Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Known Unknown: What would have happened this last week if Labour had passed on race-trolling with dodgy data and instead put all the energy and political capital into talking up sensible small-business tax reforms?
Guess we'll never know...
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Polity: House-buying patterns in Auckland, in reply to David Hood,
My reason for that is by saying mainland China migration to Ponsonby is not the cause
Well, you've done a splendid job of rebutting an argument Rudman wasn't actually making. Care to take another pass?
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Regulars will know I'm no great fan of Brian Rudman, but I've got to admit today's column makes a lot of sense -- someone at Te Harold has to.
Of course in gentrifying areas like Ponsonby, the $20,000 villa of the 1970s is now fetching closer to $2 million than $1 million. All without anyone from mainland China in sight.
The only ethnic change in these desirable suburbs is the Polynesian renters who'd made the suburb home were driven out to the fringes by Pakeha baby-boomers like myself.
Now, having enjoyed the ride, the baby-boomers discover their kids can't afford to buy a ticket on to the escalator themselves unless the parents front up with a massive deposit. So the hunt is on for scapegoats.
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Polity: House-buying patterns in Auckland, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,
Once again, we have Labour with something useful to say (we have a problem with foreign investment in our housing market), but terrible framing.
Or how about we just take a deep breath and admit this is wonderful framing for the element of the Labour Party who are desperate for a polling bump, and don’t give a damn how they get it. Welcome to your Orewa moment, Labour supporters.
The fact of the matter is that even your carefully written piece would still be regarded a racist because you dared to mention China, had we been talking about Americans or Germans or whoever as long as they were “westerners”, this would never have been a “problem”.
So remind me, Steve, where was Labour's furious denunciation when The New Zealand Herald's proprietor flicked off its magazine holdings to a German corporation? (FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm an occasion contributor to The Listener, currently owned by Bauer Media Group)? And are you seriously trying to argue that there's the same level of political and media hysterics when land and houses are sold to Australians, Poms or Americans? Really?
If you're citing the existence of racism as justification for pandering to it, then you've unwittingly put your finger on the real problem here. It's just not the one you think it is.
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OnPoint: My last name sounds Chinese, in reply to Q Williams,
I just find it hilarious personally that suddenly a lot of those on the right are suddenly falling all over themselves defending minorities in NZ. How unusual....
Does that cancel out my mirthless laughter watching a lot of those on the left who are now terribly relaxed (to coin a phrase) about nonsense they'd (rightly) be smothering in brimstone if it was coming from the Taxpayer's Onion, via Whale Oil and Kiwibog?
I guess I'm one of those people you're glibly dismissing as bad faith concern trolls, but while you're enjoying playing your intellectual games this kind of race trolling does real harm to actual human beings in my community, and my whanau. I honestly don't give the proverbial rodent's rectum whether you believe me or not, just stop it. And, yet again, if you and Twyford seriously want a serious debate why not act like it instead of setting up politically correct straw Twitterati to knock over?
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Polity: House-buying patterns in Auckland, in reply to Steve Barnes,
So, for all those here bagging Twyford take a quick look in the mirror, Labour are NOT the bad guys here.
So, once more they're not the bad guys here because what... they outsourced the race-trolling and would like us all to believe they couldn't have possibly predicted how it would play? Well, thank heavens for that!
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Polity: House-buying patterns in Auckland, in reply to Matt Crawford,
But to pretend that Twyford has invented a racist dog whistle ignores the evidence. Whether speculators from China are buying 40% of available stock is another question, but I absolutely guarantee they're buying some of it. Because our market encourages it by design.
Nope - Twyford is being pilloried because he's still going out there and trying to spin dodgy conclusions drawn from weak evidence that I pray wouldn't pass muster in a halfway decent first year university paper.
And every time I hear Twyford chirp "this is just confirming what everyone knows is true" I despair that he's likely to end up holding a Cabinet portfolio where leading with his gut rather than sound evidence-based policy could do real and lasting harm.
frustration with the fact the left can't even attack National about this without being called racist.
Well, I kinda share your frustration there Mark, but not in a way you're going to like. If a certain segment of "the left" don't like being called racist anymore than certain segments of "the right," that's all on them. Stop making it so damn easy. It really is that simple.
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Polity: House-buying patterns in Auckland, in reply to Russell Brown,
My impression, unsupported by data, is that "lock up and leave" is increasingly being touted as a virtue in Auckland property ads. But I'm damned if I know what it actually means.
"Lock up and leave" sounds a lot classier than "no need to pour shitloads of money and time into keeping the house and grounds looking decent." Has done for years, especially if you're trying to hit that "downsizing retiree who wants to blow the retirement savings on Tiki-touring NOT the house" demographic. Sorry, it's not some secret code for predatory foreign hot money.
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Speaker: Identification strategy: Now…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Latest is that Barfoot & Thompson are trying to chase the leaker, if it was actually one of their own. And given that the Barfoot patriarch was a big donor to the NACTs at the last election, and the head of the ‘Thompson’ half of B&T dismissed NZ home buyers as too entitled…
Far be it from me to bork a good political conspiracy theory, but we’re looking at putting our house on the market and moving back to Wellington after David retires. I’d rather not deal with any real estate agency who’s prone to “leaking” personal data to be (ab)used in political race trolling. I’m a bit weird like that, and would be no matter who I vote for… You may not much like who Peter Thompson makes political donations to, but the fact remains Barfoot and Thompson is a very big real estate company that has a perfectly rational reason not to have their entire operation tainted by this bullshit.
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Speaker: Identification strategy: Now…, in reply to BenWilson,
We probably can't really expect Rob to take responsibility for what Labour wanted out of all of this. It's on Labour, and Twyford particularly, to explain.
Up to a point, Lord Copper. Up to a point. I think we can expect Rob to do precisely that when he's still fronting the media to attempt to justify the work he put his name on. And if he was doing it for (say) the Ministry of Social Development or Auckland Council, we'd be saying "too bloody right."
And I'll even do Rob the courtesy of assuming he's a lot more astute about the political uses and abuses of the kind of work he does than he's pretending to be.