The Mordor of Oligarchy is here in the NZ Shire

Bernie Sanders 2025 Edition ofFight Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here makes the point that the Billionaire Class, Big Polluters and Corporations have transformed under Trump into a naked plutocracy:

• Three of the richest individuals (e.g., Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg) hold more combined wealth than the bottom half of the U.S. population — roughly 170 million people.
• Three of the richest individuals (e.g., Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg) hold more combined wealth than the bottom half of the U.S. population — roughly 170 million people.
• Multiple reports cited by Sanders and in broader discourse show the global richest 1 % increased their wealth by $33.9 trillion since 2015 — a figure used to illustrate oligarchic wealth trends.
• The top 1 % of U.S. households gained 101× more wealth than the median household over decades, translating to wealth per top 1 % household roughly $8.35 million vs ~$83,000 average household assets (Oxfam data referenced in discussions Sanders highlights)
• Around 150 billionaire families spent nearly $2 billion on the 2024 U.S. elections, which Sanders describes as evidence of oligarchic influence over American politics.
• Billionaires are a tiny fraction of the population — about 0.0005 % of Americans — yet played a disproportionately large role in political spending in recent elections.
• Oxfam and similar sources note that billionaire wealth jumped over 16 % in 2025, bringing total billionaire wealth to $18.3 trillion — the highest ever recorded — and exacerbating inequality.
• About 60 % of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, a statistic Sanders regularly uses to illustrate Americans’ economic insecurity.
• Tens of millions of Americans lack adequate health insurance — e.g., 85 million uninsured or underinsured — compared with soaring billionaire wealth.
• Sanders and his allies often cite homelessness figures like ~800,000 homeless people in the U.S. as part of the inequality narrative.

The book (via review) specifically calls Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” — a $1 trillion tax-cut package — the largest transfer of wealth upward in living memory, concentrating benefit among the wealthy and exacerbating inequality. In NZ the Mordor of Oligarchy has infected our Shire as well!

• Top 1% wealth share:
  The richest 1% of NZ households own ~18.8 % of total net worth

• Bottom 50% wealth share:
  The bottom 50 % of households together hold just ~4.3 % of total net wealth.

• Wealth ratio (top vs median):
  Median household net worth ~NZ$170,000, while the top 10 % have median net worth ~NZ$3.2 million — nearly 19×higher.

• Top 0.1 % wealth growth:
  The very richest households increased their share sharply over the past decade — the top 0.1 % saw wealth grow faster than the rest.

• Top 1% wealth share:
  The richest 1% of NZ households own ~18.8 % of total net worth (Stats NZ Wealth Survey).

• Bottom 50% wealth share:
  The bottom 50 % of households together hold just ~4.3 % of total net wealth.

• Wealth ratio (top vs median):
  Median household net worth ~NZ$170,000, while the top 10 % have median net worth ~NZ$3.2 million — nearly 19×higher.

• Top 0.1 % wealth growth:
  The very richest households increased their share sharply over the past decade — the top 0.1 % saw wealth grow faster than the rest.

Look at how that money is donated politically:

• Party donations concentrated at top incomes:
  In recent elections, ~60 % of total political donations came from businesses and individuals earning in the top tax brackets, while lower-income donors account for a small share.

• Lobbying prevalence:
  Corporate and industry groups (banks, property developers, dairying sector) are among the most active lobbyists in Wellington, shaping tax, housing, and planning policy.

The Big Polluters, the Billionaire Class, the Corporate’s and the speculators own NZ Politically!

Look at this!

Govt to weaken Hauraki Gulf protections over $14k in fishing revenue

Fisheries officials warned Shane Jones the changes might be ‘inequitable’ and reduce the effectiveness of long-awaited marine protections

NEWSROOM

Incredible isn’t it? NZF gets donations from the fishing industry and the Fishing Industry get legislation – NO MATTER HOW PETTY –

“It’s astonishing how far the Government is willing to go to pander to the demands of industry lobbyists, even if it means undermining more than a decade of work by the local community and tangata whenua and ignoring all the evidence.”

As the sheer scale of crony capitalism and corruption start to stink like a Wellington Harbour full of sewage, we need as Kiwis to acknowledge that the Transport Lobby, Property Speculators and the Big Polluters have all the power in NZ thanks mostly to National, ACT and NZF.

AI Bryce has presented a devastating critique of the Transport Lobby’s power over NZ…

A WINDOW ON TRANSPORT INDUSTRY LOBBYING OF THE BEEHIVE

New Zealand’s politicians like to point to the existence of published ministerial diaries as evidence that our system is open and transparent. Ministers now routinely say that anyone can see who they’re meeting with, so there’s nothing much to worry about in terms of backroom influence. On paper, the diaries are supposed to be a window into the Beehive – a way for the public to track who gets face time with ministers and who doesn’t.

In reality, that window has been fogged up for years. The diaries are dumped out every few months as messy PDFs, full of disclaimers and omissions, with no indication of who asked for meetings and was turned away. Until very recently, almost nobody had managed to turn this jumble into proper data capable of answering the basic democratic question: who actually gets into the room with ministers, especially on big-ticket issues like transport and climate policy?

For the first time, a group of public‑health and transport researchers have done exactly that for the transport portfolio. Their work, and what it implies about how power works in Wellington, deserves a lot more public attention than it’s had so far.

…it shows these pricks have total access at all times and that their interest are paramount when deciding policy. Note we never talk about the increased weight of the Trucks and their destruction to roads, WE NEVER TALK ABOUT THAT we only talk about mutilating Kiwi Rail and privatising roads to ensure the Trucking Lobby maintain total control on access minus the cost.

Even the new Infrastructure report only promotes more user pays to solve decades of neoliberal underfunding.

The Property Speculators donate millions…

• National Party: Received over 50% of the cash from the property industry.
• ACT Party: Received approximately 32% of the property industry donations.
• NZ First: Received approximately 12% of the property industry donations.

…and they get policy written for them allowing rich foreigners to buy citizenship in  NZ and the ability to buy residential property…

Government touts $3.4 billion of investment through ‘golden visa’

The Active Investor Plus visa has delivered $3.39 billion of investment for New Zealand in less than a year.

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford announced the numbers on Friday in Auckland, during a visit to Hectre, an orchard‑technology firm that has received investment from individuals seeking the visa.

Stuff

…and then of course there are the bog polluters who simply have legislation written for them as the country gets smashed by claimed change storms that are getting worse and worse as we pollute more and more.

Your enemy isn’t som kid transitioning!

Your enemy isn’t some Māori wanting the Treaty respected.

Your enemy isn’t an environmentalist wanting climate change taken seriously.

Your enemy is who it has always been! The Banks, the Billionaire class, the big polluters, the Crony Capitalism and the property speculators who have manipulated your petty bigotries into supporting their interests over yours!

At some stage Kiwi, you are going too have to admit you have had your tiny hates used against you.