capitalism

Kiwis at the front of the queue?

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:42 am, March 4th, 2013 - 140 comments

One of the promises that Key made about asset sales was that Kiwis would be “at the front of the queue”. So why will up to 30% of the current offering be heading overseas?

Re-run: SkyCity’s convention centre would need $10m+ subsidies – MED

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:22 am, February 21st, 2013 - 15 comments

A year ago, I wrote that SkyCity was pursuing the dirty practice of ‘subvention’ – where owners of white elephant infrastructure extort governments for subsidies – for the convention centre. The msm has caught up and is reporting on it now. MED denies there will be any subvention; but Joyce says it’s all on the table. And what about the $10m+ in operating subsidies the centre would need?

The failure of economic austerity

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 8:54 am, February 11th, 2013 - 18 comments

As one writer sums it up – “no austerity has helped any economy”. So why do we carry on with this failed ideology? Perhaps because, while it does nothing for the vast majority of people, it helps make the super-rich even richer…

Community Service

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:05 am, February 9th, 2013 - 70 comments

Greenpeace activists were fined and ordered to do Community Service – for serving the global community by protesting about Climate Change & the oil industry.  Others get honours like knighthoods for services that are damaging for the majority in the community.  Misplaced values? [update] RNZ interview with Lucy Lawless.

The heart of darkness

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:39 am, January 27th, 2013 - 181 comments

I wondered why the Herald had given a column to a barely literate liquidator, until now. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant, and running Damien Grant’s hateful, self-centred pieces exposes the ugliness at the heart of the neoliberal capitalist class. The titles alone are enough: ‘I’d rather a better phone than feed a hungry child’, ‘Life as the top capitalist in capitalism the only life worth having’.

Upcoming talk on Canadian student uprising

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:44 pm, January 11th, 2013 - 6 comments

This Sunday hip hop artist and political activist Darius Mirshahi will be speaking in Auckland about the political situation in Canada and how the left are organising to resist Neo-Liberalism. Later he will be performing material which has lead to attention from Glen Beck and the Canadian police.

Halting Dynamics and Shifting Inertias

Written By: Bill - Date published: 5:20 pm, January 7th, 2013 - 43 comments

Like many, I’ve been somewhat bemused and not a little angered that austerity is touted as a pathway to economic recovery. Like many, I’ve come to view both austerity and bail outs simply as means to put public monies and the control of public institutions into private hands – all the while diminishing the power of citizens on both an individual and collective basis.

But why consciously destroy or abandon real economic activity in a quest for power? Why not continue to build on whatever ‘real economy’ bases of power you posses? Idle speculation might suggest a lust for power, y’know… power for power’s sake. Or a reaction to, or recognition of impending peak resources in a world of growing population.

Politics & Pleasure: TV 2012

Written By: karol - Date published: 5:00 pm, December 31st, 2012 - 32 comments

We tend to rework reality, included political knowledge and understanding, into a basic (fictionalised) story structure, with villains, heroes, and values absorbed from pleasurable forms of fiction, including TV.  This is a look at the political values embedded in some popular TV dramas.

Apocalypse Now

Written By: karol - Date published: 10:15 am, December 21st, 2012 - 56 comments

Humans have a paranoid fascination with our own demise, as seen in doomsday movies.  They portray our fears, hopes, politics and delusions.  Children of Men: the demise of capitalism; Day after Tomorrow: climate collapse.  Is today a Mayan prediction of the end or a new beginning?

A-G’s SkyCity report looming over Key

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:39 am, December 13th, 2012 - 16 comments

A typical Auditor-General report takes 3 months. “Larger and more complex” ones take 6. Metiria Turei’s complaint about the way SkyCity was chosen for an international convention centre in a ‘pokies-for-convention-centre’ deal has been going 8 months. Clearly, what they’ve found has non-trivial implications for the government and they’re making sure all their ‘t’s are crossed and ‘i’s dotted.

Opposing TPP

Written By: karol - Date published: 8:50 pm, December 6th, 2012 - 10 comments

Away from the front pages of the MSM, there is information about opposition to the TPP. Aside from the secrecy, the TPP is looking far too complex and all-encompassing. There are some protest events coming up in the next few days.

NRT: Taking on our local tax cheats

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 10:37 am, November 30th, 2012 - 26 comments

I/S at No Right Turn asks why the government is letting rich multinational companies get away with exploiting tax loopholes.  Here’s an idea – close the loopholes and spend the revenue on schools.

$50,000 per Hobbit job

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:43 am, November 28th, 2012 - 144 comments

Government has a central role in job creation. Just ask National. They’ll tell you it’s not true, and then proudly proclaim that they got The Hobbit made here, creating 3,000 temporary jobs. According to the New York Times, the total cost of our government’s subsidies for The Hobbit is NZD$150m – $50,000 per short-term job.

There is a way forward – if we are wise enough to take it

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 12:15 pm, November 15th, 2012 - 29 comments

Unemployment at record highs, current account deficit in trouble, the economy is stagnant, exodus to Australia, National is failing by every performance measure that they set themselves.  The completely frustrating thing is that there is a clear and rational way forward, if only we have the wisdom to take it.