Once upon a time New Zealand was the most prosperous country in the world, living on the sheep’s back. But that was when its population was only two million. The fruits of a raw commodity export sector now have to be spread over more than four million. We could provide decent jobs and income for all by processing these commodities in New Zealand.
Great news from Egypt: Hosni Mubarak has resigned. Could we be witnessing a wave of democratisation like the one that swept Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall? Lets hope so. The army is now in charge and it was the army that overthrew the monarchy and created the dictatorship in the first place. Democracy may not be their goal.
Key: So, Gillard’s coming. Are we talking about a single economic zone?
Groser: Umm. No. Mobile roaming charges.
Key: Christ, Tim. We’re really racking up wins for Kiwi exporters here, aren’t we?
Captain Panicpants: Your numbers with women are down over Hurley. They say you sounded disloyal and they empathise with Bronagh.
Key: Shit now that’s serious. Call the missus. We’ll do something cutsie and distracting.
The government is pleading poverty thanks to the tax cuts for the rich (and even though government debt is under control). This is their excuse for welfare and spending cuts and asset sales. This is shown to be pure spin by the fact that they’re passing over the opportunity to save the economy $75 million because they won’t spend $28 million.
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Archiving websites is a bloody good idea because the public debate and emerging history of NZ society is shifting more and more into these electronic media. So I asked NatLib about one of those political blogs that disappeared from the blogosphere – KiwiBlogBlog. It still exists…
Unprecedented protests have forced Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to say he won’t stand at the next election and extracted concessions from the regime. So why don’t the protesters go home and wait until the elections in September? Because they know nothing will change if Mubarak is allowed to hang on, and the regime’s revenge will be brutal.
Skeptical Science has posted a very interesting video with Dr. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg running through the current known climate science and associated risks on oceans. Our civilizations have both direct and indirect dependence on oceans. The implications of destroying the ecosystems there is probably going to impact earlier than most of the other effects of our current unrestricted CO2 emissions.
The nice thing about David Bennett is he says what other Nats are smart enough to keep quiet. Remember his rant against the minimum wage? But he out did himself with his speech defending the appalling record of the National government. It turns out the brighter future Key promised was a lie – the National government “is not there to make your life better”.
Wednesday, Farrar posts a link to a new blog, ‘Whowuddathort‘, running Goff smears and Key-love. – That evening, ‘someone’ posts a comment: “National Research Unit material, anyone?” – Thursday, another comment: “is fisking the standard parliamentary business? – Minutes later: Whowuddathort’ blog disappears.
The Nats regard parliamentary process as an inconvenience to which they must pay lip service, but nothing more. They started as soon as they took office, with repeated abuse of urgency. The current disgraceful process over the foreshore & seabed legislation is just the latest instalment.
Brian Fallow has put the nails in the coffin of the Nats’ privatisation arguments. His column goes through the excuses that National has come up with for selling the family silver and none of them stack up. Nor does Key’s ‘money-go-round’ where the state-owned Cullen Fund buys these state-owned assets to free up cash for the state.
The Government, desperate for some kind of tangible achievement on the trade front, is pushing us into the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We cannot allow the TPP to go ahead. It would sacrifice our sovereignty to the wishes of multi-nationals, allowing them to sue New Zealand if we put restrictions on foreign investment.
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Jami-Lee Ross is running from having any debate with his opponent in the Botany.
Key proved he’s bereft of ideas in his speech on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he showed he’s out of touch. As you know, Key has voted himself $23,000 of tax cuts on his PM salary alone. Labour estimates another $24,000 on his investments – over $1000 a week. Key argues his tax cut is ‘only’ $15,000.
8,000 more unemployed in Q4 2010, and 1,000 more on the dole in January; New Zealand headed to a douple-dip recession after a year of anaemic growth; an average wage rise in 2010 of 1.9% with inflation of 4%. And a government focussed on manipulating statistics instead of coming up with an economic plan.
*English vs English on assets sales, as business commentators come out against the flawed business case for privatisation. *Will Hide honour his word and resign over Supercity debacle? *Foreshore Bill to join CERRA as a constitutional outrage. *Economic woe keeps coming. *Is the ‘brighter future’ on its way or just more Key stunts?
By every significant measure our economy is a mess. Bill English is finance minister for what is looking increasingly like the most useless do-nothing NZ government in living memory. So is he working on a plan to put things right? Is he rolling out the big ideas that will get New Zealand moving again? No – he’s lashing out at public servants. Pathetic.
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John Key has taken a swing at Kiwi workers who have lost their jobs thanks to the bankers’ recession and his economic mis-management. Key claims people are choosing to be long-term beneficiaries “even though work is available to them”. But the jobs aren’t there and that has caused long-term unemployment to explode under his watch.
In this post, I’ve embedded the speeches from John Key, Phil Goff, and Metiria Turei during yesterday’s first day of Parliament. Key presents no new vision, just an agenda of cuts and false statistics couple with sheer delusion about his government’s record. Goff tears him apart. And Turei’s speech is simply breath-taking – incredibly moving.
The PM has obviously been stung by the surge of negative publicity generated by the TV3 piece on the residents of McGehan Close. The revival of this particular piece of exploitative hypocrisy risks tarnishing the sacred Key brand. Can’t have that. So Key is trying to convince us that the Nats have done “as much as possible” for the underclass…
In his speech yesterday, John Key made the extraordinary claim that the real average wage has risen 10% under his rule. That figure is wrong and the measure is the wrong one to use. But there’s a more fundamental check: look around you, is the average family 10% better off than 2 years ago? Who are you going to believe? Key or your own eyes?
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John Key’s government is just two years old but it is already clearly bereft of ideas. His lacklustre speech showed no innovative thinking. There was just his usual bile directed at Labour and the same old failed National formula: asset sales, welfare cuts, and public service cuts masked by restructuring to fund tax cuts for the rich elite.
There are some interesting legal and constitutional parallels between the Maori party’s attempts to rid themselves of Hone Harawira and previous unsuccessful attempts […]
I get frustrated with the right claiming “Nanny State” on everything (except when it’s them banning cell-phones when driving etc). So it was with interest I read famous philosopher Alain de Botton’s piece on the BBC yesterday: In defence of the nanny state.
The kneejerk righties have praised John Key’s plan to sell our public assets (indeed, the Herald seems to be calling for something far more radical in today’s editorial) but all the substantive analysis of the proposal continues to show it’s an ideologically-driven rip-off. Here’s Geoff Simmons’ take.
Every new party faces an inevitable conflict between the ‘realos’ and the ‘fundis’ over how much principle can be compromised to make some gains through coalitions. The Maori Party made it far worse by supporting a party that is anathema to everything it stands for. That big mistake is at the root of collapse we’re now witnessing.
The Nats have upped the minimum wage by 25 cents. An increase of 1.9% that doesn’t even keep up with inflation of 4% and is thus a minimum wage cut. On cue a tame economist opines that wage growth can only happen if we achieve productivity growth first. The only problem with this excuse is that over the last several decades productivity has grown significantly, and wages haven’t followed…
It’s 100 years since the Gipper was born. That’s right, 100 years since the ball started rolling on a project of smiley-faced neoliberalism that we’re still suffering under.
I was going to write a tribute but John Dolan does it so much better than I ever could…
So John Key thinks that a 1.9% increase in pay will cover 4% inflation, and that’s all minimum wage workers are going to get. That 25c/hour won’t add up to a litre of milk at the end of the day, let along a block of cheese at the end of the week. A person on minimum wage will now get $437.24/week after tax, whilst JK gave himself over $1000 extra per week in tax cut.
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According to its Constitution ,the Maori Party Council makes decisions by consensus. I remember consensus decision-making from my days as a community activist in the 1970’s. Nay-sayers have a veto. If Te Tai Tokerau’s representatives don’t agree, the Council can’t decide and Hone doesn’t go. Hence the co-leaders’ move to suspend him.
Yesterday, Lhaws’ SST piece called for involuntary sterilisation and reproduction licences (ie. forced abortions). Pure fascism. Today, no uproar. Once, his stoush with some school kids was news. Now, he offers a eugenic ‘solution’ to the underclass and not a peep. He’s truly a has-been. He won’t have that SST column for long.
