Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: Only what we would expect a…, in reply to BenWilson,
I didn't hear it at all in that clip
Ooops you're right, it was from the earlier TVNZ news clip (at the 1m40 mark).
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Hard News: Only what we would expect a…, in reply to BenWilson,
National has to get really specific about what they're going to buy with the proceeds
On Close Up last night (with a surprisingly assertive Sainsbury), Key mentioned using the proceeds to invest in irrigation schemes for South Island (dairy) farmers.
Because there's no way the lil battlers can possibly pay for their own, let alone in a way that reflects the true input or environmental costs. And selling ice cream to China is the ambitious future of this nation, I tells you.
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Bunji at the Standard fisks Key's trumpeting of NZ's total debt as if it's the same as basket cases overseas.
Everywhere he can, John Key is busy raising the canard of our economy being as indebted as the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) that are in trouble in Europe. He’s talking about net foreign debt, and he’s suggesting lowering government debt (by hocking our inherited family silver off) is the solution.
But New Zealand’s debt problem is not a government debt problem like the bailed-out countries of Greece and Ireland. We do not face the risk of bail-out as JK deceitfully suggests, as we are a long way from the government being unable to pay its bills. While NZ’s net foreign debt position is 85% of GDP, net public debt is forecast to peak at 30% of GDP in 2015 (edit: currently 18.8%). Compare this to the current situation of Italy (115.2%), Portugal (76.9%), Greece (126.8%), Spain (53.2%), and Ireland (64.8%).
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The problem is personal debt.
And I have yet to hear any convincing explanation of how cutting government spending reduces non-government debt. Magic beans, perhaps.
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Emmerson cartoon in the Herald is a pretty good summary of the wisdom of asset sales. Electricity is a crucial underpinning of our increasingly digital economy for many years to come.
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Muse: Linky Love, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
I'll accept whining from Chad about 'copyright' when his blog stops routinely flogging pictures from other publishers without attribution.
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Hard News: Because it's about time we…, in reply to Patrick Reynolds,
Tom Beard, above, is completely on the money
+1
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Hard News: Because it's about time we…, in reply to Islander,
stiffwhisker honeydew
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Muse: Linky Love, in reply to Danielle,
Being so annoyed? Cultural imperialism pisses me off, especially when it's done so poorly.
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I just wish the yanks would get over their need to remake the rest of the world's culture so everyone speaks with their accent - provincial hicks.
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Is the real problem not that the show is too raunchy, but a shortage of sinners being punished hard and fast enough for American tastes?
Probably NSFW especially in puritan households - the US series reverse party trailer clip (drugs, flesh, snogging, etc):
and the UK version (similar content, less slick but minus the moral payoff):