Posts by Sacha
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to BenWilson,
Also, egalitarianism runs deep in the NZ psyche...
I don't think that's so true any more. A selfish streak has emerged since 1984's neolib revolution. Despite some good practical policy and programmes the Clark governments did stuff-all to challenge that at a conceptual/narrative level after the fierce fight they faced against Closing the Gaps that was a precursor to Orewa - and a sign of an opposition prepared to actually, you know, oppose in their first term out of power.
Labour's slowness to grapple with the concepts last decade is probably one reason they seem to be struggling now - and why tainted dinosaurs from the Lange government need to either fully and convincingly repent or be put out to pasture.
It's encouraging to see their caucus addressing the lessons of the Spirit Level and suchlike. But they need to work with allies and translate that thinking into a campaign and into votes. Now, not in a few years at their leisure.
...so pointing out the rich getting richer and the poor poorer under National will always work in proportion to how outrageously it seems to be happening.
That's Labour's line from the last election and it has been trotted out since by the Standardistas and fellow travellers. Doesn't seem to be working with the voting public, does it? Gets refamed very easily as envy compared with that aspirational Mr Key.
This government are also far sneakier about their outrageousness. Witness English only admitting this week for the first time that they have fired 2000 public servants since being elected after claiming to be "capping them".
Where was the effective opposition for the last two years while that was happening? And the head of the PSA tells us the public might get a bit concerned about it from now on if the cuts continue. Also fails to join the dots between lost jobs for her union's members and suffering for ordinary New Zealanders. Not good enough.
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to BenWilson,
And the selling of a political change is more than one expression, it's repeated powerful expressions, preferably coordinated.
Quite
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to BenWilson,
I'd be amazed if the action is the least bit popular
Opinion poll support since the government started talking about privatising publicly-owned assets suggest you'd better practise that surprised face.
Unless an opposition opposes it forcefully, convincingly and consistently and manages that competently so support translates into votes in November. That push might just need to come from outside parliament on current form.
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to BenWilson,
there is one thing that I think National misjudge - selling assets will be very unpopular
I'd like to wish that true, but one of Lew's central points is that National don't seem at all worried that anyone is going to stop them.
I think he’s good, but mostly John Key just knows what he can get away with. The reason he can get away with all of these things is because there is no credible opposition to prevent him from doing so. Anyone half-decent can look sharp when playing against amateurs.
It has been Labour’s job to prevent the government from reaching the state of near-impunity they now enjoy, and their failure to do so means there is now a real danger that Key will get the genuine and sweeping mandate he seeks. To a considerable extent they were doomed in the task of preventing this from the outset, because they didn’t think it was possible that he’d ever achieve it. Clark Labour throughout 2008 fundamentally misunderestimated Key, writing him off as a bumbling lightweight, and this was a crucial error.
-
Great debunking of the debt crisis myth by Johann Hari, which Rich linked to on Keith's thread. Sounds rather familiar..
British politics today is dominated by a lie. This lie is making it significantly more likely you will lose your job, your business, or your home. The lie gives a false explanation for how we came to be in this crisis, and prescribes a medicine that will worsen our disease. Yet it is hardly being challenged.
Here’s the lie. We are in a debt crisis. Our national debt is dangerously and historically high. We are being threatened by the international bond markets. The way out is to eradicate our deficit rapidly. Only that will restore “confidence”, and therefore economic growth. Every step of this program is false, and endangers you.
...
Which countries have come out of this recession fastest? They are the ones like South Korea, which have had by far the biggest stimulus packages, paid for with (yes) higher debt. Which countries have fallen furthest and shattered most severely? The ones that tried to pay down their debts immediately with huge cuts.
Indeed, there’s an irony here. It turns out that if all you do is fixate on paying your debt now now now, and so you smother your economic growth, you will end up not being able to pay your debts off anyway. That’s what just happened to our nearest neighbor Ireland, may she rest in peace.
-
Hard News: Chasing the Trans-Pacific Express, in reply to Paul Campbell,
I share two Emmys for that
cool
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to giovanni tiso,
My complaint if anything is that they don't challenge the way that the media frame the conversation more
Agreed
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to BenWilson,
How about "The Opposition"?
That would be nice, yes :)
-
Hard News: Chasing the Trans-Pacific Express, in reply to Ben Austin,
My view then as now is that these benefits are very hard to measure
An Australian report last year measured them and came with a figure of minus $700m in just one area, didn't it?
-
Hard News: Limping Onwards, in reply to DexterX,
they aren't the dynamic new engine
that's the point in replacing them, isn't it? sure can't claim they lack the experience to know better.