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6:00 am, November 19th, 2025 - 20 comments
Categories: open mike -
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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 Policy).
Step up to the mike …
The price of whole milk powder has dropped 21% in the last 6 months. Shrewd farmers will not be spending their Fonterra brand-sale windfall payouts.
https://www.globaldairytrade.info/en/product-results/whole-milk-powder/
One the one hand Business New Zealand wants "government" to finance infrastructure for doubling the population within 35 years (by 5M to 10 million), so the economy can grow.
This because of a predicted 250,000 shortfall of workers by 2045 (1M – 500,000 adults and 2 children).
And then suggests that Labour and Green opposition to oil and gas exploration and mining would be a problem (she then cites Singapore, Denmark and Switzerland – nations not known for either of those things).
At least we know who NACT is listening to .
FACTS
1.Many migrants who come here go onto Oz because of our lower wages.
2.We have struggled with infrastructure for the population with it going from 3.1 to 5.3M since 1980 (over 45 years).
https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360889957/nz-needs-10-million-people-stay-afloat-business-group-warns
Business NZ, resists paying enough taxes to finance infrastructure for the current population.
And paying workers enough so they can pay for it.
How do they think we will pay for the necessary infrastructure.
Luxons Sky fairies?
It is not a "shortfall of workers" that is the problem. Capital investment in productivity would solve that problem. Including the State investment they oppose.
Their fear is that scarcity will cause a shortage, of cheap workers!
That their only economic plan, consists of massive immigration to keep wages low and house prices high, shows their lack of foresight and inability to run effective businesses.
The description, the inept "chumocracy" is accurate.
Both those comments (2.1 and 2.2) are 100% accurate. NZ private sector's hostility to helping fund infrastructure and reliance on low wages rather than increased productivity is long-standing.
It is not just higher wages that lures migrants from New Zealand to Australia. I have a lot of Ethiopian friends who have relatives who have been in New Zealand for some time but have now gone to Australia – mainly Melbourne. That is not just because of the wages, but because of the achievement of a "critical mass" in that city. This means that they are more of a self sustaining community with Ethiopian businesses, restaurants, shops etc. They can employ newcomers and help them to get established. There are larger Ethiopian Orthodox churches there, and holiday classes so that children can maintain their language and culture.
Maybe because that was a refugee community, not one based on migrants into jobs.
The latter group is enticed by the higher wages.
So are my refugee friends. Not just for themselves but because many of them send $$$$ to family overseas who are living in fragile circumstances. One was supporting her brother who was in Sudan. He is a type 1 diabetic and reliant on insulin. The city he was in did not have a secure power supply and insulin requires refrigeration. He would buy a few days worth and then come home from work and find the fridge was dead and his insulin spoiled.
Pres bone spur meets Prince bone saw……just sickening.
And now this !? The fucking fascist shitbag….
"You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you liked him or didn't like him, things happen," – if someone had said that about the killing of Charlie Kirk they would have lost their job.
Apart from murdering and beheading opponents, Saudi has spent/is still spending huge amounts trying to block climate action. This article does a great job of documenting this.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/15/170000-a-minute-why-saudi-arabia-is-the-biggest-blocker-of-climate-action
On the Home Front….only Sorted Luxon could say/think this is a good thing? 11,000 and counting….
The voice of Reason….(onya Chris Hipkins)
NACT1 pushing punitive policy….which doesnt/never has worked.
Ahh the prison economy. Costs more to keep a prisoner in prison than out in the community so creates an initial boost in GDP. Great during a recession as locking people up is predominantly recession proof – and in fact may often increase during a recession.
Over time the opportunity cost (spending that money elsewhere) and the future potential earnings of that locked up population make rehabilitation the far more cost effective option.
Reducing poverty and improved access to contraception and abortion so fewer children are raised in poverty are also better options.
Is a form of negative GDP growth – bit like the Italian mafia building things then burning them down to rebuild them again. Keep the GDP loop going.
(Some would say roading companies do this with roads to have a continuous supply of work)
“Communities suffering from declines in farming, mining, timber-work and manufacturing are now begging for prisons to be built in their backyards. The economic restructuring that began in the troubled decade of the 1980s has had dramatic social and economic consequences for rural communities and small towns. Together the farm crises, factory closings, corporate downsizing, shift to service sector employment and the substitution of major regional and national chains for local, main-street businesses have triggered profound change in these areas.”
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/building.html
So much has been written about all this and NACT1 connectivity. Many Posts/comments on The Standard, (Mountain Tui had some very insightful ones). Anyway If interested here is an article…with many Informative Links
And yes as a major component…the prison economy. (always money in misery..for some)
If NZ can afford to imprison people, NZ then can afford to house people.
I'm glad Hone said it.
Apologize for yr own shortcomings, forgive others for theirs and get back to work.
Get back to work serving those thousands that marched on parliament.
Working for all those who feel blighted by (my words) the most anti-Maori government since the 19th century.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/579326/former-mp-hone-harawira-weighs-in-on-te-pati-maori-turmoil
Without taxation on wealth, there is either tax on the middle class or a collapse of the welfare state.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/579275/30-with-guyon-espiner-economist-gary-stevenson-on-why-new-zealand-should-tax-the-rich
It's basic economic sense.
Wealth is increased by the economy functioning in their favour, not clipping that ticket pushes the burden on others.
Only so much goes around, circulation not accumulation.
The cost of RONS (20 years of projects) has doubled since 2023.
Delays and a 50 cents ("49") a litre increase in petrol are now mentioned.
The do ron ron, is now more like a can not.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360891641/transport-minister-chris-bishop-says-funding-56-billion-roads-challenge
(and have them by 2026)
Case closed.
The narrative of Winston Peters here.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360891849/winston-peters-reveals-new-ferries-deal-saving-billions-says-consultants-had-hijacked-past-plan
(he could have said a second best concept, that is cheaper, is still way better than anything NACT would have done)
(what Labour would have done after 2023, to sort out on-site work and spending, is not known)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360891849/winston-peters-reveals-new-ferries-deal-saving-billions-says-consultants-had-hijacked-past-plan