Jacinda Ardern

[Ohokaman 5,825]

1 hour ago, Nukkledragga said:

Why are you pointing the finger at the govt?if the rest of the world had done half as much as what we did then trade and borders would be back to normal, we did the hard yards and are now only held back by other countries lack of action or incompetent leadership to make the decisions for ALL their people, not just businesses.We are ready to go as a country and it is not our fault that aussie, usa,europe and asia.......are not.

Perhaps..but how long can the borders stay shut before the economic impact is total disaster ?  The loss of businesses and employment opportunities will be massive and the flow on effect of that has been masked to date by the handouts ( which were necessary ) that will have to end. The tourism industry is in dire straits and I hate to think how the Pacific Island nations like the Cooks are getting on when their whole economy depends on it.

Someone will need to make some bold decisions soon......but before the election...?  No chance......

[tripple alliance 1,025]

8 hours ago, Nukkledragga said:

Why are you pointing the finger at the govt?if the rest of the world had done half as much as what we did then trade and borders would be back to normal, we did the hard yards and are now only held back by other countries lack of action or incompetent leadership to make the decisions for ALL their people, not just businesses.We are ready to go as a country and it is not our fault that aussie, usa,europe and asia.......are not.

First , comrade cindy had to be forced to secure the boarders properly (petition) second we changed policy half way through , we went from controlling the virus to eradication , nice for publicity but the jury is out for the well being of the country . The policy of eradication is unreal for many reasons that's why it wasn't the first choice of cindy , the world was never going to eradicate this virus they were aiming to control/live with it .  Eradication has isolated NZ from the world , a sort of Cuba , how long can that last .

Now look at what's really happening , we borrowed 50 BILLION  , the bulk has gone on propping up wages and massive GIVEAWAYS , racing $70 million , sport $260 million the arts $175 million etc etc all BORROWED money , the wage giveaway is ending for 1.2 MILLION NZers in September so what next , the outlook for many  looks grim , reality is just around the corner .

I see there is an emergency meeting  in Auckland , they are in panic mode and fearful of huge business collapses , the purpose of the meeting is to try to work out how to extract ourselves from the corner we have painted ourselves into ,  guest speaker  Sir John Key.

As you can see we are living on borrowed money and the day of reckoning is getting closer , this virus will be around for many years to come .

[Nukkledragga 229]

1 hour ago, tripple alliance said:

First , comrade cindy had to be forced to secure the boarders properly (petition) second we changed policy half way through , we went from controlling the virus to eradication , nice for publicity but the jury is out for the well being of the country . The policy of eradication is unreal for many reasons that's why it wasn't the first choice of cindy , the world was never going to eradicate this virus they were aiming to control/live with it .  Eradication has isolated NZ from the world , a sort of Cuba , how long can that last .

Now look at what's really happening , we borrowed 50 BILLION  , the bulk has gone on propping up wages and massive GIVEAWAYS , racing $70 million , sport $260 million the arts $175 million etc etc all BORROWED money , the wage giveaway is ending for 1.2 MILLION NZers in September so what next , the outlook for many  looks grim , reality is just around the corner .

I see there is an emergency meeting  in Auckland , they are in panic mode and fearful of huge business collapses , the purpose of the meeting is to try to work out how to extract ourselves from the corner we have painted ourselves into ,  guest speaker  Sir John Key.

As you can see we are living on borrowed money and the day of reckoning is getting closer , this virus will be around for many years to come .

6 weeks of lockdown was all it took.There are 5 weeks til the free money dries up , in that time the whole world could still do what we have done .But we all know that they wont back down just as some people will keep blaming comrade cindy or trump or the tooth fairy for whatever they feel is wrong , past present or future.6 weeks was all we needed, the suggestion that we are facing a grim future may be true but relative to the rest we are so lucky .If the rest of the world collectively had half a brain we could get going sooner to start earning our way to avoid the worst of any grim reality, comrade cindy put us in pole position in the race to recovery compared to any country on earth IN 6 EFFING WEEKS

 

[100 1 1,386]

1 hour ago, tripple alliance said:

First , comrade cindy had to be forced to secure the boarders properly (petition) second we changed policy half way through , we went from controlling the virus to eradication , nice for publicity but the jury is out for the well being of the country . The policy of eradication is unreal for many reasons that's why it wasn't the first choice of cindy , the world was never going to eradicate this virus they were aiming to control/live with it .  Eradication has isolated NZ from the world , a sort of Cuba , how long can that last .

Now look at what's really happening , we borrowed 50 BILLION  , the bulk has gone on propping up wages and massive GIVEAWAYS , racing $70 million , sport $260 million the arts $175 million etc etc all BORROWED money , the wage giveaway is ending for 1.2 MILLION NZers in September so what next , the outlook for many  looks grim , reality is just around the corner .

I see there is an emergency meeting  in Auckland , they are in panic mode and fearful of huge business collapses , the purpose of the meeting is to try to work out how to extract ourselves from the corner we have painted ourselves into ,  guest speaker  Sir John Key.

As you can see we are living on borrowed money and the day of reckoning is getting closer , this virus will be around for many years to come .

Maybe this is the reason

Apparently World Bank/IMF imposing lockdowns as part of the loan conditions to further NWO agenda.

Have not delved any further.

https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/world-bank-imf-exposed-covid-aid-conditional-on-imposing-extreme-lockdowns-curfews/

 

[Uriah Heap 481]

10 hours ago, 100 1 said:

Maybe this is the reason

Apparently World Bank/IMF imposing lockdowns as part of the loan conditions to further NWO agenda.

Have not delved any further.

https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/world-bank-imf-exposed-covid-aid-conditional-on-imposing-extreme-lockdowns-curfews/

 

 More conspiracy bullshit clogging up the thread and distracting from sensible debate.

[Idolmite 2,531]

46 minutes ago, Uriah Heap said:

 More conspiracy bullshit clogging up the thread and distracting from sensible debate.

The truth is out there.........but not where he's looking.....

[100 1 1,386]

7 hours ago, Uriah Heap said:

 More conspiracy bullshit clogging up the thread and distracting from sensible debate.

How about some facts disproving it.

Thats right I won't hold my breath waiting....far too hard for you

So you actually know what the President of Belarus said do you?

Remember like no other time in history conspiracy theories are fast becoming conspiracy facts.

[Idolmite 2,531]

43 minutes ago, 100 1 said:

How about some facts disproving it.

Thats right I won't hold my breath waiting....far too hard for you

So you actually know what the President of Belarus said do you?

Remember like no other time in history conspiracy theories are fast becoming conspiracy facts.

Soon eh, soon. It's all going to happen "soon". 

Would you buy a used car from the President of Belarus?

[100 1 1,386]

Just now, Idolmite said:

Soon eh, soon. It's all going to happen "soon". 

Would you buy a used car from the President of Belarus?

What ever happened to the Weapons of Mass Destruction?....you still looking?

Who told you every day Hussien had them and you believed it just like climate change.

Your news told you Trump colluded with Russia and you bedlieved them and Trump will be impeached and your still believing whatever they tell  you.

Obamagate starts this month but somehow miraclously you won't believe that you brainwashed clown.

 

[tripple alliance 1,025]

19 hours ago, Nukkledragga said:

6 weeks of lockdown was all it took.There are 5 weeks til the free money dries up , in that time the whole world could still do what we have done .But we all know that they wont back down just as some people will keep blaming comrade cindy or trump or the tooth fairy for whatever they feel is wrong , past present or future.6 weeks was all we needed, the suggestion that we are facing a grim future may be true but relative to the rest we are so lucky .If the rest of the world collectively had half a brain we could get going sooner to start earning our way to avoid the worst of any grim reality, comrade cindy put us in pole position in the race to recovery compared to any country on earth IN 6 EFFING WEEKS

 

This rubbish needs addressing , you need to get your head around how the world works , take Australia , the USA , Britton , Europe , Africa etc etc in these land blocks there are many different country's / states all with their own individual governments , the chance of them all doing the same thing is nil , look at Germany people protesting in the streets against lock downs , in Ausse 20% of infected people not home when checked on , we are an island and that's the only reason we have a chance .

One news tonight , govt experts saying it's only a matter of time before we have an outbreak , AN OUTBREAK IS UNAVOIDABLE  .

Now the only person who grasps reality is JOHN KEY  check out his speech at the desperation meeting today , he gets it .

"" Covid-19 had created two crises happening simultaneously, a health crisis and an economic crisis, and in New Zealand the former was not so much an issue, he said.

“We don’t really have a health crisis in New Zealand because we don’t have community transmission; we have a financial crisis that is coming, not a health crisis.” 

New Zealand needed to do everything it could to prevent community transmission but that did not mean the borders needed to be closed to everyone except returning New Zealanders, he said.

“I am not advocating that we recklessly open the borders and allow people in. That would be crazy for our economy.”

But New Zealand could do a lot more by quarantining on a much larger scale, he said.

He said universities should be allowed to bring in international students and the Government should lift a ban on foreign buyers.

Allowing them to invest in property in New Zealand would help support the construction industry, which was going to need assistance, he said."" Key said flexibility was important during a crisis when “the number one rule in the rule book is throw out the rule book”.

SO INVEST in a HUGE quarantine centre and save the economy and country , sounds good to me .

comrade cindy is out of her depth that's why no policy of any significance will be announced during the election campaign , she wants a blank cheque to tax at will , property tax , capitol gains tax and an inheritance tax are all on the cards , vote for her and you deserve to be poor .

 

[Nukkledragga 229]

53 minutes ago, tripple alliance said:

This rubbish needs addressing , you need to get your head around how the world works , take Australia , the USA , Britton , Europe , Africa etc etc in these land blocks there are many different country's / states all with their own individual governments , the chance of them all doing the same thing is nil , look at Germany people protesting in the streets against lock downs , in Ausse 20% of infected people not home when checked on , we are an island and that's the only reason we have a chance .

One news tonight , govt experts saying it's only a matter of time before we have an outbreak , AN OUTBREAK IS UNAVOIDABLE  .

Now the only person who grasps reality is JOHN KEY  check out his speech at the desperation meeting today , he gets it .

"" Covid-19 had created two crises happening simultaneously, a health crisis and an economic crisis, and in New Zealand the former was not so much an issue, he said.

“We don’t really have a health crisis in New Zealand because we don’t have community transmission; we have a financial crisis that is coming, not a health crisis.” 

New Zealand needed to do everything it could to prevent community transmission but that did not mean the borders needed to be closed to everyone except returning New Zealanders, he said.

“I am not advocating that we recklessly open the borders and allow people in. That would be crazy for our economy.”

But New Zealand could do a lot more by quarantining on a much larger scale, he said.

He said universities should be allowed to bring in international students and the Government should lift a ban on foreign buyers.

Allowing them to invest in property in New Zealand would help support the construction industry, which was going to need assistance, he said."" Key said flexibility was important during a crisis when “the number one rule in the rule book is throw out the rule book”.

SO INVEST in a HUGE quarantine centre and save the economy and country , sounds good to me .

comrade cindy is out of her depth that's why no policy of any significance will be announced during the election campaign , she wants a blank cheque to tax at will , property tax , capitol gains tax and an inheritance tax are all on the cards , vote for her and you deserve to be poor .

 

We  have already had an outbreak, done and dusted.We are ready to go, virus free , I think I understand how the rest of the world IS NOT WORKING and cannot grasp the simplicity of a lockdown and quarantine that requires no drugs ,no ventilators,no mass graves and also not as much unemployment as predicted according to that same 6o'clock news.Any economic recession will only occur because of factors outside NZs control, overseas incompetence to handle the virus has ensured they will suffer economically and it might flow on to us to a greater or lesser extent.In 2008 we fared better than most and the free money is oiling the economy putting food on the table and keeping some businesses going.I have been on the wrong end of a few recessions but this is my first pandemic and it has been a cakewalk so far despite the moaners like Key , he had his time.The suggestions he makes only benefit a few sectors whereas the free money is almost universal.The sooner the world sorts itself out the sooner we can resume a new normal which may in fact be even more efficient and profitable after covid cutbacks and rationalizations.

[meomy 971]

Do remember that Grant Robertson spent time at United Nations.

Do remember his father, Douglas Murray Robertson fiddled the books as an "accountant" over a 10 yr period & landed time in prison.

Grant Robertson is calling the shots with dishing out an endless supply of money like there's no tomorrow. 

If he has acted without adhering to the Law of the land he needs to be held to account.

Helen Clark also spent time at United Nations.

 

United Nations are calling the shots with WHO.

There's some very concerning toxic carry on that one has to question if a number of people are acting well outside of their required roles as Politicians in NZ Parliament.

 

Grant Robertson & John ALLEN both share a common link, MFAT.

How the heck do these people get these jobs & are never held to account?

 

 

 

 

 

[meomy 971]

Contact tracing is going on within banks & on buses without people bern advised that their privacy is been compromised.

 These places are apparently telling people they are unable to do " cash transactions" & one must use either an ATM or HOPCARD.

Big Brother is watching us all without informing people of their basic legal rights.

Cash is legal tender, banks have legal obligations to the wider public, including ensuring people in the community  are not placed in situations where their "public health" is impacted on.

That includes everyone's right to be free from mental distress from been  told they must use cards & machines over & above human beings.

 

 It's b/s that people are using the internet more & use spiked over Covid19 & will continue to do so.

There are also those who were & continued to be denied basic essential services bc of the halfwit Communists who have created  this global disorder 

 

 

[meomy 971]

For those who are unaware, epidemiologists Tony Blakely who is now based in Melbourne, Victoria & Michael Baker who is throwing his weight around have a long term close relationship together.

These b* are "unelected" and have no lawful rights to go around telling anyone what to do & how to live our lives.

People need to look at the wider picture who have created this hell of a mess.

At least with Politicians they can be kicked out of office, unless we get the book thrown at them &  these "unelected" morons who have no clues about about the harm they have caused & are continuing to cause destruction to society & humanity.   

Bloomfield, Baker, Hipken & associates need to quite the senseless telling people to get tested & that we are going to have a 2nd wave.

 They are telling people that to justify their "Power & Control" abusive positions & bc they have NOT got the over 50% of people tested or using Contact Tracing as is understood to be required by WHO to justify there positions.

Baker & Bloomfield both have had long term roles with WHO without been held to account for promoting "imitation tobacco".

The best 2nd wave we could have is one to walk them all into rough waters & then get hit by a real wave never to be seen again.

 

[rdytdy 5,341]

 

No Vaccine and No Plan B

Jacinda Ardern Has Us Just Where She Wants Us – Fearful and Quiet as Mice

By Suze

No Vaccine and No Plan B

Jacinda Ardern Has Us Just Where She Wants Us – Fearful and Quiet as Mice

What was Mike Hosking thinking when he asked if this government has a Plan B for getting through COVID? Surely Mike knows they don’t even have a Plan A. Their policy is to cross their fingers and hope for the best, somewhat similar to the women in the 1950s who couldn’t say no. They crossed their fingers and hoped for the best; which is why I’m here, so I’m not actually complaining. Now you know how old I could be, can we move on please?

Anyway, Ardern is very happy with the status quo, thank you very much. The tabloids adore her and her minions are quiet as mice. But who the hell are in the plane loads of people arriving daily from far off countries like Pakistan and India? Returning Kiwis? I don’t think so. More likely they are family members of previous immigrants, Labour voters, of course, arriving under some long-forgotten piece of legislation to hang about and wait for their citizenship.

 

Our kindness draws anyone from the bowels of third world countries seizing an opportunity for self-improvement. I’m sure the PM knows this and why they’re arriving in numbers, to swamp quarantine hotels. She won’t tell you the truth of course, but you can always ask.

If I were a gambling woman, and I sometimes am, I’d put money on government officials being paid handsomely to keep stum about these “returning Kiwis”. Now is not the time to jeopardise your employment, or jepradise as the notoriously poor speaker might say.

As a nation, the best label we can stick on our silly smug mug faces is “dummy”. Naïve and stupid. Think about it. The rest of the world is in COVID’s thrall and we silently accept our fate, make the best of an economy fast going down the toilet and let people arrive en masse into our allegedly COVID free country.

Toilet Training. “There we go dear, this is how we do it” The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Pixy

Actually, few believe there will be an economic crash. Not yet anyway, despite the For-Lease signs up everywhere. I tested the theory of a housing crash today with a comment about the likelihood of mortgagee sales when the extended wage subsidy ends soon. The recipient looked at me like I was bonkers, but was too polite to say so. I can’t be the only person aware of that bemused expression.

We are possums in the headlights though. The last possum I saw was ambling across a country road and actually changed direction to run blindly toward us. It could have made it safely across the road had we not been travelling at top speed and the possum not been enamoured by our headlights. There was no avoiding the stupid little critter that got squashed flat for its trouble. Blinded by the light, the same as we are. We are running full tilt into economic disaster and no one is saying a thing.

Are people thinking it can’t happen, it won’t happen? Jacinda won’t let it? Do I have news for you – Jacinda started it! Of course she blames COVID, but our slow economic death is thanks to her harsh lockdown. The greengrocer, the baker and the butcher weren’t allowed to continue trading, only select supermarket chains got the nod to stay open despite smaller businesses making social distancing easier. We just swallowed the awful verdict and cowered at home, eternally grateful to the supreme leader for taking charge and bestowing the longest paid holiday ever enjoyed. Who were we to look a gift horse in the mouth?

We closed our borders with no plan to reopen them so it should be no surprise that we must stay isolated, opportunist arrivals excepted, until a vaccine turns up. According to WHO a vaccine is unlikely, which is why Mike Hosking was harping on about a Plan B.

We could take our cue from the Don who advocates COVID treatments like hydroxychloroquine and more recently plasma taken from recovered COVID patients. Predictably, he is shot down by media with a vested political interest in despatching the troublesome Trump who actually delivers on promises, unlike our socially acceptable, world-feted leader promising much and delivering little.

So, here we are in a holding pattern going nowhere, with no plan beyond COVID, and no guts to admit lockdown wrecked the economy. Do you hate wusses like I do? Give me a gutsy leader any day. They don’t have to be right all the time but they must have a plan, the courage to implement it, the integrity to admit when they’re wrong and the flexibility to change direction.

Our autocratic school marm leadership is the most boring thing in the world, and dangerous to boot. Would you forgive me if I said I would like to see a spike in COVID cases just to prove the government lied about conquering community spread? Will the government admit that it’s the elderly and infirm at risk of dying from COVID, and will they apologise for not doing enough to protect them?

Recent public health data, from the United Nations no less, says 80% of COVID cases are asymptomatic or mild. We have been well and truly conned about the severity of the disease that sent us running scared, killed our elderly and ruined our lives for no good reason.

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Wibble

[slam dunk 1,317]

Remember John Banks? Not exactly a pro Labour. Well he has a radio show and this morning was gushing in his praise of Grant Robertson. If fact congratulated him and Jacinda Ardern

I don't follow NZ politics but the Labour Ministers I have heard lately are smart cookies.

Problem for Racing is that Grant Robertson is Sports Minister as well so Sport as opposed to Racing could benefit most from TAB distribution.

[rdytdy 5,341]

Bloomfield’s Dire Warning Means the Government Has Failed Us

By CS

 

The fear-mongering and softening us up for a worsening health situation has begun in earnest. This is how the Prime Minister intends to win the election.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield is now echoing the re-emergence of Chinese plague Government adverts bombarding us all by stating we should “brace” for a second wave.

 

The country’s top health official today reiterated a dire warning that New Zealand should brace for a second wave of Covid-19 to sweep through the community, similar to the outbreak wreaking havoc in Victoria.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the health ministry had been sounding the warning about the prospect of community transmission in recent weeks and was now gearing up for the likely prospect.

It’s been more than three months since the last case of Covid-19 was contracted in the community. In the past 95 days all Covid infections have been detected and contained at the border as ill people return to New Zealand. There are currently 22 active cases in quarantine.

All that tells us is that, despite the claims of the Prime Minister and the Government that we have slayed the Chinese Plague, we in fact have not.

Dr Ashley Bloomfield, far from being a hero and Jacinda Ardern, even further away from being our saviour, have failed.

If they are warning of community transmission it can only have come through the border, and that’s on them.

People are seriously retarded if they ever thought that the party that failed to even build 500 houses in three years, despite promising to build 30,000 and then 16,000, were ever going to be able to manage quarantine.

Now we know they’ve failed, otherwise why the dire warning?

Another outbreak and lockdown will be proof they’ve failed. They told us that the virus had been eliminated, that we all did well by following illegal orders. If there is community transmission then quarantine at the border failed.

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Pixy

When you claim you’ve saved us and are going to continue to claim it, then when it all goes bad there is only one person to blame. That’s the person claiming all the credit.

And just on that, the public who are stupidly claiming that Jacinda did well should ask themselves just precisely who else could have done that when we only have one Prime Minister. Whoever had been the Prime Minister would have been in the unique position to hog all the limelight and make similar claims. Little Miss Ardern isn’t special.

Now if we have community transmission again, it has to be their fault. The plague wasn’t eliminated, the testing wasn’t sufficient and the borders weren’t secure.

The problem now is, how on earth will the economy survive another lockdown? And if they do have a lockdown again how do we know that it will work this time when the last one failed?

Isn’t doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome the very definition of stupidity?

And what is the Government and Jacinda Ardern going to do now that WHO has said there is no ‘silver bullet’ for the Chinese plague?

We can’t stay isolated forever. At some point we have to join the rest of the world and then New Zealand will be months behind where the rest of the world has got to…and that is going to tank the economy even more as we go through what the UK, Italy, Victoria and the USA went through months later than they did.

Far from being our saviour, Jacinda Ardern has in fact shown herself to be the devil in disguise, and now we are to suffer purgatory and plagues because of it.

 

 

[slam dunk 1,317]

23 hours ago, rdytdy said:

Bloomfield’s Dire Warning Means the Government Has Failed Us

By CS

 

.....................

Ted put a sock in it. Over the past few months I have watched National and the anti Labour media try every trick in the book to ruffle Labour. Each time with egg on their face.

The latest hit job was going to be the unemployment figures with the media all lined up to blast the "huge" increase in unemployment. Guess what?  Unemployment went down.  Egg, egg egg and more egg (on the face).!!!

[shodsie 208]

32 minutes ago, slam dunk said:

Ted put a sock in it. Over the past few months I have watched National and the anti Labour media try every trick in the book to ruffle Labour. Each time with egg on their face.

The latest hit job was going to be the unemployment figures with the media all lined up to blast the "huge" increase in unemployment. Guess what?  Unemployment went down.  Egg, egg egg and more egg (on the face).!!!

dunk you do realise the wage subsidy was extended till september??? 

watch what happens when that finishes.....

 

[Ohokaman 5,825]

On 8/6/2020 at 2:32 PM, rdytdy said:

 

No Vaccine and No Plan B

Jacinda Ardern Has Us Just Where She Wants Us – Fearful and Quiet as Mice

By Suze

No Vaccine and No Plan B

Jacinda Ardern Has Us Just Where She Wants Us – Fearful and Quiet as Mice

What was Mike Hosking thinking when he asked if this government has a Plan B for getting through COVID? Surely Mike knows they don’t even have a Plan A. Their policy is to cross their fingers and hope for the best, somewhat similar to the women in the 1950s who couldn’t say no. They crossed their fingers and hoped for the best; which is why I’m here, so I’m not actually complaining. Now you know how old I could be, can we move on please?

Anyway, Ardern is very happy with the status quo, thank you very much. The tabloids adore her and her minions are quiet as mice. But who the hell are in the plane loads of people arriving daily from far off countries like Pakistan and India? Returning Kiwis? I don’t think so. More likely they are family members of previous immigrants, Labour voters, of course, arriving under some long-forgotten piece of legislation to hang about and wait for their citizenship.

 

Our kindness draws anyone from the bowels of third world countries seizing an opportunity for self-improvement. I’m sure the PM knows this and why they’re arriving in numbers, to swamp quarantine hotels. She won’t tell you the truth of course, but you can always ask.

If I were a gambling woman, and I sometimes am, I’d put money on government officials being paid handsomely to keep stum about these “returning Kiwis”. Now is not the time to jeopardise your employment, or jepradise as the notoriously poor speaker might say.

As a nation, the best label we can stick on our silly smug mug faces is “dummy”. Naïve and stupid. Think about it. The rest of the world is in COVID’s thrall and we silently accept our fate, make the best of an economy fast going down the toilet and let people arrive en masse into our allegedly COVID free country.

Toilet Training. “There we go dear, this is how we do it” The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Pixy

Actually, few believe there will be an economic crash. Not yet anyway, despite the For-Lease signs up everywhere. I tested the theory of a housing crash today with a comment about the likelihood of mortgagee sales when the extended wage subsidy ends soon. The recipient looked at me like I was bonkers, but was too polite to say so. I can’t be the only person aware of that bemused expression.

We are possums in the headlights though. The last possum I saw was ambling across a country road and actually changed direction to run blindly toward us. It could have made it safely across the road had we not been travelling at top speed and the possum not been enamoured by our headlights. There was no avoiding the stupid little critter that got squashed flat for its trouble. Blinded by the light, the same as we are. We are running full tilt into economic disaster and no one is saying a thing.

Are people thinking it can’t happen, it won’t happen? Jacinda won’t let it? Do I have news for you – Jacinda started it! Of course she blames COVID, but our slow economic death is thanks to her harsh lockdown. The greengrocer, the baker and the butcher weren’t allowed to continue trading, only select supermarket chains got the nod to stay open despite smaller businesses making social distancing easier. We just swallowed the awful verdict and cowered at home, eternally grateful to the supreme leader for taking charge and bestowing the longest paid holiday ever enjoyed. Who were we to look a gift horse in the mouth?

We closed our borders with no plan to reopen them so it should be no surprise that we must stay isolated, opportunist arrivals excepted, until a vaccine turns up. According to WHO a vaccine is unlikely, which is why Mike Hosking was harping on about a Plan B.

We could take our cue from the Don who advocates COVID treatments like hydroxychloroquine and more recently plasma taken from recovered COVID patients. Predictably, he is shot down by media with a vested political interest in despatching the troublesome Trump who actually delivers on promises, unlike our socially acceptable, world-feted leader promising much and delivering little.

So, here we are in a holding pattern going nowhere, with no plan beyond COVID, and no guts to admit lockdown wrecked the economy. Do you hate wusses like I do? Give me a gutsy leader any day. They don’t have to be right all the time but they must have a plan, the courage to implement it, the integrity to admit when they’re wrong and the flexibility to change direction.

Our autocratic school marm leadership is the most boring thing in the world, and dangerous to boot. Would you forgive me if I said I would like to see a spike in COVID cases just to prove the government lied about conquering community spread? Will the government admit that it’s the elderly and infirm at risk of dying from COVID, and will they apologise for not doing enough to protect them?

Recent public health data, from the United Nations no less, says 80% of COVID cases are asymptomatic or mild. We have been well and truly conned about the severity of the disease that sent us running scared, killed our elderly and ruined our lives for no good reason.

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Wibble

Boy, is there some rubbish in this little diatribe...

[rdytdy 5,341]

“Know Us By Our Deeds” – Housing

By CS

 

The Prime Minister loves slogans, lots of slogans. One such slogan that featured on the cover of Time Magazine was “Know us by our deeds”.

She has used the statement many times, especially with regard to the Christchurch massacre and at the Big Gay Out.

 

Jacinda Ardern loves bold statements like that one but are her slogans matched by action or is she just mouthing the words?

Let’s look at housing.

In oppositon, Labour actually made significant headway in bashing National for its record on housing. It’s somewhat true that National dropped the ball in that regard.

But Labour made massive promises in housing, starting with Kiwibuild. They also promised to address waiting lists for public housing and to fix the rental market.

So let’s look at their deeds in housing.

Public Housing: They promised to address issues in accessibility to public housing. Phil Twyford said, “No one else is going to fix this housing crisis.”

Labour promised to run Housing NZ as a public service with one job – to provide great income-related rental housing and to build thousands of new state houses.

This would apparently alleviate waiting lists in state housing.

The reality doesn’t even come close to delivering on their promises.

Nearly 10,000 New Zealanders have had to live in motels over the past three months, with the public housing waitlist up 50 percent on the same time last year.

That’s more than triple the waitlist number shortly after the coalition Government came to power – there were 6182 applicants in December 2017.

Every region across the country has seen demand rise – but it has been the worst for the East Coast where there’s been an 89 percent jump in the waitlist over the past 12 months.

And it takes the government longer to place people in housing even though fewer people are applying now:

The figures also show the Government is placing fewer people in public housing – and it is taking longer to do so.

The number of applicants housed was down 36 percent to 1115 in the three months to June – the average time it took to house them was 237 days, 20 days longer than last quarter.

The Ministry of Social Development has a handy chart that shows the scale of the problem has skyrocketed under Labour.

Now, the Government has managed to build some state houses. but they clearly aren’t even close to meeting demand, as the waiting lists show.

Kiwibuild: This was Labour’s flagship policy. They promised to build 100,000 affordable homes under the Kiwibuild name. That’s 10,000 homes per annum for ten years. Phil Twyford and Jacinda Ardern brazenly campaigned on this policy, but reality soon caused embarrassment.

It took the government a year to even specify what a Kiwibuild home would look like and then they reset the goals to try and make them more attainable.

Kiwibuildless. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

But it soon became apparent that Kiwibuild was simply a slogan.

They explicitly promised 6,000 would be built by 30 June 2020. They have managed to build just 452, or 7.5% of their promise.

Source: Kiwiblog

And just yesterday it has been revealed that the Government has “tweaked” Kiwibuild to allow up to a quarter of unsold homes into the open market.

KiwiBuild has been tweaked to allow up to a quarter of unsold homes into the open market, and a $350 million fund has been set up to support the residential construction sector hit by COVID-19. 

Housing Minister Megan Woods is making further refinements to the KiwiBuild programme, so that up to 25 percent – up from 15 percent – of KiwiBuild homes that don’t sell to people who fit the criteria, can be sold on the open market. 

Unsold KiwiBuild homes can now also be sold to progressive home ownership providers, community housing providers, and if the home is suitable, to Kainga Ora for public housing.

Which is more than a tweak as the whole idea of Kiwibuild was that people would be queuing up to buy affordable homes and we would need a lottery to allocate them. Like with all of Labour’s slogans, reality came calling and the slogan was found wanting.

The reality is that no one wants to buy a Kiwibuild home. There is a stigma attached to it. So now the Government is selling them on the open market which is an acknowledgement that the people they thought would be falling over themselves to get in line simply didn’t exist. This is the problem you get when slogans don’t have the policy work done to back them up.

Phil Twyford said that they were going to bring back an “active government”, that the “market was failing” and that they were going to “change the mindset”.

At the same time, they’ve hammered property investors and made it tougher to borrow to buy investment properties. Little wonder then that state house waiting lists have soared as private landlords exited the market. But even with all those former rental properties entering the housing market they’ve been unable to keep pace with housing requirements.

Last week they heaped more pain on landlords that together with earlier “reforms” will see even more landlords quit. Contrary to their belief, this is going to make the situation worse.

Jacinda Ardern has said “know us by our deeds” and on housing their deeds have been hopeless at best and harmful at worst.

More people than ever before are crying out for state housing, private landlords are abandoning a market wrecked by the Government and the much vaunted active government and market fixes have failed.

Phil Twyford banked his political career in housing market reforms, yet he was replaced as Housing Minister by Megan Woods who has failed to solve anything either.

The Government, when challenged on the abject failure, always resorts to insults and sledges. They claim they’ve done better than National did after nine long years. Be that as it may, they told us that they would fix everything, and clearly they haven’t.

We are not here to look at National’s failings. We are here to look at Labour’s failings measured against what they promised. By those metrics they are a failure, especially in housing. It isn’t good enough to say you did better than the last government. Labour promised they had the solutions, but they didn’t and they’ve made things worse.

On one thing Phil Twyford was correct. We do need to change our mindset. The mindset that the Government can solve complex market problems by issuing a set of empty slogans that they were unable to back up with either policy or results.

Little wonder that Jacinda Ardern wants to campaign without any policy. It is rather perverse to campaign your alleged success as a government in combating the Chinese Plague when by any metric you can conceive they’ve failed on something that will be longer lasting than a pandemic and affect far more people negatively.

If we are to know them by their deeds, then we know they are a failure.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

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The Key Election Issue

By Dr Muriel Newman

 

As we look ahead to the upcoming election, a major question on the mind of most voters is which government will be best able to manage New Zealand out of the current crisis – one led by Labour or one led by National.

 

When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March, many health experts warned it would be impossible to eliminate such a highly contagious influenza virus.

The WHO now agrees, saying that COVID-19 “may never go away”. Since it cannot be permanently eradicated, it will become a long-term fact of life that will need to be appropriately managed.

They warn that while a number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials, “there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be.”

They are also urging countries like New Zealand to re-open our borders: “Again it comes back to this idea that it is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future. Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume.”

Reintegrating New Zealand back into the world is undoubtedly the major COVID-19 challenge facing the new government.

At the beginning of the outbreak it became clear, that for the vast majority of infected people, symptoms – if they had any at all – were relatively minor. For those with pre-existing health conditions and the elderly, however, the virus posed a very serious threat.

The country’s options were therefore to manage the disease and learn to live with it by protecting the vulnerable and controlling the spread through social distancing, mask-wearing, good hygiene, testing and tracing, isolation, sensible border controls, and other such measures, or closing the country down and waiting for a vaccine – even though one might never eventuate.

Jacinda Ardern and her Government decided on the second option, to eliminate the virus.

According to Radio NZ, “The government contracted 28 individuals or businesses to aid the response to the coronavirus pandemic, the bulk of which were for advertising, marketing and communications needs. As at 31 May, the government had budgeted or paid out $16,393,391 to contractors.

“The majority was to go to two firms who are listed as communications directors by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Clemenger BBDO Limited was to be paid $3m for its role with the response, which involved the clear and concise messaging such as ‘stay home, save lives’. But the biggest earner OMD, a multinational advertising firm that works in more than 100 countries, and touts itself as the world’s biggest media network… was to be paid $12m for its role in the response.”

So it turns out that everything from “the team of 5 million” to the “be kind to each other” messaging was carefully planned, tested and executed.

Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking is scathing that so much money was spent on ‘spin’: “Extraordinary, isn’t it? It shows just how much we got played by a government that was as desperate to score points on this as it was to actually address a health crisis.

“Is communication important? Of course. But do you need to pay $16 million for it? No. This wasn’t simple instruction that any government or group or person can come up with, this was clearly a highly planned, seriously worked over piece of strategy designed for maximum political impact.

“And the irony is, from the advertising agencies point of view, it worked. We got sucked in, followed orders and came out hailing the Prime Minister with a 59 percent share in a poll. Value for money then? Or a master piece of fantastically expensive spin? Again, we were played like a fiddle.”

As a result of these high poll ratings, it has become increasingly clear that Labour’s re-election strategy involves riding its COVID success – and saying as little as possible about anything else.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

That would certainly explain the high-profile taxpayer-funded COVID-19 advertising campaign that is currently underway. The implied message is: COVID-19 remains a threat, and Jacinda Ardern remains the solution. 

Some commentators have now suggested that the power of those communications messages over a fearful and vulnerable population created a form of Stockholm syndrome – a psychological response that develops over the course of captivity when hostages or abuse victims bond with their captors.

As the Herald’s Head of Business Fran O’Sullivan writes, “It’s as if half the population has a giant case of Stockholm syndrome. So enamoured are they with Jacinda Ardern’s political leadership, that they are prepared to overlook the fact that New Zealand is to all intents and purposes moving into ‘a giant open-air prison with a 1200-mile moat around it’… For many businesses, it is starting to feel as if New Zealand is fast becoming a Kiwi-style hermit kingdom.”

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit SadButTrue

To mitigate the economic damage caused by their lockdown, the Government has spent billions of dollars subsidising wages, propping up businesses, and attempting to create jobs. At its peak, the Government’s wage subsidy covered 1.7 million employees, and over 71 percent of all businesses received some form of government assistance.

In Australia, a survey run by the Bureau of Statistics revealed that one in ten companies receiving their wage subsidy expects to close down once it runs out. It underlines fears that the subsidies are propping up hundreds of “zombie” businesses that can no longer survive in the post-COVID economy.

Whether it is the same here remains to be seen.

At present 120,000 workers are still covered by the original wage subsidy, with an additional 440,000 on the extended scheme, which runs for eight weeks for businesses with a revenue drop of 40 percent or more. Since applications for that scheme do not close until September 1, the true state of businesses will not become clear until it runs out in November – well after the election.

The big question on everyone’s mind is how will the massive debt that the Labour-led Government has run up be paid back. The numbers are eye-watering – net core crown debt which was just $58 billion barely a year ago, is expected to increase to $200 billion by 2024.

There are two schools of thought.

Socialists see the solution in raising taxes on the ‘wealthy’.

That is what the Green Party is proposing. It would not only increase the top rates of tax up to 42 percent, but it would also introduce a comprehensive wealth tax that encompasses the family home and family trusts.

Labour has so far refused to say how they plan to repay their extraordinary level of debt, but since the PM has not ruled out tax increases, they will probably be a key part of their agenda.

Parties planning tax increases should remember the advice of Winston Churchill – any nation that tries to tax itself into prosperity “is like a man standing in a bucket trying to lift himself up by the handle.” 

Indeed, they should remind themselves how West Germany and Great Britain recovered from the ravages of the Second World War.

West Germany’s Economics Minister Ludwig Erhardt introduced sweeping reforms that focussed on cutting bureaucracy and taxes. As a result, innovation exploded, productivity soared, exports skyrocketed, and the country prospered.

Britain, meanwhile, had taken the path to greater state control after the war, and the country had stagnated. When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister she slashed bureaucracy and restored a culture of entrepreneurship. Her reforms, which embraced the virtues of freedom, lower taxes, and less regulation, transformed the economy, and the country flourished.

When National was elected to Government in 2008, New Zealand was already in the grip of the global financial crisis. Their strategy to get us onto the path to recovery consisted of growing the economy, eliminating wasteful government spending, and halting payments to the Super Fund, which is an income smoothing mechanism designed to force today’s taxpayers to subside the cost of superannuation from 2036 when the fund’s drawdown begins.

National’s strategy worked. New Zealand was one of the first countries in the OECD to recover from the GFC.

Now, faced with a new economic crisis and skyrocketing debt, National is promising a similar strategy: they would reduce debt to below 30 percent of GDP in a decade, through higher economic growth, by increasing government spending at a slightly slower rate than currently projected, and by halting contributions to the Super Fund.

What this means is that at the election, New Zealand voters will have a choice between higher taxes under a Labour-led government, or higher growth under a National-led government.

This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, New Zealander Dr Barend Vlaardingerbroek, a Professor at the American University of Beirut, believes that as a result of COVID-19, life is unlikely to ever be the same again:  

“We have been hearing the expression ‘the new norm’ for some time but it is only starting to sink in that this ‘norm’ may be – as the term implies – long-term. People adapt to challenging situations and adopt new routines that may persist after the need for them has abated. This is all the more so when a crisis facilitates the adoption of a new way of going about things that has already been hovering in the wings but was not taken on board before because of social or institutional inertia.

“A good example of this is the shift towards so-called ‘e-learning’. The most recent email on the matter asked departments to indicate which graduate courses could not be delivered on-line. By this time next year, e-learning will have become a ‘new norm’ for many departments at my university. Even if a magic bullet against the virus is doing its stuff by then, I do not believe that we would return to conventional face-to-face classes; e-learning is, after all, more cost-effective.”

Professor Vlaardingerbroek is right – many of the old ways are likely to be gone for good. For Kiwis who have lost their jobs in industries that are no longer viable as a result of the pandemic, that means they will need to be prepared to take on work that they may not have done before. It also means that businesses that in the past were able to rely on foreign workers, will need to depend on New Zealanders instead.

The American journalist H.L. Mencken once said, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed – and hence clamorous to be led to safety – by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary”.

He might have been talking about Labour.

The Prime Minister is working hard to keep concerns about COVID-19 in front of voters, so she can keep reminding them that if elected for another three-year term, she will keep them safe. That may explain why there is now talk about wearing facemasks and needing ‘to be prepared’.

The Director General of Health appears to be assisting the cause as well. Until now, he has opposed the wearing of facemasks by the public, but over recent days has changed his tune – even going so far as to warn the public about potential community outbreaks.

Perhaps the next step in the COVID election campaign will be to issue each member of the ‘team of five million’ a face mask and an appropriate health warning message.

When asked about the roll-out of election policy last month, the Prime Minister said, “I absolutely accept that there is an election this year, and there is no avoiding that. But at the moment, really it’s taking a bare minimum of my thinking because we are still in the middle of a global pandemic.”

I would respectfully suggest, COVID-19 is Labour’s 2020 election campaign.  

With advance voting starting in four weeks’ time, surely voters have a right to know what policies Labour is planning to introduce to address the economic crisis before they vote.

 

 

 

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Election 2020: Snake Oil

Bygeorge

 

Corruption manifests itself in many ways. The most common, of course, is the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power. There is material corruption and emotional corruption. Emotional corruption was demonstrated through the melodramatic methods of snake oil salesmen of old. Without their cure-all potion, you were doomed. They were con-men, but always with a smile; much like our Prime Minister actually. Not only did our PM save the lives of eighty thousand NZers three months ago, but suddenly she has the urge to save the lives of the other four million, nine hundred and twenty thousand of us that exist within her team of five million. Wasn’t she doing a little dance a few months ago celebrating the “eradication” of the virus? But that was before an ensuing election.

The BFD. Cartoon credit SonovaMin

It is time to reintroduce emotional manipulation. This is her strong suit; no, it’s her only suit! The exaggerated compassion she exhibited in Christchurch was outrageous and the way she has manipulated people’s fear of COVID-19 is extraordinary. To suggest she is a drama queen is too kind. She is the catastrophiser extraordinaire. She hijacks the minds of the emotionally vulnerable, chews them up and spits them out once having used them as accessories to her own glorification. Just look at the poverty stats and the carnage in the economy. The next chapter is about to be written in the continuing drama of emotional corruption: “The Second Wave”. But instead of snake oil, she is peddling masks. As the election beckons, the sales pitch is about to head into overdrive. Lest we forget: without emotional manipulation, she has nothing.

 

The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Luke

It has been suggested we have a “mask day” where we all wear masks as a practice run in anticipation of the inevitable “second wave”. I wonder at times if our leaders are the full quid? Dress-up is not an election issue nor is COVID-19. Pop-up testing stations suddenly reappear, mask sales are through the roof and yet the nation has never been in better health.

The BFD. Photoshop by Lushington Brady.

To hell with the economy. It’s only money, and the salary of the PM is not the least of it, but it must be preserved. She is nothing and has achieved nothing. That is why the COVID-19 fantasy must be extended up until the election. Emotional corruption is her election strategy. It doesn’t get any more shameless than that.

 

[Ohokaman 5,825]

Little wonder they won’t be making any promises this time round....little point if you can’t keep them......

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What A Hopeless Bunch of Sheep We Are

The Government Tells Us to Buy Masks. So We Do.

By Christie

 

The government told us that we didn’t need to wear masks so most of us didn’t. Being friendly with a number of health professionals, I was told that there is not much point in wearing a mask anyway unless they are proper surgical masks and properly fitted. Their advice was to stick with the handwashing and social distancing.

So now the government is telling us all to stock up on masks, even though we do not have any cases of community transmission.

 

And now, guess what?

Mask manufacturers are receiving massive orders after the government says people will be encouraged to wear them if the country returns to Alert Level 2.

In new guidance everyone has been urged to have masks ready in case of a second wave of Covid-19, by the director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield.

The move comes after months of advice from New Zealand officials saying there wasn’t enough evidence for the value of masks being worn widely in public. But as of yesterday Health Minister Chris Hipkins joined the call for households to buy them and keep them ready in case they are needed.

“The Ministry is now recommending that as part of our collective preparations for any future outbreak of Covid-19 households add sufficient masks for everybody normally resident in the household to the emergency supply kits.”

So, although we have no cases other than in quarantine, we have no evidence of community transmission and we got through Level 4 without masks now we have to have them?

And sure enough, we all behave like sheep and do what we are told.

Christchurch company Earth Sea Sky supplies masks that fit that brief.

During lockdown the business converted their clothing workshop to focus on making masks.

Co-owner Jane Ellis said since the government announcement they’ve been getting up to 120 orders an hour.

“All I can say is that if I go in and look where dispatch is, usually out of the printer you print out the dispatch labels and they might go from the printer to the floor – well they are going round and round the room at the moment.

Are people really that stupid? Do they really trust a government that has no election policies except fear? Is that really what we have been reduced to in this country?

But maybe we should take a few deep breaths before rushing off to the pharmacy to stock up on masks.

Hundreds of different types of face masks have been withdrawn from Australia’s register of therapeutic goods and the regulator has started a mass audit of the equipment amid concerns that some may not adequately prevent infection.

As of Thursday, 286 types of mask had been removed from the register as part of a post-market review triggered by concerns that many masks do not meet regulatory standards and, if used in medical environments, may increase disease spread.

The TGA said of one supplier that the “single use surgical masks have not provided sufficient evidence to show compliance … Continued use of these particular surgical masks may increase the risk of spreading infections (including Covid-19) between individuals.”

So people will be rushing out and buying masks that might actually increase the spread of the disease? Wow. Great advice, Doctor Bloomfield.

But there is just one thing. I know someone who came out of quarantine in an Auckland hotel a couple of weeks ago. He had the required tests on Day 3 and Day 12 but was intermingling with people at all stages of their quarantine throughout his stay. Just to clarify, on Day 13, he was intermingling with people who were on Day 2 of their quarantine, and were, so far, untested.

Does that sound like a recipe for community transmission to you? Because it certainly does to me.

Not all of the experts are convinced of the value of wearing masks anyway, as this article from CIDRAP demonstrates. They are good for medical professionals, who have high grade masks and breathing equipment, and are paired with visors, but for ordinary individuals, there is considerable disagreement about the effectiveness of masks.

But the fact is that the government is doing one of two things. Either they are aware of the significant risk of community transmission through inadequate controls at the border, or they are hoping that the physical wearing of masks by more people will put us all back into a state of fear. This is their election winning strategy; let’s face it, they have no other plan.

But if they have in fact allowed community transmission by improper controls at the border, then they deserve the wrath of the people to fall on them. New Zealanders did what they were told and stayed home, observed good hygiene and physical distancing and eliminated the virus. All the government had to do after that was to control the border. By allowing infected people in quarantine to mingle with non-infected people, they may have failed us. This would hardly be a surprise. They have failed at everything else.

But this time, if we are expected to go back into lockdown, the effects will be catastrophic. The economy, already struggling, will be in total meltdown. And this hopeless government will be the ones responsible. They and no one else.

But the sheep will do as they are told. Because that is what good little sheep do.

The BFD. Photoshop by Lushington Brady.