tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post2751219630765035871..comments2024-03-16T21:03:05.280+13:00Comments on Bat, Bean, Beam: The Dream Is OverGiovanni Tisohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-26285372779473021272010-04-24T15:49:29.298+12:002010-04-24T15:49:29.298+12:00North Beach was for when you had nothing
save the ...North Beach was for when you had nothing<br />save the dunes that protected the houses from the worst of the wind.<br />The women were breadwinners, by and large;<br />they did knitting, or mending, or took in boarders.<br />What the boarders did<br />came out in memoirs much later;<br />suffice to say <br />it was neither Christian nor kind.<br /><br />The men stayed and worked, or came and wentMegan Claytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03584562106579704547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-63148882779554888892010-04-01T21:10:26.438+13:002010-04-01T21:10:26.438+13:00Thanks Gio.
A lot of crap in one bucket from teh ...Thanks Gio. <br />A lot of crap in one bucket from teh govt in one month. I'm dreading the budget. Somehow I think there will be nasty little-fish-hooks.robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11518548366478775367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-78389332266186052422010-04-01T13:54:51.726+13:002010-04-01T13:54:51.726+13:00I am delighted and frankly a little moved.I am delighted and frankly a little moved.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-31134599615892258922010-04-01T13:17:21.600+13:002010-04-01T13:17:21.600+13:00Delayed poem for you (actually sparked, if anythin...Delayed poem for you (actually sparked, if anything, by your earlier status updates).<br /><br />The middle one, as I imagine you'll work out:<br /><br />http://werewolf.co.nz/2010/04/from-the-hood-boraxing-poetical/Lyndonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05622953598107216261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-12245874009324975702010-03-31T14:40:58.680+13:002010-03-31T14:40:58.680+13:00The culture of disdain against beneficiaries is no...The culture of disdain against beneficiaries is not new, and has been a constant feature of New Zealand politics from all sides of Parliament for the last 20 years (the left-wing sections of the Greens and Alliance being notable exceptions).<br /><br />Labour actively and deliberately discriminated against beneficiaries for 9 years, especially the unemployed. They play a huge part in creating theGZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07756723544792981390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-87459501836401633642010-03-31T09:02:48.363+13:002010-03-31T09:02:48.363+13:00At the time of that ad I posted in the blog TVNZ s...At the time of that ad I posted in the blog TVNZ showed a 'documentary' called Time Bomb in which they looked at the experience in another US state - was it Wisconsin? - where Mead's theories had been applied in earnest. It was part of that propaganda campaign to convince us that it was the way to go.<br /><br />Espiner <a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1003/S00449.htm" rel="Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-65000796428084771152010-03-30T21:38:16.271+13:002010-03-30T21:38:16.271+13:00“…how important it is to have a woman with her bac...“…how important it is to have a woman with her background deliver those hits. One of us, one of them.” <br /><br />She is far from the first to willingly take up such a role. It was a black American legislator (Wayne Bryant) who in 1991 sponsored a controversial welfare reform in New Jersey that has since spread to other states (the “family cap”). This discriminatory policy, which denies Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-7283316497846838832010-03-30T16:02:07.608+13:002010-03-30T16:02:07.608+13:00"the nightmare of a high-wage society."
..."the nightmare of a high-wage society."<br />Does that mean we aren't going to catch up with Australia? I'm confused now.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12366885265316790369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-20302443937608493062010-03-30T15:37:17.755+13:002010-03-30T15:37:17.755+13:00Plus they pay tax and vote! And along with GST giv...Plus they pay tax and vote! And along with GST giving a clear view of payments and receipts the Govt (tm) have very great economical control...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04424066726955708314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-68768573786976707462010-03-30T15:34:12.970+13:002010-03-30T15:34:12.970+13:00Yeah, it's called taking the heat out of the e...<i>Yeah, it's called taking the heat out of the economy.</i><br /><br />I love a good euphemism, I really do, but isn't the end result what I described? And if that's true, doesn't it mean that we have replaced our long-standing policy of full employment with a policy of enforced unemployment? And furthermore, if that is also true, and we are prepared to live with it because it&#Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-31785397057121938562010-03-30T15:23:22.974+13:002010-03-30T15:23:22.974+13:00Great comment thanks Ben. /reminds self not to tak...Great comment thanks Ben. /reminds self not to take Ben on in fight.../Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04424066726955708314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-58681748910067329872010-03-30T15:14:50.145+13:002010-03-30T15:14:50.145+13:00Yeah, it's called taking the heat out of the e...Yeah, it's called taking the heat out of the economy.<br /><br />My point was a technical one: the RBA and the Governor do not react in any direct way to the level of unemployment. <br /><br />I haven't seen Peter Harris' data - I'm sure it is good - but the relationship between unemployment and inflation is not always a direct negative one (one must be high to keep the other lowMollyByGollynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-26356267617672287792010-03-30T14:52:11.703+13:002010-03-30T14:52:11.703+13:00The RBA does not say anything about unemployment.
...<i>The RBA does not say anything about unemployment.</i><br /><br />Not explicitly, no. And there is no official unemployment target as such - the 100k estimate comes from labour union economist Peter Harris (interviewed by Alister Barry in In a Land of Plenty), but every account of Rogernomics not written by Roger Douglas I have come across, as well as every discussion of the current monetarist Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-67458903510298855332010-03-30T14:37:59.391+13:002010-03-30T14:37:59.391+13:00"And the Act empowers the Governor of the ban..."And the Act empowers the Governor of the bank - who answers to nobody, not even to his own board - to raise interest rates when unemployment falls below a certain level. So there is always going to be a certain number of unemployed (between 100 and 150 thousand, is it?)"<br /><br />Gio, the Act says the governor should keep inflation down, not unemployment up. He uses the OCR (MollyByGollynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-83396680537271795652010-03-30T14:11:46.697+13:002010-03-30T14:11:46.697+13:00A good example just came to mind, a guy I do Aikid...A good example just came to mind, a guy I do Aikido with who is on some kind of sickness benefit. He's also a painter, but I think on a very casual basis.<br /><br />You might think that because he can paint, and do Aikido, then really he isn't shouldn't be considered an invalid, and could work instead of collecting a benefit.<br /><br />But I've laid my hands on this guy any Ben Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-21180664988695423632010-03-30T13:35:32.708+13:002010-03-30T13:35:32.708+13:00Nice post, Gio. Bennett's playbook has to be c...Nice post, Gio. Bennett's playbook has to be called for what it is, a harsh assault on a lot of people sorely in need, justified by a much smaller number who can be cherry-picked as exemplary system rorters.<br /><br />I know some people like that, but most of the people I know who are on various benefits are not like that, and are usually either seeking employment pretty damned diligently, Ben Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08015337296196701141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-13157065559107798352010-03-30T11:31:17.655+13:002010-03-30T11:31:17.655+13:00also, i think the fishing one might be an ACC meme...also, i think the fishing one might be an ACC meme. there is actually a fairly serious issue with ACC fraud. people will claim 80% of their salary and time off, but still be performing functions that would permit them to return to work.<br /><br />if they're unemployed then fishing is more likely to be a method of keeping food on table...che tibbynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-7682866409241209302010-03-30T11:04:33.930+13:002010-03-30T11:04:33.930+13:00I think it's both of those things, yes. And I&...I think it's both of those things, yes. And I'd like to compare the rhetoric concerning prisoners and the unemployed, I suspect we'd find that they overlap quite significantly. An example at the seemingly more benign end of the scale: we express outrage when prisoners are allowed televisions; we express resentment if an unemployed person is seen out fishing.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-38278853584985083372010-03-30T11:00:00.372+13:002010-03-30T11:00:00.372+13:00yes, deregulation was a bad and stupid thing. 100%...yes, deregulation was a bad and stupid thing. 100% agreed. <br /><br />but regarding dependency and unemployment, i think the real issue is as you state the demonisation of those out of work, or providing on their own.<br /><br />the fact is that these people are necessary to make late modern capitalism work, but they are villified for that. why unemployment isn't seen as an opportunity is a che tibbynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-72470442036005159862010-03-30T10:44:32.128+13:002010-03-30T10:44:32.128+13:00It wasn't economic protectionism that led to t...It wasn't economic protectionism that led to the current mess, it was the deregulation of financial markets. Surely we can all agree on that.Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-23119038017792843442010-03-30T10:42:19.672+13:002010-03-30T10:42:19.672+13:00My point with that wasn't to claim that we oug...<i>My point with that wasn't to claim that we ought to go back to whatever it is we were doing back when we had a handful of unemployed people.</i><br /><br />which was, if i recall correctly, heavy foreign lending, huge subsidises on exports, huge tariffs on exports.<br /><br />you'll recognise the heavy lending bit from the high employment period we now call the global financial crisis.che tibbynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-51777231474566276422010-03-30T10:31:48.064+13:002010-03-30T10:31:48.064+13:00As for the reforms that took place, even economic ...<i>As for the reforms that took place, even economic conservatives admit now that they didn't need to be so traumatic and so extreme. Brash said so himself in the 2025 Taskforce report. And of course they could have been reforms of a very different nature, as progressive economists have suggested.</i><br /><br />No disagreement from me there. I just took issue with the idea that we weren'Russell Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06272870489640380269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-76771618860730202752010-03-30T10:24:10.485+13:002010-03-30T10:24:10.485+13:00I'm all for compulsory or heavily incentivised...I'm all for compulsory or heavily incentivised savings schemes, me. <br /><br /><b>@Russell</b><br /><i>Gio, you're in danger of writing an imaginary history here.<br /><br />Up until the late 60s -- and the beginning of the end of our beneficial export relationship with Britain -- yes, the number of registered unemployed was very law, in the hundreds or even dozens.</i><br /><br />My Giovanni Tisohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10618534731338616708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-80582908763369753332010-03-30T10:12:02.928+13:002010-03-30T10:12:02.928+13:00Take for example kiwisaver: who takes advantage of...<i>Take for example kiwisaver: who takes advantage of this tax cut?<br />More likely the better off. Who pays for it? everyone.</i><br /><br />Well, in the long term, we all benefit if our miserable rate of saving improves. Apart from anything else, we stand a better chance of owning our own assets. That was the keynote to Cullen's approach, truth be known.Russell Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06272870489640380269noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057225441101183394.post-62706818293252575882010-03-30T10:08:47.872+13:002010-03-30T10:08:47.872+13:00muldoon was not so great as a finance minister.
T...<i>muldoon was not so great as a finance minister.</i><br /><br />That, sir, is putting it mildly. The wage and price freezes of 1982-84 (which would presumably have been indefinite if Labour hadn't won the 1984 election) were the stuff of crackpotism.Russell Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06272870489640380269noreply@blogger.com