tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post5210295387481203218..comments2024-03-29T03:41:12.499+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Power To The People?Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-91470824271812536482012-07-27T16:44:43.131+12:002012-07-27T16:44:43.131+12:00Unfortunately politicians of all stripes secretly ...Unfortunately politicians of all stripes secretly want to be dictators, even if only for a short time. <br />Which is why any movement for democracy, (people power) instead of Parliamentary dictatorship, will be ignored by both sides.KjThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13583435107822078614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-48284917072011565952012-07-20T08:49:44.784+12:002012-07-20T08:49:44.784+12:00maybe for some the opportunity cost has got so muc...maybe for some the opportunity cost has got so much higher esp for those in tertiary study i.e. part-time jobs, assessment through out the year etcAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-83617033163916885832012-07-18T14:04:51.989+12:002012-07-18T14:04:51.989+12:00Fungible Beetroot you are clearly NOT a banker - w...Fungible Beetroot you are clearly NOT a banker - who is, by definition, a fantastically wealthy person who can ruin a country's economy and then receive an eye-wateringly large bonus for his trouble.<br /><br />I strongly suspect you are a teller, or a junior accountant, or one of those people who work in little cubicles with carpet-covered walls to stifle the sobs of the workers on either side.<br /><br />Grantavius Kennarius - a zillion is equal to an amount of money so far in excess of its recipient's talents that the number is essentially uncomputable.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-84437940228484952692012-07-18T12:14:19.515+12:002012-07-18T12:14:19.515+12:00I'm seriously against these asset sales becaus...I'm seriously against these asset sales because they erode NZ's ability to contain its costs going forward. Selling its productive assets is akin to taking on debt simply because the same outflows will occur. In many cases 'new' private charging that occurs is in reality nothing more than a stealth tax.<br /><br />Take the railways, when that was sold into private hands for $1, I said at the time that the assets would simply be sweated until the whole thing went belly up and the taxpayer would have to come back into the frame and buy the asset. And what happened? Exactly that. Taxpayers lose. Remember when the power went off in Auckland, same again, the private sector just end gaming the investment by scraping off the cash flows and not investing back into the infrastructural assets. Taxpayers lose. What about Air NZ, if it’s sold off I absolutely guarantee that Taxpayers will have to stump up again within a decade. <br /><br />The fact is that ‘Tory Boy’ Key’s is akin to a safe cracker on the public purse, with his mates in the investment banking world chomping at the bits for all the fee’s they’ll make off these sales. Padding the nest for post politics comes to mind and it’s happened plenty in Britain so I’d call it out for happening in NZ. In NZ you seem to be starry eyed about these self made people now entering politics but you really do need to wise up to wolves in sheep’s clothing. Most publicly listed companies in NZ have basically been ransacked by woeful corporate governance and policing.. and you really want these types now asset stripping the taxpayer from both sides of the fence?<br /><br />NZ Maori should challenge the asset sales on the basis of the Treaty of Waitangi and that as equal partners to NZ they have the right of refusal to allow the sale of rights in NZ publicly held assets. All political parties against the sales (I think only NZ First?) should declare that should they attain power then the assets sold would be seized at no recompense from anyone buying them. That way it would put more risk on the sales (and therefore low bid prices) and it might help actually scuttle the sales.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-44897410091559870122012-07-18T11:21:29.017+12:002012-07-18T11:21:29.017+12:00Zillion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_a...Zillion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_and_fictitious_numbersGrant Michael McKennahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15973365770715579648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-31015752192110004152012-07-18T00:31:14.150+12:002012-07-18T00:31:14.150+12:00And where is Minto going to get the money from Chr...And where is Minto going to get the money from Chris?Vnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-88233915797967059212012-07-17T22:57:06.364+12:002012-07-17T22:57:06.364+12:00NZ bankers get zillions in salaries, are you fucki...NZ bankers get zillions in salaries, are you fucking mad try actually working in a bank sometime I can assure you that we don't get zillions.fungible beetroothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02305843763939641520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-55247829017218232832012-07-17T22:47:38.971+12:002012-07-17T22:47:38.971+12:00My God, Cactus Kate, does this mean that in additi...My God, Cactus Kate, does this mean that in addition to being paid zillions in salaries and gazillions in bonuses, bankers also get weekends off?!<br /><br />Right, that's it, that's the last straw - I'm off to join the revolution!Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-87622362741126134412012-07-17T19:02:00.142+12:002012-07-17T19:02:00.142+12:00The banks are shut on Saturday Chris.The banks are shut on Saturday Chris.Cactus Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10136331420768264938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-32548392874914547012012-07-17T18:15:04.646+12:002012-07-17T18:15:04.646+12:00Maybe most people are pretty comfortable with the ...Maybe most people are pretty comfortable with the Mixed Ownership Model.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-54130578857169405032012-07-17T16:54:55.486+12:002012-07-17T16:54:55.486+12:00Incredible that someone can think that-'the fu...Incredible that someone can think that-'the future line of class struggle in this country lies with uniting with Maori nationalists.' I would suggest that Maori nationalists will regard those engaged in some sort of class struggle as the lowest of the low. In case you haven't noticed there is a very clearly defined class system in Maori society. The news media might choose to ignore it but it stil there and still powerful.Jigsawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13906156865367357834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-63741882401573332682012-07-17T15:51:59.038+12:002012-07-17T15:51:59.038+12:00A big part of the problem is that these protests a...A big part of the problem is that these protests aren't 'Power to the People' (as some promote them), they are in the main organised by politicians trying to manipulate people with false hopes in a futile attempt to get some relevance that they failed to get in the last election.Pete Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04397709303588114549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-54551926483616741542012-07-17T14:19:17.032+12:002012-07-17T14:19:17.032+12:00Yes it was the hardcore, but young people are gett...Yes it was the hardcore, but young people are getting engaged in increasing numbers. Every under 25 in a Mana t-shirt gives hope for the future. The Queen St march card cannot be played too often in any era, as 80s ‘tour’ and ‘no nukes’ numbers peaked and declined at various points, but there were reasonable “No Asset Steals” turnouts in other centres. Wellington, def hang your heads though!<br /><br />You can recycle this article as often as you like Chris but until you include a more searching analysis on the general decline in NZ political participation it just presents as defeatism. The right have only had two “successful” marches in 3 decades, Tania Harris in Auckland and the shameful Cur Peter Jackson & Richard Taylor Hobbit rally on Labour Day in Wellington.<br /><br />There is an interesting contest set up at the moment between the ideology of the neo-tribalist/brown table (albeit an archaic term) Iwi leaders group and the NZ Māori Council/Mana on water rights. Pākehā activists have to realise, and a number have, that the future line of class struggle in this country lies with uniting with Māori nationalists. Now, having dissed the Iwi Leaders forum, sometimes an apparent enemy can be a friend even if a short lived one. Sonny Tau and the ILF did a damn good job on Talleys.Tiger Mountainnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-33273351228036360702012-07-17T13:09:27.688+12:002012-07-17T13:09:27.688+12:00Chris, I wonder whether many New Zealanders actual...Chris, I wonder whether many New Zealanders actually did hear about Saturday's protests beforehand. Is it possible that the means of advertising such events nowadays - through Facebook, forwarded emails and text messages - only speaks to a hermetic set of Auckland's left groupuscules?<br /><br />Where are the street posters? The earnest students handing out flyers around the rushhour bus queues and suburban supermarkets? The local meetings focussing vague concern into a desire to act? <br /><br />From talking with colleagues and neighbours I know there most certainly is anger about asset sales. But if people want a big set piece event on Queen Street on a Saturday, some of the old fashioned basic tactics of organising need to be remembered. <br /><br />"Only connect", said EM Forster. The digital networking fans of Hardt and Negri are patently not connecting.<br /><br />(And, yes, I appreciate the irony in making this point on a blog.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com