A footnote to history
In which which Winston Peters rules out working with any possible government. Not that it matters, but, way to make your party irrelevant Winston.
Why no photo-op for Banks?
John Key has been asked if he will be giving an explicit order to National voters in Epsom to vote for John Banks. He said ‘not today’. He said that a few weeks ago too. No photo-op of Key shaking Banks’ hand either. Why the hold-up? What could possibly be behind National wariness of linking Brand Key to Banks?
Nats’ $11b budget hole
Last year and the year before, the portions of the assets National wants to sell paid over $400 million in dividends. Labour estimates lost dividends from those assets would total $11 billion by 2026. That’s an $11 billion hole in National’s budgets they haven’t accounted for. When will National front up and show us the money?
Keep calm and vote MMP
Campaign for MMP has recently started selling T-shirts as part of their campaign fundraising.
Their “Keep Calm and Vote MMP” T-shirts are a very reasonably priced $40 and come in a stylish black.
The impact of right wing economics
1980 saw the election of Ronald Regan as US president. On taking office at the start of 1981 he ushered in a package of right wing economic policies that soon picked up the nick-name “Reganomics”. How did that work out for workers and for inequality?
Open mike 06/11/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
John Key too drunk to drive
Show me the jobs
Unemployment up again. Key had bet on some kind of economic boost from the RWC. It didn’t happen. 3,000 more jobs lost in the last quarter. There’s 59,000 more people out of work since the Nats won power. It’s like a whole city the size of Hamilton has gone out of work under National. This government has the worst economic record in generations.
Time for Nats to front up over lost dividends
Labour’s fiscal strategy takes National’s projections and adds or subtracts money for its policies. The clever thing is they alter the Nats’ projections to remove all the dividend revenue from assets they want to sell. How much is taken off National doesn’t affect if Labour gets back to surplus in 2014 – but it makes National’s projections more accurate. The Nats are complaining.
Climate change predictions
Predictions on global greenhouse gas emissions have turned out to be wrong. The real emissions are higher than the worst case projections. Models of warming, however, have been confirmed as accurate. Here in NZ a joint VUW / Otago study makes damning criticisms of the Nats’ record on climate change.
Open mike 05/11/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Acshully John, you will be a monkey’s uncle
John Key was really revving the crap out of his denimic environment generator today trying to discredit Labour’s costings for its policies. Either Key really is shit at math or he’s no clearer on Labour’s policies than he is on National’s.
hattip: a very prescient Jackal
Weekend social 04/11/2011
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no […]
Absurd arguments
National likes to take Labour proposals and extend them to the point of absurdity. Labour needs to fight fire with fire. Here’s a few examples…
Labour shows us the money
Labour has shown us the money. In surplus in the same time frame as National, and paying off debt faster because we keep the revenue streams from owning our own assets.
TVNZ and Herald polls
Two polls out yesterday show no significant changes, with National well in front. Don’t panic! The campaign has only just started. Events always take a while to show up in the polls. The Left needs to see movement soon – time’s running out fast – but it isn’t a surprise not to see it yet.
Key can’t count
It’ll be interesting to see the full fiscal details from Labour today. National is planning to borrow too, the question is how much they differ by. Only $2.6b in the first term with both having net debt about $50b. That’s the alternative to selling our profitable assets to pay for capital investment. The Nats’ $17b claim is riddled with basic errors. Updated with more bad adding from Key
Open mike 04/11/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Polls good for Left
There’s a TVNZ poll out tonight and a Herald poll tomorrow morning but, ahead of them, here’s some other new polls results that point to trouble for the Nats. 27% of young people want to leave New Zealand. 82% of people oppose farm sales to foreign buyers. 24% of people will change their vote over the Rena.
Labour’s EQC policy
Labour’s EQC policy has taken the holes in the current system revealed by the earthquakes – too low cap, inequitable flat levy, non-universal coverage, lack of provision for accommodation coverage – and fixed them. On top of that, they’ve promised to give people access to their geotech info. Great policy. No wonder National’s angry.
Buy Ardern
On Backbenches last night Nikki Kaye showed as an angry finger-wagger who thinks the most important issue facing the country is to keep wages down for young people. Kaye looked like a politician under pressure, and showed why she avoids debate with the impressive Jacinda Ardern. Forward-looking and articulate, Ardern had the best lines of the night. Auckland Central could be a very interesting contest.
Dr David Suzuki message to the world
This address from Dr David Suzuki to the world, delivered to a gathering at Occupy Vancouver, attracted some attention in comments yesterday. Well worth watching.
Key lied on health cuts
In the TVNZ debate on Monday, John Key claimed that he had cut ‘back office’ jobs and increased health services.That wasn’t true. The fact is, funding cuts have reduced the capacity of many health services. ‘Front-line’ staff are doing ‘back office’ work as well and everything else is getting squeezed to put more money into ‘sexy’ elective surgery numbers.
Drunken Seaman John Key: borrowed $40 billion in 3 years to spend on his mates
Greek democracy
So, a government says that the people will have the say on its budget, and global markets plunge. Was there ever a clearer sign that the interests of the capitalist elite and the people are at odds, and the capitalists know it? It’s interesting that Papandreou has chosen to force a crisis and headed off a coup. Around the world, ordinary people want radical change.
A long history of lies
Why all the fuss in the media about Phil Goff calling Key a liar in the TV1 debate? It’s old news. Key has a long history of lying (some of the video footage makes painful viewing).
Open mike 03/11/2011
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to […]
Another win for Goff
Goff had Key in all sorts of trouble on the Christchurch recovery, on Key’s economic record, on asset sales, on the GST lie. Goff was passionate on equality and got across both Labour’s vision and how that will be made real. It was notable that Key’s only strong point was when he got off his own record and his own promises and on to making up numbers about Labour’s policies. Goff didn’t have a strong rebuttal. He’ll need one before the next TV debate.
Workers locked out because won’t take 25% pay cut
Over 100 meat workers have now been locked out for 10 days at the Canterbury Meat Packers works in Rangitikei. They are told they must sign an agreement that cuts pay by 25% and loses conditions in order to return to work. Some migrant workers face deportation if they lose their jobs. It’s a disgrace; they all need our support. Here’s how you can help.
Leaders’ debate tonight
The Press Leaders’ Debate. Phil Goff and John Key. 7pm tonight. Not televised, but streamed live. The format can only be better than TV1! Check it out.
I don’t know about you but the streaming is failing on me. What I did catch was Key trying to back out of his promise that redzoners wouldn’t be left out of pocket. Goff responded: “If you’re not going to do something, for heaven’s sake don’t promise it” and got loud applause. Twitter consensus is Goff is winning big from the get go.
NRT on the most important issue
NRT on the issue that is most important to Kiwis. It isn’t the economy.
Evicting Occupy Dunedin
Yesterday was a dramatic day for Occupy Dunedin. A trespass eviction deadline of 8pm came and went, but after a big show of public support, the Occupation is still there. Dunedin North Labour candidate David Clark lends his support to the movement.
Savings: National’s failing
National have a rubbish short-term plan for Government debt: Asset Sales.
But they have no plan at all for the private debt that is forecast to blow out worse than ever under their policies. Bit like the economy in general really.
Labour up in Fairfax poll
Today’s Fairfax poll shows a rise in support for Labour of 3.2%. What is particularly interesting about this poll is that the sampling period began the same day that Labour announced its “bombshell” retirement policy.
Another empty promise
National says it’ll get 57,000 more people off benefits and into work over 4 years. That would require 50% more job creation than Treasury projects. Unless you do something about the lack of jobs, you won’t get benefit numbers down. Promising the latter without doing the former is a fraud on New Zealand. Just another broken Nat promise waiting to happen.
Key priorities
Key’s biggest mistake: with all the disasters that have occurred in the last 3 years that have affected so many thousands of people he couldn’t have done anything better to improve their lives other than communicated a bit better about BMWs?