Posts by Rob Stowell
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Mean of me, but I’m tempted to try catching the final episode of Gilmore’s Folly this afternoon, live. Anyone know the exact time?
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Legal Beagle: $420,259.33, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
That was possibly the stupidest non-prosecution of the whole lot.
If National had been charged, I have every confidence that they’d have pleaded guilty.
And that, presumably, is somewhat at the heart of the non-prosecution: it's been lax- and now, whoever gets charged first will scream blue murder about prosecutorial 'discretion' and partisanship.
Prosecutions and decent fine or two, and you have to suspect everyone would fall into line fairly quickly. So yes- all for the letter of the law being followed.
But getting up a head of moral outrage over this seems to imply corruption- or at least bad faith- not the muddling uselessness of party bureaucrats. The Electoral Commission appear to have concluded the latter, so I guess the real beef is with them.
So why does discussion of the matter all sound so partisan? Because some people just can't help themselves... -
Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
It isn’t really valid to say that exports are the only important sector of the economy.
Health services, for example: do they ‘produce’ health!? Still pretty important, and not something Mr Joyce has (yet) found a way to export…
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Hard News: Competing for Auckland, in reply to Sacha,
#sprawlistheonlywaytomakesenseofourroadingpolicy :)
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In a sense you’re both right :)
Quick look-around finds:
GDP – composition by sector: agriculture: 4.8%
industry: 24.6%
services: 70.6% (2012 est.)
Source – CIA world ‘Factbook’!
Sometimes hard to see how some services are actually ‘productive’ but still…
A different picture looking at exports as this 2009 ’tree’ diagram of exports shows. But since it looks just at 'products' and not services (I'm assuming tourism is a service?) it's also not the whole picture. -
Hard News: Friday Music: A lovely…, in reply to Mike O'Connell,
Wow, that was very 1981. Blast from the past! (although if I ever actually saw the Pin Group play, I can't remember.) Duffel coats, cheap alcohol, boot boys and bad parties. Them were the days :)
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Low-res cheap cellphone but still autumny :)
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Hard News: Key Questions, in reply to Keir Leslie,
Of course, this stuff is all basically theoretical. We know that in practice, the GCSB and the NZSIS are, at best, paranoid reactionary organisations captured by the institutional interests of international Spookery. Whether or not they are even competent at that is a separate question.
Reckon! :)
(and congrats, if that was you graduating today!) -
Hard News: Illegal Tender, in reply to Steve Barnes,
“what is he on?”
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Up Front: Another Brick in the Wall, in reply to Bart Janssen,
tax cuts were a terrible idea that did nothing for the economy and just made the gap between rich and poor bigger.
Totally.
But the story starts in 1986 when Douglas made the most radical changes to NZ's highly progressive income tax rates, and introduced consumption tax (GST) which of course is flat across all incomes (Douglas wanted this for income tax, too.)
The Ruth Richardson 1991 cuts to social welfare were the next big move. Since we've had some tinkering here and there, but nothing close to as radical. From Labour or National.
The changes have changed the national conversation. It's pretty hard to find anyone who'll champion 50%+ income tax on the wealthy; or unemployment benefits close to the equivalent of those under Muldoon.
On the other hand- there's growing awareness of the gulf between rich and poor here. I still find it odd that it's most manifest in concern about 'child poverty' (not that this isn't genuine and terrible.) Adults living in poverty don't seem to matter.
