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One of the (many) areas in which I am woefully uninformed is the The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). It's a “free trade” agreement being negotiated between NZ and 8 other countries (including the USA). What is it going to mean for us? Let's draw together…
accountability capitalism democracy under attack economy International trade
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It's sickening to see rich ministers and columnists saying 'of course we need to green the economy' and then turnaround and promote fossil fuel extraction and agricultural intensification - things that will ultimately wreck the environment and the economy that is built on it. The…
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I'm going to try and put up a piece each Sunday of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It's also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. Those stimulating links you wanted to share, but just didn't…
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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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That's what we're doing - it's official according to Treasury. It was revealed on Friday at a lunchtime seminar in Wellington with Dr Girol Karacaoglu, recently appointed Chief Economist at the Treasury. The best response came from Dr Geoff Bertram, who asked "What's intelligent about…
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and I'm sick of people telling me how I feel: "Markets have become increasingly concerned that the austerity programmes in the eurozone are causing a vicious circle of recession", and "Markets were confused by mixed messages from European capitals". I have only one word of…
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National pollster and Herald columnist (I know!) David Farrar has revealed what National has up its sleeve for asset sales. No, I'm not talking about how they would put 'mums and dads' at the 'front of the queue', or any such nonsense. I'm talking about…
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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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Grant Robertson and David Cunliffe will be talking environment & economy at Titirangi tomorrow. It'll be interesting to watch how Labour positions itself on this pivotal question vis-a-vis the Greens. So far we haven't really seen much of Labour on the environment. The Greens have…
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Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here. One of the biggest drawbacks of our democratic system is that it encourages politicking. This is a problem because whenever a major issue is before…
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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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Major changes in the media in Oz will have their impact here - some already have. Fairfax's mastheads the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age are going tabloid, cutting staff, and putting up paywalls on their websites. Gina Rinehart, the world's richest woman has bought…
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One of the things that has struck me about the Bronwyn Pullar debacle has been the difficulty she has had with the ACC despite having five-star political connections and supporters with education, savvy, and money. Imagine how the other 99% of claimants get on. Frankly…
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When the government is hooting and hollering over 1.7% annual growth, it's time to admit we've entered a new paradigm. In the past, you would have expected 4-5% growth coming out of a recession. Now, anything above the rate of population growth is treated as…
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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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Another safety warning in today's DomPost met National Ministerial indifference - shades of Kate Wilkinson and Pike River. Headlined "Truckies fear all roads lead to disaster," Jon Morgan's story starts off: It's the horror crash that will send shocking pictures of rural New Zealand flashing…
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"Trasher" Tolley? "Crusher" Collins? Oh please. Why the need to try and dress these popinjays up with tough sounding nicknames? So now the first car has been crushed, and I find that I must agree with this expert: Car crushing 'discredits law' - expert However,…
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It looks like the Nats' attempt to pull a swindle on the meaning of "51% ownership" has been averted. For those who haven't been following the story, the Nats have, of course, promised to retain 51% government ownership of the state-owned assets they are partially…
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So, not only is defence force morale at an all-time low, but now it seems the police are planning a possible protest march: Police could take action over pay The ‘zero Budget’ could see another angry crowd marching on Parliament, but this time it's the…
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To paraphrase Mr Wilde, losing 1 board member looks unfortunate, but losing 4 & a CEO looks like a minister losing control of her portfolio. As much as the botox allows, Collins didn't look happy when board member number 4 quit. But mama said never…
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So, National expects 200,000 people to buy shares when it hocks off our assets. Call me simple but there's 4.4 million of us, 3.3 million adults. Seems like nearly all of us won't buy shares. But here's the real rub: they're talking about a bonus…
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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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A draft agreement has been negotiated for the Rio+20 summit that starts today, but anyone who cares about the future of our planet should be disappointed. The expert panel of nobel laureates, scientists and ministers' call to 'seize the moment' has largely gone unheeded, as…
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Full data set It's pretty straightforward: private investors have a higher cost of capital so they need bigger profits? How do you make bigger profits in the electricity game when all your capital costs are fixed and your fuel is either free or internationally priced?…
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Darkhorse writes amazingly insightful economic pieces on his 'How Daft' blog (the title gives you a clue as to what he thinks of the current state of affairs). The neoliberal experiment has been an abject failure by any rational measure. And there are alternatives. Darkhorse…
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The Nats' latest defence of asset sales is 'if Labour doesn't say they'll buy them back,then they secretly agree with the sales'. Well, we would all like Labour to be able to make that commitment but, in the real world, that would be irresponsible (as…
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So, National is using a Public Private Partnership to build a school in Hobsonville. You've heard of PPPs. They, like all privatisation, are billed as somehow unleashing the magic of the market to reduce costs. But the reality is they turn the taxpayer into a…
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Bill English has attacked the MED numbers showing that private electricity companies are 12% more expensive than public ones saying that argument assumes "that hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are systematically paying more for electricity than they could?". Um... Has English heard of Powerswitch?…
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National put out a couple of bizarre press releases saying "remember when..." and recounting the asset sales under the 4th Labour Government. Apparently, the fact that they fucked up is reason for National to fuck up now. Well, remember when asset sales erned Labour a…
accountability assets labour national privatisation scoundrels