Kent Duston

Rename a book or movie for this economy. Apocalypse Deferred

Bruce Buckman@brucebuckman.bsky.social

Rename a book or movie for this economy. The Dirty Half Dozen

rnz.co.nzNZTA warns people not to DIY highway maintenance, after resident mows traffic islandA Welcome Bay resident says he was so sick of looking at an overgrown traffic island at the gateway to his neighbourhood that he decided to mow it himself.

So: true story - I used to mow the local roundabout when I lived in South Wairarapa, and it turned out to be the scene of the greatest Boomer entitlement I’ve ever experienced www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions...

So I do the sensible and calming thing of turning the mower back on and giving him the finger - and watch as he turns apoplectic and then zooms off in his WankPanzer. I do wonder what the council told him on Monday when he called to complain about the local mowing contractor

Undoubtedly he abused the poor council person as thoroughly as he insulted me, after they patiently tried to explain to him that there was no contractor on the mower that day. Boomers - gotta love that sense of entitlement

So I look a bit skeptical, and say nah, I’m just going to mow the roundabout and leave it at that. At which point he gets decidedly lipped and tells me his rates pay my wages - which is hilarious when I’m on the mower in my own time - and how he knows the Mayor personally

He has a bit of a rant at me, and I just shrug and tell him again that I’m only doing the roundabout and that I really don’t give a shit who he knows. He’s getting up a proper head of steam, and tells me he’ll be on the phone to the council first thing on Monday

I’m doing the roundabout one Saturday, and along swings a chap in his Jaguar SUV, who stops and motions for me to turn the mower off. Without so much as hello, he launches into a diatribe about the state of the verges on his street, which runs off the roundabout

He blathers on about how useless the council is for a bit, then tells me I need to do his verges when I’m finished, pointing as he does so. He’s clearly decided I’m the local contractor because it’s a professional looking mower painted yellow

For context, the roundabout is on a very quiet local road and there’s next to no traffic. I had a place with nearly a hectare of land and plenty of lawn, so I eventually traded in the make-believe ride on mower for an ex-contractor unit that was much better at the job

After mowing the lawns, I’d do the verge on the dead end street, then the neighbors verge because it was a holiday place, then I’d zoom around the roundabout in circles to keep it tidy. It was just my standard mowing routine

Luxon’s voter suppression tactics are perfectly aligned with his commercial experience at both Unilever and Air NZ - competition is something to be actively opposed at every turn, not a way of spurring innovation and better outcomes 🧵 #nzpol

Foxes@foxylustygrover.bsky.social

This argument makes me so mad, so people don’t ever need to move house Mr Luxon? Everyone’s circumstance just stays the same? you giant ignoramus! #NZol

We can see this thread of political arrogance across the world at the moment, and much of it has strong parallels with the oligopoly-dominated post-capitalist neo-feudalism currents under construction in the West

But - for the moment at least - we can vote to change direction. So we should do that with all good haste. /ends

Foxes@foxylustygrover.bsky.social

This argument makes me so mad, so people don’t ever need to move house Mr Luxon? Everyone’s circumstance just stays the same? you giant ignoramus! #NZol

They have little-to-no respect for customers/voters, are inwardly focused on their own political dynamics, work to suppress competition at every turn, and produce consistently poor outcomes because they’re enshittifying not inky their own organization but everything around them

And the common thread in all of this us that customers/voters are regarded as non-player characters: we are expected to have no agency to change the ground rules or the outcomes, either in the commercial market or the political marketplace of ideas

Foxes@foxylustygrover.bsky.social

This argument makes me so mad, so people don’t ever need to move house Mr Luxon? Everyone’s circumstance just stays the same? you giant ignoramus! #NZol

Any good monopolist or oligopolist recognizes the tactics; use market position to create a de facto regulatory barrier to entry. In theory other parties can compete, but in practice they not only need to attract voters, they need to get them registered within an obstructive process as well

Luxon’s skills are largely those of our CEO class - extracting value at the greatest scale possible, whilst protecting a dominant market position through regulatory capture. Taken to its logical conclusion, monopolist CEOs who take up politics tend towards authoritarianism

Foxes@foxylustygrover.bsky.social

This argument makes me so mad, so people don’t ever need to move house Mr Luxon? Everyone’s circumstance just stays the same? you giant ignoramus! #NZol

Luxon keeps telling us he was a CEO, but really he was just a serial monopolist. There appear to be very few points in his career where he had to fight it out with strong competitors, and so he’s much more inclined to use his market power to suppress competition

Looked at through a neoliberal market lens, voter suppression is just the abuse of market power in a political context. He used a Parliamentary majority and urgency to create an environment that’s hostile to the marketplace of ideas espoused by other political parties

Remember, these are exactly the social conditions this coalition has worked hard to achieve for the last three years. The system isn’t ‘broken’, the system is working exactly as designed. Time to change the government #nzpol

The Press@thepress.co.nz

Selling the car and taking the bus. Giving up takeaway coffees and restaurant dinners. Choosing the cheapest brands at the supermarket, eating less meat, abandoning spontaneous holidays and even cancelling health insurance. It might sound like the reality of someone who has fallen on hard times.…

I propose we create a new criminal offense of Corporate Sociopathy to punish the Boards and Chief Executives that put the financial returns to shareholders ahead of the wellbeing of the country #nzpol

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Thirdly, their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren are not permitted to attend private schools and must complete their education in coed public schools, plus they are not permitted to go to University but must complete an apprenticeship in something useful

These are sensible, practical steps that I’m sure will see an end to this sort of noxious corporate behavior in short order

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Firstly, they’re not allowed to directly or indirectly own property ever again, and must rent their place of residence for the rest of their lives, at the mercy of arbitrary landlords and psychotic property managers, to teach them the value of secure tenure

Secondly, their drivers license is permanently revoked and they are not permitted to use a ride share service or taxi ever again. This is to teach them the importance of public transport and the health benefits of active modes

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Upon conviction, the Board members and CEOs are allowed to keep their vastly inflated salaries and fees … but we impose some penalties that underline the gravity of their offending, by making sure they understand they’re part of a society

rnz.co.nzNational pledges to add financial literacy to school curriculum in its 'Plan for Parents' policyFollow our daily live coverage of all the happening on the 2026 election campaign trail. We'll have updates, breaking news and analysis from Political Editor Jo Moir, Deputy Editor Craig McCulloch and their team through to election day on 7 November.

It’s going to be a very short course for students: “Be born rich.” #nzpol

RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social

National pledges to add financial literacy to school curriculum in its 'Plan for Parents' policy

dlvr.itNZ First proposes ‘targeted’ extension to Investment BoostAdditional incentives should apply to manufacturers and exporters investing in “new plant, machinery, and equipment with high productivity returns”, the party suggests.

This one media release sums up everything that’s wrong with the legacy political parties: instead of visionary leadership about the long term economic and ecological and social and cultural prosperity of our nation, we get tedious fiddling around with minor accounting rules #nzpol

The Press@thepress.co.nz

Additional incentives should apply to manufacturers and exporters investing in “new plant, machinery, and equipment with high productivity returns”, the party suggests.

Hey team, a new unit measure of psychopathy has just dropped - a One Thiel of harm #nzpol

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@morgangodfery.bsky.social

If Christopher Luxon has wanted to be the second coming of John Key, then Chris Hipkins has wanted to be the second coming of Helen Clark. But both are decades late to the party they want to attend, and the world has moved on without them #nzpol

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Kent Duston reposted

morgan godfery

I feel so much sympathy and aroha for Kerrin. I can’t really form coherent thoughts. Family lives and histories are never clean. I wrote this almost 10 years ago, and it seems especially relevant today x thespinoff.co.nz/atea/12-11-2... thespinoff.co.nz/atea/12-11-2...

thespinoff.co.nzI saw the mountain erupt: a Kawerau childhood | The SpinoffMorgan Godfery was born to a teenage mother and gang father in Kawerau, New Zealand's poorest town. He recounts the experience in this essay from the newly published Journal of Urgent Writing, 2017.

rnz.co.nzElection live: Hipkins faces questions as MP caught on video with gang membersFollow our daily live coverage of all the happening on the 2026 election campaign trail. We'll have updates, breaking news and analysis from Political Editor Jo Moir, Deputy Editor Craig McCulloch and...

Forget the theory that Qiulae Wong is a hard-right stalking horse - it’s becoming pretty obvious that Chris Hipkins is already filling the role #nzpol

Amped Up@ampedup.bsky.social

Oh sheesh. If you hadn't bought into the stupid moral panic pushed by National @chrishipkins.bsky.social there wouldn't be egg on your face right now. #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

It’s a sad commentary on the two legacy political parties that the election is going to be decided by whichever Chris can make the fewest unforced and entirely unnecessary blunders between now and November 7th #nzpol

Lew@lewsos.bsky.social

I think this is right. Basically everything comes down to the decision to keep the guy who lost last time, on the delusion that Labour just got a hard time from the meanies and didn't really deserve to lose Just continued error. But unlike high school maths, you don't get credit for it

rnz.co.nzOil prices surge on reports US again considering Iran strikesGlobal oil prices have hit their highest level since May on fears of a resumption of fighting between the US and Iran in the Middle East.

In further news, oil prices have subsided and international inflation fears have reduced after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand said it would increase the OCR in the small South Pacific nation. Both the US and Iran are reported to be standing down troops as a result #nzpol

RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social

Oil prices surge on reports US again considering Iran strikes

Yeah, the only reason people are homeless is because they just can’t decide between the multitude of nicely renovated Grey Lynn villas and then get their multimillion dollar mortgage financing in place in time for the auction. It’s obvious really #nzpol

Jordan Rivers@jordanriversnz.bsky.social

VOTE THEM OUT

rnz.co.nzDestiny Church leader Brian Tamaki says he's been denied entry to AustraliaDestiny Church leader Brian Tamaki says he has been denied entry into Australia over "inflammatory and concerning" statements online.

Oh well #nzpol

RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social

Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki says he's been denied entry to Australia

Kent Duston reposted

BlueShiftNZ

@blueshiftnz.bsky.social

Replying to @swampy-kiwi.bsky.social

Giveaways for the kids

This coalition is painstakingly building the future, one liquidation at a time #nzpol

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Slightly technical, but bear with me. Governments do not need to tax in order to spend. Investment and spending is a tool of economic policy, while taxation is a tool of social policy. There is no intrinsic linkage between the two

Mark@barracuda66.bsky.social

The wealthy around the western world have worked on weak kneed politicians since the aftermath of WW2. Higher tax rates were used to pay debt accumulated in the war. e.g.over $200k was taxed at 94% in the US (1944) Shrinking to what we have now. AoNZ is no different.The country needs to be funded!

Side note: there is no intrinsic reason for governments to borrow to fund deficits. Borrowing has some technical uses in the financial markets and helps governments be a bit more disciplined, but its primary use is as welfare to banks and the rich

TL:DR version: tax the rich. But do this for good societal reasons, not because we can’t afford proper healthcare without it - because we can.

Mark@barracuda66.bsky.social

Taxation is a tool of social policy, to discourage harms - eg smoking - and to achieve social goals, particularly those arising from structural inequality. Important note: taxation occurs after spending, not before

Addressing structural inequality is key to social cohesion, because - as we all know - money can buy power and influence. Preventing a small group of people from achieving too much power and influence is one of the essential functions of taxation in a healthy democracy

Mark@barracuda66.bsky.social

Governments spend in order to put money into the economy, and to deliver the services and infrastructure that can’t or won’t or shouldn’t be provided by the private sector. The amount of spending and investment has nothing to do with the level of taxation

rnz.co.nzQiulae Wong says Opportunity would not have signed up to current coalition dealsOpportunity's leader Qiulae Wong has stressed that her party - which could well be kingmaker after the election - would not have propped up the current coalition or signed up to its agreements.

I’m quite looking forward to how this will be spun into ‘Opportunity is a hard right party’: "I want to be clear: we are not here to prop up the current coalition government. If that coalition agreement was put in front of us, we would have walked away.” #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Message this to all your overseas friends and whānau in the diaspora! Let’s get the support of everyone who hails from AoNZ to change this toxic government #nzpol

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Based on the IRD research from 2023, the Mowbrays pay an effective tax rate of just 9% while teachers pay 22%. Tax the rich #nzpol

GreenLeft Network 🍉@nzgreenleft.bsky.social

Imagine if the Mowbrays payed their fair share in tax, instead of donating to National for... whatever this is. Imagine you, your whānau and your local community having free GP visits, cheap (or free) public transport, and first earned $10,000 tax free. That's a future worth voting for. #nzpol

Lol … a mate just pointed out that the billboard is much funnier when read out in a whiny Simeon Brown complaining voice

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Key message: the National Party has only fleeced half the country so far

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