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Like the UK, we have a crisis in youth poverty. We don't have riots, yet, because we lack the population density. There's no jobs. Increasingly, no hope. Key's solution? Tinkering. A bureaucratic, easily beatable system where young people on benefits get food stamps and basic…
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Bernard Hickey writes compellingly on the coming fall of capitalism. Click through and read the whole thing, here are some highlights. Capitalism - top heavy and toppling The last fortnight's dramas on financial markets is really just the sound of investors waking up to some…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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English is facing attacks at the Nat conference over asset sales. The neolibs vultures treat the state as a carcass to pick clean. But old school conservatives believe in investing the nation. And business types know you don't get rich by selling profitable assets. English…
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A few weeks back, I wrote that Labour's policies are popular but it hasn't secured the trust it needs to sway swing voters, partly people don't feel they really know Phil Goff. Today's Herald piece, reminiscent of one on Key in 2008 (except we get…
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Fran O'Sullivan reveals her softer side today. No, she's not against National's benefit cuts for the unemployed, the sick, and invalids. Nor against cutting the wages of the 103,000 working 15-19 year olds on the half-baked premise that will create more jobs. But leave single…
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This editorial by Peter Oborne in today's Telegraph on the riots and moral decay in Britain is up to 3370 comments. It's worth a read.
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Another Roy Morgan poll: The latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows support for Prime Minister John Key’s National-led Government is at 55.5% (down 2%). Support for Key’s National Party is 51.5% (down 0.5%), ACT NZ 2% (unchanged), the Maori Party 1.5% (down 1.5%), and…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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It seems that the US has lost an experimental hypersonic space plane: Fastest-ever plane goes missing on test flight A US military plane developed to fly anywhere in the world in an hour has gone missing on its second test flight. The unmanned hypersonic plane…
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42% Murdoch-owned Sky could be in the market to buy debt-laden TV3 and Radioworks from hedge fund Ironbridge, according to John Drinnan's Media page in today's Business Herald. Drinnan says that "Sky owning Mediaworks opens up a myriad of issues, not least the degree that…
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Weekend social is for non political chat. What's on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can't we all just get along?
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Anyone else feel their heart freeze a little more when Brownlee labeled Christchurch's rebuild plan "a pretty big wish list"? Here's a once in generations chance to rebuild a city from the ground up. Going to cost tens of billions anyway. Why cheapskate by a…
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An Auckland University study, "Not in our waters, surely?" was released last night. It details a gruesome list of human rights abuses, crimes, and breaches of labour law being carried out abroad the slave ships contracted by our quota-holders to harvest our fish. Now, the…
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The first hints of the plans for the new Christchurch are out. On first impressions I like it. I'm especially glad to see the commitment to light rail (with initial link from the City to the Uni) and the development of the Avon. What do…
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Here's one of my favourite quotes: The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -- John Kenneth Galbraith There's no end to the lame arguments that right wingers…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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I've just been playing Ben Clark's asset sale game on his campaign website. (Ben is a fellow author here and Labour's candidate for North Shore). In the game, you have to try to suck up the shares that John Key throws out before the big…
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Read how the Fox Network under Roger Ailes works on fear, if you want to know why American politics is so dysfunctional they can have a tea party but can't manage a budget. A couple of extracts: Ailes knows exactly who is watching Fox News…
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ACT's Spending Cap Bill is coming to Parliament. It would cap government spending and only let it grow each year by inflation and population growth. At first blush, and assuming that you don't want the government to do anything it doesn't do now, this might…
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National Challenges NZ to Riot Written by The Jackal at 9:46 PM During a Parliamentary debate today, National MP Chris Tremain made a number of inaccurate statements that were clearly designed to limit National's responsibility for any negative consequences due to budget cuts. What made…
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We're going to be hearing a lot politically about welfare fraud and welfare "reform". 3 News last night gives us a taste of what is to come: 3 News has obtained details of a massive $217 million in overpayments made to beneficiaries by Work and…
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Stuart Nash put Bill English's feet to the fire yesterday on his economic record. English has been claiming that the economy is in better shape to withstand another economic crisis than it was in 2008. Does anyone seriously believe that? We're poorer, we're more indebted,…
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike...
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My local high street is on fire and a workmate in Hackney tells me she's spending her evenings cowering in her flat as rioters vie with Turkish shopkeepers with baseball bats for control of the streets. In parts of London the police seem to have…
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There are some interesting comments in the Standard and Poor's press release announcing the US downgrade. I've highlighted a few. They make the point that fixing debt involves increasing revenue - the top level of tax in the case of governments - as well as…
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The Herald has asked Gerry Brownlee about his misleading Cabinet to argue for an inflated rate of pay for National Party crony Jenny Shipley and other members of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Review Panel. His excuse? Mr Brownlee said he did not consider asking if…
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International price on the left, from here. Domestic on right, from here. Can't help but notice the international price peaked just when Fonterra put on their 'generous price-cap'tm.
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I posted recently on how NZ took another step closer to "third world" status with the decision to clear beggars off the street for the RWC (in Palmerston North). When it comes to undesirables we want them "out of sight out of mind" while the…