GUEST BLOG: Pat O’Dea – 2023 The Year of Class War

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Class war was officially declared for the year 2023 by Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr. in November last year, Orr warned us to spend less on ourselves and our families in the coming year, so that that we had more to pay toward the higher interest rates being demanded by the Banksters.

In essence Adrian Orr wants us to accept a lower standard of living to make the fat cats richer.

The banks have made record profits, there was no pandemic for them. Rents, mortgages still had to be paid even under lock downs, when little or no money was coming in.

But that was not enough for the banksters. Now across the board the banks are raising their interest rates. Adrian Orr has aided them in this by raising the Official Cash Rate.

The class war in 2023 will be waged on several fronts:

The OCR: What you need to know

RNZ Business
12:46 pm on 23 November 2022
…… increasing the OCR, the cost to consumers of borrowing money from their banks also increases, and as consumers find themselves spending more of their take-home pay on servicing their debts, they have less money to spend on other things.
 

1/. Fueling the cost of living crisis

Mortgage rates, inflation and overdraft costs are pushing up the cost of producing food and eroding farm profits, farmers say.

A November survey by Federated Farmers, answered by about 1200 farming businesses, showed the average farm mortgage interest rate had increased to 6.29%, up from 4.59% in May this year.
It was up from 3.95% in November last year….

….Farm expenses increased 15% in the September quarter, compared to the September quarter last year.

Fuel increased 53%, fertiliser prices by 37% and debt servicing by 34%,

2/. Lowering the standard of living

To keep up with paying higher interest rates demanded by the banksters, their class warrior, Adrain Orr, has said the public will have to cut their spending. We will be helped in this by the higher food prices.

3/. Raising unemployment
Adrian Orr has ordered higher unemployment to curb’ wage inflation” Adrian Orr is deliberately creating the economic conditions that will increase unemployment, to increase the competition for jobs to depress wage increases. This vicious class warrior has no concern for the families of the unemployed being sacrificed in his campaign to keep wages low. Adrian Orr’s only concern is for the banksters profits.
Adrian Orr says unemployment must rise, before inflation, (particularly wage inflation) will be brought under control.
Bigger mortgage payments, less wages, more unemployment, more job competition, this is all sweet music to the banksters and bosses.
Listening to the car radio. Newstalk ZB, a representative of the banking community said; Can’t meet your new mortgage interest rate. Talk to us. ‘We can help. ‘We don’t want to see you out of your home.’ ‘We are here for the long haul’.

Bought at the high end of the housing market?
Feeling squeezed between inadequate wage increases and high interest rates?

Go to your local bank manager and beg for his mercy like the desperate wretch you are, he will see what he can do for you. Agree to a mortgage holiday, or longer period of payment, he will let you stay in your home if you agree to work for longer to pay off your mortgage.

4/. “Engineering a recession”

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

Adrian Orr admits Reserve Bank is ‘deliberately engineering recession’

Tom Pullar-Strecker 10:02, Nov 24 2022
Orr told Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure select committee it was correct that the Reserve Bank was engineering a recession, saying it was deliberately trying to slow spending in the economy.
“….You know, if you just start behaving, ‘1% different’ around inflation expectations and wage growth that makes our job easier.”

5/. Slashing government spending

As well as raising interest rates and raising unemployment rates, and engineering a recession, which will increase the need for social spending, the Reserve Bank manager, Adrian Orr. wants to cut government spending.

…..Adrian Orr’s message to think harder about spending – or “cool the jets” – isn’t just for the public. He has told the Government to spend sensibly or risk even higher inflation.

But is it war, if our side doesn’t fight back?

Capitalism a love story.

 

Pat O’Dea is a trade unionist and human rights activist.

16 COMMENTS

  1. So rising costs on our food producers means food prices go up?
    The government’s solution: tax the food producers more.

    There will be blood in the streets when the proletariat realise who is responsible for the impending food shortages.

    • but does the gouging reflect actual increases or is part of it ‘margin inflation(not neccesaryly by the growers)

  2. A policy of low rates (Z.I.R.P.) is what caused this situation in the first place.

    Using Q.E. to artificially lower rates is itself the classical definition of inflation: an increase in the supply of money and credit (in this case, bank reserve certificates, i.e. printing unbacked paper currency).

    Q.E. was designed to bail out large insolvent companies, to protect investors from mass bankruptcies.

    The Wall Street bailout will continue, because the enormous total debt pile is unpayable. In order to protect the investors, the Fed will be forced to inflate away the debt: they will likely pivot, return to Q.E., and let inflation run hot.

    This will be disastrous for real wages, and will cause a global wave of striking workers.

    Raising rates was largely a desperate attempt by the Fed to save the U.S. Dollar system, which the major exporters are trying to flee. But they cannot continue going higher much longer, because both the Federal debt and the entire financial system will implode (under the weight of higher interest payments).

  3. Maybe, just maybe you should consider voting for someone else next time, because this all happened under a Labour government.

    • Vote for what? An even more extreme version of the corrupt capitalist party’s on offer?
      What a joke.

      Voting does nothing, because it offers no alternative. Real power will never be exercised at our 3-yearly pantomime at the voting booth.
      The Covid-Climate Chaos world is just beginning. Western capitalism is collapsing in the face of this.
      Those who have never suffered deprivation are about to feel the sharp end of the stick.
      How will the humanity, in all its ‘glory’, respond?

  4. Conditions worsening for ordinary people – no amelioration in sight.
    Accommodation grant help decreased because of payout from ACC to retirement age woman.
    Woman has medical problems but now can’t afford to retire, has to keep on working so as to pay rent etc.
    Goes to local organisation formed to help those on benefits and unemployed – advise MP approach.
    Goes to local Labour MP who will look into it. Christmas approaches and passes, after months enquiry to MP secretary reveals that nothing can be done.
    Ailments worsen, feels pain and difficulties. Goes on working.
    Has invasion of Gisborne cockroaches,. Landord’s wife says everybody has them, there is nothing we can do.
    Landlord says he will have a look but doesn’t come.
    Council doesn’t offer any help to deal with pests.
    Suggests Tenancy Tribunal – a bureaucratic rather than immediate practical help.
    Asked about health situation – through Public Health, the hospital, says that they are separate entities.
    Suggests Citizens Advice Bureau gives number.
    Phone CAB and get message that due to Covid not all Bureaus are operating and there is a nationwide response. Call will be put through to a Bureau operating.
    Get relayed to a Bureau which is busy but please leave name phone number and they will return.
    Meanwhile the creepy crawlies are large and unpleasant to look at, and proliferating.

    This country has been run down to rags and tatters. The cream has been skimmed off, leaving the skim, leaving the whey – get the picture. What way do we go here in NZ.

    If left under this present system, what’s our future? And it is a system meant to grind us down with nothing left for people not lucky enough to be in the still operating middle class who still have the power but are still chanting the bit about how many jobs there are and new jobs will become available, and jam tomorrow and start up charities to provide food to the poor. And tread jam wherever they go, sticky and flyblown eventually. And someone will have to scrape it up and boil it and find some bread to spread it on.

    Be-happy NZs don’t want to know about your unhappiness and the dark pall in people’s minds that will upset their holidays and their children’s happiness and security.

    Try watching Community – it probably arises from the addled brains of people affected by today’s credos that inform our politics.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKbBcYxf8uc

  5. Yes GW. It is impossible to see how any of this ever changes under the current regime. Its not working for us at all and Pat is right on the money with describing the problem. Word in Wellington is that all Govt Depts have already been told to stop spending money and that will only get worse if NACT gets in.

    But our problem now is that our people are so ignorant because of years of undereducation and wilful ignorance that they dont even understand that NZ is in a crisis.

    There are many reasons to think this but at a very basic level today on Newshub was a Poll? Do you feel sorry for Prince Harry? (So Newshub not Stuff) 46% of responders said yes…

    WTF????

    If that doesn’t tell you everything about how ignorant and deluded our populace has become then I don’t know what does. Victims rule, being realistic and taking responsibility is so passe.

    • Sorry this is long Pat but you may think it provides a different perspective which may be helpful; (do two mays make a possible)? We sure need these and then a way to implement them for good outcomes.

      But our problem now is that our people are so ignorant because of years of undereducation and wilful ignorance that they dont even understand that NZ is in a crisis.
      So right Fantail. When we do realise things are happening that aren’t turning out well we have no way of framing the individual bits of info into a coherent whole. Funny about Harry as I was talking about him this morning. I think he is in the same position that we are all in, except on a higher income. higher class bias, with better furnishings and glossy relatives.

      We’re all lorst, lorst and wandering in the woods like Pinocchio being watched by a malicious fox and cat Shows how mixed up I am doesn’t it – which fairy tale am I finding my way to! So your last is right.
      If that doesn’t tell you everything about how ignorant and deluded our populace has become then I don’t know what does. Victims rule, being realistic and taking responsibility is so passe.

      And I counter with Calvin and Hobbes which I put up earlier on 4/1?
      Calvin (spunky modern Kid) ponders aloud to Hobbes (toy Tiger who has earned his stripes)
      1 Everything is so darnn hard.
      2 I wish I could just take a pill to be perfect and I wish I could just push a button to have anything I want (despairing arms up in the air).
      3 Hobbes ponders – The American dream lives on. Calvin groans – Why should I have to WORK for everything? It’s like saying I don’t deserve it.
      Thanks Bill Watterson

      Finally I think TDB is very valuable to us all, and we are part of it. So we are helping in our small ways. And the other thing I have thunk is that we need a new Jungian shadow not so much personally as its effect on the societal mind. Also find a way to coalesce with NZs who are not deluded by simple nostrums, attempting a Terminator effect, drawing together with honesty, friendship, commitment valuing what is good in society and stepping round the smelly dog poo, so to speak. We have to use our lively minds now, and look through our nostalgic memories for what’s good, and what’s just historic, and keep in muind that we were thinking all through the post war 20th century and yet have ended up so unsatisfactorily.

      So we will have to change or we’re mad eg Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results Seems self-evident but we can’t agree who said it first, and it shows a tendency we have to argue about side issues and ignore the main problem. (https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/)

      One of our ignorance problems is that the PTB know more about human psychology than we and can turn their knowledge to their own usually commercial purposes (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays).
      Also see https://www.thesap.org.uk/articles-on-jungian-psychology-2/about-analysis-and-therapy/the-shadow/
      What is Jung’s shadow theory? wikipedia
      The shadow is an archetype that consists of the sex and life instincts. The shadow exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings. The shadow forms out of our attempts to adapt to cultural norms and expectations.
      12 Jungian Archetypes: Definition, Theory, and Types
      Verywell Mind ·
      https://www.verywellmind.com › what…

    • Fantail OMG I struggle to believe that NZ media would poll about Harry, even trite and shallow as they are We know that the education system has been deliberately dumbed down in New Zealand, and abroad some posit that the dirty Harry and Meghan shenanigans are part of a distraction exercise aiming to destroy the monarchy, and the Commonwealth, as part of a WEF agenda. He’s dumb enough, and she’s Machiavellian.

  6. “In essence Adrian Orr wants us to accept a lower standard of living to make the fat cats richer.”
    Well, who’s fault’s that then? The fat cats, and remember, there will always be ‘fat cats’? We’re compliant, gutless, bullied, down trodden, intimidated, frightened and frankly ignorant as fuck thin cats. When I started school I was bullied. I was six years old. Because I didn’t have siblings and we were farmers so by virtue of that I led what some might term a ‘sheltered’ baby-life. I never had the slightest comprehension that others might want to hurt and/or dominate me for fun. My first memory, on that subject, was of being pushed over and kicked and the kids who did it laughed their heads off as I freaked out while trying to think what I’d done to piss them off. It never occurred to me that anyone would do that for fun. They just wanted to see me cower. How monstrous is that!? It wasn’t until my father said ” Well, put the boot in then.” From that moment on I adapted to Kiwi school life and kicked and punched my way to College.
    The reason why we must have dowdy conversations about a civil servant like Orr is because we’re entirely oblivious to our power and our rights, and the reason for that is that no one has told us that it’s ok to stand up for ourselves. Why do you think that one of the first items on the neoliberal agenda was to de regulate trade unions? It wasn’t about efficiency or private enterprise, it was about defanging us then stealing our shit.
    Why are our farmers negatively rammed down the throats of the very people who most rely on farming to survive as if farmers were, in fact, the enemy. Not the banks nor politicians who brokered dodgy as fuck deals between now foreign owned banks and their now nine multi billionaire mates.
    How can I put this in such a way as to switch on a light in a very, very, very gloomy place, the dull minds of the victims of enduring greed and gleeful malice which is most of us.
    Look..? There’s ZERO need for financial hardship in AO/NZ. You homeless people? There’s ZERO need for you to not have a nice home. None at all. We have everything you need to be homed. We have health systems, transport systems, legal and policing systems, food production, fishing, electricity coming out our bums. 5.2 million of us on a land area the size of the UK that’s phenomenally rich in ALL vital resources and THEY keep telling us we must work harder and until then, go and find a decorative garden to sleep in.
    What, about that, rings some kind of bell? Anything? C’mon? Please? Try? Give me something? Ring my Bell?
    Anita Ward: https://youtu.be/Dp11DjaUc5A. Can we really be this compliant. So lacking in imagination, Jesus wept!
    You read the studies of Professor Stanley Milgram? No? Then what the fuck? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Milgram Here it is again! Read! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Milgram
    Have you all not been trying to understand why you stand back and gape as fools wield terrible control over your increasingly impossible to function lives. Maybe you need to get rowdy: https://youtu.be/jrL_LzX5wv4
    Focus now. No rowdy at the law, nor you or me. Take aim at where it counts most. YOUR politicians. They don’t spend their six figures plus entitlements doing what’s best for you? Then JUMP! That’s all it takes, so stop taking shit from creep politicians. I’m quite worked up now so I’m off to fill the holes in the lawn the dog dug. She does a good hole, I’ll give her that.

  7. Don’t worry, ACT will sort it all out, they at least defend free speech, not censorship. Labour have given up & are just trying to do as much damage as they can before they are kicked out later in the year.

  8. Instead of allowing the whole economy to go into recession, why isn’t the Government raising taxes on those that are doing the overspending?

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