and the American Shale Oil industry under threat. The geopolitical implications are complex.
National are not responsible for the eventual recovery, they are responsible for delaying it.
Scott examines Bill’s likely excuses for failing to deliver something National have promised since 2011
The Meatworkers Union today launch a campaign for Jobs That Count – to try to get better conditions for these marginalised workers who face it all – seasonal work, dangerous jobs, casual and zero hours contracts and anti-union pressure.
