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Its hard to think of anyone more out-of-touch with American values and beliefs than our former PM, Jacinda Ardern. How come? An influential view in economics these days is that the US system of relatively ungenerous welfare and low taxation is supported by the beliefs of ordinary Americans. Most of them believe in "The American Dream" - namely that effort is rewarded in the market place and that folks like Elon Musk deserve their wealth. Not just high income Americans, but low income ones as well, including Latin American immigrants. The flip-side is that 60% of Americans believe the poor are lazy, and as such, undeserving of high levels of welfare payments. These beliefs support the American equilibrium that many of us consider is behind that country's status as being the world's largest economy, with high rates of innovation and entrepreneurship, together with high inequality.


How Many Votes did Harris Lose by Hanging out with her Un-American Mate, Jacinda?


Not so Ardern. She doesn't share those beliefs, not in a million years. She believes the poor are totally deserving of more welfare - she can't stop talking about it. Its part of her "empathy" and "kindness" branding. Good for her, but it puts her out-of-step with the typical American. Earlier this year, Ardern burnt air miles flying to Chicago to attend the Democratic National Convention, dispensing advice. So much so that NZ political editor, Barry Soper, headlined an article saying, "Kamala Harris’ campaign promises echoes Jacinda Ardern’s". One News reported how Ardern was "backing" Harris for President. The two of them became mates, together addressing the European Union Parliament. But for Americans, Ardern's slogans & branding are nonsense. What does "kindness" mean in terms of their immigration & border policies? Does it mean there should be more border security & a wall, or not? What does "kindness" mean to Americans in terms of trade policy with China? Does it mean they should be kind to their own steel workers by tariffing Chinese steel, or kind to Chinese workers by allowing them to sell more of their steel to America?


At a recent conference on capital taxes, I listened to Ardern's former colleague, David Parker, get stuck into Elon Musk - it seemed for being too rich. Now Musk stands alongside Trump as two of the people who the vast majority of Americans believe represent their values and who they aspire to be like. And what is wrong with that? Who are we to judge them? Americans don't want to hear the likes of Ardern lecture them about gun control, how she knows best how to stop terrorism, how she knows how to eliminate poverty, even though she never did, how she knows best what abortion policies countries should have, how she know best how to stop global emissions, how she knows best how to unite, not divide. What bunkum. Ardern turned vaccinators against anti-vaxxers, fired nurses whose personal beliefs led them to not want to take "the jab", ostracized from society those who didn't want to be part of her "team of five million", precipitated a violent occupation of Parliament, turned farmers against environmentalists, poor against wealthy & Māori against non-Māori. She attacked the fundamentals of freedom & civil liberties with her lock-downs, qualities that define the US. Ardern ripped apart NZ's hitherto socially cohesive society.


Hanging out with Ardern was one of the dumbest things Kamala Harris ever did. Ardern is Un-American and Harris's failure to recognize how her own fellow citizens bear virtually nothing in common with the likes of Ardern - and actively dislike her type - is proof that Harris was out-of-touch with her own fellow Americans.



State owned broadcaster, Radio NZ, reported in no uncertain terms, with Big Bold Headline, "Survey of 1000 people shows 65% would support Capital Gains Tax". It stated, "A new survey shows the tax tide could be turning.  An IPSOS survey of 1003 people this month shows 65 percent of those questioned would support a Capital Gains Tax or CGT". Then in another article it said, 'Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would support a CGT "in some form"'. What a pack of lies. Worst of all, Radio NZ put in quote marks, "in some form". They scrummaged that line from Ipsos, which used it in its report. But Ipsos never asked people, "Do you Support Capital Taxes in Some Form?". When you put words in quote marks, its ethical code you must be reporting from what was said. But it was not. The words were made up. Even News Talk ZB got into false reporting, interviewing the PM under headlines, "Discussions about introducing a capital gains tax keep cropping up, and over 65% of Kiwis support the idea, according to new polls". False.


Whilst being interviewed by Sean Punklett on The Platform Radio Show, DownToEarth.Kiwi called out Ipsos & Radio NZ. Sean's top investigator, Ben Espiner, now reports, "How you were gaslit by the media and a Polling Company". Ben called Ipsos. They have confessed that 87% oppose capital taxes ("in some form", which never was the wording). Confused? Ipsos asked if people supported capital taxes in a range of situations. Only a tiny minority supported them on one's house, a minority on boats, cars and art, and a minority on businesses. The only majority was on investment properties, at just 57%. But NZ already has capital taxes on investment taxes - the public argument is simply over how long you should be able to own them to come under the tax. So the Ipsos Poll boringly just reflected the status-quo in NZ and supported the National Party's position on capital taxes. But Radio NZ reported the news as being that the "tax tide" was "turning" on capital taxes. There is no suggestion at all of that being the case in the survey.


What is Dirty Politics is that Prime Minister Luxon was assailed by Main Stream Media journalists as being out-of-touch with the people's views on capital taxes, and made him look bad. Luxon said that Kiwis were not keen on such taxes applying to their own home, businesses and Kiwi Saver accounts. What Luxon stated was exactly in line with the findings of the Ipsos Poll - though Big Media told him it was not. Okay, we get it. Radio NZ and One News want Labour to be elected in a few years time on a platform to whack in capital taxes on "the rich", just like their mates in the UK Labour Party, to "rebuild" public services, no doubt which includes, to them, the State Owned Broadcasters. But the whole point of State-owned broadcasters is that, unlike private broadcasters, they should try their best to report objectively and not favor one Party over another. If Radio NZ wont do that, what is the point of it? It should be defunded, privatized and left to fail on its own.


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