1. Lanthanide 7
   27 May 2016 at 9:35 am

   ” In other words, this government borrowed and ran up the debt on unimportant things, and since they’ve made such a pile of debt they’re now putting self-imposed limits so that they “run a surplus” and don’t create any further debt. Meanwhile things that they should be funding – and therefore running up a debt for – go unfunded, and we slip further behind.

   To make it worse, this government is talking about further reckless spending in the form of tax cuts.

   I actually wonder if in 2017 they might go into the election with a new top tax rate – say 36% at $150,000 or over. Just like they stole the benefit increase in last year’s budget from the left, they could steal this other plank from the left to make themselves look more electable to middle NZ. That would let them have their tax cuts while also keeping their surplus (since there’s really no other way to do it than to raise more revenue). ”

   Halfcrown 8
   27 May 2016 at 9:40 am

   ” What really gets me about this budget is. The double dipping dickhead from Dipton who I would not trust with the local Boy Scouts Jamboree money let alone the country’s finances, can only give meager increases to essential services like health, but can spend a BILLION dollars on a not required 17 bridge in 22 Ks bypass of Hamilton for the trucking lobby. ”

   http://thestandard.org.nz/budget-2016-f-for-fail/

2. Just another election bribe using borrowed money to entice us to vote for them again!!!!

   Although it was our money we have to pay back????

   Throw this load of grubby criminals out of office.

3. Zilch to be done about our housing affordability train wreck of a disaster! 🙁 Slippery Shonkey tries to slither out of this one:

   Peters cleverly catches Key out over housing crisis quote

   Winston Peters has cleverly caught Prime Minister John Key out over the growing housing problem in Auckland.

   Key has shied away from claims Auckland’s housing problem has hit ‘crisis point’, but admits the Government needs to tackle the situation before it worsens.

   However, Peters caught out Key when the New Zealand First leader questioned the Prime Minister in Parliament.

   Peters asked Key: “Does the Prime Minister agree with an ‘infamous’ New Zealander who said, and I quote him: ‘We are facing a severe home affordability and ownership crisis. The crisis has reached dangerous levels in recent years and looks set to get worse.’ If not, why not?”

   Key said he didn’t agree, and Peters responded, saying: “Is the Prime Minister aware that he was the one who said that?”

   Peters’ response made members of the House erupt in laughter at Key’s expense.

   The question comes as the Government faces increasing pressure to tackle rising homelessness and a shortage of housing in Auckland, ahead of today’s Budget.

   https://www.facebook.com/winstonpeters/videos/1392968154062641/

4. Saw on TV some nights ago and elderly man existing on morphine who needs a hip replacement operation. Why the big delays!?

   Over the last six years, National has cut $1.7 billion from our health system in real terms. As costs have increased, funding for our health services just hasn’t kept up.

   And after cost pressures – like population growth, ageing and inflation – are taken into account, yesterday’s Budget announcements in health only continue the cuts to our health services.

   That means fewer doctors and nurses, older people getting less care in their homes, overstretched mental health services, less funding for life-saving medicines and people not being able to get the surgery they need.

   But through the government’s spin, it can sometimes be hard to know exactly how much your local services have been affected.

   AHH!! But another 3 billion tax cut election bribe is on the way!

5. Not only did the bastards just spend $ 24-26 ,000,000 on a flag change nobody wanted, – they have just gone and allocated $ 781,000,000 to the SIS and GSCB…

   And around only half that $ 380,000,000 to housing in the middle of a housing crisis. Which they created. Here’s a speech by Key in 2007 from The Standard :
   ………………………………………………………………………………………..

   Today, I want to talk in some depth about the declining rates of home ownership in New Zealand.
   …
   It wasn’t so long ago, in the 1990s, in fact, that New Zealand had a high level of home ownership compared to other countries. Not so anymore. We now have what has been described as the second worst housing affordability problem in the world.

   Make no mistake; this problem has got worse in recent years. Home ownership declined by 5% between the 2001 and 2006 census to just 62.7%. To put that into context, home ownership for the preceding five years had been stable at 67.4%.

   If you dig down into those numbers a little deeper, some worrying facts emerge. The share of homes owned by people aged 20 to 40 dropped significantly between 2001 and 2006. Young people – the people we most want to prevent joining the great Kiwi brain-drain – are really struggling to get onto the property ladder.

   This decline shows no signs of slowing. In fact, on current trends, the crisis will only deepen. Home ownership rates are predicted to plummet to 60% within the next decade. And one of the biggest factors influencing home-ownership rates over the next 10 years will be the difficulty young buyers will have getting into their first home.

   This problem won’t be solved by knee-jerk, quick-fix plans. And it won’t be curbed with one or two government-sponsored building developments.

   Instead, we need government leadership that is prepared to focus on the fundamental issues driving the crisis.
   …
   The … most important reason for the home affordability crisis is one of supply. It explains why houses have become so unaffordable for so many people. Quite simply, not enough new houses are being built in New Zealand. This is a recent phenomenon. In many parts of the country, increases in demand for housing are now outstripping supply.

   That imbalance is vividly illustrated in Auckland. In the five years to 2006, the supply of housing stock has failed to keep up with population growth. Again to put that into context, over the 15 years to 2006 the housing stock grew at a faster rate than population. So the supply problem is a recent one. Economics 101 would tell you that if the demand for housing outstrips supply, then the only way for house prices to go is up, up, up.
   …
   National’s goal is to turbo-charge the supply of housing in New Zealand by confronting the fundamental constraints that have kept a lid on it. By contrast, Labour’s instinctive reaction to the housing supply problem is to say the government must get in and build some houses. … I think it’s dangerous for the Government to pretend that developments such as that at Hobsonville are some sort of panacea to the housing affordability crisis.
   …
   Central and local government should always be aware of environmental and community concerns regarding new housing developments. But if we are serious about dealing with the housing affordability crisis, if we are serious about protecting the Kiwi Dream of home ownership, then we need to get a better balance between those concerns and their eventual impact on home affordability. To not do so is to ignore a fundamental long-term driver of the housing affordability crisis.
   …
   National’s infrastructure plan will go hand in hand with our efforts to confront the housing affordability crisis. We will free up more land to build on while ensuring new developments are served by the infrastructure they need.

   Conclusion

   Over the past few years a consensus has developed in New Zealand. We are facing a severe home affordability and ownership crisis. The crisis has reached dangerous levels in recent years and looks set to get worse.

   This is an issue that should concern all New Zealanders. It threatens a fundamental part of our culture, it threatens our communities and, ultimately, it threatens our economy.

   The good news is that we can turn the situation around. We can deal with the fundamental issues driving the home affordability crisis. Not just with rinky-dink schemes, but with sound long-term solutions to an issue that has long-term implications for New Zealand’s economy and society.

   National has a plan for doing this and we will be resolute in our commitment to the goal of ensuring more young Kiwis can aspire to buy their own home.

   It’s a worthy goal and one I hope you will support us in achieving. Thank-you.

   ………………………………………………………………………………………..

   To which I will reply with an equally ‘ historic’ news article from exactly the same era . Here it is. And please notice…. nothing at all has changed except that now we have a housing crisis :

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10468960/Aroha-of-McGehan-Close-flees-NZ

   Not one thing has changed. Not one bloody thing.

   • I made a mistake… the allocation to the SIS and GSCB is 178.7 million dollars over 4 years.

     But I retract nothing in regards to the cost of having whole family’s sleeping in cars who work for minimum incomes and still cannot afford the rent.

6. Here’s another from a few wags at The Standard:

   Homeless could be offered up to $5000 to leave Auckland
   ………………………………………………………………………
   Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett announced in Parliament yesterday that homeless families would be offered up to $5000 to move to empty state homes outside Auckland.

   $3000 offer for beneficiaries to move
   …………………………………………….
   The Government will pay beneficiaries $3000 to move to cities such as Auckland for work – but the Budget doesn’t mention Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett’s plan to pay social housing tenants $5000 to move out of Auckland.
   ………………………………………………………………………………………..

   The article goes on saying ” it seems I’ m not the only ones to sense a business opportunity here ”:

   ”How to make a quick $8000 – move to Auckland for a job and be paid $3000 – then don’t find a home and be paid $5000 to leave”….

   Priceless.

7. ‘Up to $5000 dollars she said in the same tone as a car salesman to a poor suspecting customer when selling a junker.

   Will that be a measly $1200 for a single person living in a car?

   Why did she qualify her release as “Up to $5000 dollars’? That must be for a family of eight with a full house of furniture?????

   Very tricky slimy people she is so watch her and all Nationals hollow promises.

8. Great seeing Labour’s Phil Twyford and the Green’s Julie Anne Genter together on the show, good team work.

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