Dom Post on Labour
November 20th, 2012 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarThe Dom Post editorial:
Labour’s real problem is that it has failed to present itself as a credible government-in-waiting. That is partly due to the insistence among many grassroots members that it swing even further to the Left, instead of chasing the Centre voters who decide elections. As a result, Mr Shearer has been slow to jettison losing policies, such as last year’s promise to extend Working for Families tax credits to beneficiaries.
As long as policies like that remain on the table, Labour will continue to alienate too many voters. Infighting and disunity does nothing to help its cause.
Policies such as their Lotto housing policy don’t help their credibility much either.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
When compared to the government doing nothing on housing (like in so many other areas), that “Lotto housing policy” looks like a winner
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
That’s stupid. Shearer’s been chasing those center votes, but you can’t take a party somewhere they aren’t willing to follow you: especially not post-Rogernomics Labour.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
They can’t present a credible govt because no lefties even really senior ones appear to be able to get their heads around how the economy really works in 2012 and they reach for the only thing they know which is Keynes’ solution exemplified by Roosevelt’s New Deal, and apply it to this GFC. Every single economic thing they talk about relates to doing a Keynesian thing. But Keynes is not the solution here, although the lefties will try it when they get in.
Conservatives don’t have the solution either, but the electorate is happier at these times with conservative management. That’s what it comes down to. While I often complain about how politically ignorant most of the electorate is, I never say they’re stupid. And they’re not. They know lolly scrambles when they see one and they’ll see this housing as one.
But if the lefties want to do Keynes and they do because they can’t think of anything else, the fools, then they’ll need to explain public and private debt to the electorate so the electorate thinks going into even more debt at this stage won’t be such a bad thing after all. And good luck with doing that, amongst their electorate. Imagine all the furrowed brows in the local town hall at the party rally. Crikey.
Shearer’s been chasing those center votes, but you can’t take a party somewhere they aren’t willing to follow you
No he hasn’t. Or has he been doing it telepathically?
But yes, all the lefties are flocking on the left of the spectrum and more join the flock every day. What’s happening to you guys Danyl?
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
“Shearer’s been chasing those center votes, but you can’t take a party somewhere they aren’t willing to follow you: especially not post-Rogernomics Labour.”
Good go hard left then.
The sooner you socialist clowns get to fuck everything completely (ala Greece) the sooner we’ll be able to shake off the plague of leftism and the sooner we can get back to reality.
Nothing will ever work while you demented communist fruitcakes are out there white anting everything anyone sensible tries to do.
The sooner we get rid of the academic induced Keynsian/ Marxist political syndrome that has crippled us for decades, the sooner we can get back to a real economy and real prosperity.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Reid#
Your right with all that Reid, and the thing is that Labour don’t need to do the Keynes thing as employment is at about 94%!
It is unemployment at 6%, or in other words, nearly everyone who had a job before the GFC still has one!
Labour arn’t a credible opposition when they keep talking the economy down.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Labour/Greens are nothing more than Ecomunists!
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Do centre voters win elections? Romney thought that – he won Republicans and Independents – but it wasn’t enough in the end…
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Brad:”When compared to the government doing nothing on housing (like in so many other areas), that “Lotto housing policy” looks like a winner”
Thats right, its the gubbermints fault isnt it brad? Dick. Im mean, honestly, please make the argument that supports that. Go.
Or try the fact that councils will not release land for housing, thus inflating prices – for land, houses and therefore their rates – as an argument on for size, and see how that fits. Ask Lenny Brown what hes doing about it other than proposing that people live in an apartment close to a railway station. Cant see him moving to one, can you?
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
IMHO as one of the more right than centre the past five years has shown that western governments like ours dont have a real handle of the drivers of the economy. I mean when governments lower interest rates to almost zero and that doesnt get their economies going whilst at the same time servely punishing those who save via banks and telling them thats the right thing to do.
Then theres QE. So they print a whole lot more money devaluing the currency and further punishing those they have told to save via banks.
Then in our lots case they winge and moan when citizens use real estate as their preferred source of saving and look at the tax free capital gains many have made especially in Auckland property over the past decade.
So there is the evidence that Gumints are out of their depth and know jack shit about how to get their economies working and the jobless back in to work
Cause IMHO whilst yoff unemployment is bad in NZ its a hell of lot worse in other countries and young with no jobs and no hope for the future are a potential time bomb waiting to explode.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Labour’s activist left don’t want to move to the centre (one reason for the current stoush). They don’t want the centre vote, they think that non-voters can be convinced that a headless duck party is the one to vote for.
This sort of sentiment is common (although usually a bit more mildly expressed):
And hence the remit passed at the conference to lower the voting age to 16, more current non-voters to recruit.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
“Labour’s real problem is that it has failed to present itself as a credible government-in-waiting”.
I thought Labour’s real problem was that they had failed to present itself as a credible opposition in waiting, and that role had been filled by the Greens.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Well folks, due to MMP, whatever mess Labour is in, doesn’t matter. The toxic combination of Labour-Greens-NZ First-Mana party will be in power in 2014. Nobody can’t prevent that. So all this is side show.
Vote:November 20th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
The Labour Party, are just one BIG mess, and I know of people that have voted for them in the past, but have said they wouldn’t touch them, too unstable, and lacking any decent MP’s. Mr Blunder Shearer, will just keep stammering and stuttering, every time he is asked a question. Gawd he is terrible.
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