Chloe Swarbrick - I like her style

[Logen Ninefingers]

Agreed, if Chloe can identify the people and policies behind the rising wealth inequality they can address the issue, but I doubt the rest of the greens have enough brains to get past their ideology and work it out. Central planners at the central banks are largely responsible. See how the RBNZ turned around a predicted 10% fall in house prices prior to covid into a much more than 30% rise over the last two years. Drop the OCR to .25% and print up $70bill to assist bank lending. Easy as. Easy to reverse as well but it wont happen. No political will to do it.

A 10% fall would have done a huge amount of good- would have taken the heat out of the market and shown that there is always risk in a true functioning market. Damn the Reserve Bank for inflating a super-bubble.

[moka]

It’s being called ‘capitalism’ and yet it is the intervention of central banks and governments in markets that have caused this entire problem. Different arms of the state have deliberately inflated asset bubbles and continue to intervene to prop them up.

It is about capital, not capitalism. Capital is an asset, and capitalism is the process of using it productively.

Central banks are creating capital which is rationalized by saying it will be used for capitalism. But most is being used for speculation and financialization. Capital is about wealth creation, whereas capitalism is using capital to purchase raw materials and plant to make a new product.

Less and less of the economy is about capitalism, and more and more is about speculation and financialization. The free market economy has not created “free markets.” The small business cannot compete and more and more power is concentrated in a few very large businesses.

[Logen Ninefingers]

It is about capital, not capitalism. Capital is an asset, and capitalism is the process of using it productively.

Central banks are creating capital which is rationalized by saying it will be used for capitalism. But most is being used for speculation and financialization. Capital is about wealth creation, whereas capitalism is using capital to purchase raw materials and plant to make a new product.

Less and less of the economy is about capitalism, and more and more is about speculation and financialization. The free market economy has not created “free markets.” The small business cannot compete and more and more power is concentrated in a few very large businesses.

Central Banks doing large scale QE and interest rate suppression is not a free market economy by any definition I would use, though I agree with your other points.

[denpal]

The Greens support human experimental gene therapy at the same time as they are against GMO food. This is a special kind of stupid.

[Aaron]

Interesting opinion piece from Chloe in this mornings herald if there is a female socialist politician that Balance should be scared of Chloe sounds more like the type of person to run counter to his ideology. Although she is not in power so I guess Jacinda gets all his hatred. I wonder if it is because she is female? Are there any posts from Balance back when Helen Clark was PM, we could analyse these and see if there is a pattern to his behaviour.

I still like Chloe's rhetoric, pity she is weighed down by the green party.

[davflaws]

The Greens support human experimental gene therapy at the same time as they are against GMO food. This is a special kind of stupid.

What human experimental gene therapy do you think the Greens support?

[moka]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/chloe-swarbrick-same-politics-that-axed-public-transport-dream-is-keeping-us-in-cars/462KUUAF4I42WRZ25VYCKUWURY/

Chlöe Swarbrick: Same politics that axed public transport dream is keeping us in cars.

The perceived requirement for a car to get around our city and our country wasn't an inevitability. It was a conscious political choice.
Those same conscious political choices are being made today.

Yet I find when we talk about public transport these days, certain people, for some reason, feel under personal attack. It's similar to how when we talk about International Women's Day, some people ask when it's International Men's Day (19th November). Or how when we talk about renters, it's conflated with an attack on landlords. Or how when we talk about increasing density in our cities, some behave like we're sending bulldozers to their colonial villas.

UK Car Insurance service Confused.com recently crunched figures and found that of all countries across the world, Aotearoa New Zealand has the highest proportion of cars per capita: 0.7 cars for each person in the country. Our cars are also the fourth oldest (and therefore least efficient), just behind the Czech Republic, Romania and Argentina.

The Massachusetts city of Boston recently trialled a free-fare route. They reported a 38 per cent increase in ridership, increased speed in boarding and minimal impact on services.

[Balance]

Talk to the retailers and business owners whose businesses & livelihoods have been devastated by the Inner City Light Rail project (especially along Albert St) and ask them how much help they have had from Chloe.

Compare and contrast with how quickly the government threw $1.3m immediately to alleviate the impact of the Wellington protests on affected business.

That’s a great measure of how effective (or otherwise) Chloe has been as a MP for Auckland Centre.

[Panda-NZ-]

Talk to the retailers and business owners whose businesses & livelihoods have been devastated by the Inner City Light Rail project (especially along Albert St) and ask them how much help they have had from Chloe.

What about the ones who are raising prices while pocketing a wage subsidy. Many are doing great currently.

[Entrep]

What about the ones who are raising prices while pocketing a wage subsidy. Many are doing great currently.

Take a walk in the Auckland CBD then post that.