Posts by Steve Barnes
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Speaker: Talking past each other:…, in reply to James Butler,
the real obvious solution is to end fucking poverty.
But then how could the wealthy feel superior?.
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Polity: A short history of half-baked…, in reply to Marc C,
we do not even have enough builders and other tradespeople that are needed to catch up with demand.
Well, who can you blame for that? Labour?.... erm... no.
Back when all those leaky buildings were built, National changed the rules, moved the goalposts and unleveled the playing field. By kowtowing to Australian building material manufactures, Fletcher's, Carters and a whole swag of developers, they allowed shoddy practices, untreated timber (more money for Fletcher's and Carter Holt) allowing fibre cement cladding with little or no ventilation or even insulation, narrower eaves (bigger floor area on small plots, developers rubbed their collective hands in glee). Basically allowing sub standard houses and apartments for sub prime loans for sub human conditions.
The upshot of this is well known, they blamed the builders and now you have to jump through hoops to be able to do the job many had been doing well for years. On to of that there was the axing of many apprenticeships leading to the current shortage of construction workers. The other effect being that those developers that were building good properties became wary of building anything at all or went so far over the top in offsetting risk that the houses were too expensive for the market at the time, many went to the wall bankrupting builders and investors alike.
I cringe when I hear people blaming "Immigrants" for this mess, the blame lies squarely with two National Governments and their supporters (those that riled against Labour's efforts to quell rising construction costs with sidetracks about light bulbs and shower heads.
The real culprit is, of course, greed and all the legislation and regulation of a sector that has been building our homes since our ancestors landed here and the result is as obvious as the nose on the Prime Ministers face, which grows by the day. -
Six years later and the story is the same, read the origional post...
All around the village, the citizens are braced for it. We know this because the media has been full of it and the message is emphatic: the market is already taking a hit; there might be a land tax! A capital gains tax! A closing of the very big hole through which every Leonard-Cohen-going, black-polo-neck-wearing, four-rental-property-owning silver-haired baby boomer has been dragging the paperwork for their LAQC and their tax deductions.
You know for sure that a policy has real heft when the market is moving even before you announce it.
So what does that nice Mr Key do with this mighty once-in-a generation opportunity for a step change? He consults the polling.
He gets up there, stands alongside the mighty gun, pulls out a water pistol, squeezes it and says: “I make no apologies for making a few of you a bit wet.”
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Polity: Geography and housing options, in reply to Deep Blue,
its expected that there will be more people either on benefit, or super, than will be working. Kind of elephant in the room stuff.
Working at what? This is the reason Labour have been talking about the future of work (Or as the Right would have it "how are we going to be able to pay for Labours elevnty billion dollar Universal Basic Income").
With machines rapidly replacing skilled workers, yes, skilled workers, its not just the semi skilled that will be passed their use by date in no time flat, there will be a huge problem.
Unless we all go on "Gardening Leave" and get paid to pursue our hobbies and games the inequity will lead, inevitably, to either a total collapse of the financial system, most people too poor to buy the goods the Multinational Corporations want to sell, or Revolution, once you start disenfranchising the clever people you got problems. -
Well if you can't make a profit out of the poor and the sick how are you supposed to make money out of the wealthy?
Simple, a two tier system, one for the rich and one for the poor then degrade the lower, public" tier so that more people want to pay for the top tier and there's yer profit.
This of course is slightly unethical but easy to fix. Subsidise the lower tier to upgrade to, the private, top tier and there's even more profit.... for the overseas corporation "Medex"®... or whoever...
We are certainly on the cusp of something.... -
Looks like things are heading in the right direction...
,” UNODC Executive Director Yuri Fedotov said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s time to reverse the cycles of violence that occur wherever ‘drug wars’ are undertaken, and to abandon policies that exacerbate suffering.”
But Wait...
There's more..."The UNODC is proud to take its cue from a popular movement supporting marijuana decriminalization in particular, which claims as its annual holiday 4/20, or April 20, the central date of this year's UNGASS," said UNODC Public Information Officer Kevin Campo during opening remarks at the first plenary session on Tuesday morning. "This is just one way we're showing our commitment to rethinking the drug war from a more humane perspective."
Sounds Great...
Until...The hoax was so elaborate, that a fake press release condemned the first fake statements, by explaining the UNODC’s policy on celebration of 4/20.
The United Nations does not recognize ‘4/20’,” said a fake release attributed to a real UNODC spokesperson David Dadge. “And although we wish we had good news for the folks who do, some large and powerful states still insist on blocking the majority’s desire to decriminalize, which means that this senseless war on people will continue.”
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It makes sense, in my humble opinion, to build Upwards and Outwards, especially in a place like Auckland, an isthmus if you will.
If you want to go from south to north, you have to go through Auckland and vice versa.
If you imagine a towering specter of a city, shimmering with light and life like a destination from a fantasy novel, a city that inspires, a city that shocks, a city that satisfies your wildest desires.....
Well anyway, if we had a good national public transport system we could come and go as we please from this dream/nightmare city and live where we like.
Love Auckland, just wouldn't want to sell my soul, and space to do whatever I want (or or give up TV as some idiot suggested), to live there.
Also, as and added bonus, it would keep those Wild Waikatonians out of Northland. ;-) -
This from today’s flaccid excuse for a newspaper. An actual article that does not beat the drum for John Key &co. but reveals a skunk in the works.
The HeraldCo-authored by the South Auckland Kotahitangi Community Trust’s chairman, Peter Caccioppoli, and the trust’s GP, Rhys Cullen, it argued “the answer to diabetes is not diet and exercise but medication”.
They argued the Crown’s “health Nazis” opposed activities like smoking and eating fatty foods simply because Maori enjoyed them. Instead of expecting Maori to stop smoking or start dieting, the Government should hand out pills to prevent illnesses like diabetes and heart disease.
Dr Cullen’s campaign for a cure-all pill came to a sudden halt soon after, when he was found guilty of professional misconduct and banned from practicing for obtaining large quantities of pseudoephedrine tablets, the main precursor for the Class A drug methamphetamine, for illegal purposes. His claim it was for research purposes was not believed.
So, Methamphetamine is considered the go to drug for all Maori ills in the eyes of our Minister of Health?. Does not surprise me.
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Hard News: Labour's medical cannabis…, in reply to Alfie,
figures (based on n=12) become fact.
However, when looked at by individual, cannabinoids cause the least personal harm at $9900 each year per dependent user
We must assume, of course, that these figures are accurate to greater than 90%, otherwise they would have rounded that figure to $10,000.... wouldn't they?
9900/12=825 so therefore 12 people spent $825 each on pot. Is that how it works?
