Waatea 5th Estate – Weekly Political Wrap Up

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Joining us to discuss the Panama Papers, Kiwibank privatisation and Helen’s chances at the UN…

Labour Party David Parker

Former politician Laila Harre

Newspaper columnist Rachel Stewart

Media Commentator Dr Wayne Hope

9 COMMENTS

  1. This is a very important current affairs program that if it was on live mainstream TV 1 & RNZ we would see a wild swing away from Nactional to the opposition alliance block, so we need the opposition now prepare a combined legal join court challenge injunction to claim that half of the political parties to have a media platform on which to clearly offer their position on such matters as what has been described in this excellent program so these folk’s need to be heard across the whole NZ electorate.

  2. Indeed, the Panama Papers is a clarion call for revolt against a neoliberal world economic order that favors (1) privatization of public assets, (2) deregulation of governmental influence, (3) free trade in secret, and (4) austerity measures for public welfare. This nonsense started in earnest in the 1980s with President Reagan and PM Thatcher, called Supply-side economics, which preached tax cuts for the wealthy that purportedly incentivizes job creation, thus trickling wealth down to the masses. Problem is, after more than 30 years, all of the wealth gushed upwards whilst wages trickled down. The exact reverse of how it was sold to the American public. Politicians, mostly Republicans, continue making the same lame claims today. Cut taxes to create jobs is their mantra. Well, what they really mean to say is “cut taxes to cut wages” because that’s how it works in real life.

    Frankly, the Average Joe has been getting shafted, hosed, bamboozled for decades. Now, the results are exposed in full living color. Billions if not trillions of stolen money and hidden assets removed from the public domain to enrich a few already rich people. This is as low as lowliness gets; it’s below scum.

    “Rich individuals and their families have as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues, according to research,” Super Rich Hold $32 Trillion in Offshore Havens, Reuters, July 22, 2012. This enlightening discovery was four years ago, well before the recent Panama Papers incident.

    So, how does neoliberalism, or today’s socio-conomic order, dovetail into the Panama Papers scandal?

    Neoliberalism is the legal equivalent of the Panama Papers.

    It robs the public legally by changing regulations, trade policy, and taxation to enrich the wealthy class at the expense of the middle/lower. For example, America’s “15% carried-interest” taxation rate available to people like Mitt Romney but not available to his gardener. This is joylessly known as “reverse Robin Hood economics,” or taking from the poor to enrich the rich, and it works miracles, just look at how rich Mitt has become and at how his gardener’s wages suck dust.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/08/the-panama-papers-oozing-slime/

    • Excellent posts there Jay1. Milton Frieldman has blood on his hands and has a lot to answer for. Although neoliberalism began in earnest in the 80’s it started earlier in the 1970’s. Reagun and Thatcher were disciples of Milton Freidman, as too were Russian and other leaders including NZ of that time as well. Frieldman’s ideology for the greedy rich swept around the world in one big great pandemic wave. Read or watch “The Shock doctrine” it is extremely enlightening.

  3. Further to the above:

    NZ mentioned in Panama Papers leak 60,000 times!!

    How NZ acts as a tax haven for the World’s richest 2%
    NZ is complicit in tax avoidance schemes where wealthy elites exploit our loose trust laws. We have 12000 plus offshore trusts that pay no NZ tax on foreign earnings. Their beneficiaries are not registered and their accounts are not filed with any public body. NZ regulators may demand this information but it is not disclosed to foreign governments.

    http://www.actionstation.org.nz/tax-haven

  4. Another great show. I love the different perspectives including Laila Harre who comments how money is just turning into this entity above all others instead of concentrating of the real things in life like social relationships and quality of life and Dr Wayne Hope idea that the banks are going to start coming through in these Panama documents about laundering money and where they got the cash from in the financial crisis.

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