tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post6901428578881294417..comments2024-03-29T03:41:12.499+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Tony Blair No Guide For Shearer's LabourChris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-42911988766732461892011-12-25T15:08:26.068+13:002011-12-25T15:08:26.068+13:00Olwyn
Absolute agreement from me to all the point...Olwyn<br /><br />Absolute agreement from me to all the points you have made.<br /><br />And particularly when you write:<br /><br />"I do not fear Labour privileging SMEs over the workers and the impoverished - in a small country like NZ they are all deeply connected anyway."<br /><br />Very often, they even morph into each other. <br /><br />Have a joyful Christmas!Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-71046569791725665822011-12-24T13:52:52.916+13:002011-12-24T13:52:52.916+13:00@ Victor: "...a key question...is whether Lab...@ Victor: "...a key question...is whether Labour can reach out in this direction without excessive compromise of principle...Wooing the self-employed and SME owners would certainly involve a major change in Labours's approach to branding and 'mood music.'"<br /><br />You yourself have said that Jim Anderton was a very good advocate for small business, and I think of him as a conservative socialist. Winston Peters, while to the right of Anderton, is essentially a conservative Keynesian, and was successful in his advocacy for the racing industry. <br /><br />I do not fear Labour privileging SMEs over the workers and the impoverished - in a small country like NZ they are all deeply connected anyway. Hence I would hope that people from all of these groups would come into their considerations. But where you fear that centrist talk may be a guise for naked opportunism, I fear it just means business as usual in a red tie instead of a blue one, though perhaps in a sense we are concerned about the same thing.Olwynnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-30931487788639582572011-12-24T12:59:06.964+13:002011-12-24T12:59:06.964+13:00Chris,
Puffery = urban myth regarding how many sm...Chris,<br /><br />Puffery = urban myth regarding how many small businesses go broke in the first five years.<br /><br />No links to prove the 80% of business failures in the first five years meme?<br /><br />Yes we will wait with anticipation what Labour will promise in the way of policy for SME's.Gerrithttp://www.vanaheim.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-43952281574172628132011-12-24T12:08:47.785+13:002011-12-24T12:08:47.785+13:00Fair enough, Chris.
I'm just seeking to defin...Fair enough, Chris.<br /><br />I'm just seeking to define the terms of the discussion.Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-68211133044384531762011-12-24T10:27:42.090+13:002011-12-24T10:27:42.090+13:00Labour should, indeed, put a lot of effort into un...<i>Labour should, indeed, put a lot of effort into understanding the small businessperson and their needs, they are a crucial element in the NZ economy.</i><br /><br />Oh fuck off Chris. You know as well as the rest of us that Labour's central social engineering goal has been and always will be to attack the petit bourgeois and the haute bourgeoisie in their strict adherence to "socialist revolution 1-2-3."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-67766585251347356132011-12-24T09:17:38.377+13:002011-12-24T09:17:38.377+13:00No, Victor, I'm not saying that at all. I'...No, Victor, I'm not saying that at all. I'm merely attempting to refute some of Brendan's and Gerrit's small-business puffery.<br /><br />Labour should, indeed, put a lot of effort into understanding the small businessperson and their needs, they are a crucial element in the NZ economy.<br /><br />And they are also people of energy, imagination and grit - which is exactly what our country needs right now.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-23353712998413457422011-12-24T00:07:21.452+13:002011-12-24T00:07:21.452+13:00" For the very simple reason that most entrep..." For the very simple reason that most entrepreneurs' ambitions are ridiculously large, and their talents woefully small."<br /><br />Sounds like a number of 'political entrepreneurs'.<br /><br />If it were that simple then it would be easy to succeed wouldn't it by taking in account these lessons.<br /><br />I'd rather try and fail than capitulate and be accept having to become a teacher or some other state employee.<br /><br />Self dignity has its costs and in the face of the alternative it seems a cost worth paying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-23032679072631562622011-12-23T16:44:12.474+13:002011-12-23T16:44:12.474+13:00Chris
The much less heroic fact remains that 80 p...Chris<br /><br /><i>The much less heroic fact remains that 80 percent of small businesses fail within five years of being set up.</i><br /><br />Is that urban myth or have you a link to statistics that verifies the statement?<br /><br />I would imagine it is a load of rubbish for most businesses are sold in five years (as opposed to going bust).<br /><br />Other reasons, owners retiring, moving to another area, expanding so liqudating one business into another for adminastrational reasons, etc., etc.<br /><br />4% return on retaining GST for two months does not even cover the admin costs if the business has a large buying and selling component.<br /><br />Maybe to balance up PAYE and the Self Employed tax anomolies, the IRD could start asking PAYE tax payers for provisional tax.<br /><br />I'm suprised that no one from labour has raised the issue of a capital gains tax for small business as yet.<br /><br />Must be a monty to entice all the PAYE paying voters to ge the "rich pricks" to pay more tax.<br /><br />Mind you they wont be happy when they find that the employers contribution to their KiwiSaver funds is a personal capital gain and will be subject to the tax as well.Gerrithttp://www.vanaheim.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-54825173304705743182011-12-23T16:22:10.398+13:002011-12-23T16:22:10.398+13:00So, Chris, do I understand you correctly?
You wer...So, Chris, do I understand you correctly?<br /><br />You were strongly in favour of David Shearer becoming Labour leader because he represented "change".<br /><br />But the only change of focus he has yet enunciated is an interest in looking at ways of helping the self-employed and SME sectors. <br /><br />But you think they neither need nor deserve help.<br /><br />Or have I missed something?Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-30481259643540950122011-12-23T15:44:56.215+13:002011-12-23T15:44:56.215+13:00I have been the owner of a small business for near...I have been the owner of a small business for nearly 20 years, Brendan, so don't try and kid a kidder.<br /><br />The accountant's profession consists of little other than building up a comprehensive knowledge of all the perfectly legal ways to reduce the liabilities of his or her clients'<br />businesses.<br /><br />Small business owners complain long and loud about having to do the Government's work for it, but I've never heard anyone complain about the fact that the Government allows small business owners to derive considerable benefits (bank interest, enhanced cash-flow) from the money they collect (and are allowed to hold on to for up to two months) on its behalf.<br /><br />You have clearly bought into the mythology of the "little Kiwi battler" struggling to make a living against the depredations of "Big Government", "Big Corporations" and "Big Unions".<br /><br />The much less heroic fact remains that 80 percent of small businesses fail within five years of being set up. For the very simple reason that most entrepreneurs' ambitions are ridiculously large, and their talents woefully small.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-42150767890166265162011-12-23T15:16:22.476+13:002011-12-23T15:16:22.476+13:00Dear Anonymous @ 3:27 PM
You have clearly never s...Dear Anonymous @ 3:27 PM<br /><br />You have clearly never started, owned or run a business, so perhaps your ignorance in these matters can be excused on that basis.<br /><br />1) What are these 'tax deductions' of which you speak that SME's take advantage of? I note you don't name one of them.<br /><br />Not one. That's of course because they don't exist.<br /><br />There are legitimate business expenses (costs) of running a business that are removed from consideration of 'net taxable income', like rent, wages, cost of goods, interest etc.<br /><br />Do you consider those offsets as small business welfare?<br /><br />Honestly...<br /><br />2) Yes business have limited liability, but if you borrow money from the bank to start or fund or grow your business, as most business owners do, then the bank will want your house as collateral. If your business fails, you lose your house.<br /><br />No welfare there.<br /><br />The only ones at risk from our limited liability are other businesses who extend credit for goods and services they provide.<br /><br />The 'joe average' consumer or customer is not at risk from business limited liability. (that's you I presume)<br /><br />To consider business or business owners to be welfare beneficiaries is to be both ignorant of the facts and perverse in the extreme.<br /><br />I note however that Chris agrees with you, so clearly you are not alone.<br /><br />Your comments are frankly an example of what's wrong with this country. You have believed a lie, and are happy to base your life upon it, emerged in negativity anger and blame.<br /><br />If you truly believe that business people have some kind of 'unfair advantage' then why not attempt to join them?<br /><br />You won't of course because it's easier to sit on the sidelines and throw stones.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I have met many like you, armchair experts who are rich in opinions but devoid of substance.<br /><br />All the best for Christmas and the new year.Brendan McNeillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02741263914308842497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-67611112293674766592011-12-23T13:25:36.269+13:002011-12-23T13:25:36.269+13:00Brendan
We probably move in slightly different bu...Brendan<br /><br />We probably move in slightly different business and self- employed circles. Even so, I would agree with you that those in self- employment tend, on the whole, to be optimistic and self-reliant.<br /><br />But, whilst I can't always put my finger on how they vote, most of those I've spoken to down the years have evinced a broadly centrist view of the economy.<br /><br />Most of them understand the "paradox of thrift" and recognise that you can't reduce economic policy to simply balancing the government's books. <br /><br />And most of them also recognise the perilous rivulet that New Zealand has drifted down with its government-sanctioned property fetish and lack of serious commitment to research and development or to industrial training.<br /><br />Meanwhile, those connected with exporting are only too aware of the absurdly high trading value of the New Zealand dollar and of the paucity of help for exporters, as compared to what's supplied by the governments of our trading rivals.<br /><br />And, of course, they're the first to notice and, often, to be affected when something goes wrong with our tatty, under-funded national infrastructure. <br /><br />In other words, the centre-left has quite a lot in policy terms to offer to the small business and self-employed quartiles. <br /><br />However, the centre-left is ill-advised to treat the self- employed or small business as milch-cows or to load social costs onto them instead of onto the tax base as a whole. <br /><br />Nor should it ignore the seemingly perpetual grievances of the self- employed individual turned into almost full-time tax gatherer by the IRD.<br /><br />Labour's new leadership,whatever its defects, is therefore behaving sensibly in seeking to reach out to this valuable quartile.<br /><br />However, a key question, as Olwyn suggests, is whether Labour can reach out in this direction without excessive compromise of principle.<br /><br />Wooing the self-employed and SME owners would certainly involve a major change in Labours's approach to branding and 'mood music'. <br /><br />And, personally, I remain very sceptical about Labour's ability to handle the mood music side of things. It has a recent history of tone-deafness and I see no reason to hope for better from its new leader.<br /><br />But I'm equally concerned that Labour might lurch from tone deafness to naked opportunism, as did British Labour under Blair. <br /><br />I hope these fears are unfounded, as we can't keep going down the neo-liberal path of societal impoverishment for much longer, without inflicting severe, and perhaps terminal, damage on our economy.<br /><br />And, no, I don't expect you to agree with me.Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-42731765287360651062011-12-23T12:49:35.459+13:002011-12-23T12:49:35.459+13:00Anonymous@3.27
There are undoubtedly tax advantag...Anonymous@3.27<br /><br />There are undoubtedly tax advantages to being self-employed or to running an SME.<br /><br />However, the most significant of these (tax sharing within a household) is easily extendable<br />to the population at large.<br /><br />I don't normally have much time for Peter Dunne but I give him credit for raising this issue during the recent election campaign.<br /><br />Meanwhile, small businesses and the self-employed are also saddled with a range of imposts that fall entirely outside the experience of those employed by someone else.<br /><br />Firstly, there's Provisional Tax. Get your forecast wrong and you're penalised. Yet how many of us are clairvoyants?<br /><br />Then there's GST. A large wedge of any independent operator's time is spent doing the government's work for it.<br /><br />And then there's no unemployment pay, if a business fails, as all too many have done in recent years.<br /><br />Nor, in effect, can a self- employed person claim a sickness benefit, as he or she will be judged on what they made during the same period of the previous year, before illness impacted on their earning capacity.<br /><br />And then there's ACC levies, paid parental leave, 'Working for Families' contributions etc. <br /><br />These are all admirable policies. But I fail to see why they should be a cost on business as opposed to drawings on revenue derived from progressive taxation.<br /><br />So now, let's look at why people become self-employed. <br /><br />Many older self-employed people would actually be unemployed had they not had the courage to strike out on their own, in the economic wasteland caused by Rogernomics and Ruthenasia. In some cases I know of, it was the courage born of utter desperation. <br /><br />I have nothing but admiration for friends of mine who have gone on to create opportunities for themselves and others at a time of life when they should be putting their feet up and playing with their grandchildren.<br /><br />My own motives were slightly different but not,I think, untypical.<br /><br />Around the time of my fiftieth birthday, I realised that I had spent long decades as a square peg in a round hole and needed to be free of it, however difficult the transition.<br /><br />Do I regret it? No!<br /><br />Was it a bed of roses? No!<br /><br />Would I be better off now financially if I had stayed employed? Probably yes, had I lived so long! <br /><br />As a social democrat, I hate to sound like those on the political right with whom I hardly ever agree (Hi Brendan).<br /><br />But if self-employment or owning your own business is such a soft option, why don't you try it?Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-38486638621032992202011-12-23T07:35:48.489+13:002011-12-23T07:35:48.489+13:00Anon speaks rubbish,
SME's do not receive wel...Anon speaks rubbish,<br /><br />SME's do not receive welfare so cannot bludge it. <br /><br />Except for GST beneficiaries pay no taxes so contribute nothing extra to the tax base and as such are tax recipients (not bludgers - bad word).<br /><br />SME pay taxes, even acting as unpaid IRD tax collectors (GST).<br /><br />What you really ralley against is the tax OFFSETS small to medium business can collect. <br /><br />Those are not welfare benefits. <br /><br />You would argue your case better if you labelled the tax OFFSETS as offensive.<br /><br />I some cases you may have a point though having the IRD constantly change the rules is not easy.<br /><br />Latest confusion from the IRD is the SME home office tax deduction.<br /><br />And if as a PAYE (hopefully you are earning and contributing tax) you feel business should not get the tax OFFSETS on the tax they pay vote for a party that will (or join the growing ranks of business owners who fronmted with ideas and capital to create work and jobs). <br /><br />Labour wont change the rules but Mana might.Gerrithttp://www.vanaheim.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-59478557109819078002011-12-22T23:28:21.679+13:002011-12-22T23:28:21.679+13:00To: Anonymous@3:27
Beautifully put!
Thank you.To: Anonymous@3:27<br /><br />Beautifully put!<br /><br />Thank you.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-88093808759392645982011-12-22T15:27:54.936+13:002011-12-22T15:27:54.936+13:00"They are seen, as someone has commented, as ..."They are seen, as someone has commented, as the party of beneficiaries, and State dependents, along with identity groups, gays, transgenders, unionists, pacifica, feminists etc."<br /><br />Delusional again, Brendan. Small business owners tend to be some of the biggest welfare bludgers in the country. It's just that they've deluded themselves into believing that the breaks they get are somehow not a form of social welfare.<br /><br />I wish I, as an ordinary working stiff, could make the tax deductions that businesses make, and that small business owners take advantage of to reduce their tax bill relative to the rest of us. But I can't.<br /><br />I wish I could avoid losing my house if I lost my job the way that business owners can do with limited liability. I'm also, like most working people, statistically far less likely than a small business owner to end up bankrupt and make other people pay the costs of my debts (that's what bankruptcy does). <br /><br />These are just some of the welfare programs that are run for the benefit of business owners. That we don't customarily call them welfare programs is just a way for people to hide that they are. After all, someone else pays. In the case of bankruptcy, everyone else pays a slightly higher interest rate to allow bankruptcy laws to work.<br /><br />Is this bad? No. We need these welfare programs for one reason or another (usually that they lower the risk for certain kinds of socially beneficial behaviour), just as we need other forms of social welfare. However, pretending that other people aren't in the end footing the bill for it is nonsense.<br /><br />You, like most of the other conservatives in New Zealand, need an education in basic economics to learn that you, like almost all of us, are a welfare beneficiary of one sort or another. Until you realise this, you have little to contribute to debates like this.<br /><br />I mean, it's just absolutely shameful how little you understand how our society and economy actually works.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-91029139383115956662011-12-22T10:50:51.720+13:002011-12-22T10:50:51.720+13:00Well said Dingbat. I would add that you cannot kee...Well said Dingbat. I would add that you cannot keep moving to the centre from the centre you already occupy and suppose that this will give anyone a compelling reason to vote for you. <br /><br />To repeat part of a recent post I made on the Standard: Where National holds its right wing position and makes concessions to the centre, Labour tends move to the centre and make concessions from there to its natural constituents, which is how the centre gets winched slowly rightwards. It is why I favoured Cunliffe as a leader – I thought him more likely to re-claim some left wing ground and reach from there toward the centre. You can’t really abandon class politics so the neo-libs accept you, and then abandon identity politics so the Waitakere Man accepts you, & then abandon the Waitakere man so that business in general accepts you,and expect others to take your talk of "core values" seriously.Olwynnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-59020812936172626242011-12-22T07:15:19.231+13:002011-12-22T07:15:19.231+13:00What Brendan said +1
100% spot on.
Would add tha...What Brendan said +1<br /><br />100% spot on.<br /><br />Would add that Labour has put more barriers to small business survival (4 weeks holiday, patental leave, etc.) then any other party.<br /><br />Worse is that National has done zero to foster growth in the SME employers (and hence employees) sector.<br /><br />Mind you the state does very little for the NZL workers by sourcing major (and probably minor) purchases overseas instead of fostering local manufacturing.Gerrithttp://www.vanaheim.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-43235363867228609952011-12-22T04:59:33.348+13:002011-12-22T04:59:33.348+13:00In the past (1970's) I was a Labour activist a...In the past (1970's) I was a Labour activist and, for a time a party fund raiser. I was intimately involved, including a stint as Hastings campaign manager, and participated in the recovery of the party post the disaster of 1975. For nearly all my 40+ working years I have been a small business owner enjoying varying levels of success and the odd failure.<br /><br />Society and politics today are both very different to what they were 30 - 40 yrars ago. Political parties themselves have also changed a great deal but, it seems some principles are likely as relevant as they were 30 or even 130 years ago. I want to mention just two for now.<br /><br />One - low turnout favours the right in politics. Why? Most simply because those with, or those that aspire to, property and privilege have vested interest in the status quo and will turn up to vote to maimtain their real or aspired to self(ish) shallow intetest.<br /><br />Two - those disaffected with politics and those that feel powerless in society don't vote. To these people, be they young, old, brown or white employed or unemployed voting is just not on their agenda.<br /><br />Why do I raise these two points of the very many I could in relation to the story and comments above? Because, as I see it the 2011 election outcome was the result of the application of these two principles more than any other and Labour needs to address these. It should stop representing the status quo and competing for the votes of those with or aspiring to property and privilege. Instead it needs to reconnect with its dual constituency of voters aspiring to a better quality of life for all in society (not just themselves) and those who are disaffected snd not in agreement with the direction of society.<br /><br />How many votes are there in this? Judging by the roughly 10% of the population not enrolled and the near 25% who were enrolled and did not vote there are more of these people out there than the number voting Labour in 2011.Dingbathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11874749733959682425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-6156455172459085192011-12-22T00:01:23.292+13:002011-12-22T00:01:23.292+13:00Well there we have it, Shearer spent 20 minutes de...Well there we have it, Shearer spent 20 minutes delivering the speech which will define his leadership of the Labour Party and John Key utterly tore him to pieces with consummate ease. <br /><br />Shearer talked about "aspiration" and he talked about "growing the pie" while in full view of the camera were all the same old faces of Labour cronyism.<br /><br />And New Zealand dismissed Shearer as yet another inveterate Labour liar. Seriously: <i>aspirations</i>? <i>growing the pie</i>? Seriously? From the same people who deliberately stagnated the economy by taxing the *fuck* out of anything productive and flushed the tax-take down the welfare toilet.<br /><br />One has the sneaking suspicion that Labour are one teenage boy running naked and terrified from the home of a Labour MP away from electoral oblivion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-44772537667354963472011-12-21T23:18:40.705+13:002011-12-21T23:18:40.705+13:00No, Anonymous@8:22, nothing at all.
If Tony Blai...No, Anonymous@8:22, nothing at all. <br /><br />If Tony Blair had actually lived up to the ideals he expressed in his extraordinary speech to the British Labour Party Conference in 2001, the world would be a much better place than it is today.<br /><br />Sadly, he opted to drink Dubbya's Kool-Aid - thereby ensuring that his participation in the illegal invasion of Iraq would be the act with which he will always be most closely associated and for which he will always, quite rightly, be condemned.<br /><br />What's more, Labour's acquiescence in the face of Blair's criminal folly effectively destroyed it as a moral force in British politics.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-34309103305553967702011-12-21T20:36:37.296+13:002011-12-21T20:36:37.296+13:00Victor
I like and respect Jim Anderton because he...Victor<br /><br />I like and respect Jim Anderton because he is a conviction politician, albeit I'm quite some distance from his policy platform.<br /><br />The question of small business and the self employed when it comes to politics is a very interesting one. <br /><br />Being a small business person myself, and having many customers who are in the same sector, there are a few defining characteristics which are worth noting.<br /><br />1) Business people are overwhelmingly positive people.<br /><br />No one goes into business without believing they can do better than working for a 'boss' and being prepared to risk to achieve financial independence. These are people who genuinely believe that they can influence tomorrow such that it can be better than today.<br /><br />This makes them a relatively rate commodity.<br /><br />2) They are aspirational.<br /><br />They don't sit at their desks and whine about how life is not fair. They don't camp out in public squares to complain about how life is not fair.<br /><br />They work, they engage, they do deals, they serve customers, they create wealth and employment, and pay taxes, and for the most part they are successful.<br /><br />3) They tolerate the State and taxation, recognizing the good, but lamenting the waste, the inevitable bureaucracy, the career politicians, and those who abuse the system as a 'necessary evil'.<br /><br />4) How do they vote?<br /><br />For the most part they vote National or ACT, even my Maori business friends vote National.<br /><br />Those involved in tourism may vote Green, but I don't know any that admit to voting Labour.<br /><br />They are seen, as someone has commented, as the party of beneficiaries, and State dependents, along with identity groups, gays, transgenders, unionists, pacifica, feminists etc. <br /><br />They may have once represented the 'workers' but they have long since abandoned them.<br /><br />They appear to despise business people and are quick to stereotype them as those who 'ride to success on the backs of their employees', and as fair game for punitive taxation.<br /><br />We are after all, in the words of Michael Cullen, the 'rich pricks'.<br /><br />It's true that some very wealthy business people have supported Labour for reasons that are lost on me. Perhaps they enjoy being insulted.<br /><br />But for the average business person who is concerned daily with business survival, serving customers, generating employment and wealth creation, I doubt that Labour's message has resonated with them for a very long time.<br /><br />What is their message to small and medium sized business?Brendan McNeillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02741263914308842497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-50783674045476699902011-12-21T20:22:08.240+13:002011-12-21T20:22:08.240+13:00Chris, right after 9/11 you wrote in your column t...Chris, right after 9/11 you wrote in your column that the only person talking sense about all this stuff was Tony Blair.<br /><br />Anything there you would like to airbrush before republication?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-58628559328928514842011-12-21T16:16:38.626+13:002011-12-21T16:16:38.626+13:00Labour loss is partly due to loosing touch with th...Labour loss is partly due to loosing touch with the middle and working lower class. Labour identifies itself with the beneficiaries. His policies are going to damage the middle and lower classes which are his core constituents. These voters shifted to the Greens or National. To prove it, one has to check where labour was strong- South and partially West Auckland.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-34128886003687412692011-12-21T14:50:30.040+13:002011-12-21T14:50:30.040+13:00Nick & Chris
The political preferences of sma...Nick & Chris<br /><br />The political preferences of small businesses and the self employed is, indeed, a topic of interest and importance.<br /><br />By and large, the small business sector has been one of the worst hit parts of the economy over the last few dismal years.<br /><br />Many of my friends are small business people or self employed, as am I. And many, whom I always imagined as relatively affluent, are now anything but.<br /><br />Although I can't point to a common political identity for this huge quartile, I'm aware of a broadly-based conviction that politicians of all stripes just aren't interested in them.<br /><br />Personally, I regret the departure from parliament of Jim Anderton, who, stalwart workers' champion though he was, had a far better understanding of the needs of small business than seems to be the norm in the corporate-colonised parties of the right. <br /><br />And, yet, it's not rocket science to work out a few means of getting the small business sector onside.<br /><br />Firstly, reduce tax compliance costs and,particularly, costs of time. <br /><br />Secondly,don't impose the cost of admirable and necessary social policies(e.g. extended paid parental leave)on employers. The burden of social responsibility should be borne by the tax base as a whole.<br /><br />Thirdly, provide better support for r&d and for technical innovation.<br /><br />Fourthly, allow those whose businesses have failed to have access to unemployment and other benefits on similar terms to those enjoyed by former wage or salary earners. <br /><br />And that's just for starters. As I say, none of it rocket science.Victornoreply@blogger.com