The power of public condemnation
Phew, that was quick. Yesterday John Kingi writes to us about Club Physical promoting homophobic myths. I publish his email. The same day […]
The danger of pre-writing your narrative
It was clear that the Herald had decided how Ratana would play this year: eveyone loves Key, Goff gets the cold shoulder. It […]
Labour needs to be firm on tax
Marty did some really excellent work last week on the Tax Working Group’s proposed tax reforms last week, which Zetetic summed up as ‘tax cuts […]
Subsidising Pandora’s box-office
Gerry Brownlee is defending the $45 million tax break the Government gave the makers of Avatar to do most of their special effects […]
250,000 jobless and counting
Open mike 25/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Is Club Physical promoting homophobia?
A reader, John, writes: “I’m a member of Club Physical and I was disgusted to see that in their latest E-newsletter (below) sent out […]
The SAS, the media, and Key
I don’t think the SAS should be in Afghanistan. That said, there are good reasons why the activities of the SAS on deployment […]
Open mike 24/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Key committed to [insert your priority here]
Last week: “Prime Minister John Key said the Government’s major theme in 2010 would be improving New Zealand’s economy” Today: “He said his […]
Cowardly
This is how Health Minister Tony Ryall announced the Government would be appealing the court decision to try to get out of paying people for […]
Hide opens door for Winston?
Eddie has already covered the story of Hide giving the middle finger to the people of Franklin regarding the Supercity. Franklin is Tory […]
How media should view polls
Hattip: NickS linking to PhD comics
Tax is the price the elite pay to maintain their privilege
John Roughan asks: “Nearly half of all personal tax revenue is contributed by just 10 per cent of us. Is this socially healthy?” […]
Open mike 23/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Thoughts on Massachusetts
I enjoyed this piece by Jane Young over on Pundit so much I wanted to share: The brain in the White House appears […]
Questions of trust
Over at Red Alert Stuart Nash asks whether the details of property developers being investigated by the IRD will be released in the […]
Massive jump in dole numbers – minister washes her hands
You may remember that late last year John Key, Bill English and Paula Bennett could hardly find the words to praise themselves for […]
Wee gripes: work stoppage stats
NZPA is reporting that there were only four work stoppages in the last September quarter, making eighteen for the 2009 year to September. […]
Pascal’s Bookie says…
Pascal’s Bookie said in comments 3 pretty graphs, Median Income Average income of the bottom decile Average income of the Top decile one […]
Bulldozing Fiordland: Brownlee committed
In the Otago Daily Times on Wednesday, Gerry Brownlee confirmed he was personally pushing for a new road to be bulldozed through the […]
The sharpest edge of the recession
“2500 people waited up to seven hours to apply for one of 150 jobs at a new South Auckland supermarket”* OK, maybe 16 […]
Who wins and who loses from tax reforms
You’re probably up to your ears in this tax reform issue by now, but just one more. It’s a good ‘un, promise. I’ve made […]
33% nonsense
David Farrar has one of his dodgy maths posts, where he argues that getting rid of the 33% rate is necessary because typical New […]
Tax cuts for tax cheats
The Right’s main justification for the highway robbery of cutting the top tax rate to 30% then funding it by increasing rents and charging […]
Open mike 22/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Lots of good posts in 2009.
I was pulling out the stats for 2009 so I could update Tumeke blog rankings about who authors on this site so Tim […]
A little knowledge
David Farrar on Kiwiblog says When Labour reduced the top tax rate from 66c to 33c in the 1980s, the amount of tax […]
NYTimes to charge for online
From today’s (free online) Guardian: America’s most popular newspaper website today announced that the era of free online journalism is drawing to a […]
Warning: Beware what you say on the net. Humourless bastards are after you.
No Right Turn has a post about the weirdness of the police forces in Britain at present. Elements of our own police force […]
The lucky country: Aussie tax system more progressive than NZ’s
It fascinates me that in all this talk about ‘catching up with Australia’ via tax cuts, nobody bothers to look at the Aussie […]
Nobody else is doing it so why should we?
A commenter asked an interesting question yesterday: of the countries that are wealthier than us, how many have aligned their top income, corporate, […]
Open mike 21/01/2010
Topics of interest, announcements, general discussion. The usual rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the […]
Tax reform: tax cuts for rich, paid for by poor
The Tax Working Group has given its recommendations for tax reform to the Government. It predictably recommends: Dropping the tax income tax rates to […]
Congratulations Mike!
Good to see that Mike Moore has been appointed our new Ambassador to Washington. Mike’s energy and connections in Washington and the world […]
Another benefit beat-up
The Key Government’s anti-beneficiary campaign continues. The latest is a beat-up on long-term beneficiaries. Apparently, 9 people have been on the dole for […]