Data 3: Prices are still rising – it’s a cost of living crisis

By Mike Treen, Retired Union Advocate New Zealand’s consumers price index increased 4 per cent in the 12 months to the March 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ April 17. This was higher than the Reserve Bank prediction of 3.8%. The 4 per cent increase follows a 4.7 per cent increase in the 12 months to the December 2023 quarter. ”Price increases … Continue reading Data 3: Prices are still rising – it’s a cost of living crisis

Mike TreenApril 18, 2024April 30, 2024

Uncategorized

The Premises of the Diplomatic Mission Shall Be Inviolable

View this email in your browser The Premises of the Diplomatic Mission Shall Be Inviolable: The Fifteenth Newsletter (2024) Afshin Pirhashemi (Iran), Untitled, 2017. Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. We live in dishonest times, where certainties have crumbled, and malevolence stalks the landscape. There is Gaza, of course. Gaza above all else is on our minds. Over 33,000 … Continue reading The Premises of the Diplomatic Mission Shall Be Inviolable

Mike TreenApril 15, 2024

Local News, Mike Treen

Data 2: Why we are officially in recession

By Mike Treen, Retired Union Advocate The economy of New Zealand is officially in recession. New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.1 percent during the October-December period, following a 0.3 percent contraction in the third quarter, according to the Statistics Department, a government agency. (see https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/gdp-growth). Economists traditionally define a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. On a per capita basis, … Continue reading Data 2: Why we are officially in recession

Mike TreenApril 13, 2024April 30, 2024

Local News, Mike Treen

Data 1 – benefits are being cut in value in real terms – but why?

By Mike Treen, retired union advocate The real value of benefits is being cut by switching the calculation of annual changes from the movement of the average wage to the Consumer Price Index. The CPI has traditionally been a lower number. Benefits had been switched back to the average wage movement only as recently as 2020 after being tied to the CPI in 1990. That … Continue reading Data 1 – benefits are being cut in value in real terms – but why?

Mike TreenApril 4, 2024April 30, 2024

Global News, Mike Treen

The need to end US-imposed austerity in Cuba

Wall art created at a community youth cultural centre with the visiting Australasian solidarity brigade in January 2024 By Mike Treen, Spokesperson for the Auckland Cuba Friendship Society Over the last few weeks, the Western news media has been full of stories of “unrest” in Cuba including protests over food and fuel shortages. From Western media reports, you would think that the Government of Cuba … Continue reading The need to end US-imposed austerity in Cuba

Mike TreenMarch 24, 2024April 30, 2024

Uncategorized

Unsustainable war machine: U.S. imperialism in crisis

By Gary Wilson Struggle-La Lucha General Smedley Butler said, “War is a racket.” Wikipedia explains that he was referring to the war profiteers and the “imperialist motivations for U.S. foreign policy and wars.” A Guardian headline on Feb. 18 declared: “World’s largest oil companies have made $281bn profit since invasion of Ukraine.” Below the headline was the teaser: “Global Witness says the five ‘super-majors’ are … Continue reading Unsustainable war machine: U.S. imperialism in crisis

Mike TreenMarch 15, 2024March 15, 2024

Opinion

On Winston Peters, NZ’s Most Loyal Servant Of US Empire

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2024/02/15/winston-peters-a-great-political-survivor-political-chameleon-and-most-loyal-servant-of-the-u-s-empire-is-back-in-power-in-zew-zealand/ Continue reading On Winston Peters, NZ’s Most Loyal Servant Of US Empire

Mike TreenFebruary 17, 2024February 17, 2024

Events

February events

Christchurch Protest poster Despite being called to stop killing Palestinians by the International Court of Justice, Israel has ignored this and close to 2,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – have been slaughtered in Gaza since the ICJ interim measures were announced (The total Israel has killed since October 7th is 27,840) New Zealand’s silence is deafening. Despite condemning the killing of Israeli civilians … Continue reading February events

Mike TreenFebruary 16, 2024February 17, 2024