For a start, I don't know what you mean by 'defence of National to GST'.
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Hi elZorro, happy to acknowledge that not everything the last Labour government did was wasteful. Yes, Kiwisaver, the Super Fund and Kiwibank have been good ideas ...
What your graph shows is only that governments of all colours reduced debt prior to the GFC (until 2008) and increased it afterwards to fight a real economic crisis coming up - nothing to do with Labour / National.
However - lets not dwell too much on the past.
You said that you see some Labour / Green policies which you think could work - and I was just wondering whether I missed their announcement in the news? Of substantial Labour / Green policies do I remember so far Cunliff's baby money lolly scramble which will obviously increase our tax burden and simultaneously reduce the employability for women in child bearing age - and I remember the Green idea of subsidizing solar panels to ensure we increase the mining boom in China (you need lots of rare earths to manufacture solar panels), increase our CO2 foot print (you need more energy to manufacture solar panels than you get back from them during their life time) and reduce our economic well being (power from solar panels is highly incompetitive with other energy sources - and you normally have the power when you don't need it ....).
If you remember any other new Labour / Green policies (other than increasing the tax burden, inflating bureaucracy and stop the industry in their tracks), than I would be interested to hear about them and discuss ...
BlackPeter: the govt funding for those having babies is just an extension of an existing policy, and is a move towards more equality. We also need more workers to fund the rising superannuitants, so it's thinking ahead. Solar panels can be a good idea, I'm not sure why they're not talking about water heating systems too, but distributed PV solar is OK anytime of the day if it feeds the grid, even better if it's used on household applicances scheduled to run in daylight hours, like washing machines. Solar panels have never been cheaper, 70c a watt, check out new figures, I think it would pay off the materials Ok in the 25-30 yr lifetime, with cost inflation included. And if you're isolated from the grid by 1000 metres or so, it'll pay off easily.
Other policies - 10,000 homes a year, how many will that employ immediately, what will that do for the economy? And the private sector would never do it, not at the cheap end of the market. This can only be done by govt working with the private sector.
R&D Tax credits, little mentioned, but this should be huge for SMEs in the manufacturing and export sector.
FP
dont be so grumpy you know what I mean, National opposed GST, opposed WFF, and Bill English as Leader of the Opposition in 2002 indicated that a future National Government would restore Jet Fighter capability. My point is that this is what Oppositions do so it seems unfair labeling Labour Greems as constantly negative when National had no hesitation about indulging as well .
My point about the Skyhawks is that I, and many others, including an airforce NCO I met on a flight to Wellington last year actually believed as a matter of principle they would be true to their word, and that it was not politicing. Another example was tax deductions for medical insurance for over 6os which at a candidates meeting in 2008 the National man indicated would be implemented I am still waiting,
Now I know what you mean. It was your grammar, not my grumpiness! Yes, Bolger had some dopey X-tax scheme as an alternative to GST. But GST, particularly the no exemption scheme NZ has, is the best tax scheme in the world - the envy of many countries with complex versions. Consumption taxes are better than income taxes. Never punish anyone for earning - but hit them a little for spending seems sensible to me. All power to Labour for that one, and so much of what they achieved from 84 till Lange lost his marbles. But what have previous parties got to do with it? Labour have had good times and bad, and so have National. I'm not here to defend previous National or Labour govts. Obviously things like WFF once in are almost impossible to get rid of, although a complete re-arrangement of WFF an d the tax system would be desirable, probably to both parties, but political suicide. The one thing I will say is the gutsiest govt. in my lifetime was Labour 84 to 90, and they achieved a great deal. NZ was a dreary, dull place before 1984. The most economic inept govt. was National from 75 to 84 under Muldoon. One thing that sticks in my mind was the damage and waste of opportunity his income tax rate of 66% brought about. I paid it realising it was unlikely to last, but most of my colleagues went into ludicrous schemes to avoid it. Current Labour politicians ignore those lessons. As far as Labour/Greens negativity goes - there's a difference between opposing policies and genuinely negative people. Norman is a negative person - can't decide what Cunliffe is, but Labour do have their share of negative people, and on that point the most negative and depressed man in the country by a mile, Rod Oram, is a Labour man. The most negative woman, Pam Corkery, is also a Labour supporter. Think long and hard about why these two, and others of their ilk, seem to align with the current Labour lot. If Labour knew the answer they'd rocket up in the polls, but they don't - so they won't.
FP
Rod Oram?? a leftie??? he was a journalist for the London Financial Times, hardly a breeding ground for unreconstructed Marxists in my opinion. Seems an enthusiast for the freemarket system when I have listened to him and read his articles. His wife is an economist as well.
But in the best traditions of 1950s McCarthyist paranoia, you never know, could all be just a facade
I think that there's an enormous groundswell of dissatisfaction and general "pissed-offedness" in present-day New Zealand, which Norman Kirk or David Lange would have had no trouble at all translating into votes.
I had thought that the 2014 election would be a fairly sure thing for Labour, but now I rather think that we're back to it being National's to lose this time round - Labour sure aren't going to win it.
Right on there gtm
Labour/ Cunliffe has no narrative or story which says vote for us. Maybe because they are actually pretty much aligned with National anyway which would make a winning narrative rather hypocritical anyway.
Unfortunately for NZ the Greens are in the same boat. They are losing their chance to be the second party in NZ
Maybe Labour and the Greens are keeping their best policies and press releases until closer to the election day. At least the Greens and NZ First gained some percentage points in the latest poll. Both are more natural coalition parties for Labour.
There is also a general feeling that the income gap in NZ is widening.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11229270
If this was not the case, there would be more NZers owning their own homes, but there are less. Increasingly, the housing stock is being held by fewer people. The done thing appears to be to own about 10 houses, or a few blocks of flats. I still find it hard to understand why some of these urban properties are built new, to be used as rentals. If it's cheaper that way, than buying an existing house, why can't young couples afford to do this easily in NZ?
But EZ what are those policies and press releases gong to be based on .....all supporting a good narrative? No because Labour don't have that story so any policies are all going to be reactive and a real hotch pot. The narrative has to be out there now.
Kirk and Lange had those stories and they won
in the UK the Conservative ruled from 1951-64, a period when Harold Macmillan said the people had ‘never had it so good’. But Labour’s Harold Wilson was able to convince the nation that the Tories were decrepit, and what Britain needed was the ‘white heat of the technological revolution’. What a narrative and they swept to power.
In the 90's Tony Blair swept to power with the Conservatives mired in allegations of sleaze and corruption, the stuff that became the narrative at that time
So what is NZ Labours narrative of today ....the compelling consistent story that will win an election? The answer they don't have one - mainly because they essentially sharing the same views as the Nats.
This may be The last election where Labour are even considered as a serious contender