While Paris has taken a fair bit of attention National have been hard at it, working toward re-election 2017. I don’t think they completely own the media but I do think they have some terribly good friends in the right places.
Two headlines in the past week took my eye.
“2015 a year of economic expansion” 05/01/15 Stuff.co, in which ardent National enthusiast and ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagerie goes into bat for his firm (Cos National have put an awful lot of business and debt their way) by retreading an old catch phrase, “Pure economic expansion” He went on to claim that things were happening elsewhere in the economy too, not just an earthquake rebuild, milk powder and houses in Auckland. Nationals Kiwiblog happily quotes it and probably pressed released this crap as well!
Then Anne Gibson “Property editor of the NZ Herald” 09,10,11/01/2015
“IT is the place to be as job market increases 14% in final quarter”
A piece on “New Zealand’s job market is on a high with double-digit growth in the final quarter of last year and IT workers, builders and architects in most demand”. Trademe is the source for the job stats.
These two are the kind of thing one skim reads on the cell phone whilst filling in time and they are gold for telling “Middle NZ” how good things are without Middle NZ having to think about it. BUT what really surprised me was when one digs just a little deeper neither story could be substantiated and both were full of holes.
This is one of the important ways in how and where National stay popular, the subtle almost subliminal propaganda that leaks out every week and goes unchallenged. This needs to change.
Right on X-ray! That is why the term “Rock Star Economy” is so appropriate for New Zealand. In the Rock Star world, most people only see the glamour, the glitz, the successes, the profits and the highlife and they are ignorant of what goes on behind the scenes. For every successful rock star there is an army of workers – roadies, managers, drivers, gofers, security people, technicians, cooks and many more who work behind the scene. Without them the rock stars would not be the success that they have become. These people have to work long and hard for their wages and yet for the most part receive little job security, good wages or recognition for their part in making the rock star so successful.
Doesn’t this sound a lot like our economy? – the masses keep putting in their sweat every day so that a few at the top can smile at the cameras and say “I did it MY way!” And when the masses start asking for a few more crumbs they are told to shut up and be thankful they even get a few crumbs.
We should remember that rock stars can fall as quick as they rise. We should make sure this happens in 2017.
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While Paris has taken a fair bit of attention National have been hard at it, working toward re-election 2017. I don’t think they completely own the media but I do think they have some terribly good friends in the right places.
Two headlines in the past week took my eye.
“2015 a year of economic expansion” 05/01/15 Stuff.co, in which ardent National enthusiast and ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagerie goes into bat for his firm (Cos National have put an awful lot of business and debt their way) by retreading an old catch phrase, “Pure economic expansion” He went on to claim that things were happening elsewhere in the economy too, not just an earthquake rebuild, milk powder and houses in Auckland. Nationals Kiwiblog happily quotes it and probably pressed released this crap as well!
Then Anne Gibson “Property editor of the NZ Herald” 09,10,11/01/2015
“IT is the place to be as job market increases 14% in final quarter”
A piece on “New Zealand’s job market is on a high with double-digit growth in the final quarter of last year and IT workers, builders and architects in most demand”. Trademe is the source for the job stats.
These two are the kind of thing one skim reads on the cell phone whilst filling in time and they are gold for telling “Middle NZ” how good things are without Middle NZ having to think about it. BUT what really surprised me was when one digs just a little deeper neither story could be substantiated and both were full of holes.
This is one of the important ways in how and where National stay popular, the subtle almost subliminal propaganda that leaks out every week and goes unchallenged. This needs to change.
Right on X-ray! That is why the term “Rock Star Economy” is so appropriate for New Zealand. In the Rock Star world, most people only see the glamour, the glitz, the successes, the profits and the highlife and they are ignorant of what goes on behind the scenes. For every successful rock star there is an army of workers – roadies, managers, drivers, gofers, security people, technicians, cooks and many more who work behind the scene. Without them the rock stars would not be the success that they have become. These people have to work long and hard for their wages and yet for the most part receive little job security, good wages or recognition for their part in making the rock star so successful.
Doesn’t this sound a lot like our economy? – the masses keep putting in their sweat every day so that a few at the top can smile at the cameras and say “I did it MY way!” And when the masses start asking for a few more crumbs they are told to shut up and be thankful they even get a few crumbs.
We should remember that rock stars can fall as quick as they rise. We should make sure this happens in 2017.
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