So It's Over: Nats Win; Labor Thrashed

It's the lowest turnout since the 1880s which means the "hei aha" (why bother) won more votes than Labor. The Nats barely won enough to govern alone thanks to MMP. But the biggest winners were the Greens and NZ First. Winston's back. The biggest losers? The Maori Party. They paid the price for being "at the table." If that party wants to survive beyond 2014 they must not go back to that table however tempting. They have not been rewarded by the Maori electorate for doing so. Maori don't like it. However it's fair to say that they lost to the "hei aha" party as well and their future like that of Labor is to go back to their grass roots. 
So whose the new leaders for Labor? Looks like one of the three Rawiris (Davids) and Nanaia as Deputy Leader. I would like to see Cunnliffe as leader. But whoever it is the big job to be done is at the grass roots and the party apparatis..  Also tone down the change of the super age from 65 to 67 and the tax changes. Higher taxes for the rich? Fine. Leave the capital gains taxes for later. 
What about the Maori Party? Don't go back to the table. Save what they can of their programmes through mou. This avoids the stigma of collaboration. In opposition cooperate with the opposition in promoting common policies and forging their own policies for the next election.

Show Me The Money!!!

These are the immortal words of our show pony PM to Phil Goff. Now we know what elections and politics are all about. Money, money, money! As a former currency trader he would no doubt have urged this on his clients. He showed the rich the money by giving them a tax break. The idea of helping the rich is an old one in capitalism and is aptly described by a US economist. Its called "trickle down." He said that a horse eats the chaff at one end and the product is ejected at the other. The sparrow then grazes behind the horse pecking at the "trickle down." The trouble is that there's always millions more sparrows than horses. The poor are the sparrows. For the last three years unemployment has risen and so have beneficiary numbers. Housing problems in over crowding have arisen. The homeless wander the streets of all our major towns and cities. It's a sad and demeaning sight to see in a country that once was up in the top five of countries on per capita incomes. So Mr. Keys and Mr Goff; Show the money to those who need it; the sparrows not the horses. And Mr. Keys? Cut the horse shit!