When Barack Obama was still a candidate in the Democratic primaries, he promised a new era if he were elected. Among his promises for “change,” he said his future administration would be one of the most transparent in history: “an unprecedented level of openness in government".

Some economic commentators and financial journalists have divined the ‘green shoots’ of economic recovery’ growing out of the present crisis. Perhaps the wish is father to the thought. Are they right?

Proposed Referendum Wording

"Should the minimum wage be raised to $25 a hour and then in steps over the next three years until it reaches two-thirds of the average ordinary time hourly rate as recommended by the 1973 Royal Commission into Social Security"?

With the National Government debating the merits of the “Emission Trading Scheme”, we reproduce an extract by Mauro Vanetti's in which petit-bourgeois environmentalism is exposed as an non-viable response to global warming - green "ideologies of abstinence" simply play in to the hands of the ruling class. What is required is a genuine Marxist programme on this issue, which is outlined at the end of the article.

(This article can be read in full on http://www.marxist.com/global-warming-deniers-and-climate-change-ideologues-part-five.htm in reply to climate change denier Brian J Baker)

On July 20^th, 2009, the Business Roundtable put forward its ideas about social security.

Their programme was radical to say the least. In a nutshell, their proposal is to delegate the provision of welfare to organisations such as churches, iwi and other non-government organisations.

New Zealand Perspectives 2009 (written January 2009) should be read in conjunction with last years perspectives (New Zealand Perspectives 2008) as they are a continuation from them. In addition these perspectives should be read in conjunction with World Perspectives 2008 and associated material from the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) and Socialist Appeal NZ.