GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – Gee some people get upset when I dare to examine the governance of Labour and Greens

1. It’s not like New Zealand is cash poor. New Zealand companies have the strongest cash reserves and balance sheets between revenue and borrowing since the formation of the NZX. So we have cash it’s just in the form of productivity gains. The 10% of New Zealand’s wealthiest has taken all of the new income represented by a 10% productivity gain and I’ll come back to this.

   So another thing is that rebuilding a government budget isn’t as simple as raising one thing alone like benefit levels. Okay so you raise benefit levels and all that cash goes straight into subsidising landlords holiday Homes and lifestyle rather than directly improving the conditions for New Zealand most vulnerable. So you kind of have to raise the level of funding across every government department which is subject to the whites of who ever is in government at the time.

   So one way to avoid all of that political jargon and bullshit is to introduce a levy on employers by increasing employer contributions to kiwi saver by 1% or 2% and avoid all the calculus. All that money is future consumption that is being spent as we speak to improve access to health, entertainment and transport an so on. And every one will do it if they want a decent health system and education and so on.

2. “As a candidate for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stated on RNZ that “neoliberalism has failed “ implying her government would be progressive and a “transformative” one.”

   Transformative my ass

   This govt has been a growing disappointment

   Walking back on CGT and implementing only 3 of 42 reccomendations from the Welfare working group is hardly transformative

   If this is the “high bar” set by Ardern’s govt then a child could step over it

   You just keep doing what youre doing Bryan .Hold this govt to account

   • Got it one hundred percent Mjolnir.

     If this is transformative government, I’d hate to see a timid Labour-led govt.

     “Stardust”, anyone?

   • Transformative my ass. Now that is a classic working-class expression. I’ve missed it.

   • Mjolnir: “Transformative my ass”

     Indeed. Very neatly put. Like others here, I completely agree with you.

3. Well said Bryan.

   Labour and National have essentially run a “neo liberal consensus” between them since 1984, retaining the Reserve Bank Act, SOEs, free in and out flow of capital etc.

   I support the Govt. on the basis that they are delivering some needed reforms, but, the political priority for activists and academics etc. if the coalition are re elected, is surely to help advance the rolling back of neo liberalism at long last. The miserly fiscal cap must be raised, at the very least.

   Support for this can hopefully be developed from “generation rent” and “generation student loan”, too many boomers are part of the problem with unearned income from “renters” and untaxed capital gains.

4. I am with you Bryan Bruce 100%

   I am a Labour/NZF voter now!!!

   So we are also criticising Labour for broken promises, yes we should and here is the reason.

   We were told by our leader Jacinda Ardern to “pull up Labour if they fail to honour all promises made pre/post election.”

   Jacinda said this on TV to the nation while saying her first speech on the first Waitangi day, while on the Marae.

   Jacinda. “Lets do this”

   • Cleangreen: “I am a Labour/NZF voter now!!!”

     I’m an old Lefty: I’ve always voted on that side of the spectrum (though not always for Labour).

     We should not vote for this lot again. If they’re returned to government, they’ll believe that what they’ve done (and signally failed to do) is ok with voters, and they’ll just carry on along the current path.

     In truth, I’d rather have the Natz back: at least they were honest about their intentions. The current administration is pusillanimous and – even worse, were that possible – mendacious.

     Away with them!

5. Spot on Bryan.
   They simply haven’t walked the talk.

   Despite all the evidence (environmental and societal) indicating how damaging this insidious form of predatory capitalism is – they make no meaningful effort to change it.

   The sad fact is Douglas wasted no time with his blitzkreig approach to destroying the old NZ in 1984.

   Why does the riposte to that have to be so goddamn slow from 3 parties who acknowledge our societal and environmental crises, and now actually have the power to do something about it????!!!

   • … ” Why does the riposte to that have to be so goddamn slow from 3 parties who acknowledge our societal and environmental crises, and now actually have the power to do something about it????!!!” …

     ——————————–

     Because neo liberalism is now so entrenched , – with the corrupt John Key and his National govt in particular creating a paper moneyed landlord class that any political party after them risks losing so many votes if that landlord class were threatened ( funny how it is the Australian banks that are the culprits behind all of this , and our politicians dance to their tune … ) , … that any initiative that could be written into law could be written right back out if the opposition (National and the other far right party’s ) gained power.

     Thus they are forced to go at a snails pace with that and the neo liberals within their own party’s, – particularly the Greens and Labour. The only way it can be done is either by soft increments that the public would go along with and by gradualism ( the exact opposite of what the neo liberals aka Douglas and co did ) – OR , – by a new political party based on the Trade Unions, – OR , – there being a global worldwide financial crash equaling the Great Depression of 1929.

     Perhaps initiatives such as JOE90 posted in both points 1 and 2 further down the page would be the answer to all of this.

     I suspect he is correct.

     Very , very correct, in fact.

6. When Labour can publicly put roger douglas and his mob who never stood for Labour’s values, well behind them and renounce the privatisation and breaking up of public assets and community services; then people may start to listen to policy with a new understanding.

   At the moment neoliberalism still controls the party and cracks the whip.

   The trickle down to employment for shrinking wages while trickle up to record Corporate profits is not the deal Kiwis want.

   Labour never stood for this until douglas and his henchmen under the egotist Lange, changed the shape of NZ for the worse. We have not recovered and the legacy seems to have spouted wings.

   Labour may pussy foot around making small adjustments while the fabric of the county continues to be privatised, local councils devolved to CCOs and private contractors, urban transport now run by private companies.

   Govt agencies like Ministry of Work, Railways with it comprehensive workshops and facilities, have been broken up and dealt a death blow by NACT and Labour since. The pool of expertise and skills have been lost.

   Many small towns and rural communities which had grown around Post Offices, died by the hand of roger douglas and have never recovered.

   The social fabric provided by Govt has been a vital element in rural and urban NZ, an element that cannot be replaced by privatisation for corporate profit.

   Labour need to show and about turn.

   Meanwhile climate urgency demand a stronger Govt hand in taking the reins from Business NZ and instituting a change of direction from BAU.

   Planning for a future is a Govt task, not one put out for tender.

   • Yes John said it all here.

     Climate change is our biggest tragedy facing us and also even your family Jacinda!

     So get going, and actually doing something concrete about the climate change.

     Refrain from just rubbing you shoulders with the UN ‘hob nobs’ about hate speech.

     Remember – Climate change, climate change, and make climate change your nuclear moment and stop diddly-dallying around.

     The clock is ticking fast towards the 2020 election.

     Tick tock tick tock tick tock!!!

   • … ‘ When Labour can publicly put roger douglas and his mob who never stood for Labour’s values, well behind them and renounce the privatisation and breaking up of public assets and community services; then people may start to listen to policy with a new understanding ‘…

     ——————————

     Great post . All of it.

7. It’s my view that the only way the stain of ‘neoliberalism’ will be bleached out of AO/NZ is when the last of the now old crooks who cooked up the plan to swindle our stuff and things away from us by using the milton friedman ponzie scheme we now know of as ‘neoliberalism’ is when the last Kiwi Crook dies of old age. The day roger douglas is unplugged from his blood boy? Neoliberalism will be gone. And the reason for that is because neoliberalism will no longer need to serve any purpose. Our stuff and things has been sequestered, the money from that is banked in God only knows where and we have enough poverty, third world diseases and homelessness to keep the blood thirsty though gutless, all bought and paid for msm happy for years.
   It’s the solemn responsibility of ANY AO/NZ government to run defence of those who ripped us off to keep a lid on their swindlings until that day comes along. After that? A new AO/ NZ will emerge. And most likely owned by zionists and the .05%’ers.
   “A progressive government would take control of the mortgage market again.”
   That’s what I’ve been saying! The big fat foreign owned private banksters are our mortal enemies.
   “ Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. “ Bertrand Russell.
   The other extremely unpleasant aspect of the tyranny of the fortunate over the unfortunate is that the bastards get a real buzz out of being cruel bullies. Those of us who might find that bewildering should find fighting back against them as absolutely reasonable and righteous.
   A superb post @ BB. All nicely stuffed into a tidy nutshell. Now? If only us victims could be lead to action?
   AO/NZ if covered in dangerous, angry people, many of whom are addicted to P and booze who will happily bash each other to death but run crying to mommy when a rebellion is called for.

   • “…………the only way the stain of ‘neoliberalism’ will be bleached out of AO/NZ is when the last of the now old crooks who cooked up the plan to swindle our stuff and things away from us by using the milton friedman ponzie scheme we now know of as ‘neoliberalism’ is when the last Kiwi Crook dies of old age.”
     Trouble is, it’ll probably take some very nasty chemical combinations before that’ll ever happen. Not sure what it was in Jeyes Fluid, but I doubt that’d do it. A heavy dose of Scrubbs cloudy Ammonia alongside with a bit of white phosporous.
     Could be worth it though if we could only get ‘funding’ for such an experiment (going forwid). In some ways, it’d probably be better to leave them all to it and have a ceremonial grave pissing session after its all over – which could take some time. Probably when the grand kids reach adulthood.

8. Great stuff – what we need is a TV debate with the PM and yourself. I have now let my membership of the Greens lapse after 16 years, sadly they are not the party they were when Jeanette and Rod were leading it.

   • Well said michal.

     Yes ‘Bomber and jacinda’ – I would really love to see the debate between them.

     My Green vote went back in 2005, way even before the Greens wanted to court National which was a savage desertion – disappointment to many then.

9. “You cannot promote the politics of well-being while practicing the economics of selfishness”.

   Well said. There has been nothing transformative about this Labour-led coalition Government to date. There’s been some tinkering around the edges… otherwise it’s business as usual.

10. Yes well they are half way through their term so bring it on.

    I know that members of Labour were furious that Minto called her our ‘women’s weekly’ prime minister.

    • 🙂

      Well,… as the Queen and her royal family , so also Jacinda Adern apparently… in a good way in many respects, however. I still must say ,… given the choice of the coalition and Adern ,.. I would vote for the coalition hands down. It is flawed, seems to not kick against neo liberalism,… a little like Aunty Helens ‘steady as she goes’, they have made blatant about faces, …but this is all we’ve got currently to work with.

      I suggest a a new political party kick started by the Trade Unions… they have the numbers and the will ( though some don’t obviously ) to do it.

      GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – We need an escape plan « The Daily Blog
      https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/05/…/guest-blog-bryan-bruce-we-need-an-escape-plan…

      In particular… the comments made by JASE .

      THIS could work !!!

11. cut em deep daily, and let em bleed

    this transmission is from your emotional support peacock

    \m/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g7wqFjGf4s

12. Well I must say ,that before Adern became PM, and Robertson the Finance Minister, I really did not like them or trust them. At all. I always suspected Robertson as being a raving neo liberal and that was confirmed ages ago.

    I did not like the look on Adern and Robertson’s faces when David Cunliffe was chosen as leader of the Labour Opposition. It just confirmed my suspicions even more.

    But I guess I am / was just grateful that the odious, devious and corrupt National govt was finally overturned – along with the equally if not more, – odious, devious and corrupt John Key. Nine years of that corruption (tax havens and mass surveillance ) , that filthy , stench ridden ,lying Dirty Politicking betraying govt. ( think of the illegality that occurred to Kim Dotcom and his family for just ONE example).

    And all they ever did was blatantly sell off our state homes to private concerns ( or tried to) , our water, our land , our education system (think favoritism and pushing the private schools agenda ) tried to run down our health system to pave the way for private health , undermined our trade unions, – all they ever wanted to do was privatize, privatize , and privatize some more.

    They never gave a damn about us.

    Just their hoity toity ( many of them foreigners ) bullshit wealthy in crowd.

    The rest of us could die and rot in the gutter and go to hell for all they cared.

    We owe a lot to Andrew Little. He was bold and realistic . In a grand move, he humbly handed over leadership to Adern and Adern worked wonders. She has surpassed all the toxic far right wing criticisms. With flying colours. I am glad she is our PM. I’m glad NZ First and the Greens are in power along with Labour. Call it what you will , but they are currently the best pick of a bad crop.

    But I will never trust Robertson. I have warmed to Adern somewhat , and I guess I have allowed myself to be swept along with the tide , but I’m still glad she is there and not that devious Bill English, – let alone John Key. 100% glad, in fact. But Labour have made some very serious about turns, – which may come back to bite them midway through next term ( and they will be in for a second term , rest assured) , you cannot keep doing that to the public. And this is precisely the problem with trying to cover up a lie like neo liberalism.

    Its like putting out fires with gasoline or whacking moles at a fairground. It cannot be suppressed.

    The far right wing seems ( at least the more willfully blinkered and denialist of them ) , – to have this strange and peculiar ( almost ignorant) notion that there never was a time when there was anything BUT neo liberalism, or , – worse,- that conditions before that had us all living in caves , wearing leaves and eating straw.

    Hugh Price of Hugh Price Publishing would beg to differ,- so would I.

    New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
    http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html

    What he wrote about was a system that was known as Keynesianism. Named after John Maynard Keynes , a brilliant Professor of economics from Cambridge University , England. The west followed the Keynesian plan and EVERY country that adopted it came out of the red and into the black from the Great Depression within six months ! Even Japan followed it with the same results. America rejected it saying it ‘was too simple’… but then followed around a year later. And into the black they went.

    It was in effect from around the mid 1930’s to 1984. ( in NZ ). Similar to other country’s around the globe until Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher. The World Bank and the IMF was created specifically for it until it was hijacked in the mid 1960’s by the neo liberals – most pertinently from the Mont Pelerin society by using such ‘ mouth pieces’ as Milton Friedman.

    It was a period of time globally that was the most prosperous of all time.

    NZ itself was the 6th wealthiest in the world in 1965, – just behind Denmark. It was a time when all the good things we enjoyed we took for granted and were covered by our taxes. Free education, free health, and relatively full employment. Our dams, our roads, our forestry’s , – all built up by our taxes and STILL ,- we were the envy of the world for our quality and standard of living.

    So yes, in theory we could still find our way back.

    Indeed we could. But it would take a power of overt , prolonged and incredibly vocal protest at every level to do so. It would take constant agitation in the media complete with embarrassing political interviews, charts, historic precedents to shift the privileged mountains we have allowed to build like a toxic , belching Vesuvius ready to blow.

    It could be done. And I would say it would have to start with the Unions.

    This is nothing to do with the petty identity politics of the Woke Left. They’ve had their day. They have been exposed for the anemic , nebulous frauds that they are. This is about the very things that impact daily on far too many peoples lives in an incredibly negative fashion.

    This is essentially a class war.

    And historically ?- it took a massive economic collapse to bring in changes the first time around . The Great Depression of 1929. That’s the sort of pressure needed to prise the wealthy elites from their ‘ born to rule’ mentality.

    The threat of loss of wealth by a global population that no longer has the consumer purchasing power to buy their products. The threat of riots, and civil collapse.

    Essentially , the very reason why John Maynard Keynes was called in to rectify global economics in the very first place. We could experience that destructive radical situation such as the Great Depression as a motive for change ,… or we could implement it by steady increment instead as an insurance against the coming massive meltdown. The latter would be far less disruptive, with ever increasing social benefits , via wealth once again in the community , more political stability , and , – for any party putting in motion these things , – would be sure to enjoy a very , very long, long time in office indeed.

    So the question to ask Jacinda Adern might be ; is political obstinacy , embarrassment over part of her chosen party’s negative history , – particularly the 4th Labour govt , – or risking the ire of a relative handful of vested interest elites that pull the strings in this country worth it to NOT make these necessary changes ?

    We shall see.

    I will leave you with this electrifying speech by David Cunliffe when he was elected leader of the Labour party by the members – NOT the neo liberal caucus. You will see why he was betrayed by them roundly.

    Shame in them.

    Campaign Launch 2014, speech from David Cunliffe – YouTube
    Video for david cunliffe election speech you tube▶ 30:31
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5srcxBinZy

    • Hi W.K.

      I clicked on the link for the You Tube video of David Cunliffe’s speech that you supplied at the end of your comment, but it just came up “Video Unavailable”.

      • Hi mate… in order to see it, click and drag / highlight over the entirety ie :

        Campaign Launch 2014, speech from David Cunliffe – YouTube
        Video for david cunliffe election speech you tube▶ 30:31
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5srcxBinZy

        ^^^

        Click and highlight the whole lot and paste on google or whichever server you use. I had the same thing when I had saved it and tried to open it was disappointed … but when I did what I explained to you , – it worked.

        Sorry about that,… anyhow’s, – click and drag and highlight the whole kaboodle then post on your server and it should work .

        🙂

    • Agree with all you have to say WK (as I normally find myself doing).

      To pick up on your point about being relieved that Ardern is PM, and not the psychopath from Wall Street or the Southland Weasel, despite the current backtracking of the coalition.
      A lot will agree with you. And therein lies the Catch 22.

      As Lefties, we are scared to NOT vote for one of the major parties of the Left (or at least, as they would have us believe to be, ‘of the Left’) for fear of seeing the well supported Nats back in charge. That party doesn’t have to pretend anything. They are staunchly antiworker, anti Union, tax-cuts for rich and to hell with the future. And their unblinking mouth-breathing supporters love ’em for it.
      But we who are not of this persuasion have nowhere to go. Our votes for Labour or NZFirst or the Greens are purely ‘anti-National’ votes in many cases I would argue.
      But we end up with the same neolib. shit economics anyhow it seems, and no-one is better off. And we wait, and we wait, and nothing changes.
      So where do we go?
      Was it Dennis Dorney or someone else (sorry if it wasn’t you Dennis) who mentioned the other day about the Alliance, or Social Credit? ( I would have said Mana but there’s been some stuff said recently from that party which I fundamentally disagree with.) Perhaps these are the political vehicles we need to put our support behind for REAL change. We have to ignore the ‘wasted vote’ bogey that we get frightened by and causes us to go scampering back to Labour etc. ‘Cos as we’ve seen since 1984, we won’t be better off anyway!!

      I personally propose an alternative. That the Unions cease supporting Labour, and we have a proper Workers Party that actually walks the talk so to speak. Unionised labour in this country, properly organised and supporting a singular political entity, has enough numbers to do real political damage imho. But I may well be pushing water uphill with a rake on that one. Starting a new party may be more difficult than engaging with one that has already networks etc.

      • Your proposal in this article ( again by Bryan Bruce ) was terrific.

        ——————————–

        GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – We need an escape plan « The Daily Blog
        https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/05/…/guest-blog-bryan-bruce-we-need-an-escape-plan…

        ——————————

        If we REALLY want change, if we REALLY are not just content to mutter into our beers of coffee,… a political party started by the Trade Union movement would and could rapidly be put underway and have revolutionary results. They have the numbers, they have the people thus qualified, and they have the motive.

        Anyone saying they don’t is ignorant of the political past of NZ and just how effective the working classes were in effecting massive social , economic and political change… such as the creation of the original Labour party…

      • The idea of the Trade Union movement has incredible merit and has been done once before- aka Labour. They are the ONLY captive audience big enough , militant enough , and organized enough to do it.

        And with the motive to do it.

        Tactically ?,… I would say that NOW is the time to do so while the coalition , – moreover Labour is in power. MASSIVE leverage can be gained under this current govt,… by agitating for the softening of residue anti worker legislation rudely put in place under the corrupt John Key led National party.

        In doing so ,… the base foundation would be laid and set to then capitalize on those gains in readiness for the formation of a political vehicle that would indeed be, … transformational and one given to some very orthodox ( as opposed to neo liberalism which is radical and highly unstable ) policy’s that would return us in some semblance to the prosperity and egalitarianism NZ once enjoyed.

        These are not the rantings of a ‘communist’, – I am simply an old time pre 1984 egalitarian centrist … relatively conservative ( by today’s standards) in approach, – yet who also believes capitalism MUST be regulated to avoid the destructive excesses we have seen for the past 3 decades.

        I take supreme UMBRAGE when these arrogant radical neo liberal new kids on the block call such as myself ‘ radical’ in turn… and although I always was Labour , Alliance and NZ First in my youth… I am so against neo liberalism that I would vote for Sir Robert Muldoon in a heartbeat if he were here now.

        It is interesting that many years ago I read an article that put National under Muldoon more ‘ left ‘ than the Greens are now! – more akin to MANA !!!

        THAT ! ,… is how far right this country has drifted !!!

        Something needs to be done and done fast.

        I believe your suggestions on the Trade Union movement forming a political party in its own right has incredible merit. And I believe it can be done.

13. 100% Wild Katipo.

    Mammoth precise doco should be made on Public TV with your critique of the changing guard of the heart of the Labour Party Wild Katipo.

    A mammoth compendium of facts and tragedies of our time.

14. “Because there was a time ( a progressive time) when the State used to borrow overseas at very, very low rates of interest and passed that benefit on to its citizens through low home mortgages for example.(Offered at a slightly higher rate than they had borrowed at in order to pay back the overseas loan) .”

    Yes bring back a State Advances Corporation. But of course this would require overseas borrowing, government debt.

    Or would it? There are alternative methods of financing.

    1. ‘Printing money or quantative easing’ and this can be done direct to the public via a State Advances Department/Corp mortgages rather than quantative easing where banks get to clip the ticket.

    2. Taxation finance. Institute a “Bank Profits Export Tax”. Currently banks export over $6 billion of profits per year. This profit leached from middle class home owners and renters. Thats $1000 for every man woman and child in the country per annum. A 50% “Bank Profits Export Tax” rate could see $3 billion per year available for a State Advances Corporation. (Oh the banks would whine and cry but they would not leave the country and leave behind the remaining $3billion in profits).

    And who in government would support this? An internventionist Winston. Labour if they grew a pair. The Greens when they are advised properly.

    Where is the downside? Issue half a million of these low cost mortgages over ten years and ‘reciprocity’ would suggest you will lock in a pretty sizeable left vote for at least a generation.

    • Brilliant.

      Both points 1 and 2.

      This is another bold set of initiatives that should have been tried, alas the neo liberals wouldn’t wear it. I would say that if the Unions seriously put their hand to the wheel and a political party was born out of it,… these would be the only activists with the sheer numbers and bold , unfettered countenance enough to do it.

      Winston Peters and NZ First I could definitely see supporting it. It would effectively be,… a massive tool to help destroy the neo liberal grip on the country. Something he’s always wanted to see. He was like Sir Robert Muldoon, ( like them or loathe them ) – an old time conservative, … not a neo liberal pirate like Douglas or Richardson. Hence why Peters has always opposed it but was forced to work with and around it despite himself.

      ——————————-

      … ” We don’t like extremists, – we believe in laws and policy’s that support the mass majority of New Zealanders , and not just a small elite ,… who may have gotten control of the political system and the financial funding of political party’s , … shows that in this campaign ” …

      – Winston Peters.

      23/9/2017.

      Peters said the sell off of New Zealand interests to overseas buyers was the “continuing story of this country’s decline since the 14th of July, 1984”.

      ——————————-

      I cannot recall the figures for how much profit goes offshore but Australian banks are creaming it at an obscene level. At OUR expense .

      This is profit that should be staying in New Zealand, – not be exported to Australia. Or any other bunch of offensive foreign grabastics. I have also said before about the printing of our own mint for these and other purposes . As have people like Draco T Bastard and others here and over at The Standard.., many have.

      ——————————-

      * GRABASTIC

      “You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit.” ( Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the film , ‘Full Metal Jacket’. ) Brilliance in film. Encapsulates what I have thought about neo liberal exponents throughout the decades totally , in fact.

      I would also add another definition ,- grabbing as much as you can in a self centered , egotistical and narcissistic manner that is to the detriment of all others. ( Think characters such as Bernie Madoff ).

15. I’m time traveling back to ’83 to stop it all if anyone wants to come I’ll see you at that warehouse downtown in the shadow city in the astral plane later and we’ll take the delorean into the time rip and put the beatdown on that bastard lange

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN4oOWBAAow

    • Nah. All you’ll succeed in doing is creating a branch from the original timeline so when you return back to the future (today), it’s an Alternative Timeline. The original timeline remains unchanged (and off-limits to you in your time machine).

      To us, in the Original Timeline, you’ve simply disappreared forever and Rogernomics took it’s course according to history.

      Enjoy your Alternative Timeline… 😉

      • Ha !… and we now see that it was Lange and his colleagues who had the ‘smell of radiation’ on their breathe… at least regards to what they did surreptitiously / overtly to the people of NZ …

        But to his credit and posterity , at least Lange saw the full evil of Douglas and his cabal in the end. His is a tragic story of being in control, yet not in control.

        I do not believe it was Lange who did this , it was Douglas.

        He is the man who should of been before our courts for treason… him and all the rest of those such as Richardson , Shipley et al…

16. Well said BB. Labour is neo liberal lite, so far. They have to find a single, definitive project e.g free public transport,. Railway expansion and full electrification of The main trunk line, state trained apprenticeships building, with supervision, sufficient state houses, expanded Kiwibank and constrain overseas ( foreign ) Limit migration and growth.

    • Yes,… quiet , steady incrementalism that slips below the radar and is forgotten after a few months. Stealth. The exact antithesis of Douglas’s rip shit and bust ‘Blitzkrieg’.

      Very Sun Tzu.

      Yet the REAL Coup d’état , – without the violence , – should be the quiet planning and formation of a Trade Union based political party , – yet announced with such sudden ferocity as to catch Labour off guard once policy’s are established . That way it would force a dilemma and split among’st the neo liberal elements of the Labour neo liberals and make them realize that they are now about to lose a massive part of their voter base in one fell swoop unless demands are met.

      And even if they ARE met, – following through with the formation of the political party regardless and irrespective of any ‘negotiations’ the neo liberals may put forward.

      For that is how the neo liberals have treated the working people of this country, – with absolute disdain and contempt.

      The groundwork should be beginning now,… as the rumblings of discontent are starting to bubble up and surface…

      ——————————-

      “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

      – Sun Tzu.

      ——————————-

17. Well said BB. Labour is neo liberal lite, so far. They have to find a single, definitive project e.g free public transport,. Railway expansion and full electrification of The main trunk line, state trained apprenticeships building, with supervision, sufficient state houses, expanded Kiwibank and constrain overseas ( foreign ) Limit migration and growth.

18. So Jacinda said “not while I am PM” (to CGT – which effectively can’s this very progressive option) – maybe she needs to move on because if she said and meant this then she is nothing more than Labour’s version of John Key – talk all sorts of shit to get across the line and do whatever anyway once there. Is it any wonder that young and disaffected voters are opting out of politics … which of course only assists those they despise the most – conservative neoliberal twats

    • Agreed but for one thing : there is NOTHING conservative about neo liberalism. It is a radical ideology that only takes a portion of orthodox economics and highlights those that serve their purposes ie : the supply and demand curve.

      Everything rests on that and that alone.

      Which shows a false and simplistic appreciation of true economics that takes into account things beyond merely trade and finance , … and ignores the greater issues of the societal impacts of economics and its effects on the environment , – and instead , – cherry picks those aspects that serves that ideology to benefit the extremely wealthy.

      It was , and is,… a product of Friedrich Hayeks Austrian school of economics.

      Friedrich Hayek – Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek

      It was the foundation of the free market Laissez-faire economic system that precipitated the Great Depression of 1929. And the global crisis of 2007-2008 .

      Hayek was a founding member of the Mont Pelerin society.

      You will find much on him and how the Mont Pelerin society used his economic theory’s in Hugh Prices article here :

      New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
      http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html

      I would add that true conservatism in this day and age is leveled in this country at both Labour and National pre 1984 in the pejorative sense. And the reason for this was that both party’s from both the right and the left had a common consensus of KEYNESIANISM that lasted from the mid 1030’s to 1984. And it was the most prosperous period this country has ever known. In that respect conservatism served us , the New Zealanders , well.

      This is what the neo liberal fears most and have made every inroad possible to smear with contempt, derision and their contemptible term TINA, – There Is No Alternative’.

      And that is a lie.

      There is an alternative and for more than 60 years New Zealand was living proof of that. So much so we were the sixth wealthiest nation on earth per capita in 1965. Who in their right minds, – would want to change that ?!!?

      The neo liberals, of course, – who wanted NZ’s wealth for themselves and set about sacking, looting and plundering this nations wealth under Roger Douglas onward’s.

      Thus THEY are the radicals, not those who oppose them.

      They were in effect, … treasonous…let alone merely treacherous.

      • …’ And the reason for this was that both party’s from both the right and the left had a common consensus of KEYNESIANISM that lasted from the mid 1030’s to 1984 ‘…

        ——————————-

        Oops!- 1930’s to 1984 !

        I don’t think Keynes was even born back in the year 1030 !!!

        L0L !

        My mistake and humble apology’s for that typo!

        🙂

        • Was it a typo? Or were you thinking of the glory days of William the Conqueror?

          • Ha!- that was 1066, and William the ‘Bastard’ was more in line with the far right wing … so no… definitely not. I just reclined back in the chair and punched the wrong key… I’m bad like that at times … 🙂

19. “….the current Labour-led coalition government is philosophically at odds with itself …because you cannot promote the politics of well-being while practicing the economics of selfishness.”

    As a family member has pointed out, Ardern is a neoliberal and therefore on the right wing of the Labour party.

    For that reason, we should expect nothing substantive regarding the rolling back of neoliberalism from this government.

20. Not only would a CGT tax raise revenue and help bring the economy back into balance, but it would also protect our democracy by reducing the influence of the FIRE sector with its speculators on our political system.

    We must demand an economy that works for the many, not one that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few. A CGT tax is a necessary first step.

    Why We Need a Wealth Tax
    https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/05/14/why-we-need-wealth-tax

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