If National wins ...

[elZorro]

"Another opinion poll has shown National riding high and holding a big lead over Labour.

The Roy Morgan poll released on Friday puts National on 47.5 per cent, up 3.5 points, and Labour down four points to 30.5 per cent.

A One News Colmar Brunton poll on February 17 gave National 49 per cent and Labour 33 per cent, followed by TV3's Reid Research poll a week later showing National holding 51.4 per cent and Labour 32.6 per cent.

In all three polls National's support is higher than its election night 47.31 per cent.

Labour is also up on its 27.48 per cent election result but the gap between the main parties is still close to the 20 point mark.". :-)

Which goes to show that those who have a landline and are frequently home, with time and inclination to respond to a poll, are happy enough with the current government, MVT.

I don't (personally) think they've really thought about what the country has lost, in terms of budget blowouts, asset sales looming, a lack of business investment, a lack of employment opportunities, a constant tightening up of the public sector, general mismanagement of SOE opportunities in the name of 'the market'.

National continues to rule the roost by doing...nothing. John Key wants a four year term, so the party in power can get more things done. He's unwound a lot more then he's ever done, and in any case a change in power is almost always followed by 2 or 3 terms in NZ. Isn't that long enough for him?

These polls are not preceeded by a statement of facts showing the difference between Labour's last 4 years in office, followed by National's recent four years in office. I bet that would make a very sorry picture. And it's not all due to the recession. It's partly a result of inept management. If we were shareholders of this NZ firm, we'd be asking for the entire board to be sacked.

[iceman]

EZ does it ever cross your mind that you, Shearer, Labour and commentators like Willie Jackson, Matt McCarten, Rod Oram et al, are out of touch with mainstream NZ ? The argument that Labour supporters don't have landlines doesn't really wash as most of those same people don"t get of their arses and vote either as we clearly saw at the last election ! The fact is that John Key has a firm grip on middle NZ and Labour is being pushed further towards you on the left, fighting with the Greens for extreme left wing voters. Meanwhile middle NZ happily plods along under John Key with no alternative on the horizon

[POSSUM THE CAT]

Iceman it is the idiots voting for idiots educated by Universities in theory rather than life or practical experience. We have a surplus of university educated idiots.

[elZorro]

PTC: I can't agree with that, unless you think I'm an idiot too..

Iceman has offered no rebuttal to my general comments up above, except that it is hard to get many NZers along to vote. Labour has not provided enough of a clear picture in the past, to motivate those people at election time. They'll have to get moving on this.

Here is the picture: If you want more certainty of a job and a decent minimum wage, for you and your children, if you don't mind paying a fair amount in taxes to help support the country's infrastructure, if you don't want a big chunk of state assets sold, but want spending on education and health, social services to stay at least where they are (in other words you are not afraid of the public sector, but see its value), then vote Labour in 2014.

If you vote National, then the already well off, and big businesses, will thank you. They'll carry on with their tax havens, trusts and various schemes to reduce their own tax burden, and lay it back to employees and even beneficiaries. Unemployment will increase further, unless the market can miraculously find some valuable work here in NZ. They are far more likely to go offshore where profits are easier to find. There will be no noise from National as this process continues. They will not care, they'll be in there helping, just like they are now.

[iceman]

National continues to rule the roost by doing...nothing. John Key wants a four year term, so the party in power can get more things done. He's unwound a lot more then he's ever done, and in any case a change in power is almost always followed by 2 or 3 terms in NZ. Isn't that long enough for him?

This is not factually correct EZ. Shearer also agrees with this idea. John Key is definitely not doing this for himself as he has also acknowledged that the earliest such a change should come in is in 2017, when his tenure as PM will be coming to an end !!
Not sure what you want me to "rebut" EZ, I don't know where to start

[elZorro]

This is not factually correct EZ. Shearer also agrees with this idea. John Key is definitely not doing this for himself as he has also acknowledged that the earliest such a change should come in is in 2017, when his tenure as PM will be coming to an end !!
Not sure what you want me to "rebut" EZ, I don't know where to start

Pull apart any of my general comments you like, but they are usually reinforced with facts Iceman.. give me some facts to show where I'm wrong.

Yes, I'm not sure why Shearer wants to see four years as well. Voters see it as a long time waiting for a change, MPs must dread the harder work once every three years. Well, they took on this job, that's the deal.

National is pro business, right? Then what the hell is this IRD policy about?

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/tax-...ms-ema-5357087

IRD have better things to do than try out stupid new rules that will never be complied with. They don't have enough staff to enforce it anyway. This is not an IRD idea. It has to be National's.

More outsourcing, this time by APN.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/apn-loo...cing-vy-136651

[POSSUM THE CAT]

ElZorro I did not say all university educated people are Idiots but certainly more than 50% which is far to many.

[elZorro]

ElZorro I did not say all university educated people are Idiots but certainly more than 50% which is far too many.

Don't worry PTC, I took no offence. I wasn't a very good student, but I did work hard. I would find it hard drawing a line under someone and calling them an idiot. What definition would I use? Everyone has some surprising aspect to them, and sometimes University isn't the place they'll find it. But anyone going to university or any tertiary centre, and who sticks it out, has to learn one thing. How to apply yourself to a task or a problem. To research, to complete something on time. Combine that with enthusiasm and some common sense, and these people make useful employees and business owners.

Details on the SOEs, Jenny Shipley holding onto the one board that she didn't make a mess of.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opin...-peoples-money

Every National voter's enemy, the RMA. Fees! delays! This article is deeply troubling. The watchdogs are sounding alarm bells. They are doing their job on behalf of all of us.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=10868578

[Major von Tempsky]

Hey, tough luck EZ and PTC, NZ is a democracy and a free country so the majority of the citizens, and the media, are free to totally disagree with your assessments and also to go to uni if they want to :-)
Or are you saying that you would like to abolish democracy, a free media and university education? Which would mean no secondary school teachers, fewer primary school teachers and a majority of the civil service (all these people vote soldly Labour) would be out....

"I don't (personally) think they've really thought about what the country has lost, in terms of budget blowouts, asset sales looming, a lack of business investment, a lack of employment opportunities, a constant tightening up of the public sector, general mismanagement of SOE opportunities in the name of 'the market'.

What budget blowout? Spending on the Chch recovery? Continuing the huge expenditure on Education and Health? Continuing the miserable Defence expenditure which makes us the laughing stock of the world? Sh*t Warbirds over Wanaka could take on the NZDF and beat it!
Do you mean the Government achieving a surplus in two or three years? Is that a Budget blowout? How about Labour spending up large in all directions in addition to what is being spent now? Isn't that a Budget blowout?
Asset sales looming? 49% of 2 or 3 SOE's? To be run more efficiently by private enterprise....
A lack of business investment, balls - take a trip to Auckland, Tauranga and Chch some time. NZ is growing by two or three per cent a year according to the NZIER, most OECD countries would give their eyeteeth to achieve that. A lack of employment opportunities? Try reading the tables at the back of the Economist - NZ has one of the lowest unemployment rrates in the world!
A constant tightening up of the public service? Excellent! Get them into productive jobs instead of bureaucratic make-work!
So is this how Mighty River Power, Meridian, Genesis and Air NZ are making good and increasing profits? By SOE mismanagement? Ha! ha! ha! Balderdash!

[elZorro]

I think you've been a bit one-eyed in your assessment MVT.

For example, FPA have been allowed to employ 100 new R&D engineers over 2 years, this is a test from the Chinese owners to see what they can do. They'll need to work on F&P and Haier products. So they'll be helping an overseas manufacturer to get things right, and to make good products with an edge. Hello! that was what we should have kept here! Thousands of manufacturing jobs in NZ, including at FPA, have gone, in just the last 4 years. National either helped that process willingly, or they caused it with debacles like the Railways Workshops being chopped out of work, or they stood by and did nothing. They didn't turn up to the manufacturing sector discussions recently, that says a lot.

If National are given another term, we'll see more of the same process, maybe worse, and they'll never meet their surplus target, unless they get very lucky with overseas developments. The SOES will not run more efficiently under the private sector. They'll be so busy pruning costs and doing reports for the market that the really simple opportunities will go begging. They'll forget to act in the public interest. Already we've seen what happens when an outfit like Solid Energy gets itself ready for a partial sale, they went nuts on big left-field projects and left themselves exposed.

If what you are saying is correct, and business is booming, why is the unemployment rate increasing, and why are students staying in tertiary education because they can't find jobs, or leaving? There are more firms retrenching than growing, that's why, and on top of that the public sector is being told to shed staff. Retailers are next.

Labour spent a bit because they could afford to. They ran NZ carefully, bringing as many through with them as they could. Given time and another term, we'd have seen some even greater results I'm sure. I imagine Helen Clark would have been very disappointed after working so hard on the progress that was made. And I don't say that to get your attention, that's what I think.