class war
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UBI (1). Memes and Paradigms.
Written By: - Date published: 9:34 pm, January 12th, 2014 - 227 comments
Those growing up after the 80’s will find it hard to imagine the paradigm shift, that was the rise of Neo-liberalism, in the 80’s, in New Zealand. The colossal untested experiment, it really was, and the huge shift of wealth from the lower and middle classes to the richest of us.
Garth George’s best column … ever
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, January 6th, 2014 - 117 comments
Garth George’s latest newspaper column has a progressive prescription for the abolishing of poverty, some marxist analysis, a heavy criticism of Australian Banks and a conclusion that laissez-faire capitalism has to go. I never thought he was a radical …
Caption contest
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, January 3rd, 2014 - 110 comments
Celebrity golf! Which one will get voted off the island first!? Meanwhile the world burns, the poor struggle, and the wealth gap continues to be a blight on our country.
Poverty denial
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, December 30th, 2013 - 230 comments
Here & in the UK: food poverty, increases in queues to foodbanks, in diseases of poverty, a crisis in affordable housing, & struggles & insecurites of the working poor. But poverty denialists blame the poor, smear beneficiaries, & talk of (always-around-the-corner) “brighter futures”.
America is becoming a third world nation
Written By: - Date published: 7:39 am, December 29th, 2013 - 194 comments
It appears that America is becoming rich in name only as more and more of its people in jobs rely on state assistance to make ends meet. And many of these jobs are in highly profitable industries such as the Banks and Wal Mart where people at the top of those organisations make huge amounts. And the payments are a drain on the State’s finances and prevent it from funding important things such as asset renewal and education.
Shop til we all drop
Written By: - Date published: 9:46 am, December 27th, 2013 - 90 comments
The cult of the super rich, cheer led by the uncritical echo chamber in the MSM. Those struggling in poverty receive a few crumbs of charity, promoting superficial “good will” by those indulging in the orgy of consumerist excess. Underlying causes & solutions are ignored.
Auckland in search of democracy
Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, December 24th, 2013 - 29 comments
Media beat-ups around personality politics divert from Auckland’s real problems: an undemocratic council structure that panders to corporates, & that does not represent Auckland’s diversity, while doing little to counter the destructive impact of the inequality gap.
Not the brighter future….
Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, December 22nd, 2013 - 32 comments
Articles in the Sunday papers online, showing John Key’s “brighter future” is only for the well off, while more people than ever are struggling to get by.
NZ Herald: Disgrace to democracy
Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, December 18th, 2013 - 246 comments
The right wing NZ Herald editors, have misused their position in the news mediascape to produce some shameless, highly partisan and manipulative propaganda. They do not have the interest of all Aucklanders at heart. More considered analysis needed. Let’s wait for tomorrow’s public meeting.
How has the year been for you?
Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, December 18th, 2013 - 145 comments
The government & many of its cheerleaders are joining in a re-vitalised chorus of a brighter future right around the corner of “Christmas cheer”. Many Kiwis are struggling with the realities of poverty. How was your year on the inequality scale?
Chorus insider trading?
Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, December 17th, 2013 - 35 comments
The Government appears to be softening us up for a financial contribution to Chorus in the realm of $250 million so that it can do what it has a contractual obligation to do anyway. And TUANZ thinks that some insider trading is going on with Chorus’s shares.
Off The Pages…
Written By: - Date published: 5:43 pm, December 15th, 2013 - 17 comments
…and into the world.
What happened to the working class?
Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, December 15th, 2013 - 175 comments
In post WWII UK, working class people were gaining a stronger voice in public life. Then came Thatcher and middle class capture of politics & the media. Something similar happened in NZ. How can those on low incomes and/or from the working classes gain a stronger voice in NZ politics?
The party I will vote for ….
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, December 13th, 2013 - 157 comments
… will be one that has effective policies to make a more equal, inclusive and democratic society, will seriously address the concerns of those least well-off, and not just pander to the concerns of people on (comfortable) middle incomes.Values in need of a slogan?
How to: Pick an Excuse for Not doing Anything About Poverty
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, December 12th, 2013 - 97 comments
Right wing, excuses reasons, for not doing anything about children in poverty.
What chance is there of a bipartisan approach to child poverty?
Written By: - Date published: 9:19 am, December 9th, 2013 - 354 comments
The findings of the child poverty monitoring report are being released today. One in four or 265,000 children live in poverty and one in ten live in severe poverty. Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills has called for a bipartisan political approach to the issue but Paula Bennett has replied by saying that she is incredibly proud of the Government’s record. How can you be incredibly proud of allowing one in four children to live in poverty?
Census 2013: increase in inequality
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, December 4th, 2013 - 26 comments
NZ Census 2013 shows a widening income gap: rises for the haves; more struggle for the have nots. Gains for women in education and some in the highest income brackets; more struggle for those on low incomes, especially beneficiaries impacted by Bennett’s punitive welfare reforms. Welcome to Key’s “Brighter Future”.
Assets sales make Crown a billion poorer
Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, November 29th, 2013 - 122 comments
In the Budget, the Government said asset sales would increase the net worth of the Crown by half a billion dollars because eager mums and dads were going to snap the shares up for more than they were worth on the government books. As we know, it didn’t quite work out that way. The Greens have updated the Budget and found the impact is $1.5 billion worse than expected.
Battle weary & marginalised: state housing
Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, November 28th, 2013 - 61 comments
The National government is destroying NZ’s state housing system. Right of tenure removed, a shift towards private provision of “social housing”, housing campaigners marginalised, & Tracy Watkins crowing about the shift from the “welfare state”. Greens & Mana are for more state houses. And Labour? [Update] Picket of (Nat) Party for the Rich Dec 8 Akl. NZH article.
Boris Johnson thinks the super rich are a put upon minority
Written By: - Date published: 12:36 pm, November 26th, 2013 - 21 comments
From the you have to be out of your freaking mind file comes this gem from England. Boris Johnson thinks that the ultra wealthy are a put upon bullied minority just like the homeless and Irish travellers and ex-gang members and deserve our thanks and gratitude.
ImperatorFish: But what about my rights?
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, November 25th, 2013 - 26 comments
Scott laments the hard life of the rich white man.
Is it any wonder?
Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, November 13th, 2013 - 90 comments
Never wonder again why National is opposed to any kind of wealth tax, including capital gains tax, and would rather tax hard work instead. Never wonder again why there’s hundreds of millions of dollars for uneconomic irrigation projects but crumbs to feed hungry kids. Just look at this table of what the richest MPs won, and remember their friends are of the same class.
‘Locked Up Warriors’: 101 East
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 pm, November 9th, 2013 - 95 comments
On 101 East on Al Jazeera. Too many people in NZ prisons, especially Maori: too many in poverty; too much money spent on prisons; not enough for low income communities; some very good community initiatives. Is this a fair representation?
“A Tale of two countries” – NZ/Aotearoa
Written By: - Date published: 8:11 am, November 3rd, 2013 - 81 comments
Yesterday David Cunliffe told a Tale of Two New Zealands. Today 2 NZ Herald articles show where NZ has gone wrong with its fractured and increasingly unequal society: our ailing state supported TVNZ; a high-living property-buying elite. Will Cunliffe talk about state housing today?
Serious question: Treasury?
Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, October 31st, 2013 - 86 comments
Why is Treasury providing the government with advice on spinning and disguising widespread changes to Education? In this way, NZ’s democracy is undermined, and changes are continually made that benefit the few and make life more difficult for the many. Government MO or renegade Treasury?
The anti-democrats NZ tea party
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, October 30th, 2013 - 82 comments
From the ranks of those working in the murky depths of dirty, disgusting and despicable politics, comes a piss take of a “union” of “taxpayers”, to lobby against a fair, democratic, caring and inclusive state and for the already greedy and powerful.
On the waterfront: art & politics
Written By: - Date published: 12:01 pm, October 29th, 2013 - 81 comments
Auckland authorities disrespected past worker struggles in allowing an art work on the waterfront, that commemorates the ruthless suppression of the 1913 strike. After protests, it has now been covered. Time for the many to unite for fairness at work & in daily living!
Outsourcing poverty: Paula Bennett’s shame
Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, October 29th, 2013 - 51 comments
A charity is taking on the funding of the essential work on monitoring poverty, in the face of Paula Bennett, Bill English and John Key et al failing to do their job: a return to Dickensian & Edwardian times.
Happy Labour Day
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, October 28th, 2013 - 14 comments
From the movement that brought you equal pay, the weekend, minimum wages, child protection laws, injury prevention, the right to organise …
Is society collapse and inequality linked?
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, October 27th, 2013 - 61 comments
US mathematician Peter Turchin believes that mathematics can predict events such as the recent constitutional crisis in America and has constructed a model based on social and economic data that he believes predicts periods of instability and disaster for nations. This work shows the negative side of inequality and neatly compliments the work of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in the Spirit Level that showed the benefits of increased equality.
Taking from the poor to pay the rich
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, October 23rd, 2013 - 119 comments
In the same week the government announces a five million dollar gift to a yachting syndicate, Child Poverty Action Group has revealed that 13,000 of our poorest families have had their income slashed.
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