Robert MacCulloch: Kamala Harris mistake - taking advice from Ardern....

(One of) Kamala Harris' Big Mistakes: Taking Rubbish Advice from former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Its hard to think of anyone more out-of-touch with American values and beliefs than our former PM, Jacinda Ardern. How come? An influential view in economics these days is that the US system of relatively ungenerous welfare and low taxation is supported by the beliefs of ordinary Americans. Most of them believe in "The American Dream" - namely that effort is rewarded in the market place and that folks like Elon Musk deserve their wealth. Not just high income Americans, but low income ones as well, including Latin American immigrants. The flip-side is that 60% of Americans believe the poor are lazy, and as such, undeserving of high levels of welfare payments. These beliefs support the American equilibrium that many of us consider is behind that country's status as being the world's largest economy, with high rates of innovation and entrepreneurship, together with high inequality.

Mike's Minute: Mike's wrap of Trump's win

The best thing about the result is you can't argue with it.

You can hate it, but you can't argue with it.

To win not just the College, but also the popular vote, gives the result a legitimacy that is rock solid.

Brendan O'Neill: The unbelievably hilarious meltdown of the centrists

Let us all enjoy the bewilderment of the podcast ponces in response to Trump’s victory.

I have found my favourite image from yesterday’s historic election in the US. It isn’t a too-bronzed Trump wobbling to ‘YMCA’ after his victory speech. It isn’t any of those candid shots of Kamala campaigners sobbing into their flags. No, it’s a still of Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell looking baffled beyond belief by the results. There they are, the two podcast ponces, a couple of bloviators who’ve somehow managed to convince the centrist dads of the turbo-smug suburbs that they know everything there is to know about politics, looking positively dumbstruck. Or perhaps just dumb. It’s delicious.

Simon O'Connor: He's back!

Early reflections on the results of the United States election, and how I think we can say that the results show a clear divide between the 'elites' and people at large.

A remarkable and definitive victory for Donald Trump and the Republicans. There is no doubt about this result – it was a thumping of the Democrats. Among many reflections, I think the most striking and relevant is that there is a huge gap between the Democrats and their ‘elite’ supporters including many in mainstream media, and the American people. I will expand on this later, but in short, the issues that Harris and friends thought were relevant are not except on college campuses, newsrooms, and among other left wing radicals. It will also be these same groups unable to comprehend the result and will seek to blame their failure on anyone but themselves.

Clive Bibby: A time for healing - then anything is possible

At the time of writing, Donald Trump has been called the winner of the US Presidential election although by how much is as yet undecided. The final count may not be announced for another day or so.

Whatever - we know enough now from the votes that have been counted to surmise that the final vote will look like a landslide with Trump doing what no Republican candidate has done for decades - win the popular vote by a sizeable margin.

We can read a number of things from this incredible victory.

Roger Childs: Today is the birthday of one of the greatest explorers in history

Most people see James Cook as an iconic figure whose legacy in New Zealand is a modern, progressive, multi-cultural society. However, a small number of Maori extremists see him as a negative influence and claim he committed many crimes against the Polynesian inhabitants of the time. They do not disclose any evidence or sources and their case is flimsy at best.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 3.11.24

Thursday November 7, 2024 

News:
Base Woodbourne Resolution With Kurahaupō Iwi
The Government and three Kurahaupō Iwi have signed a $25.2 million agreement to resolve the post-Treaty settlement issue of contaminated land at RNZAF Base Woodbourne.

Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Trust, Rangitāne o Wairau Settlement Trust, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia each received $8.4 million after contaminated soil at Base Woodbourne near Blenheim prevented the three Iwi from purchasing a substantial part of the site as originally intended in their Treaty settlement redress.

Penn Raine: Party tonight at Mar A Lago!

One November afternoon in 2016 I came out of a three-hour meeting shocked to find that the world’s greatest power had elected the world’s most obnoxious man as its President.

I expected the USA to sink immediately beneath a tsunami of blood. I’m not exactly sure why, just that it seemed that the democratic process had slumped to the level of a TV game show. Of course, that that was before Ardern was elected.

I say I was shocked, but I was not surprised. It was obvious to anyone who listened to anything out of the States beside Oscar acceptance speeches, that John and Jane Doe wanted something done about the creep of the rust belt, the war on traditional values and the deluge of illegal migrants through its porous border.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There are few things more political than a political leak

To the Treaty Principles Bill.

Despite David Seymour's best efforts to pretend that there's absolutely nothing to see here, there is no doubt in my mind that the government is planning to introduce the Treaty Principles Bill tomorrow to try to hide it - because they know full well, we're all going to be completely obsessed and distracted by the US election.

They know that if they get it out on Thursday, tomorrow, it's before the planned Hikoi even sets off on Monday.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: The US is not a democracy.

Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany, is often attributed with the quote, “If you are going to tell a lie, it may as well be a big lie.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in the US, where the Democratic Party frequently discusses “democracy” and how it’s supposedly under threat.[1] Goebbels also stated, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it and you will even come to believe it yourself.”[2] It’s crucial to recognise the scale of this statement in understanding the current political landscape in the US.[3]

Dr Eric Crampton: Taxing people unfairly just isn’t cricket

I can’t pretend that dinnertime on the 21st of October was anywhere near as exciting as dinnertime on the 3rd of November.

On the evening of Sunday the 3rd, I expect most of us were tuned into the final overs of the third cricket test, hoping that New Zealand would be the first to sweep a full test series in India.

By contrast, at dinnertime on Monday the 21st, I was possibly the only one in the country waiting for the embargo to lift on the Tax Foundation’s annual Tax Competitiveness report. Would New Zealand keep its third-place showing, or would Switzerland jump past us in the rankings?

Kerre Woodham: There needs to be some measure to keep people safe

There's been much political play made around outside organisations having the potential to use violence on at risk kids. And really, it's entirely the fault of inexperienced politicians in the Coalition Government that Labour and Te Pati Māori have got any traction on this at all. The PMs ‘I know nothing, I know nothing’, when he was questioned about this yesterday on the Mike Hosking Breakfast, the refusal to answer questions on a leaked document, it just makes a vacuum which the opposition can fill with accusations of ‘violence’.

Wednesday November 6, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 6/11/24

$8m govt “co-investment” puts meat traders on the gravy train – does this mean we stop beefing about farm subsidies?

This country likes to boast of having the lowest level of agricultural subsidies in the OECD – less than one percent of producers’ income. Our agriculture is a highly-productive, market-oriented sector, with minimal government intervention, we bray. Tariffs on agricultural products are among the lowest worldwide.

There would have been no surprise, therefore, that when the world’s trade ministers headed to a WTO meeting in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand was calling for an immediate capping of agricultural subsidies and urgency in reducing them to prevent and correct production and trade distortion.

David Farrar: The impact of alcohol monopolies

Simon Court said:

“My bill would repeal the monopolies held by the Invercargill, Mataura, Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts. It would break these communities free from silly rules and give entrepreneurial locals the ability to sell alcohol under the same rules that apply nationwide.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Capital Taxes

Dirty Politics: Ipsos Pollsters confess to The Platform that 87% of Kiwis Oppose Capital Taxes "in some form", but Radio NZ reported 67% "Support Them".

State owned broadcaster, Radio NZ, reported in no uncertain terms, with Big Bold Headline, "Survey of 1000 people shows 65% would support Capital Gains Tax". It stated, "A new survey shows the tax tide could be turning. An IPSOS survey of 1003 people this month shows 65 percent of those questioned would support a Capital Gains Tax or CGT". Then in another article it said, 'Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would support a CGT "in some form"'. What a pack of lies.

Mike's Minute: Trump is full of bullsh*t - but I think he'll win

If you forget the politics for a moment, a trait of Donald Trump I admire is his unrelenting persistence and unwavering belief.

In a contest no one can confidently call based on fact, as opposed to feels, or gut, or hope, I think I can very confidently say if Biden had stayed in it, it wouldn't even be close.

Age for age, just the sight of Trump stampeding across the landscape in the way he does would have left Biden gasping.

Brendan O'Neill: They still don’t get it

Why the elites remain so mystified and horrified by Trump voters.

They still don’t get it. Eight years after Donald Trump was first elected president of the United States of America, the elites remain mystified that such an anomaly could occur. They still view his voters less as rational beings to be engaged with than as a far-flung tribe to be studied. They still approach this curious horde – if they approach it at all – as a Victorian anthropologist might have approached a pre-modern people in the densest forests of Africa. ‘I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to understand Trump’s base’, wrote a ‘distinguished professor’ earlier this year, breezily unaware of the offence such pseudo-scientific studies might cause to those being studied. That’s another thing they still don’t get: how creepy they seem to ordinary people.

Ele Ludemann: Wasting time on trivia

Guyon Espiner had a 30 minute interview with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

It was an opportunity to learn a lot more about the man and his plans for New Zealand and there were some good parts, including the reasons why a Capital Gains Tax wouldn’t be a good idea.

But Espiner wasted too much time on issues that have been well canvassed like claiming the housing allowance, selling his apartment and poll ratings.

Simon O'Connor: Who is really making the decisions?

Increasingly, decisions around our daily lives are being made by unelected, unaccountable, nameless managers.

Just a few weeks ago, Organ Donation New Zealand announced they had been working on a national strategy for ‘Assisted Dying Donation’. This means that those seeking euthanasia/assisted suicide can also donate their organs after their death. For some readers, this will be a welcome development. For others, quite disturbing.

For me, it raised at least two red flags. The main concern has nothing to do with the ethical questions of euthanasia per se, but rather how this new strategy demonstrates how a managerial class of people - and not elected representatives – have made this decision. The second is ethically related, and that is whether such a strategy changes the quantum when it comes to motives and coercion around assisted suicide.

I want to concern myself with only the first today, and that is the fundamental issue of who decides the rules in New Zealand.