Our suicide rate is at the highest levels ever recorded, the public housing wait list has exploded to 12,644 while beneficiaries queue at 2am outside WINZ offices.
I don’t know what’s more disappointing, the lack of transformation or the Prime Minister’s embarrassing attempt to redefine the meaning of transformative into whatever bare majority she can cobble together.
Yes, National destroyed the social infrastructure over a decade with a pump and dump economic plan to sell cheap milk powder to China while opening up immigration to keep the speculative property bubble afloat.
Yes it takes an enormous amount of energy to repair that economic vandalism.
Yes we can’t expect miracles from Jacinda when the damage is so large.
But tiny feed the kids plans combined with a slightly less draconian austerity programme on top of lots of good intentions are not making an impact on the lives of the most vulnerable, the working classes or the middle class.
Infrastructure Gridlock combined with a lack of real economic direction and a neoliberal public service who fundamentally don’t believe what Labour promises have been exacerbated by a Government that didn’t expect to win and who lack any real vision beyond the status quo.
If Labour want any chance of winning the next election, it must unshackle itself from the Budget constraints to our corporate overlords and embark upon a public spending program that injects billions of borrowed dollars to jump start momentum because currently we are drifting without any direction whatsoever and anaemic political leadership like this will generate a seeping resentment from the electorate.
Jacinda is running out of time to make a difference. We need a new green deal now.
Property house prices have gone crazy: My house was RV’d at $340,000 in 2015. Four years later it’s now RV’d at $570,000! This is greedy madness. What hope for our our young couples wanting their own place to start a family and have pride in home and belonging to their homeland? None! New Zealand lost its way starting in 1984. Speculation and the money God not community and kiwiship are worshipped.
Adern is incompetent and ineffective.
You can complain all you want about the policies of both Clark and Key, but they were both highly competent and effective at implementing those policies.
As for the green new deal, anyone who has looked at any of its detail should realise that AOC is even less competent and effective as Adern.
I long for the days of a government that actually achieved anything.
jhonkey was not a good economic manager why do you think this next government is having to fix everything with inequalities once again all part of nationals brighter future bullshit
Don’t judge John Key by what he said he was doing, judge him by his ability to implement changes that the Super-rich wanted to see – or more specifically, changes that would benefit him.
A case in point; the MPs remuneration authority – he said it was over paying MPs and he put in a new system to make it better. Just this month it was revealed that in fact his new system did the opposite and increased MPs pay rates even faster than the old authority. Classic John Key.
stop talking crap aaaron we can all see the mess your mate jhonkey left him an his lot what was he doing aaron destroying our country
I never said he was a good economic manager. Neither he nor Clark were. I said he was effective at getting his policies implemented and he was.
Adern conversely doesn’t seem to be able to implement a 5 year old birthday party.
But don’t be so down on us Martyn. We’re getting more girls to play sport, we’re sticking it to the hetero-normative white patriarchy, and Paul Hunt is going to stop people thinking hateful thoughts.
The implication is that in a Conservitives wet dream there is no system or government for vulnerable people.
not to mention business confidence at an all time low. race relations getting worse immegration visas ground to a halt kiwibuild a disaster no action on roads and a public service that continues to grow . 9 years in opposition left them ill prepared to manage the country.
Or maybe they simply realise there is no future worth fighting for?
So if real change ever comes, it will only ever be built on the ashes of this monetarist hell we have created.
And there’ll be not much to build a Brave New World with by then …….
Meanwhile – cocktails at Mar-a-Lago anyone?
Talking of China and bearing in mind the military bases the CCP is building in the Pacific and the assets being drained by them out of NZ, I though this interview extremely informative. I hope Government will watch/ listen to it and then stop bending over backwards to appease these, apparently, lying bastards. Then perhaps the Government will make wiser choices about how to capitalize on NZ’s wealth and then RETURN THE FINANCIAL REWARDS TO THE PEOPLE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cwXifDaCjE
IMO the greatest handicap for people is that when aspirants finally reach their goal of getting into Parliament they renege on promises…their loyalty changes to themselves and their Pay Packet. Titles are bonus.
“If Labour want any chance of winning the next election, it must ” …stop grovelling to Maori. In a secular society where probably less than one in 20 attend Sunday Services, who cares what is “sacred” to Maori, when almost nothing is sacred to us?
“If Labour want any chance of winning the next election” we must learn that a sovereign nation doesn’t have borrow from any one. If money is just tokens representing our real wealth and services, how can borrowing from foreign banks change anything? Real wealth cannot be borrowed, it is created here on the spot by New Zealanders using Reserve Bank generated currency.
“If Labour want any chance of winning the next election” we must ascertain what is an optimum population for NZ, establish what public assets must be created to meet that demand, consistent with the need to reduce global warming, and stop importing immigrants until that calculation is done
well labour will have to do a Lot more grovelling to Maori if they want to win our 7 seats
OK let’s examine a few of the points made here:
Fonterra’s focus on low value added products goes back a long way. Long before the Key government. In fact all of its spray dryers that make milk powder were inherited from the old dairy board. Fonterra itself was formed in 2001 – a product of the Clark government. So nothing to do with Key at all.
Infrastructure: One of the achievements of the Key government was the building of infrastructure. This helped keep the economy going after the GFC in 2008. Projects included the Waterview tunnel, the Auckland ring road, the Puhoi tunnel, Waikato expressway and starting of transmission gully, Huntly bypass, the Hamilton bypass and SH1 Puhoi to Wellsford motorway. And that’s just in the region I am familiar with.
So why has the suicide rate gone up? Nobody knows for sure but here’s a few ideas:
1. The drug epidemic, particularly P
2. The collapsing business confidence reducing employment opportunities for youth.
3. The removal of sanctions against beneficiaries who won’t work. (Work keeps us sane)
5. The cancellation of many road construction projects leading to fewer labouring work opportunities
6. Closure of charter schools leaving brown boys with no way to educate themselves out of poverty.
7. Just random variations – the increase may not be statistically significant.
WHAT RACIST PRICK YOU ARE ANDREW ARE YOU FROM DOWN SOUTH
Andrew is from fakenews land. So how do we respond to some one who is virtue signalling to there friends how non-binary and how factual and ultimately how out of touch they are. We could respond with virtue of our own. So imagine for a secound that you’ve put a lot of effort and precession into your comment and no one replies or likes it. That is what I think our response should be to fakenews. The fakenews will only get worse as technology gets more sophisticated. So the burden of proof must fall on those telling the truth. So Andrew should write a blog if he really wants the truth to get out.
@Andrew that is impressive, the National Party Social Media Team is really upping it’s game. My favourite bit is the suggestion that the removal of sanctions on beneficiaries increased the suicide rate – I had to read that one twice to be sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.
It was predicted that the changes that Paula Bennett introduced to the Social Welfare system would increase hardship and consequently the suicide rate and it did. Your attempt to say that up is down and black is white on this issue is impressive but I think it might have more effect in the Stuff.co.nz comments section than it would here
Ok so you tell me: What changes has this government made that has driven mostly male, mostly young and mostly brown people to suicide?
I was at pains to admit I didn’t know, and was just venturing some ideas for discussion.
no housing ,too much immigration, low wages, not enough hours of work, insecure work, casual work so all of the above can impact on peoples state of mind =depression and stress = what does that do aaron
let’s put up GST, chuck people out of state houses, give tax breaks to landlords and the top earners, have a “war on drugs” (aka war on the poor/brown), cut off a $100 million of funds to mental health, sell NZ off to foreigners, give nlothing back to Kiwis
National policy drove people to suicide.
lol the sanctions comment was priceless.
I had no idea people killed themselves when missing out on harsh punishment. Gives us an unnecessary window into Andrew’s sex life.
I would strongly suggest you read this book Andrew:
https://www.amazon.com/Mythology-Work-Capitalism-Persists-Despite/dp/0745334865
Work by no means keeps us sane. Unemployment in itself is not the problem, but lack of money to afford essentials. Many of the officially ‘unemployed’ do caring and community work. Work as it is defined today has become a necessary evil, where once it was simply the direct actions and tasks you took to feed yourself and your family.
Once, work was inextricably linked to survival and self-preservation: the farmer ploughed his land so that his family could eat. In contrast, today work has slowly morphed into a painful and meaningless ritual for many, colonizing almost every part of our day, endless and inescapable.
In The Mythology of Work, Peter Fleming examines how neoliberal society uses the ritual of work―and the threat of its denial―to maintain the late capitalist class order. Work becomes a universal reference point, devoid of any moral or political worth, transforming our society into a factory that never sleeps. Blending critical theory with recent accounts of job-related suicides, office-induced paranoia, fear of relaxation, managerial sadism, and cynical corporate social responsibility campaigns, Fleming paints a bleak picture of a society in which economic and emotional disasters greatly outweigh any professed benefits.
3. The removal of sanctions against beneficiaries who won’t work. (Work keeps us sane) I can extrapolate your comment here to imply that all beneficiaries are drugged out, drunk, idle etc etc. and sponge off the government as a lifestyle choice.
And AI is now taking many of the previously ‘meaningful’ jobs which needed human brain power. The rising suicide rate is no wonder – there is little hope. Minimum wage service or labouring job, gig economy etc for most. A whole range of mid-level jobs are disappearing
Short answer to the title: it’s not. The much bigger issue is what can we do about it given that this government is about as progressive as we’re ever likely to get? The entire Western “democracy” have become utterly beholden to the wishes of the banks and corporations as opposed to the voters that put them there. Banks have long ago learned to weaponise debt to control not only the people, but also the government. Corporations threaten to pull their resources or shift headquarters etc if the government refuses to capitulate to their wishes, instantly destroying local economies. Outside of revolution, there is preciously little we can do other than whine about it on the internet or the streets. Democracy is little more than a chimera to keep the angry mobs pacified, while the “elites” continue to enrich themselves without fear of being lynched.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/21/world-26-richest-people-own-as-much-as-poorest-50-per-cent-oxfam-report
At least Jacinda is setting records.
Suicide numbers are high due to the lack of hope, and guess what Jacinda is hope and people are still saying no.
WINZ queues can be stopped overnight by Jacinda making changes instantly to that system. Still nothing
And Labour have realised building a house is nigh on impossible in NZ without navigating not only the RMA, a building skill shortage, immigration shortage and finally Maori deciding they’d rather squat in tents than let homes be built.
Yes – It’s not as easy as saying “let’s do it”.
It’s pretty quiet on this blog. martyn must of hit a nerve or it’s a nice day and everyone who would like to support JA and the Coalition have gone outside. I agree with the sentiment of the blog not because l’m a Nat supporter by nature but because l’ve always felt JA’s election promises were way over the top. Yes they were made because labour Wanted to change the direction this country was going, but along side that they wanted to win the election. Forget the last nine years (which was really the last three) of National’s Government, the Coalition is finding that the public actually do want real change and have expectations. It’s time to pay the piper. They need to complete something big that they have promised to win the next election. Just as an afterthought This Government have had the benefit of a good economy to help their cause. Good trading conditions won’t last for ever and neither will the money. It’s now or never.
how is this transformative? NZ is transforming into a worse place! lets do this!
This is obviously the politics of kindness Jacinda promised us.
No I think the cancer policy is what she is made of. But haters will always hate.
Martyn, there is no need for the Government to borrow for spending. Read more about MMT, especially from Bill Mitchell. This Labour administration is a complete waste of space. Jacinda is just a media pasteboard figure, who believes all the neoliberal guff she learnt at the knees of Tony Blair and Helen Clarke. Grant Robertson is way out of his depth, especially having to deal with a neoliberal Treasury.
This is part of the reason why this mob are struggling to even keep up with National who themselves aren’t exactly setting the world on fire at 45%. In my view the only thing that might save this govt come 2020 is a “bad and worse scenario”. Certainly not a resounding endorsement, 41% is not and will never be that. What of course could just as easily sink them is their failure to support the small parties whose voters, myself included, had expectations and were made promises that did not eventuate. If these people stay home on election day or say “stuff it” and vote right its off to the opposition benches.
we have the money its in kiwi saver 30 year money govt has the projects we need to find away to merge the projects with the supply of money
well the last government did have 9 years that is 3 terms to deliver their brighter future that we did not receive have you forgotten sean the brighter future bullshit and we were all promised this by john and in my view the next lot need to be given 3 terms also to deliver
Yes and its no different under Labour so what’s your point? As to deliver, deliver what? Maybe the RCEP to compliment its ugly sister the CP-TPP? More broken promises on welfare, healthcare, housing and more. Yes lets give them three terms to prove what is already obvious after one.
Simply put we need new parties and people to change their mindset of either voting red or blue.
Jacinda is our Hope and Change Obama. Who will be NZ’s Trump?
Is this the problem with a three-way coalition? No power to do anything?
How many projects have been shot down by Winston?
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