Thursday Morning Second Coffee

I woke up with a headache after dreaming about something that seemed real at the time, and as per most households, there was a flurry of tasks I had to attend to...make the bed, put out the trash, make Vicki ( who was already up ) a coffee, feed Monty, empty the litter bin, drive Vicki to work and ...pay the rent.

I pay the rent manually each week, never missed a payment but this morning Westpac One was down while their status told me everything was 100% up and operational so I started to get paranoid it was me not them.

I realised all was well when I rang the bank and they said "Yes we know Westpac One is down, no need to tell us about it".

Something like that.

The topic of rent was high on the list of public awareness right now, after Luxon had told me I was grateful for the downward pressure on rents that bringing back interest deductibility for landlords would bring to my rental situation.

As you know, that won't make much difference to my landlord this year, maybe a wee bit in coming years but it's offset for him by massive rate increases that have been well signalled after Luxon's government cancelled three waters and stole the regional fuel tax in Auckland.

The "we care about renters" thing was bollocks and here was Luxon taking us all for fools like so many of the Executive Class seem to think goes unnoticed.

The cost of the wealth transfer to landlords was $800 Million over what National had budgeted and this economic incompetence was just brushed off by Luxon as if it did not matter one jot.

Kiwis were witnessing a dickhead selling the Police short with an insulting pay offer, not to mention schools telling me he wants 10% cut off school lunches when there was only 6% waste.

Chippy had called Luxon a dictator - but I liked the shorter version - a dick.

A dick cos he was flying like a loose canon, licking his lips like a lounge lizard, batting away legitimate concerns, justifying everything against a "vote for change" like no impact analysis, no parliamentary democracy, no shits given.

It reminded me of how I had just read in the NZ Herald that Winston had returned empty handed from India after discovering India puts India First and Todd's trip to India before Christmas was an utter waste of money.

We told you so, sprang to mind, but these people have to find out the hard way.

Selling the success of failure requires a reporter willing to polish a turd and Thomas is usually first in line these days.

Remember in Dumb and Dumber how the guy asked the girl - what are the chances of a girl like you getting with a guy like me and she replied, about a million to one - and he replied elated, "So you are saying there is a chance!"

Yep. The FTA with India is a bit like that.

Worse David Fisher revealed there were nine drafts of Luxon's "copy and paste" Waitangi Speech over 10 days - and half the emails exchanged between Luxon's office and Tama Potaka ( who was looking for an early draft ) were denied under OIA.

So much fuss and secrecy over what amounted to a boring, rehearsed insult.

Apparently Luxon's handlers thought a few lines about New Zealand exceptionalism and Unity would inspire us all and run hot on social media - which just shows they need to get out more.

The most recent further example of this is that in their eagerness to stop impact assessments and not be evidence based - National's deliberate lack of a regulatory impact statement for interest deductibility changes - means there is no evidence exactly how many landlords own over 200 properties.

Some of these could be property management companies cos the initial figure was derived from the number of bonds lodged by an individual.

The deliberate hole left by National allows Chris Bishop to accuse Barbara Edmonds of getting her facts wrong and Thomas is there to write headlines about it.

You see how they construct this and hide in the shadows, only the glow of Bishop's cigarette is visible as he cackles about how clever he is.

You are probably thinking why the hell was Shane Jones wearing a hard hat on such a pumpkin head outside Parliament as he ran away from his own misdeeds - distancing himself from the oil and coal on his own hands.

Such thoughts require a second coffee as my headache slowly fades but my mind is like cheddar and I don't have all the answers.

Like some early birds I did see Seymour blaming the previous government for 47,000 people leaving new Zealand last year on TVNZ Breakfast and making the spurious claim that they left for higher wages without any evidence. It would have been more accurate to say a few left for higher paying jobs, but don't forget we gained 126,000 according to stats in February.

Blaming the government for what has been inherited is like walking through a field of Cherries and picking a few along the way - while ignoring all the benefits inherited at the same time.

Luxon caused Waka Kotahi to buy special high visibility vests so he could do a photo opportunity at the opening of a highway built as part of the cyclone recovery under Labour and this morning I reposted a video done by Nicky Hager's sister ( I think ) that shows Luxon trying to steal credit with Reti - for a mobile cancer unit - budgeted and funded - by Labour.

There's always some people who are apathetic and detached who think Luxon is doing a great job delivering the goods here - and they are the target for the spin.

I imagine clapping seals barking.

Truth is the water pipes in Wellington won't be fixed by Luxon and Public Services will only get worse and sure they will blame the previous government as they pretend to "get things done" - as letters arrive in schools about a 10% cut to free lunches, smoking is getting a second puff up North, there's no replacement ferries, the police are protesting the shit pay, Luxon can't move into Premier House, cancer patients must work 10 hours a week, Seymour is attacking everyone with impunity, the Climate Commission want their emissions reductions back, the Waitangi Tribunal is going flat tack with claims, oil and gas companies are licking their lips and rubbing their hands, and Luxon is not going to be lectured or make any apologies.

So the rent is paid and somewhere out there the squeezed middle gets by - by cutting back - making choices between food and power bills - kids school fees and a holiday - to see a doctor or just suffer in pain - while the Atlas Network bathe in rivers of money and Luxon wriggles with glee as Claire Trevett admires his work.

The second coffee is kicking in and the fog is lifting.

How was your morning and what do you reckon?

Thursday Morning Second Coffee

Morena

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