OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia
184 Responses
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Sacha, in reply to
the cap is not really a cap at all but actually a sinking lid
Recall the government getting away scot free in the last term with "capping" the asses of several thousand public servants.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
cap it all gains...
“Spending cap should make us better off”
I can see us serfs,
having to head up
to th' big house
soon, cap in hand
to tell the masters
"there's trouble
up t' mill..." -
Sacha, in reply to
we *are* the trouble
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merc,
I'll not doff cap for anyone...(Brass)
Doff cap.
/repeats endlessly/ -
but I suspect that that will much harder to do than has been suggested.
Way to do it? Day one of parliament the first day a new Labour led government is sworn in, repeal it by ramming it through under urgency. The tinpot loons at the Hearld would barely have time to splutter into their coffee and it'll be gone.
I really wonder how far to right our newspaper editors actually are. Is there one crackpot mad-as-a-cut snake neo-liberal theory that the Herald's safely anonymous editorial writers wouldn't support?
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Sacha, in reply to
Brass
now there's a re-run worth re-running
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merc, in reply to
You bet, but I thought they (them, that lot) outlawed satire here, while retaining toxic shock jocks for their own purposes ;-)
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Way to do it? Day one of parliament the first day a new Labour led government is sworn in, repeal it by ramming it through under urgency. The tinpot loons at the Hearld would barely have time to splutter into their coffee and it’ll be gone.
In Helen Clark's 1st year as PM, the Granny especially was egging on a 'winter of discontent' over the repeal of the Employment Contracts Act and related legislation - "Economy goes into nosedive", much? The crashing of the NZD to 40c in hindsight was maybe 80% political speculation and 20% actual economics. And would you believe people were angsting about $1.25/l petrol too?
Conversely, I'm not aware of John Key getting similar blowtorching at the very same point in time.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Recall the government getting away scot free in the last term with “capping” the asses of several thousand public servants.
And when it's the opposite side of the fence, they won't go quietly. Case in point - the golden handshakes under the Shipley administration, and later on, Christine Rankin pushed kicking and screaming out of her high seat.
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merc,
Funny where people turn up http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5309089/Jenny-Shipley-on-Cera-review-panel
What does the review panel do anyway?
Oh and wouldn't it be a better idea to centralise all efforts under one roof, one website, one dare I say it, logo?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/6106725/6000-homes-to-be-door-knocked
Or might too many toes be trod upon without all that door knocking going on?
"We can't just assume everyone knows what assistance is available and is able to access it easily...
Epic fail right there no? There is an 0800 number but really, all the focus seems to be on the walkway and demolishing commercial buildings, from the media.
Oh dear, http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/6104647/EQC-to-review-recruitment-process
Not a good look. -
Russell Brown, in reply to
Good Lord, who wrote this morning’s Herald editorial? Trevor “Zap” Loudon?
Probably Roughan. He tends to like unexamined truisms about fiscal probity.
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Probably Roughan. He tends to like unexamined truisms about fiscal probity.
Whereas the newly appointed editor-in-chief Shayne Currie will probably remain focused on the kind of stuff he oversaw at the Herald on Sunday. John Roughan is increasingly coming across as NZ’s de facto William Randolph Hearst.
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Tomorrow’s chip wrappers…
Roughan is increasingly coming across as NZ’s de facto William Randolph Hearst.
…"Row spuds”. Weren’t those the last words of de facto Hearst, Charles Foster Kane?
…or am I being too (c)literal? -
Graeme Edgeler, in reply to
Huh? The ACT party this term got 1.1%. It’s a concession this term.
That the words were present in last terms agreement has no relevance, if the law were passed last term then yes it would be a concession to the 3.65% but it is being passed this term so it is representing the wishes of a party that received 1.1% support this term.
The legislation was introduced in the last Parliament and is currently before select committee. They had a deal, and could be expected to keep it. All that has happened is that ACT has agreed to water it down further. If anything, this is a concession from the 1.1%, not to it.
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In Helen Clark’s 1st year as PM, the Granny especially was egging on a ‘winter of discontent’ over the repeal of the Employment Contracts Act and related legislation – “Economy goes into nosedive”, much?
And I think the Herald was successful. Labour’s time in government was defined by that first winter – she and Cullen didn’t have the political courage to take on the neo-liberal establishment, and they were found out and routed in their first skirmish. From then on, Labour was petrified of upsetting the business class and simply confined themselves to a socially liberal agenda for an illusion of serious change. As for an economic policy, it was to use the tax take of the economic boom to ameliorate the harshest edges of Rogernomics and to tinker on the edges of the gigantic neo-liberal space with a big “do not enter – by order” sign on it.
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HenryB, in reply to
*this* fiscal gimmick hasn’t had a detrimental effect elsewhere, because the things you are thinking of (such as the the law in Colorado) are different.
Graeme, I have been trying - unsuccessfully - to find examples of where it hasn't had a detrimental effect. Needless to say, perhaps, nearly everything points to Colorado but are there other examples of legislated `tax and spend' limits?
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Sacha, in reply to
All that has happened is that ACT has agreed to water it down further. If anything, this is a concession from the 1.1%, not to it.
Wasn't the agreement last term simply to support it to first reading? In which case, anything beyond dropping it is a concession (though more to Nat factions than to Act).
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Angus Robertson, in reply to
Way to do it? Day one of parliament the first day a new Labour led government is sworn in, repeal it by ramming it through under urgency.
The Nats got elected with a program of austerity and this is an austerity measure. Since Labour run on an anti-austerity platform when they get back in the restriction will obviously be lifted, but until then the Nats have a mandate to practice austerity.
Keith claims it is "fiscal anorexia" which in good times if the Nats/ACT were offering tax cuts would be a good call. But it is not good times and the Nats/ACT aren't offering tax cuts - its just austerity.
When times are lean and there is less food to eat, some choose to eat less and live a more austere life. This is not a sign they have an eating disorder.
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Sacha, in reply to
but are there other examples of legislated `tax and spend' limits?
California. Sorry, having some connectivity problems today but someone can no doubt find links about what a disaster that one was as well.
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Sacha, in reply to
the Nats/ACT aren't offering tax cuts
but they're hardly offering to roll back the ones to the wealthiest which have not had the broader benefit English claimed for them.
If they insist on 'austerity' it should be for everyone, not just those most reliant on state services and least able to shelter their wealth from taxation.
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but are there other examples of legislated `tax and spend' limits?
Merkel/Sarkozy are proposing some for the eurozone.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
Presumably Auckland Transport uses the chamber, being based there? Though I guess they don’t need to conduct their business in public quite so much.
Choose not to conduct their business in public quite so much. There, fixed that for you.
As Josh Arbury notes regularly, Auckland Transport resorts to secrecy for far, far more of their meeting agendas than is proper for a supposedly public body. -
Kumara Republic, in reply to
When times are lean and there is less food to eat, some choose to eat less and live a more austere life. This is not a sign they have an eating disorder.
And still they go bullimic on holiday highways and corporate/agricultural welfare. It goes to show that all austerity is equal, but some austerity is more equal than others.
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merc,
It's not austerity. Never have I seen an example of Govt. actually saving money by reducing spending, please provide me with one. It is simply a transfer, as always, into power needing a pet project. Blinglish has been tinkering away in education since he got the leadership shove.
As I have said before, what is broken? If education outcomes are below a scientifically measurable level, then simply pretending to part turn the tap off is never going to improve outcomes.
It is cult behaviour. Repeat, fail, repeat. -
Angus Robertson, in reply to
If they insist on 'austerity' it should be for everyone, not just those most reliant on state services and least able to shelter their wealth from taxation.
Well yeah, but the right are the only lot offering austerity so they get to offer their stylings without any competition. If the left had an austerity program of substantial increases in top rate taxation and a steady spending regime, they'd be a choice.
Instead Labour decided to offer borrow&spend as the preferred alternative.
NZ chose austerity and it comes with a rightwing government.
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