Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: People Take Drugs, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
So why don't we tax alcohol on exactly the same basis as tobacco, again?
Better lobbyists?
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Labour list candidate Jordan Carter seems to get it.
Two primary drivers of people's actions are the two most powerful emotions we feel: hope, and fear. The side of politics that gets the balance of hope and fear right wins elections.
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But we need to keep running the big picture. It's the only way to remind people that our vision of New Zealand is their vision: a place where everyone has the chance to get ahead. If we don't tell them that's what we stand for, then our opponents will fill in that blank. They'll misrepresent us, to put it politely, in ways that harm our interests and advance theirs.
It's also the foundation of the "hope" part of our pitch. There's plenty to be frightened of from the current Government, and Labour is well able to summon up that fear. But we need hope too, and hope is founded on our vision of a better world. We need to put it front and centre of our politics.
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Kumara Republic,
reducing the cost of producing a car by getting rid of the side impact beams, instead of the air-con unit.
More like selling the engine to overseas financiers who will lease it back to us with interest. Cos it worked so well in the 80s and 90s, eh.
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And more on Budget alternatvies from the Greens.
Severe cuts risk recession. More borrowing risks a credit downgrade. We can instead raise more revenue and, in the process, help shift the economy onto a more steady footing.
Instead of selling off the last of our best state assets to raise one-off revenue, we could instead introduce a range of eco-taxes to put a fair price on carbon, water, and waste, using market signals to switch the economy to a more sustainable future.
We can introduce a comprehensive tax on capital gains (excluding the family home) which would raise revenue to help balance the books while benefiting the productive sector and making homes more affordable.
Meanwhile, a clear majority of New Zealanders have indicated that they're prepared to pay a small temporary levy on their income to pay for the rebuilding of Christchurch. So why are we adding $5 billion more to a record deficit instead?
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to 3410,
Doh. Caffeine, stat..
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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour, in reply to Gareth Ward,
They're even canvassing alternatives.
Like lemmings we’re accepting National’s framing of the budget, and marching even faster to our economic doom. Very few economists or commentators are questioning the slash and burn mind set, and looking at the alternative. Yes, there is an alternative. We can reject reductions in spending, and look at raising government income instead. Raise revenue how, I hear you cry?
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Hard News: Asking for a Contribution, in reply to nzlemming,
if you hover over it, it gives the actual time and date of the post.
and it could just as easily show the calculated time on hover. But perhaps I'm overestimating how easy it is for most site visitors to work out differences on the spot. We're all different so any blanket solution is a compromise. I guess in a future version that type of thing could be a remembered personal preference.
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Not wanting to pre-empt the Budget thread that will no doubt appear here soon, but The Standard have a post that references Keith Ng's fisking of the previous Budget, and quotes Bernard Hickey on the latest forecasting chicanery.
"Every economic forecast by the Treasury underestimated the impact of an epic change in the way New Zealanders think about debt and spending.
In May 2008, Treasury forecast growth rates for the next three years of 1.5 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent. Instead, we got -1.1 per cent, -0.4 per cent and -0.1 per cent."
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Keep in mind also that we’ve been here before. Last budget the Nats told us that the tax cut bribe was “broadly fiscally neutral”. Hidden in the fine print, and dragged in to the light by Keith Ng, was that fact that they made the claim on the basis of, you guessed it, projected growth.The tax cuts were supposed to cause growth (they didn’t), and the growth was supposed to pay for the cuts (it didn’t). Now here we are with record borrowing and debt instead.
So just remember, when we hear tidings of good news and a return to surplus, that it is all based on growth which is at best hypothetical. At worst it’s just wishful thinking from people with a three year record of being wrong wrong wrong. The whole budget edifice will be a castle built on air.
Personally, I'd argue that 'at worst' it's actually bald-faced lying by politicians who know exactly what they are doing.
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Hard News: Asking for a Contribution, in reply to ChrisW,
reverting to plain display of the NZ time stamp on the discussion posts? I recall this was raised by several posters in the original thread. An everchanging "3 hours ago", "3 days ago" etc is so much less informative especially after the first hour, inconvenient for reference, and makes it harder to follow the discussion dynamics especially if reading a thread a little or a long time after real-time.
+1
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Hard News: Still sounds good, in reply to recordari,
Took a few photos.
Nice work, sir. Love your earlier David Kilgour & Jon Toogood one too.