Pending Labor policy announcements

MRP A Dead Duck

Kiwibank sees its credit rating plummeting from 2014

NZ Post sees losses from postal services by 2016/17, or earlier, without changes to Post deed to cut deliveries to 3 times a week

Not housing unaffordability

Is it reasonable to expect to buy a home after one year working?

This is pure unadulterated expectations above ones station. 

An interesting side point is whether it is everybody's absolute right to have children to the (current) point of society bearing the cost of allowing that right to all.

Minimum wage discussion

The minimum wage

Part that seems to be missed in these debates isn't what happens to the jobs directly affected by the rise, but what happens to those that aren't?

If they all also rose, then the change has achieved nothing except pure inflation.  If they don't rise then what happens to the motivation of those that had through education, longer service, and better performance produced a margin above the base...?

So where is the Greens response?

How about getting HER fixed?

One of my pet peeves with the Green Party within New Zealand is their continued lack of response let alone leadership on the worlds largest environmental issue.

They seem to be able to propose measures like killing 25 percent of the countries cows - yet when it comes to the root causes like over breeding they are spineless and silent at best.

At worst they generally support this type of activity belying their true communist roots and exposing their green facade for what it is - facile and disposable.

Food for schools - done right

Fonterra rolls out its Milk For Schools programme nationwide, following success in Northland

Showing once again that it's not all about Government and tax

A worthwhile thought piece

Bad Incentives That Work Quite Well: The Opportunity Cost of Political Partisanship

Worth reading regardless of your particular political partisanship

IRD tax grab stupidity incarnate

IRD backtrack confuses employers and employees with ruling that the cost of accommodation when a worker is required to work away from home is taxable income for the employee

I'm desperately hoping the National government in power can put paid to this piece of ridiculous interpretation.  Frankly there can be no sympathy with the IRD over cases of tax avoidance when they throw out their moral standpoint in the most spectacular of ways. There is no way that anyone who has ever traveled for business would argue that a hotel room was a perk, and I'd love them to show how in the majority of cases an employee was able to reduce their costs by the "income" they are suddenly being attributed.

Meet ACTA: PIPA and SOPA's Big Brother

I just signed this urgent petition from Access calling on the European Parliament to vote NO on a dangerous international treaty, ACTA. I'm forwarding this to you because of how important it is that we stop it, so please join me and the thousands from around the world and sign below. Continue reading below the link for what Access has to say about ACTA:

Heres the link: https://www.accessnow.org/page/s/just-say-no-to-acta

"All of the things that you and I enjoy about using the Internet, like the ability to speak freely and widespread access to information, is under threat with a dangerous new international treaty, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. This intellectual property agreement, which has already been signed by several countries, will force ISPs and websites to track our every move, turn over our personal information, and report our activity to the government, all in the name of copyright protection.

The European Parliament still has to approve ACTA for it to go into effect around the world. If they vote NO, then ACTA will be effectively dismantled -- even in countries that have already signed it. We helped bring down SOPA and PIPA in the US, now let's turn the fight to ACTA. Now matter where you live, call on the EU Parliament to take a stand and vote “NO” on ACTA!"

For more information on ACTA, go here: https://www.accessnow.org/what-is-acta

Not often I agree with Labour

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10620043

But I'm behind this one 100%!!

"We are generally dumber, sicker, poorer, more pissed, drugged and pregnant than any other group of people in New Zealand. We know the problem, but what's the solution? Well let's repeal the Foreshore and Seabed and put the F&S into Maori title. We can be dumber, sicker, poorer, more pissed, drugged and pregnant at the beach. That'll make all the difference." (Labour MP Kelvin Davis)

Of mice and men

We have been testing out a new mousetrap (incidentally known as "the better mousetrap") at home for a few days now. Certainly have to attest to its efficacy (using molasses or peanut butter - this whole cheese thing is a dud...), given that we have been averaging a dead mouse each day.

However the more disturbing side of this is that it turns out that as much as mice like peanut butter it would appear that rats like mice - so rather than disposing of a mouse each day, we're disposing as much of a mouse as was encased in the trap (typically a head or tail only). Of course I'm only hoping it's the rats - because the thought of it being other mice is even more disturbing.

Couldn't help but think of the Labour party as I was disposing of the latest head however - and wondering how long until they do the same; and show who are the men, mice and rats. Given previous form my bet is mainly on the latter.

Labour's economic management success

This past week we are starting to see the successes of Labour's economic management in helping the lower and middle class of New Zealand get ahead:

Other data collected by property experts shows mortgagee sales nationally rising almost 20 per cent in the past week as banks foreclose on families and property investors hit by crippling interest rates and the rising cost of living.

Labour - creating equality through bankruptcy

Auckland Dog Owners Take Heed

Auckland City Council as taken it upon themselves to change their policy and hence bylaws; and as is their want they have undertaken this in a somewhat duplicitous manner.

Please note they state that:
Clause 7 of the dogs policy stated that the council would review the size and availability of off-leash dog exercise areas every three years and as part of the council's strategic growth management process.
And that these changes are merely in response to this;
The proposed dogs policy is in response to this undertaking.

So why is the 5th "minor change" to reflect the "requirements of the Dog Control Act 1996 and the needs of the community" to:

remove the obligation to review the off-leash exercise areas every three years?


If nothing else oppose this duplicitous undertaking of the council to remove one of the few remaining rights as a dog owner we hold!

Of course they are probably just trying to hide their own astounding levels of incompetence. Given that the "Designated dog exercise areas" map they have sent out to support their changes show no sign of Flatrock reserve (our local dog exercise area), and still prominantly shows Fisher Park on Carbine Road. I'm sure Coca-Cola Amatil would be more than happy to open their gates to a horde of dog owners given that the council sold the park to them nearly 3 years ago (Councils own press release here) - and they have subsequently built a warehouse on it...
(PS online coucil link to dog exercise areas).

Anyone still slightly worried by this?

Hattip: Nz Herald

A new dawn of internet competition has arrived - [...]

Orcon this week unveiled the first of New Zealand's truly "unbundled" products - where a customer can get a phone line and fast broadband without going near Telecom.

It comes after the Government ordered Telecom in 2006 to open up its exchanges and allow rivals such as Orcon to install its own equipment in them.

While finally starting to get some access to dark fiber and unbundling would seem like a good thing it would please me alot more if it wasn't Orcon that seemed to get the inside running on all these things - simply because it seems poor form for the Government owned ISP to be the one profiting first from the Government mandated unbundling... Any one else feel a few shivers everytime an SOE seems to profit from a new regulation from the Government?

Lest we forget

Thanks to the hive for reminding us of this in a critically important year:

Clark's not on solid ground when it comes to hidden agendas. As deputy Prime Minister and Labour's key strategist at the 1990 election she helped perpetrate the big lie of that campaign.

In 1990, New Zealand was teetering towards economic recession. But the Labour Cabinet kept claiming right up to election day that the Government's accounts were in surplus.

National Prime Minister Jim Bolger's plans for a decent society were scuppered when he was confronted by officials just one day after the election with news of a serious fiscal crisis that they had kept secret under Labour's orders.

The Bank of New Zealand was about to go belly-up, something senior Labour ministers had known about for weeks, and the Treasury was forecasting a $3.7 billion deficit for the 1991/92 year which would blow out to a $5.2 billion deficit by 1993/94 unless drastic actions were taken.
Bolger's Cabinet had to cut costs to avert a major credit rating downgrade for New Zealand.
These are the conditions that led to the mother of all budgets.

But beneficiaries were not the only ones to feel pain.

New Zealand businesses folded as the recession bit and many Kiwis lost their jobs and were forced into major reductions in their living standards. It was a horrible time because the country was broke.

I'm sure we would rather have been prepared for the hard times ahead by a truthful Government instead of being conned by the snow-job perpetrated by Clark and her senior colleagues at the 1990 election.


Perhaps our Finance Minister trained as he is in economic history will reminisce of these times in the election year ahead?

Who can really blame him?

Unfortunately that is my first reaction to the news that a 50 year old man has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 15 year old in Manurewa this morning - after a "tagging incident". (hattip: NZ Herald)

Ultimately, no, that can't be a condoned reaction to someone spray painting your fence - but until the justice system can start placing some real responsibility on those vandalizing other's property I can't help but see an increase in vigilantism against those caught. Especially when the results of 9 years of Labour's bleeding heart response to crime is becoming evident - 10 murders in 2008; and we're only 27 days in!

And looking at the nature of those 10 their failure is made even starker by the ages of those involved in most cases; between 14 and 20. Look closely at that, subtract 9 and figure out what period of political influence has been responsible for the formative period in these murderer's lives.

Even those Liberals starting to click still don't seem to really get it though. Listening to Kerry Woodham and her "Sunday Panel" this morning one at first thinks they start to see the connection; realising that "something must be done" and that the Liberal approach to justice is failing. However they then start on about how many of these youths were "doomed in the womb" due to parental drug use etc. And this is the problem. (Not the drug use although that is a major problem). Until we assign responsibility to those making the actions, they are powerless to work their way out of their positions. While we excuse them for actions, we take away their power over themselves to change.

Of course someone with a hard life, or drug affected in the womb is going to find life harder, and more difficult to break the cycle - but it doesn't make them any less responsible for their own actions. As if they are powerless and not responsible as many soft justice types would contend; then they should be executed at birth. If growing up in an underprivileged situation means that one is destined to a life of crime; society should use a bullet and be done with it - their past is unchangeable, so if their past is to blame they are incurable?

I don't believe so; which is why their past cannot be blamed. They are to blame.

So when will the left get it?

Interesting, yet overall depressing figures just out from Statistics New Zealand (hattip: NZ Herald)
on Average Household income.

I just can't help but focus in on the statement:
Income from self-employment was down 24.5 per cent to $4213, from investments it was up 17.4 per cent to $3057, superannuation and war pensions rose 1.6 per cent to $3970, and government benefits were up 5.7 per cent to $3740

In particular; self-employment down 24.5%, Government Benefits up 5.7%

One would think that the Government and the Labour party would finally be able to see what many keep telling them: they are killing the entrepreneurial and no 8 wire spirit of this country.
By destroying any possible reward for risk taking endeavors they are shepherding more people into "jobs" with existing corporates; rather than supporting those that would actually help to make a difference through creation of wealth - instead of selling time.

I'm sure they will crow about the increases in wages and salaries; but at a fundamental level this will never help us reverse our declining balance of payments, nor declining levels of corporate ownership. Only by supporting risk with real return; and reducing the over subsidization of risk aversion will we make a change for the better.

Otherwise we keep channeling our productive funds to those who, by definition, are most incompetent in their use.




http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10479424

Sometimes...

Today and the EFB...

(Thanks www.xkcd.com)

Helen and Jeanette's Crazy EFB

The campaign just released by the IMVDA (Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association) on Tuesday stands to be a critical test of both supporters and opponents to the EFB - original and revised.
Because if both sides can peer through their own cognitive dissonance for just a few seconds we will be able to see exactly what a $300,000 campaign launched by a completely independent group to raise public awareness about an issue they feel strongly about looks like.

That's right - a campaign that strongly features leaders from 2 political parties so is in no doubt about it's political message, and that breaches the original EFB by a factor of 5, and is still 3 times larger than what would be allowed next year.

Now my prediction is this campaign - despite being bolstered by actual MSM attention to it - will still go mainly unnoticed by large swathes of the population, and won't be particularly intrusive.
And certainly will fall far short of "buying votes" of large sections of the community.
Which if the supporters of the EFB actually have any independent reasoning left is the point.

This campaign if performed in 1 1/2 months time would be illegal. The Labour Party and the inept supporters of this bill somehow think that the IMVDA by explaining their point of view on proposed law that intimately affects them is a threat to our democratic system.

Sorry - the only threat is by stopping them. I don't agree with their conclusions that they are promoting with this campaign, but to steal the words of others more esteemed; by God I'll defend their right to tell people about it.
Regardless of election year.

Thumbs up Herald, and yet the cynic in me...

Great to see at least one member of the MSM finally pick up the EFB (Electoral Finance Bill) and give it the coverage that it deserves: Democracy Under Attack
And as expected David Farrar has also kicked off the initial "discussions" in the politically aware blogosphere

And yet the cynic in me can't help but focus in on the phrase (in the Herald editorial / front page):
They say this because it would be illegal in election year for any organisation other than a registered political party to spend more than $60,000 (perhaps a couple of full-page advertisements) to publicise a cause that might be deemed political.

and wonder if this is the only reason why they have finally reacted to this outrage.
Did someone at the Herald finally realise what a threat this was to their advertising budgets in the 12 months before the election? Especially given Labour's predilection for multi-million dollar TV campaigns over newspapers (probably something to do with the literacy of their typical voter...)?

And in fact isn't that what they should really be pointing out here as well - that the Labour party and Government departments will still be able to do a repeat of their $15 million dollar Working For Families (WFF) TV advertising before the election (You're better off with Labour [sic]), while opponents and critics wouldn't be able to afford a single timeslot?

But regardless of the reasons for the Granny to finally wake up, thank God they have and the sheeple of New Zealand may finally recognise the threat that is upon them