The final DCC result, and in the real world
In the Dunedin mayoral election, 41,339 people voted.
Of these, 11,144, or 26.96%, voted for Andrew Simms, 10,096, or 24.42%, for Sophie Barker — which looks like a clear win for Simms
However, under the highly speculative STV system the votes are manipulated until Ms Barker receives another 6268 votes from people who would rather have someone else as mayor, and likewise Mr Simms another 4494 votes.
Barker is then declared elected because she has received 16,364 votes and an absolute majority is deemed to be 16,001.
But back in the real world, 41,339 people voted. The STV figure of 16,364 votes is still only 39.58% of the voters, while 37.83% of the voters preferred Simms and 9337 voters so didn’t want Barker as mayor that they didn’t even list her.
So we have a mayor that 60.42%, a true absolute majority, didn’t want.
The old system of one person one vote and no artificial vote manipulation was clear, honest and much better — even if unfortunately Lee Vandervis didn’t win either way.
Doing the math
Assoc Prof Dennis Wesselbaum’s "Merchants of Misery are wrong" article (Opinion ODT 8.10.25) was interesting, but I struggle with its mathematics.
Dennis contends that our reduction of GDP of 1.2% becomes minus 2.8% when indexed to per capita. By my reckoning, this would require a population growth of 133%.
This mistake has a precedent. About a decade ago, when our economy was growing by 3% and our population growing by 2%, pundits concluded our economy was growing just 1% per capita, rather than the correct amount 3% divided by 1.02 (2.94%.)
Although Dennis endorses Nicola Willis’s performance, his prescription of fiscal policy for exiting stagflation has not been dispensed. Instead, tax breaks have been given to landlords at a cost of $4 billion and govt debt has increased from $7.2b to $10b.
Spirited response
Chris Trotter seems upset that some rabid allegedly pro-Palestinian protester broke a window at Winston Peters’ house and scared the dog (Opinion ODT 10.10.25). Well, a few of us are upset that there are now possibly millions of broken windows in Gaza, and many broken homes and broken families and broken hearts. About the only thing in Gaza that doesn’t seem to be broken is the indomitable Palestinian spirit.
State situation
I totally agree with Susan Johnston and M Finnie (Letters ODT 2.10.25).
In the second century the Roman emperor Hadrian made a decree that the province of Judaea be renamed Syria Pasalestina. These were punitive measures to sever the symbolic and historical connection between the Jewish people and their land. This started the Bar Kokba Revolt.
In 1945, the United Nations voted to partition Mandatory Palestine into two States: one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews signed for the land and the Arabs did not. Therefore for the last 80 years Palestine was recognised as land but not a state.
A state or country presumably has borders on land or water. Therefore I can not see calling it a state will make any difference to the situation.
Social housing and applying economic dogma
I stand corrected: the Salvation Army is not building social housing at the Loan and Mercantile Building; instead it is paying the property developer and landlord’s rents. Not as good as I hoped, but still better than housing for the rich.
I must take issue with Mr Lund’s characterisation of my call for income-related rents (Letters 8.10.25), at least during a profound shortage of affordable housing, as "a revolutionary suspicion of basic economics". A number of thinkers question the application of wealth-maximising economic dogma to the provision of social housing.
Thinkers such as Matthew Dimick, whose recent book on the law and economics of redistribution I referred to in my article, especially his chapter on housing matters. Lord Robert Skidelsky, Sir Anthony Atkinson and Thomas Piketty, make similar points.
Another writer, whose work on economics and social justice I really enjoyed, is Rosemary Barbera, who took mainstream economics apart and exposed its shortcomings as overly-technical and crudely utilitarian, and Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, in his latest book.
None of these writers are revolutionary suspects of basic economics and neither am I.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
