I can understand why Jacinda feels she has no gas in the tank. She has not fixed so many difficult foundational problems; but she is just the face and voice. It’s not just about one person; her team has largely failed her.
The worst failure was her great friend and most skilled politician Grant Robertson. A better politician than a Minister of Finance. Grant seemed stuck in a 1990s approach of fiscal restraint to build economic credibility for Labour in order to reduce political exposure to pressure. But times are different; the whole free market capitalist approach to the economy is a farce and fraud. The ‘sacred’ and much touted market forces simply have not worked to provide affordable housing, nor have they dealt with climate change. Market forces fail, fail, fail, everywhere.
Mr Robertson should have very early on given generous wage settlements to teachers. It would help keep quality people in the profession and attract quality people to it. Instead he stiffed them for economic credibility and they have not forgotten because they live with the consequences. Same with nurses and doctors. Yes, he has increased the health budget by 40% but this was after a National decade of gross underfunding. And he touted that he was proud of this investment forgetting that it’s not the percentage that counts but the outcomes. These are bread and butter issues for Labour voters but he sacrificed them for politics. By contrast Mr Key and Mr English bragged about $15B of tax cuts, bread and butter for their voters. Grant can still fix these.
Megan Woods is a very active and hard working person but on affordable housing she has no Labour strategy and vision. Without a strategic foundation she was easy prey for the Property Council and developers who blamed affordable housing problems on local communities protecting themselves from poorly designed housing developments by using the RMA. Megan has therefore sanctioned a wholesale attack on local democracy, and heritage buildings, (part of our identity as New Zealanders). She has protected and promoted the interests of largely National voting private developers who will gladly cement our youth into expensive ‘rent for life’ vulnerability. Reducing the chances of young people to accumulate wealth and being able to pass on wealth to future generations. Reducing the ability of ordinary people to fund future business initiatives, damaging our long term economy. She previously back tracked on Kiwibuild so she has the guts to back track on slashing local democracy and destroying heritage.
And as bad; the strategic intellectual vacuum in the Greens failed Jacinda; on every front. The worst example is the affordable housing crisis where they helped create a sense the crisis is being created by baby booming NIMBY’s. A total misguided, misdirected fantasy insight promoted by private developers, when developers helped created the crisis. Where is the Greens economic insight or analysis? Where is the recognition and action on the excessive demand that is using our housing for AirBNB to house our huge tourism sector or our huge overseas students industries? These excessive demands are a critical part of fixing affordable housing, and private enterprise is feeding these problems not fixing them.
Housing affordability is central to so many problems, mental and physical health, educational attainment, low demand in the domestic retail sector, investment in exports. , etc. All fixable with adjustments to existing expectations. But this government seems without vision, without a journey. They don’t even have well known simple step changes. The government is just pumping up and responding to the existing players and structures.
But at least Jacinda moving on opens up the introduction of capital gains taxes. Even in Davos some of the wealthy have called for wealth taxes. The best approach to such a tax is to write a legislative definition of ‘income’ that includes gains in capital as income. It just needs to say it. Disallow all expenses including losses on assets. The government is only taxing the gain (no loss is allowed) as the losses are the private responsibility of the risk taker, the entrepreneur.
Yes, there will be arguments about the size of gains, about valuations; but what is in the accounts should be the value used if that is the value that is used to fund finance.
Jacinda was betrayed by an across the board lack of vision and progressive values. And we, the left voters, are being betrayed by the same. Labour and the Greens need to try being socialists again. John Maynard Keynes described himself as a socialist, (i.e., control more of the economy to direct it to the needs of the people).
Kindness has not prevailed.
Going into a recession Kindness would have had its biggest test yet.
Powerful Reserve Bank Governor, Adrian Orr has made it very clear that the poor and working people will be the ones who will be made to pay for the recession.
Orr has already acted to increase unemployment and increase mortgage and housing costs. This vicious class warrior was twice appointed Reserve Bank Governor by Grant Robertson. No doubt Orr will retain his position under a National led administration, to continue with even more vicious attacks. The National governments planned tax cuts for the rich will fit well with Orr’s demand for the government to cut spending.
Kindness is dead, austerity is the new mantra.
Quite right: Labour are mostly controlled by their corporate political donors.
One lie these same Wall Street oligarchs tell us is that tourism and education are “huge industries”.
These non-industrial sectors cannot be the basis of becoming a great power; industrialisation is how an economy becomes more advanced.
Rather, total reliance on these sectors (and agriculture) actually demonstrates a weak economy!
The very poor state of the housing stock also shows economic weakness. Many old buildings of low value, too many small buildings, poor architectural quality, falling build quality. Far too few new builds, no large ‘mortgage belt’ estates, slow construction pace.
Quite right: Labour are mostly controlled by their corporate political donors.
One lie these same Wall Street oligarchs tell us is that tourism and education are “huge industries”.
These non-industrial sectors cannot be the basis of becoming a great power; industrialisation is how an economy becomes more advanced.
Rather, total reliance on these sectors (and agriculture) actually demonstrates a weak economy!
The very poor state of the housing stock also shows economic weakness. Many old buildings of low value, too many small buildings, poor architectural quality, falling build quality. Far too few new builds, no large ‘mortgage belt’ estates, slow construction pace.
The number of new builds is at a historically high rate.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=house+building+since+2017+nz
Sure, the chart is sloping upwards. But is that enough new builds?
Looking at the new build listings I see high prices across the board, limited selection, and quite poor quality (even above $1m).
Considering many people cannot get a property at all, does that really seem like a lot of supply?
Quite right: Labour are mostly controlled by their corporate political donors.
And National aren’t???
National receive far more from their donors than any other party – so tis rich coming from the right.
Stephen – she was the leader yet she failed to lead.
Helen Clark was a leader who led and delivered significant reforms across 9 years of multiparty governments
Agree
The end of interest deductability (not yet fully implemented) reduces the chances of future CG on residential property. The establishment of a 2, then 5 and now 10 year brightline already enables GCT on historic CG.
The priority should be adopting the Greens wealth tax.
Too be honest I was surprised how much I agreed with this article – in particular the economic mistakes from Grant Robertson and co, (I would say giving the banks so much money created a lot of the problems), the Greens pathetic NIMBY hate campaign that the developers and right wingers have capitalised on by destroying zoning and local planning democracy and the stupidity of not paying doctors/teachers/nurses properly in the middle of skill shortages and covid when Air NZ got nearly a billion in a loan while firing people.
I don’t believe any more capital gains taxes will help, (quite the opposite), pretty much always catches the middle class while the wealthy and global citizens pay nothing aka
Tony and Cherie Blair did not have to pay £312,000 in stamp duty when buying a £6.45m London townhouse, leaked documents show.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58780559
This then leads to a hollowing of middle class (aka the teachers and nurses) who are forced to pay more and more taxes on anything they do while the super rich avoid them.
Funny enough those who are the most righteous about helping poverty seem to be contributing to the problem from Tony Blair to those running charities (mostly for themselves)!
Fear not though, Jacinda will be absolutely fine, she will find herself a nice, cushy job/jobs, have huge taxpayer benefits from being the PM and like the good millennial (Prince Harry) spend a lot of time complaining about their poor lot in life, mental health, hardships, boomers and problems.
You know like any other working woman had a husband that looked after the kids, large salary and entourage of helpers!
The fact is – and the only fact that matters – Jacinda resigned for the good of her country as she felt she was not the person to lead. She sacrificed herself for New Zealand. Now, I am a lady and rarely use that awful, horrid word but I am beginning to think that the majority of New Zealand males can be crowned with that ghastly four letter noun.
Jacinda’s nuclear free moment on climate change is as authentic as the UAE oil boss chairing climate talks.
‘Ridiculous’: Greta Thunberg blasts decision to let UAE oil boss chair climate talks
Climate activist at Davos says lobbyists have been influencing conferences ‘since forever’
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/19/greta-thunberg-uae-cop28-davos-climate
I don’t hate Jacinda and voted for her each time and also feel she has been the victim of a hate campaign run by shadowy sources, BUT seriously if you really wanted to help the planet – BIG FAIL!.
She did as little as the current Green Party, but it’s more of a betrayal from those who said they would do something and recognised it was a crisis but then made it worse.
The Left should feel betrayed, because she has forsaken us in our time of need. Make no bones about it, I am no fan of hers, but the other mob – no!
Given the rise of Luxon and the Right, she should have been invigorated by the this impending challenge, but she’s walked away, which tells me that local politics and the Left holds little interest to her.
Thus, the world awaits, and I expect her to be a heavy hitter on the world governance scene in the not to distant future….
Maybe she will replace Luxon as nat scumlord.
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