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How come government doesn’t improve our economy?

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, May 21st, 2023 - 41 comments

When we continue to spend our money on stupid stuff, we get a dumb country.

National thinks tax cut good, reduction in Government charges bad

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, May 19th, 2023 - 77 comments

National has promised to reverse the removal of prescription charges even though it has a strong policy support and is an example of the state taking less of individuals’ private wealth.

Green Budget Day 2023

Written By: - Date published: 11:27 am, May 18th, 2023 - 15 comments

“All of these things were impossible, until they weren’t” – Chloe Swarbrick

Budget day

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, May 18th, 2023 - 49 comments

Today is Budget Day with the proceedings kicking off at 2 pm.

Luxon’s days are numbered

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 pm, May 14th, 2023 - 70 comments

The latest TV3 Newshub poll results are out. The major parties are neck and neck.  No surprise there. But what is stark is the public response to Christopher Luxon. Basically he is tanking.

Really Small States in Really Big Conflicts

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, May 9th, 2023 - 16 comments

In case we just missed it, New Zealand really has picked a side. Prime Minister Hipkins will head to the NATO summit in Lithuania together with Australia, Japan and South Korean leaders. Also Vladimir Zelinskyy is intending to go as well.

Late Game Bench

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, May 6th, 2023 - 8 comments

Last minutes of this parliamentary term and all teams are subbing out.

Fuel efficient cars and National’s tacky little culture war

Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, May 3rd, 2023 - 36 comments

Recent days have provided a further example of why Aotearoa’s response to climate change has been compromised by politics.

National keeps making shit up

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, May 1st, 2023 - 33 comments

National has been caught out misrepresenting official data by claiming that 19,000 nurses had left public health when they knew that the figure includes transfers between health boards and the number of employed nurses actually increased by 4,108.

National’s weird tenancy policy announcement

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, April 30th, 2023 - 73 comments

This week Chris Bishop announced National’s landlord policy and made the extraordinary claim that making evictions of tenants easier was a progressive pro tenant policy.

Why a Capital Gains tax is necessary

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, April 27th, 2023 - 186 comments

With the release by David Parker of a report showing that  the wealthiest New Zealanders pay tax at much less than half the rate of other Kiwis is it time to again debate the virtue of a comprehensive Capital Gains Tax.

The Murdoch’s very bad week

Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, April 23rd, 2023 - 16 comments

The Murdoch family’s decision to pay record damages to Dominion Voting Systems and to capitulate in its defamation case against Cricky Media suggest that they have had a very bad and a very expensive week.

National despairs as inflation rate drops

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, April 21st, 2023 - 36 comments

Yesterday Statistics New Zealand dealt a rather large blow to National’s election chances when it announced that the latest rate of inflation was 6.7%, a significant drop below the previous rate.

Stephen Jack is cancelled by the National Party

Written By: - Date published: 8:38 pm, April 20th, 2023 - 28 comments

So National has yet another candidate problem. His name is Stephen Jack and he clearly has difficulties in negotiating reality.

Lonely on the right side of history?

Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, April 17th, 2023 - 18 comments

Musing after the recent IMF/World Bank meetings, Former White house economist and US Treasury secretary Larry Summers said “it’s looking a bit lonely on the right side of history..as others are increasingly banding together in a whole range of structures.”

National’s problem with its candidates

Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, April 16th, 2023 - 58 comments

Another day, and yet another report a National candidate has done something really stupid.

What does Luxon think about minimum wage increases and holidays?

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, April 13th, 2023 - 47 comments

It is hard to reconcile Christopher Luxon’s deep christian beliefs with his desire to trash Easter Sunday as a holiday or to refuse to support increases in the minimum wage.

Jacinda’s Valedictory Speech

Written By: - Date published: 6:28 pm, April 5th, 2023 - 6 comments

Video of Jacinda Ardern’s Valedictory speech given today in Parliament.

Go well Jacinda

Written By: - Date published: 12:06 pm, April 5th, 2023 - 91 comments

Today is Jacinda’s official last day on the job as a member of Parliament.

RMA reform will not solve the climate crisis

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, April 4th, 2023 - 25 comments

National has proposed RMA reform as the basis for accelerating the roll out of renewable energy generation.  It appears that it has never met a problem for which the solution is either a tax cut or RMA reform.

Trump indicted

Written By: - Date published: 10:54 am, March 31st, 2023 - 33 comments

Breaking news that Donald J Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.  More details to follow …

Nash is goneburger

Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, March 29th, 2023 - 42 comments

Stuart Nash has been summarily sacked from Cabinet after an email to donors emerged indicating he had told them about sensitive Cabinet discussions on issues concerning them.

The Drums of War – Again

Written By: - Date published: 4:12 pm, March 20th, 2023 - 38 comments

On 20 March 2003 the US invaded Iraq, on the basis that it had and could use weapons of mass destruction. That was a lie. Australia joined President Bush ‘coalition of the willing’, New Zealand did not. The drums of war beat strong then, they are doing so again now. This time China is the target.

Gender recognition: woke-ism or human rights?

Written By: - Date published: 6:31 am, March 20th, 2023 - 259 comments

This debate is about every teenager, anywhere in the world, questioning their gender and sexual identity. This is about the person who after years of suffering, at some point in their lives decides they wish to identify as having a gender identity different to that of their birth.

Wailing and Nashing of teeth

Written By: - Date published: 12:46 pm, March 16th, 2023 - 66 comments

It is pretty clear to me that leaders acting tough and beating up on members of their team leads to political advantage. I realised this back in 2010 when my mate Chris Carter succumbed to intense personal pressure and did a couple of silly things. Then leader Phil Goff went to town on Carter who […]

Making s%*t up

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, March 15th, 2023 - 41 comments

Is it just me or is Mike Hosking becoming more unbalanced?  The recent misrepresentation of a speech from Deborah Russell would suggest that he is getting worse.

The great policy bonfire

Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, March 14th, 2023 - 45 comments

Chris Hipkins continues with his shock and awe campaign and has torched a number of policies that National and Act were using to foment unrest.

Luxon slumps in latest Colmar Brunton poll

Written By: - Date published: 6:18 pm, March 13th, 2023 - 57 comments

The latest One News Kantar Poll result has been released and it is a doozie.

Saudi/Iran peace deal brokered by China

Written By: - Date published: 4:57 pm, March 13th, 2023 - 14 comments

Veteran Indian diplomat MK Bhadrakumar describes the resumption of diplomatic relations between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia brokered by China as a “Suez moment” in the history of the Middle East. Peace in Yemen is only one of the possible benefits.

Chloe Swarbrick: We don’t live in a game of Monopoly

Written By: - Date published: 10:04 am, March 10th, 2023 - 49 comments

The case for redistribution of wealth in New Zealand.

The government needs to understand that climate mitigation and adaptation are twins

Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, March 8th, 2023 - 39 comments

James Shaw and Greenpeace on why mitigation and adaptation need to be paired.