Do you think Labour’s announcement of a Capitol Gains Tax has rattled National?
I do.
For the first time in … goodness, too many years! Labour has actually led the debate instead of reacting to it. The Capitol Gains Tax left PM John Key floundering to the point where he panicked.
That was clear from his almost insane reaction to a very distant boat filled with clearly needy Sri Lankan refugees, about which he declared they weren’t welcome here. Any declaration on the subject was actually irrelevant, since they had no real hope of getting here, but I figure Key decided he needed to up the ante and do something right wing after Act’s newspaper ads proclaiming we should be sick of Māori ‘taking everything’.
Right. That’s why Remuera is full of Māori while Brash and his ignorant, mono-culture acolytes live hand-to-mouth in Struggle Street. I did wonder about that.
And hey, it might have been a stupid and grossly unimaginative thing to say, but the refugee card worked for Australia’s John Howard for a while, right?
Duh.
Crete was a defeat
Wayne Mapp’s stand-down on the Crete Veterans has been interesting too – he effectively placed the blame on John Key with an admission (whether it’s true or not) that that he tried to get a better deal before the event but that ultimately it came down to the Prime Minister, and his efforts were to no avail.
Which is a bit disloyal, don’t you think?
Minister Mapp, who mangles his words as much as John Key does, attended the event on a junket costing NZ taxpayers $26,000 while veterans – the youngest are in their late 80s – got a paltry $2000 each towards their costs. British and Australian veterans got all-expenses-paid trips, not to mention carers and other services provided by their governments.
I think their governments were genuinely thankful for the sacrifice. Ours didn’t give a shit.
Veterans’ families have since declared they tried every avenue to get the government’s attention on this subject, but pleas fell on deaf ears. In fact, the only reason the government reacted at all is because an Australian pointed out the disparity between the countries’ representations.
The shame.
And what a missed opportunity for John Key, who so loves any chance to look like a good guy on TV. Now he just looks like a prick. Which is more accurate.
Sure, New Zealanders had the furthest to go, but one suspects the NZ government would have happily carried on with this kind of high-handed and privileged approach if the press hadn’t rumbled the shameful treatment of those who ‘risked they’re all for the country’ (to use the time honoured terminology).
Essentially, Key loves being Prime Minister because he gets to be on TV and imagine that people actually like him. Unfortunately for the collective intelligence of New Zealand, people actually do. This may be embarrassing and gauche, but there you go.
And poor Mr Key, it’s probably the first time in his life people have liked him – I mean good lord, who likes traders? So you can hardly blame him. Meanwhile, he’s fronting for some right wingers who are just itching to raise unemployment even more to make hiring ‘more competitive’. In other words, the more desperate people are, the lower wages they’ll accept and the more money the rich can make.
As anti-humane and frankly *larcenous as this world view is, that’s National’s view – keep a lower class down so the wealthy can have ever better lives. Like they need them, or deserve them. But that’s conservatism for you – it’s all about keeping the world order as it is, or was.
The National Government is probably the only group in the country that is secretly thanking their lucky stars for this recession. Next term, they’ll also flog off our assets and worse.
You get what you vote for. Finally, Labour is looking like a creditable party again.
Something we can believe in. Please, please keep it up.
*Larceny because a policy like this effectively steals from the poor and gives to the rich. The Sheriff of Nottingham would be proud.