Economic step-change or English side-step?
Beware of a Finance Minister who is selective in the use of statistics. This was Bill English’s answer to a patsy question in Parliament about National and the economy…
Mining backdown – Nats split?
Well done Kiwis! A rousing show of solidarity and strength has forced the Nats to back down from their plans to mine Schedule 4 land. We have preserved some of the most precious places in our country for future generations. This is a straight craven backdown driven by Key’s relentless need to remain Mr Popular. But whatever the reason – its the right result!
The irony of the confluence
There is a great review of “There Once Was An Island: Te Henua E Noho†at Reading the Maps. It is well worth reading and so are the comments. However ‘maps’ also opined on the weekend about where the film was shown. It expressed my feeling of being caught in some dreary surreal cyberpunk novel with the protests, police, fat cat capitalists, the desperate on their slot machines, and a documentary about losing your culture to the climate and change.
The price of trade
The textbooks tell us that free trade is good because it means a more efficient use of resources. But the reality is that often the ‘competitive advantage’ one country has in producing a product compared to others isn’t some natural resource or better legal or physical infrastructure that makes business more efficient. Too often, the cheapest countries are the cheapest because they pay their workers the least and don’t protect their environment.
Abortion debate the silver bullet Labour needs -not!
I was talking to an old friend last night. She’s been a Labour voter/supporter/activist nearly all her adult life. She lives in Rotorua. […]
Brownlee backdown predicted on mining
Predictions abound that the Government are today to announce a backdown on plans to mine Schedule 4 land..
Open mike 20/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Loophole in new ETS regulations will increase emissions
The ETS-waste regulations currently being consulted on by the Government include a loophole that will actually increase greenhouse gas production in order to save polluters money. Who wrote the regs for the Government? A company that will be able to help landfills exploit this loophole by paying less whilst polluting more.
Key, Unions and Pinochet
Over at Kiwipolitico Pablo has a good post tracing the ancestry of Key’s attack on unions to Pinochet.
Not that we should be surprised of course:
National and Act have both been influenced by that regime in the past. Especially when it comes to dealing to workers.
Key tells Maori Party to shove off
The Maori Party’s support has been a vital element of the sheep’s clothing this rightwing government has worn until now. It has been the fig leaf behind which the true nature of the rightwing agenda of the National Party has hidden. Key’s speech shows, National will no longer be willing to compromise to gain its support and does not particularly want it.
A chilling vision of the future?
Cutting education is the dumbest thing a government can do. You want a prosperous, clean, low-crime, happy, dynamic society with a bright future? You want to invest in education. Even if you’re a Tory you want education – smart drones produce more than uneducated ones. Yet these morons are cutting education at both ends. Where does this lead?
Key due to release mining decision today
Today we should find out the fate of Schedule 4 – the precious Department of Conservation land that Key put up for mining. RNZ reports that the Cabinet are looking at the proposal today…
This isn’t about growth, it’s class war
Does John Key have any evidence or official advice to back up his claim that taking away workers’ rights to basic fairness and natural justice promotes growth? Will Kiwi workers be as a result of taking away our job security and bargaining power?
Natonomics and Fire at Will
Extending Fire at Will and attacking union access to worksites undermines workers’ rights and is simply economic vandalism. Weaker work rights will tend to lead to lower wages (already falling under John Key’s watch), low wages lead to underinvestment and poor economic performance, and lack of work rights increases the risk in changing jobs making labour allocation less efficient.
Open mike 19/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Key’s desperate spin
Key’s trying to spin his way out of taking responsibility for his attack on workers.
And he thinks union-bashing is the way to do it.
Perhaps he needs reminding that unions are just groups of workers who’re working together for a fair deal?
Met the Rat, went to a documentary
Today has been a busy day. Lyn and Briar have the NZ premiere of their documentary shortly, which limited what I could do […]
Crash National’s party update
Word is numbers at the protest are up to 500. Not bad for a protest organised in a couple of days. According to […]
Haiti: six months on
The 24 hour news cycle. The 20 second slot. The soundbite. The pithy headline. We have short attention spans. Today’s tragedy is yesterday’s dim memory. I am usually as guilty as most, and this article in The Guardian was a sharp reminder. Haiti: six months on.
Open mike 18/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
It’s different when it’s your job
It was mainly young and poor workers on the minimum wage who were its victims of Fire at Will before. But now the middle class’s jobs will be on the knife edge too and they’re not happy. This will be an issue that causes National to bleed votes, especially if Labour and the unions organise a strong campaign. Middle NZ doesn’t care about poor workers but it’s different when it’s your job at risk.
National’s donation spin
National is claiming its donations are strong but the numbers tell another story all together.
With an election possible within 12 months, National needs to scare up some cash – and quick.
Financial regulation in USA
The recent global recession represented a spectacular failure of unfettered capitalism. We never felt the full force and completeness of that failure because the worst was averted – or rather just delayed – by vast injections of Government bailout money. America has learned its lesson, yesterday passing the strictest restrictions on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression.
Vince’s Latest Cable
Over in the UK, Vince Cable, the former LibDem Deputy leader who predicted the Great Recession and the need to break up and regulate the banks, is now responsible for business and tertiary education. In the tertiary sector he has a radical new idea for funding.
Key’s dilemma
This weekend Key will start (literally) cashing in his political capital by trading off Kiwi workers’ rights for business backing.
But by pushing for these changes his backers risk the second-term National majority they need to get their hands on our assets.
It seems their bad habit of putting short-term profit ahead of long-term sustainable gains has carried over into the political sphere.
Another stage, another clown act, as Key keeps distracting
Fran O’Sullivan calls John Key ‘Cheerleader-in-Chief’ today. I still prefer rodeo clown. But she’s on the money, for the most part, in her description of National as a party afraid of the public and afraid of its base, and most afraid of what would happen if the public ever found out about its base’s ideological plans for our country. National has become completely stage-managed and has chosen a clown for a leader precisely because a clown is distracting.
Fixing the election date
Pundit writer and legal academic Andrew Geddis has been doing some important work on electoral law, including contributions to the select committee that is looking at the 2011 referendum on MMP and the reform of campaign funding practices. You should head on over to Pundit and have a look.
McCully backs down – for now
Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully says “we don’t need to have winners and losers here” but he has had to bow to […]
Open mike 17/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
Crash National’s Party – Protest for Fairness at Work
At the National Party conference in Auckland this weekend, John Key is expected to announce drastic attacks on workers’ rights.
You can stand up and fight back against this madness by joining the protest at 10am on Sunday at Sky City Hotel in Auckland.
What’s a university to do?
Some people still think of universities as fusty old ivory towers disconnected from the real world. That hasn’t been true for decades. Our current universities and tertiary institutions are business, they are structured and run to maximise their income in whatever funding framing the government of the day has in place. Predictably, the Nats latest proposed sausage machine funding model is a disaster.
Brash blows budget on 2025 taskforce
I wonder if Dr Brash thought close scrutiny would have faded once he left the political limelight? He certainly sounds entirely comfortable with […]
The end(s) of journalism
Is serious journalism dying? Was it in any good it the first place? What must be done to ensure its survival? These are some of the questions to be tackled at The University of Auckland’s forthcoming Winter Lecture series on “The end(s) of journalismâ€.
Open mike 16/07/2010
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes […]
The peer goes potty
At Hot Topic, Gareth has a post on Christopher Monckton attempting to stifle the well-justified criticism of himself . For some reason he seems to think that it is ok for him to criticize working scientists despite having little knowledge of the subjects. However he seems to think they should not be able to analyze or criticize his level of stupid ineptitude.
National’s attack on working Kiwis
With National’s donations flagging something was needed to loosen the purse-strings.
It seems they’ve decided giving business an early present of wage-lowering laws will do the trick.
And every working Kiwi will pay the price.