Archive for January, 2008

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  How to deal with a recession - by frog

  
  
  
  There’s been lots of talk about a looming recession this week.  It would be interesting to see what the other parties’ policy proposals would be in the event of a recession.  The traditional conservative response would be to balance the books by cutting expenditure; Tighten your belt and tough it out.  By contrast you’d expect [...] read more
  January 24, 2008 9:21 am - 88 Comments
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  CEOs call for more climate change regulations - by frog

  
  
  
  Now I normally think business confidence polls are a bit like polling children about bed time. The general pattern of events seems to be you poll some of New Zealand’s wealthiest individuals under the guise of wanting to know what business leaders of companies think. Then you assume that the business leaders’ views represent the [...] read more
  January 23, 2008 4:18 pm - 3 Comments
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  Dairy’s labour crisis - by frog

  
  
  
  John Key keeps telling us that tax cuts are the only way to stem the flow of Kiwis over to Oz. Call me a sceptic, but several reports over the last month paint a very different picture of why Kiwis are jumping the ditch. It seems a healthy chunk of young dairy talent are part [...] read more
  January 23, 2008 1:24 pm - 19 Comments
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  Taxing ‘bads’ not ‘goods’ - by frog

  
  
  
  Bob Edlin has an interesting article in today’s Independent Financial Review (off-line) where he examines each party’s tax positions in the lead up to the 2008 election.  All the other parties mentioned in the article take the opportunity to chant ‘tax cuts, tax cuts’ while the Jeanette reiterates the Greens’ position that the debate needs [...] read more
  January 23, 2008 11:03 am - 10 Comments
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  Aussie supermarket duopoly comes under the spotlight - by frog

  
  
  
  New Zealand is not the only country facing rising food costs. Over in Australia the government has directed its Competition and Consumer Commission to launch an inquiry into food prices. Interestingly there the inquiry is focusing on the perceived lack of competition between Australia’s two major grocery suppliers, Woolworths and Coles, who between them control [...] read more
  January 23, 2008 9:19 am - 3 Comments
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  Health, education, sustainability before tax cuts - by frog

  
  
  
  National and Labour have already signalled that they want to make tax cuts a big part of this year’s elections. And, as we know, more tax cuts mean less money to spend (or save), so let’s have one more quote from the Picnic over the weekend: Let me make it quite clear: if the point [...] read more
  January 22, 2008 4:38 pm - 32 Comments
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  Naples’ streets of rubbish - by frog

  
  
  
  I haven’t written about the two metre high piles of rubbish in the streets of Napoli until now.  Aside from the Mafia involvement, the likelihood of the Italian government collapsing and the incredible visual images of a city slowly being buried in its own waste, my abiding impression is of a metaphor for the natural [...] read more
  January 22, 2008 4:15 pm - 6 Comments
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  Jeanette’s Picnic for the Planet speech - by frog

  
  
  
  As I predicted Jeanette’s Picnic for the Planet speech was a challenging on for the government, starting out with a scathing attack on its denial that the world is running out of oil. Government is in denial because anything else would require them to plan for a different kind of society, and they don’t think [...] read more
  January 22, 2008 2:28 pm - 9 Comments
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  Death by tanning - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley has just put out a press release calling for regulation of the sunbed industry in NZ. This follows a damning research report out of Australia that calls for an end to voluntary codes and strict regulations. The report makes a compelling medical and financial case for regulation. The report, speaking about Australians and [...] read more
  January 18, 2008 10:56 am - 26 Comments
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  Warawara, Pureora, Okarito – Hone Tuwhare - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Guvment Agencies Have given Private Enterprise Permission for to strip And rip-off Kauri, Totara, Kahikatea for to supply Timber for million-dollar Yachts and mansion Bastards: Stop your raping of the land. Fuck off. [Making a Fist of It - 1978] A photo of an ancient totora tree with protesters’ platform in the branches at Pureora Forest [...] read more
  January 17, 2008 9:58 pm - 12 Comments
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  Picnic for the planet - by frog

  
  
  
  Waiheke Island will this Sunday again be hosting the Green Party Picnic for the Planet. Aucklanders will have the opportunity go to hear Jeanette giving the annual ‘State of the Planet’ speech – the first major speech by a significant political party leader for election year 2008. And Tahuna Breaks will be playing. The rest [...] read more
  January 17, 2008 2:40 pm - 11 Comments
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  Farewell Nandor - by frog

  
  
  
  Today Nandor announced that he will not be standing in the 2008 election. It’s a big loss of an iconic figure for the Green Party, and we’ll miss him sorely. From Nandor himself: “I went into Parliament with the stated intention of doing three terms. I have now given almost a decade of service to [...] read more
  January 17, 2008 12:21 pm - 59 Comments
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  Dividing up the pie irrationally - by frog

  
  
  
  The LA Times has a fascinating story about how irrationally humans (and also capuchin monkeys) respond to money. Apparently we’re less concerned about how much money we have as a quantity, and more concerned about making sure we get at least a fair share of what is available. Would you rather earn $50,000 a year [...] read more
  January 17, 2008 10:17 am - 37 Comments
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  Server in the Sky - by frog

  
  
  
  The FBI in the United States is one of those few acronyms that doesn’t really need explaining, thanks to a sufficiency of US crime dramas provided to us for our entertainment. And if you’ve watched enough of those dramas you’ll also know that apart from sunglasses and dark suits there is nothing the FBI likes [...] read more
  January 17, 2008 8:51 am - 24 Comments
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  How to rig an election - by frog

  
  
  
  Well politicians are slowly returning to Parliament after a long hot summer break, but those who aren’t back yet might want to put this little book on their beach towel reading list for the weekend – Allen Raymond and Ian Spiegelman’s How to Rig an Election. Freakonomics describes Raymond as: ‘A former G.O.P. political operative [...] read more
  January 16, 2008 5:04 pm - 9 Comments
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  GE pine trees attacked! - by frog

  
  
  
  It’s rather unsurprising that a well known GE trial would attract the occasional sabotage attempt. It’s a bit like streakers at the one day cricket or abusive flaming comments at Kiwiblog. You can say as much as you like that you’d really rather it didn’t happen, but it’s occurrence is now all so stereotypical that [...] read more
  January 16, 2008 2:48 pm - 15 Comments
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  Crikey - by frog

  
  
  
  So, Steve Irwin is back in the news.  And for much the same sort of thing as the original Steve Irwin became famous for – charging into dangerous situations (teethy crocodile mouths, poisonous snakes, Japanese whaling ships in Antarctic waters) while drawling out helpful statements like ‘Crikey, watch this one get angry when I poke [...] read more
  January 16, 2008 9:49 am - 13 Comments
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  Expect a big impact from the little Nano - by frog

  
  
  
  Indian car company Tata Motors has gone and invented the world’s cheapest car, the Nano, and is expecting to manufacture 250,000 Nanos in its first year of production, before expanding production into Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. So, with hundreds of thousands of cheap cars suddenly available to large parts of the world that [...] read more
  January 16, 2008 8:44 am - 37 Comments
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  Bad news from the frozen continent - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  Where goes the antarctic ice sheet, there goes the world. There has been a long and important debate about the state of the antarctic ice sheet. There have been models suggesting that increased precipitation over the East Antarctic ice sheet could increase the thickness of the ice as a result of climate change. The last IPCC report decided [...] read more
  January 15, 2008 1:06 pm - 25 Comments
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  Would John Key send troops to Iran? - by frog

  
  
  
  President Bush is at it again, beating the war drums. This time the boogey-man is Iran, and in his speech today he said Iran threatened the security of all nations and should be confronted “before it’s too late”. It’s an interesting dilemma. First, no-one would like to see more countries get a hold of nuclear weapons. [...] read more
  January 14, 2008 5:10 pm - 62 Comments