Government’s drive to cut its size from 34% of GDP to under 30% & to cut debt from 43% to 30% dominates everything, including stalled redress for those abused in state care, health cuts & no CGT
I’m just as concerned about what happens if or when we get under 30%. Then what 25 then 20, privatisation of everything. There doesn’t seem to be any other substantive plan
You already know the answer to that question....Privatisation is the end goal and the easiest way to do that is portraying the SOE or government department as not functioning properly (due to underfunding) so the unsuspecting public is duped into them selling it off.
The expectation is something like we can pay American level taxes but enjoy Scandinavian level services. I still think when it comes to the health system, the voting public won’t go for privatisation. But maybe with enough spin, they might!
It is privatisation by stealth. By underfunding the public health system, you destroy confidence in it. People then go and buy private health insurance and once you have enough people with it, the demand to publicly fund health goes away. Look at the increase in Southern Cross membership in last three years, and the $$ being spent building new private health facilities.
Of course, as soon as you have a pre-existing condition you're no longer covered, and once you hit 60, premiums go through the roof.
What the government and the neoclassical economists don't understand is that "paying back" the "debt" by reducing deficits or running a surplus takes money out of the economy. That's unemployment and stalling productivity. If people do not have jobs to pay for the private goods and services, those businesses fold too resulting in more unemployment etc etc.
That lack of new spend into the system from government must result in increasing private debt, and that's exactly what we see.
It's the private debt we need to be concerned about, not the "public debt"
This government is unreformable. But will Labour learn anything from Kamala Harris's defeat? Will Labour acknowledge that woke is dead? Forget ethnicity and gender. What people care about is the cost of housing, the cost of eating, the cost of schooling, the cost of health care, the cost of living.
I'm not sure Kamala Harris lost because she didn't offer good policies to combat the cost of housing etc. I think she lost because angry people wanted to have someone to blame and punish.
So many all of a sudden realizing they have no idea what tariffs are and how they work & now having buyer's regret when they find out things are going to be even more expensive.
The Americans have fucked around and are about to find out. Just like the British with Brexit.
Release please Bernard an excellent summary of NZ idiocy. Needs urgent release. Next week the fast track will complete the destruction of NZ and the money will all go to rich pricks as usual.
Depressing. The Tumbrils may eventually come but far too late. Congratulations!
Have to note, though, that the actual story in the ODT about the Emergency Doctor clinic here in Ōtepoti
is rather more nuanced than the headline suggests. A small number of medical centres are not part of the Urgent Doctots group. They have their own after hours services, and they don't provide staff for after hours shifts at the Urgent Doctors clinic. I would have expected these medical centres to make sure their patients knew about these arrangements (it appears many patients are unaware).
This is not to say that health care services, in general, are anywhere near adequate - here in Ōtepoti or in the rest of Aotearoa! However a little background can go a long way!
Is Luxon for real? We are talking about people who's entire lives been brutally destroyed, what is the $ value he thinks they already received that will be a fair compensation for that, I'm sure whatever the tight b$%#@d thinks of will not be anything even close to what it should be because that will mean billions of dollars in compensation.
When you are geographically isolated with a small population, is the only game in town not the government? Why do we seem so obsessed with shrinking it to nothing?
Thank you Bernard I think reiterating the 30% government target is crucial even if your paid subscribers know this. It must change if we are to achieve equality & at the very least a health service which results in healthy folk who are productive & therefore improve economy.
1. Health
2. Education
3. Reduce child poverty (1 & 2)
4. Housing for all, not luxury homes for the wealthy & middle class.
The 2025 budget is writing itself - increased spending on defence to suck up to Trump, freeze on health and public education spending and cuts to most other government departments and agencies and more user pays for public services all to fund miserly levels of redress for those abused in state care. Oh, and international instability (Trump again) means rising cost of living again and decreased tax take. Just like any household.
Personally I am disappointed that responsible ministers from across the house and past chief executives weren't standing up apologising for their roles in the travesty and the endless flaming hoops the survivors of abuse in care are still forced to jump through to obtain justice
Luxon is mistaken if he thinks rolling out a few sorries is enough or as easy as doling out dispensations to his ministers. By now the PM should be demanding to see plans and allocating budget both for ongoing work and reparations for survivors. It's pretty clear that substantive reparations and a sustainably funded cross-party programme is needed to progress the 'apology 'to a safer and saner environment for children in care.
Hi Bernard, as you basically point out our nation is stuffed without some major policy frame work changes. National who pride themselves as business oriented are hypocritical in that they wont agree on a CGT which will assist to take monies from the over inflated housing market over time and direct it to business and change attitudes of Banks and investors.
Our Govt Super is costing us 20billion a year and yet no party is addressing the on going cost escalation. There are opportunities to address these major financial anomalies for the future of the nation. Labour has got to find courage and vision for a (at least) 20 yr strategy on how and where it wants the country to be and explaining succinctly the reasons and benefits! In the current environment why wouldn’t youth head overseas!
Thank you Bernard for reiterating Rod Oram’s simple message to Fonterra and the timber industry- add value to the product in New Zealand before exporting.
I’m just as concerned about what happens if or when we get under 30%. Then what 25 then 20, privatisation of everything. There doesn’t seem to be any other substantive plan
You already know the answer to that question....Privatisation is the end goal and the easiest way to do that is portraying the SOE or government department as not functioning properly (due to underfunding) so the unsuspecting public is duped into them selling it off.
The expectation is something like we can pay American level taxes but enjoy Scandinavian level services. I still think when it comes to the health system, the voting public won’t go for privatisation. But maybe with enough spin, they might!
It is privatisation by stealth. By underfunding the public health system, you destroy confidence in it. People then go and buy private health insurance and once you have enough people with it, the demand to publicly fund health goes away. Look at the increase in Southern Cross membership in last three years, and the $$ being spent building new private health facilities.
Of course, as soon as you have a pre-existing condition you're no longer covered, and once you hit 60, premiums go through the roof.
It gets done by stealth. Bit by bit.
What the government and the neoclassical economists don't understand is that "paying back" the "debt" by reducing deficits or running a surplus takes money out of the economy. That's unemployment and stalling productivity. If people do not have jobs to pay for the private goods and services, those businesses fold too resulting in more unemployment etc etc.
That lack of new spend into the system from government must result in increasing private debt, and that's exactly what we see.
It's the private debt we need to be concerned about, not the "public debt"
I am a fan of modern monetary theory. Having recently read the deficit myth. I agree with your assessment of the situation
This government is unreformable. But will Labour learn anything from Kamala Harris's defeat? Will Labour acknowledge that woke is dead? Forget ethnicity and gender. What people care about is the cost of housing, the cost of eating, the cost of schooling, the cost of health care, the cost of living.
I'm not sure Kamala Harris lost because she didn't offer good policies to combat the cost of housing etc. I think she lost because angry people wanted to have someone to blame and punish.
So many all of a sudden realizing they have no idea what tariffs are and how they work & now having buyer's regret when they find out things are going to be even more expensive.
The Americans have fucked around and are about to find out. Just like the British with Brexit.
I'm trying to remember what Labour offered last election besides GST off fresh fruit and veges.
Bernie Sanders:
https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1854271157135941698
and Bernie again:
https://youtu.be/QVlum0tUsTs
Crazy bridges and unnecessarily underground trains for Auckland
Note for Mr Luxon, if you have nothing to say you might as well sing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLbvyRYGcLc
RIP Sharon Jones
Release please Bernard an excellent summary of NZ idiocy. Needs urgent release. Next week the fast track will complete the destruction of NZ and the money will all go to rich pricks as usual.
Depressing. The Tumbrils may eventually come but far too late. Congratulations!
Patrick Medlicott
Important information so please release. Labour should listen to Bernie Sanders’ comments on why blue collar workers abandoned the Democrats…
Yes - and today's graph from Philipp Heimberger reinforces this.
That graph is excellent, Remarkable that within one generation, the whole political landscape in the US has flipped 180 degrees
Keep up the excellent work, Bernard!
Have to note, though, that the actual story in the ODT about the Emergency Doctor clinic here in Ōtepoti
is rather more nuanced than the headline suggests. A small number of medical centres are not part of the Urgent Doctots group. They have their own after hours services, and they don't provide staff for after hours shifts at the Urgent Doctors clinic. I would have expected these medical centres to make sure their patients knew about these arrangements (it appears many patients are unaware).
This is not to say that health care services, in general, are anywhere near adequate - here in Ōtepoti or in the rest of Aotearoa! However a little background can go a long way!
Is Luxon for real? We are talking about people who's entire lives been brutally destroyed, what is the $ value he thinks they already received that will be a fair compensation for that, I'm sure whatever the tight b$%#@d thinks of will not be anything even close to what it should be because that will mean billions of dollars in compensation.
When you are geographically isolated with a small population, is the only game in town not the government? Why do we seem so obsessed with shrinking it to nothing?
Thank you Bernard I think reiterating the 30% government target is crucial even if your paid subscribers know this. It must change if we are to achieve equality & at the very least a health service which results in healthy folk who are productive & therefore improve economy.
1. Health
2. Education
3. Reduce child poverty (1 & 2)
4. Housing for all, not luxury homes for the wealthy & middle class.
Please release to all.
3 more likes & we reach the ton!
The 2025 budget is writing itself - increased spending on defence to suck up to Trump, freeze on health and public education spending and cuts to most other government departments and agencies and more user pays for public services all to fund miserly levels of redress for those abused in state care. Oh, and international instability (Trump again) means rising cost of living again and decreased tax take. Just like any household.
Personally I am disappointed that responsible ministers from across the house and past chief executives weren't standing up apologising for their roles in the travesty and the endless flaming hoops the survivors of abuse in care are still forced to jump through to obtain justice
Luxon is mistaken if he thinks rolling out a few sorries is enough or as easy as doling out dispensations to his ministers. By now the PM should be demanding to see plans and allocating budget both for ongoing work and reparations for survivors. It's pretty clear that substantive reparations and a sustainably funded cross-party programme is needed to progress the 'apology 'to a safer and saner environment for children in care.
Hi Bernard, as you basically point out our nation is stuffed without some major policy frame work changes. National who pride themselves as business oriented are hypocritical in that they wont agree on a CGT which will assist to take monies from the over inflated housing market over time and direct it to business and change attitudes of Banks and investors.
Our Govt Super is costing us 20billion a year and yet no party is addressing the on going cost escalation. There are opportunities to address these major financial anomalies for the future of the nation. Labour has got to find courage and vision for a (at least) 20 yr strategy on how and where it wants the country to be and explaining succinctly the reasons and benefits! In the current environment why wouldn’t youth head overseas!
Thank you Bernard for reiterating Rod Oram’s simple message to Fonterra and the timber industry- add value to the product in New Zealand before exporting.
FYI I’ve decided to open this one up a tad early after requests from paying subscribers.
Thanks Bernard, sorry I just read this.
Crikey, that Solicitor General is just pure evilness.
I wish these messages were not each so vital.
The loss of real economic strength from the Fontera sell off is idiocy and selling off NZ.
I am delighted today's post is going public, and hope it's messages are restated loudly.
Also excellent RNZ coverage today in Morning Report of iceshelf changes and relevance: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018963755/science-team-investigates-state-of-ross-ice-shelf from RNZ.