Exchange rate hikes killing NZ industry and jobs

Written By: - Date published: 2:48 pm, July 22nd, 2014 - 42 comments
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Bank-paid economists are predicting the Reserve Bank will again raise benchmark interest rates on Thursday. This may be good for the banks and the currency markets but it is bad news for New Zealand farming exporters and for high-end manufacturing jobs. Our interest rates are among the highest in a world awash with money after quantitative easing in Europe and the US. The CTU has called for a pause, and listed manufacturing jobs lost in the past couple of years because of the exchange rate.

The list of jobs lost where the exchange rate was quoted as a significant factor is here

• 17 July 2014, 36 job losses proposed at Auckland high tech manufacturer, Buckley Systems, citing the exchange rate.

• 19 May 2014, Fitzroy Engineering in Taranaki lays off 28 staff saying the “strong New Zealand dollar” was a factor along with competition for work in Australia. Managing Director Richard Ellis said he’d seen little evidence that Taranaki or the rest of New Zealand had a “rockstar economy”.

• 24 April 2014, Dunedin sawmiller Southern Cross Forest Products announces it is to shed 79 jobs with the closure of its mill in Rosebank, Balclutha, and cuts at other South Island operations. Log prices are a factor.

• 12 April 2012, Christchurch Yarns in receivership, 85 workers expected to be made redundant, resulting from a downturn in orders, particularly in Australia, and the high New Zealand dollar.

• 16 January 2014, New Plymouth-based Fitzroy Yachts, which employs around 120 people, announces it will close its doors. Executive director of the NZ Marine Industry Association Peter Busfield said the high dollar was biting boat builders and other exporters.

• 31 December 2013, SCA Hygiene Australasia finally closes its tissue manufacturing line at its Te Rapa plant having been winding it down over the previous four months, with 140 employees made redundant. A subsidiary of Swedish business Svenska Cellulosa, the company’s Australasian president Peter Diplaris said the decision came down to a challenging market environment and pressure from imports.

• 13 November 2013, 30 staff at Metso New Zealand in Matamata are made redundant after a head office decision in Finland to move more manufacturing to India. The Matamata operation specialised in vertical shaft impact rock crushing equipment and related services for mining and construction. In the past five years staff numbers had been chopped from 133 to 30.

• 19 October 2013, major Rotorua employer Tachikawa Forest Products is placed into receivership, jeopardising 120 jobs. Robert Reid, General Secretary of the FIRST Union which represents two-thirds of the workers says “This receivership comes on top of a continuing contraction of wood processing firms and jobs in New Zealand. The high New Zealand dollar, the high price of logs and the lacking government procurement strategy around both the Canterbury rebuild and government house building programmes see the continuation of raw logs being exported across our wharves while workers lose their jobs in the sector.”

• 23 August 2013, Air New Zealand announces it will axe 180 jobs. Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) assistant director of organising Strachan Crang says the airline’s engineers had worked hard to remain productive. However, unless the dollar fell under US70c it would be impossible to remain competitive against cheaper Asian engineering facilities. ”Over the past three years they’ve delivered productivity gains in the double figures but this has all been eaten away by the high value of the New Zealand dollar”.

The CTU is calling for the Reserve Bank to have a wider range of objectives in its mandate. This is also Labour Party policy.

 

42 comments on “Exchange rate hikes killing NZ industry and jobs ”

  1. tsmithfield 1

    Manufacturing seems to be doing fine despite the dollar.

    A high dollar can actually be beneficial for manufacturers in many instances as it allows them to bring in capital plant at much cheaper prices while the dollar is high. Also, a high dollar keeps other imported costs low (e.g. fuel for instance).

    • McFlock 1.1

      Riiiight.

      And overseas-owned consultants in the financial services sector wouldn’t have a vested interest in polishing the high-dollar turd as the election approached.

      I wonder whether their barely-optimistic outlook included dairy. That always skews the manufacturing results if it’s included.

      • tsmithfield 1.1.1

        So why should it be excluded? Dairy exports are affected by the high dollar as much as anything else. Manufacturing can succeed in high currency environments. Germany for example.

        • McFlock 1.1.1.1

          Because dairy is an unsustainable looting of the land and our waterways which, as lprent has pointed out, is about to be flooded by competitors as places like china crank up production. More cheaply than here, because of the high dollar.

          Not to mention the fact that including it in “manufacturing” (i.e. “making stuff with added value”) in the first place is a tad misleading, imo.

          Germany works largely on quality and a skilled workforce, and is in the middle of its major market. After reaming the education sector for thirty years and the logistics costs, the high dollar is the nail in the imported coffin.

        • henry james 1.1.1.2

          The reason the manufacturing industry in Germany is a success, is because all capital equipment purchases in Germany are tax deductible.

          Unfortunately we have political parties in NZ running around promoting winner picking policies – ala the Greens and their batshit crazy idea of green industry – which has proven to be a failure everywhere.

          Come on Labour, get behind your traditional base, the manufacturer and their employees and make all capital purchases of plant tax deductible.

          It will win the election for Labour and guarantee a huge lift in the manufacturing industry and jobs.

          • mikesh 1.1.1.2.1

            “Come on Labour, get behind your traditional base, the manufacturer and their employees and make all capital purchases of plant tax deductible.”

            Capital purchases are already tax deductible through the depreciation allowance.

            • henry james 1.1.1.2.1.1

              You know what I mean.

              Make them fully tax deductible in the Fiscal Year of purchase, as they are in Germany.

              That’s what will create, growth, innovation, foreign companies setting up here and, of course, employment.

          • Tracey 1.1.1.2.2

            “batshit crazy” is ignoring enormous opportunities within our economy and without.

            The “green” economy is one proposed aspect we ignore at our peril and allow others to make the money of this potentially trillion dollar industry worldwide.

            http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11226251

            “There was the Hawkes Bay manufacturing company that took part in a three-year waste minimisation programme and saved more than $400,000 each year.

            Or the Christchurch electronics firm that identified a major source of waste in expensive and hazardous circuit paste, and with simple handling changes reduced staff exposure to it and saved $56,000 a year.

            And then there was the Northland company prosecuted and fined for a series of environmental offences, horrifying the directors so much they demanded to be paid out.

            The company was snapped up by an overseas enterprise, prompting one of its Auckland peers to roll out a new environmental training programme for staff.

            Within four years, its turnover had tripled.”

            Yup, those sorts of savings to bottom lines don’t secure jobs, create new ones, pay taxes or help the economy.

            KPMG report and government ocmparissons. China is leading the world on Climate change initiatives

            https://www.kpmg.com/UA/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/KPMG-ENR-Sustainability-Taxes-and-Incentives.pdf

            “Investment in clean technology yields 4 times more jobs than investment in Oil and yields better-paid jobs. While jobs in the fossil fuel economy were lost during the financial crisis, job growth in the green economy remained strong. ”

            Stop thinking with blinkers on. It’s possible to do more than one thing at once.

            • henry james 1.1.1.2.2.1

              You have perfectly illustrated why the market can sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to green jobs/initiatives.

              Anywhere the government has been involved in picking winners in the green “economy” has been an unmitigated disaster.

              My proposal is that the government makes a policy setting that allows ALL businesses and their owners to make the decision on whether the green “economy” is right for them, or whether any other line of enterprise is right for them. The risk of failure is entirely on the business owners, not middle-class taxpayers, who can least afford it.

              • Colonial Viper

                Get with the programme and cut your crap proposal.

                Govt is the only entity in NZ willing and capable of taking high levels of forward risk, with payback which may not happen for 10 years or 20 years.

                Anywhere the government has been involved in picking winners in the green “economy” has been an unmitigated disaster.

                More BS. Just looking at the hydro that the NZ Govt built throughout the 20th century says that you are full of shit.

                • henry james

                  What a charming person you seem to be mr colonial. I have seen your name around the traps online and it seems to be usually associated with a fair amount of bile. It is you and your ilk that is turning traditional voters away from the left in NZ.

                  My proposal is not crap. It works extremely successfully in Germany, where they are a manufacturing powerhouse of quality goods. Can you refute this?

                  My proposal is also about making the government not the only entity in NZ capable of taking that forward risk. Maybe you are too full of bile and invective to see that.

                  Look at Xero for instance, it is a company that is trying to build on forward risk, continually using shareholders money to build a profitable entity. One reason they can do this, is that much of their expenditure is tax deductible, as they have a high percentage of expenditure in human capital, rather than infrastructure.

                  Why not give all businesses the same opportunity to grow.

                  • Colonial Viper

                    My proposal is not crap. It works extremely successfully in Germany, where they are a manufacturing powerhouse of quality goods. Can you refute this?

                    Oh FFS where did the money to rebuild German industry come from, if not from the US Gov and US tax payers?

                    Learn some history before spouting more crap.

                    <

                    blockquote>Look at Xero for instance, it is a company that is trying to build on forward risk, continually using shareholders money to build a profitable entity. One reason they can do this, is that much of their expenditure is tax deductible<?

                    <

                    blockquote>

                    Xero’s main success is in big funding rounds premised on short term expectations of even bigger funding rounds next year. So what does that have to do with the long term Green Economy.

                    • henry james

                      Oh dear, one way to twist an argument..

                      I know full well where the money came from to rebuild Germany post WW2, being a lot older than you, my friend.

                      That is not the point of my argument. The main reason that German industry is so competitive and powerful today is that they can invest and innovate much more freely, due to the fact that capital purchases are tax deductible in the year of purchase.

                      Why are you against making our manufacturing industry as strong as the German one?

                      Is it because we would be seen to be giving a tax reduction to business?

                      The success of Xero’s share price is because of big capital funding rounds. The success of their business is because they have developed a product that the market wants. Significant difference between the two. Do understand the difference, rather than being abusive.

                      Also note, that Xero’s share price is falling sharply, to reflect the true value of the business, not expected forward funding.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      I know full well where the money came from to rebuild Germany post WW2, being a lot older than you, my friend.

                      When things looked at their worst for their economy (post Weimar Republic as well as post WWII), only government money and government planning rebuilt German industry. Not the private sector. That’s the point.

                      The main reason that German industry is so competitive and powerful today is that they can invest and innovate much more freely, due to the fact that capital purchases are tax deductible in the year of purchase.

                      Fine. I’m happy to go the whole hog with you on adopting lessons from German manufacturing then.

                      • High levels of unionisation
                      • Worker representatives on company boards
                      • Heavy regulations on offshoring manufacturing work and manufacturing plants
                      • Aggressive pro-exporter foreign exchange regime
                      • Massive German Govt support for technical, engineering and scientific universities.

                      So you better back these or be shown to be yet another neoliberal pro-tax cuts troll.

                    • henry james

                      Ah, so it is ideological, considering you won’t look at one policy in isolation, and want to bring in other policies, just because someone else is doing them too…

                      In fact, German and NZ unionisation levels are about the same, and have been so for years, in fact, the German rate is slightly below the NZ rate, according to the OECD. I used to think they had heavy unionisation until I worked there. The unions are very weak outside the big companies and operate with a wholly different philosophy to that which is in NZ.

                      I could potentially agree with having Union/employee reps on company boards, but it would need a fundamental change in the union operating methodology here, including a clean-out of much of the established union leadership.

                      Since the implementation of the Euro, there isn’t the manipulation/control of the currency that they once had under the DM, whilst they do have some control, as the Euro is still effectively tied to the old DM.

                      Totally agree with our universities being supported and directed towards the STEM industries and away from many of the totally useless courses they’re currently promoting, just for bums on seats.

                    • henry james

                      Ah, so it is ideological, considering you won’t look at one policy in isolation, and want to bring in other policies, just because someone else is doing them too…

                      In fact, German and NZ unionisation levels are about the same, and have been so for years, in fact, the German rate is slightly below the NZ rate, according to the OECD. I used to think they had heavy unionisation until I worked there. The unions are very weak outside the big companies and operate with a wholly different philosophy to that which is in NZ.

                      I could potentially agree with having Union/employee reps on company boards, but it would need a fundamental change in the union operating methodology here, including a clean-out of much of the established union leadership.

                      Since the implementation of the Euro, there isn’t the manipulation/control of the currency that they once had under the DM, whilst they do have some control, as the Euro is still effectively tied to the old DM.

                      Totally agree with our universities being supported and directed towards the STEM industries and away from many of the totally useless courses they’re currently promoting, just for bums on seats.

              • Tracey

                You mean like it was left to owners to make sure the mine at Pike River was safe? or the forestry companies to make sure its workers were safe?

                I detect a concern Troll. You pretending you read the linked reports now?

                “Come on Labour, get behind your traditional base, the manufacturer and their employees and make all capital purchases of plant tax deductible.”

                The market says yes aye HJ?

                The reason NZ is so well based in sustainable energy is BECAUSE of Government decisions doofus, not instead of.

                • henry james

                  The inability to deduct capital expenditure had nothing to do with Pike River. In fact, it could be argued that it contributed, as they were paying tax against assets, rather than freeing up capital to invest in more safety systems. But I’m not here to politicise the deaths of 29 good men.

                  So, anyone that is disagreeing with the direction of the party is called a troll, for floating potentially a game changing policy.

                  Any wonder the polls are heading in one direction alone.

                  I shake my head at what I used to vote for has become.

                  I guess I’ll be joining the 800,000 on the sidelines this year….

                  [lprent: Nope. You usually get called a troll when people disagree with you and consider that you might be just pumping astroturf lines. They often say it to draw my attention to a newcomer for a bit of attention. You usually disprove them by :-

                  1. Saying things that show intelligence and an awareness of what other people are saying.
                  2. Not whining about being called a name. I find that irritating squealing to be an attempt to try to change the rules of this site.

                  But you know all this. You have been here several times under several pseudonyms. Having read your comments, I’m generally inclined towards the view that you may not be a troll. Just a arrogant shithead jerk with an over inflated sense of your own self-importance, a inability to ever read what other people are saying, and a near complete unawareness of how this country operates.

                  I’d suggest rereading the policy again might be a good start on your search fro clarity about how this site runs. ]

                  • henry james

                    Wow, how ironic, someone who regularly points out how great a Sysop they are saying someone else has an over inflated sense of their own self-importance.

                  • Tracey

                    I am not politicising the pike river deaths, i am telling you what tge report found cos i read it. Corner cutting by employers who could afford to not cut corners but chose to save money, presumably due to pressure to profit for shareholders.

                    As for Zero, they arent a manufacturer

                    • henry james

                      Not sure how well you read, or more importantly understood the report into the PRC mine disaster.

                      The primary reason behind a lack of safety systems was a lack of money, not to save money and not to profit shareholders, as they had not dug an Oz. of coal out of the ground when those decisions were not made.

                      They did not have the money to spend on adequate ventilation and robust warning systems, that is not to say that should have been operating either. The mine should not have been operating, it should never had been allowed to commence production in the state it was in. PRC should have been effectively made to go back to their shareholders for more capital, such that they could make the mine safe.

                      Oh, if you want to be pedantic, Xero is not a manufacturing company in the purist sense. But they do have capital infrastructure costs. They could also have more, generating more employment, if there were policies in place such as those I describe.

                      Right now, Xero offshore all their hosting to overseas, directly in contravention of IRD policy, although, I believe they got some kind of dispensation. If we had a server farm in NZ, Xero could hold their hosting here, they could even operate their own servers – but they choose not too, because their hosting costs are directly tax deductible, yet for them to build a data centre here is not….

              • greywarbler

                henry j 9.41
                Anywhere the government has been involved in picking winners in the green “economy” has been an unmitigated disaster.

                Don’t repeat your mantras and trite sayings here. It isn’t true. Obviously. No-one who makes firm statements that something is absolute can be believed, so using ‘Anywhere’ is a sure sign that what follows will show no concern for actual facts. Talking derisively about ‘picking winners’ is another bad sign – a repetitive catchphrase used by those with a mind saturated in market propaganda and probably pickled in alcohol.

                I like this quote read recently. This is as good a place to put it as any, and ensures that something useful arises out of here.

                The errors of a theory are rarely to be found in what it asserts explicitly; they hide in what it ignores or tacitly assumes. Kahneman
                (K got the Nobel Prize in economics although he is a psychologist.)

              • aerobubble

                Blinkers. Markets work sometimes and sometimes they fail. You seem incapable of understanding that. Sometimes Government build Green hydro dams, etc. Sometime Industry provides solutions. But mostly our private market solutions have come out of publicly funded research in the western nations over thirty years. Its take thirty years to deliver a new technology to market. Its took a roading network to create the fast food market and super market distribution networks. At the base of all industries is government research and investment in infrastructure.

                Sorry, only a free market buffoon believes government has no part in growth of the economy.

                • aerobubble

                  Only old industries and the already rich are serviced by less government, its the only way they can maintain their profitability, i.e. by limiting future growth to maintain their niche control. Fear drives the National party ideology, its the same for all fascists, fear is the reason for their ultra conservatism.

              • KJT

                “Picking winners” seems to have worked fine for our dairy industry.

      • john 1.1.2

        Statistics NZ says “The volume of sales, excluding meat and dairy product manufacturing, rose 0.7 percent in the March 2014 quarter. This follows a 0.8 percent rise in the December 2013 quarter. ”

        So manufacturing was actually increasing at a healthy rate over the period of the cherry picked doom and gloom list above.

        Similarly misleading and simplistic is the idea that the blame for the high dollar is because of interest rates. There are a large number of factors, not least other countries having to buy NZ dollars to pay for the massive increase in the amount of goods we are exporting.

        • KJT 1.1.2.1

          Bullshit. The amount of dollars being bought is a huge multiple of our exports.

          Exports haven’t gone up much by the way. The extra is due to the higher prices we have been getting for milk powder.

          • john 1.1.2.1.1

            In 2010 we were exporting $3-$3.5 billion per month. This year we’re exporting $4.5-$5 billion per month.

            Yet additional overseas investment into NZ (for ALL investments – bonds, interest accounts, shares and businesses) was just $1.1 billion over the last quarter, or $0.35 billion per month.

            Similarly, other countries printing money devalues their currency which often has a bigger impact than anything happening at this end. That’s why a year or two back some were screaming about out over valued dollar (against the US$) it was actually at a very LOW rate against our biggest trading partner at the time – Australia.

            Then of course there’s also a large effect on the exchange rate from borrowing – with LOW interest rates generally increasing borrowing (and house mortgages alone far exceed the TOTAL of foreign investment in NZ, then there’s farm and business loas as well)

            Which helps explain why our exchange rate is much higher now even though we have relatively low interest rates, but previously the exchange rate was much lower when we had sky high interest rates in double figures.

    • greywarbler 1.2

      @tsmithfield and Jepenseque
      How nice to find a silver lining always in yours or others pockets. No need to make any changes providing that you or people you like to mix with are happy. The rest of the great unwashed are not worth spitting on.

  2. Jepenseque 2

    Left wing parties should be even more supportive of strong inflation control as inflation tends to hurt the poor the most as their wages and cash savings take a hit in purchasing power while the rich see their property and share portfolios sometimes debt funded increase in value. False hope of being able to have it all via mythical monetary policy reform is no panacea. Cheers

    • KJT 2.1

      The poor do not have “savings”.

      Inflation removes the value of monetary speculation.

      A natural offsetting mechanism.

      The RBA ensures that any economic recovery goes into bank profits instead of wages.

      Inflation is good for borrowers. The ordinary young worker with a mortgage, and bad for people who make their money by having money.
      Which is why it is artificially held down by the same people who say that we should not interfere in markets. Unless it benefits them of course.

      http://kjt-kt.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/the-reserve-bank-debt-and-property.html
      “In New Zealand we have the “Reserve Bank Act”.
      Which basically requires the reserve bank to kill the rest of the economy, whenever Auckland house prices, or wages, rise”.

      http://howdaft.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/the-reserve-bank-debt-and-property.html
      ” What hasn’t been commented on is that an increase in interest rates will also penalise every business and household in the country including everyone resident in Auckland and Christchurch who already have a mortgage and have no intention of buying or selling a home. There will be no beneficial behaviour change within that wide group who are not seeking to get further into debt but it will impose hardship and constrain the rest of the economy. The interest rate rise would be imposed simply as an attempt to limit price rises in response to artificial shortages of housing in two localised parts of the property market.
      The more sensible action would be to address the cause of these shortages rather than attempt to alter the market response by raising interest rates.
      The Reserve Bank Act is not only completely ineffectual at slowing property prices it is the root cause of property price inflation. Because the Reserve Bank Act obliges debtors to pay over the market price for debt, it also guarantees lenders greater than normal market returns on investments”.

      The RBA is an extremely effective mechanism to make sure that any signs of recovery in New Zealand’ economy are buried in bank profits.

      http://kjt-kt.blogspot.co.nz/2010/08/more-stupidity-from-reserve-bank-act.html
      “Of course raising business interest rates beyond that of overseas competitors has no effect on prices and competitiveness. Right!! And interest rate rises of themselves are not a driver of inflation. Right!! And higher interest rates in NZ do not give windfall profits to overseas banks and finance companies. Right!! And lower wages and higher prices do not drive borrowing to live. Right!!”

  3. Mariana Pineda 3

    Notice that term deposit rates have hardly moved whereas lending rates have moved substantially.
    It shows that the banks will be absolutely creaming it while good workers are thrown on the scrap heap.

    Loyal kiwi manufacturers are being disadvantaged due to a government who has no plans and no solutions for them because it is likely they favour multi-nationals.

    Too many manufacturers would rather buy very cheap and non-unionised slaves in low wage economies as well. They can probably borrow funds over there as well on much lower interest rates than kiwi based manufacturers can get.

    Free trade is a farce and only benefits the unethical.

    • Gareth 3.1

      Free trade is great, on one condition.

      You can get lots of benefits from making trade easier, but you should never make it easier for capital to move around.

      Most free trade deals these days aren’t really free trade deals. They have some tariff reductions, but primarily they are designed to make it easier to move capital around which is very bad.

      Have a look at this online comic designed to explain the TPP, it covers the problems with trade agreements in general as well as the TPP specifically: http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/

      • greywarbler 3.1.1

        @ Gareth 8.30 pm
        Michael Goodwin and Dan E Burr two names that have produced a masterpiece of work for the 21st century.

        Thanks very much for that Gareth. I am sure that you won’t mind me putting the link on Open Mike, Tawhera so that everybody gets the chance to see it.

  4. greywarbler 4

    A bit out of the time-frame but here is an example of business and money gone offshore. Griffins biscuits is being bought for $700 million by some outfit in the Philippines from Pacific Equity Australia. I remember when it was a NZ company making biscuits and sweets with its main office in Nelson. It was sold to Nabisco of the USA in about 1964. They had it for some time and then sold to Danone see note below.

    Griffins is still using much the same recipes it had in 1964. They could be making them here and selling them here and elsewhere and it would have been a lovely viable little export business. Why can’t we have an investment arm that buys NZ companies like this, and then offers shares – part private, part government. It would be a good use of the public-private partnership.

    But we don’t and constantly something good that NZ develops is sold overseas and the market is developed and someone else gets the long-term profits and we are back milking cows for a living. And soon even that will be robotised and no-one will be there to call the cows Daisy and Belle. Someone talking the other day said their cows came when their names were called.

    (Danone is trying to sue Fonterra for $300 million plus add ons that would take it to $600 million for a product being called into question that had to be recalled, as we know about. Rod Oram was talking about it today on Radionz. They are going before a mediator in Singapore to pass judgment, but may still go to trial. Below is wikipedia about them – it pays to know your enemies.)

    The Groupe Danone is a French food-products multinational corporation based in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It produces fresh dairy products,[2] bottled water, cereals, baby foods[3] and yogurts. In the United States it is marketed as the Dannon Company.
    The company owns several internationally known brands of bottled water: Aqua, Volvic, Evian, and Badoit; in Asia, it owns Yili, Aqua (Indonesia), Sehat (Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) and Robust, Bonafont in Mexico, and has a 51% holding in China’s Wahaha Joint Venture Company. About 56% of its 2006 net sales derived from dairy, 28% from beverages, and 16% from biscuits and cereal.

  5. greywarbler 5

    This is the latest in Business News 6.45am on Radionz each morning. Good place to listen if you want to know more than just what the prices are for our exchange rate and the good or bad feelings driving the thinking people in the market as they react to the computer generated prices of shares etc.

    Tech companies good. If they stay here. Better if they have NZ graduates working for them. Even better if they stay in NZ owned and based hands.

    Tech companies regard NZX as a good bet ( 1′ 34″ )
    06:57 Technology companies are continuing to list on the stock exchange as investors have shown an appetite for high-growth companies with ambitious plans and sometimes little revenue.

    This is good – the venture investment fund news. In Nelson there is a small trust that lends out funds to individuals trying to start a viable business for themselves .
    http://www.nelt.org.nz/about-nelson-enterprise-loan-trust/
    How many of these are around the country, and how can we get bigger footprint with something like the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. If they can do it, couln’t we?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameen_Bank

    Venture Investment Fund helps more than 100 start-up companies ( 2′ 32″ )
    06:55 The Venture Investment Fund has helped more than a hundred new companies get started with seed capital, but many more are still looking for help.

    We have had many successful companies start up in the alcohol business, vodka, whisky, craft beer, wine, cider – but it’s a bit like dairy, too much of it skews the market, and ultimately is not good for the country, and can affect susceptible individuals’ health. So the news of MOA growing is good, but let’s get other industries going.

    MOA group says sales are up sharply following structure changes ( 1′ 33″ )
    06:52 Craft beer brewing company, Moa, says the company has doubled its market share and increased its sales by 95 percent in the past nine months.

    And more playing with our monopoly money. It’s a bit like the gods in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, watching the world below with interest, both subjective and objective, while they instigate changes a la chaos theory, and scientifically assess the effects. While the money managers count the cash in its economic divisions, we run faster on our mousewheels under the prod of productivity. Good play on words there!
    Another one – ‘some more’ begets mores, meme, ends up, morose.

    A fund manager says an OCR hike on Thursday is iffy ( 2′ 43″ )
    06:50 Harbour Asset Management is bucking conventional wisdom by calling the Reserve Bank’s decision on whether to raise interest rates on Thursday a fifty-fifty call.

  6. philj 6

    xox
    “Bank paid economists !” Is there any other than bank sponsored economists allowed in the public media space? What ever became of independent academic university economists. Do they still exist? You are only getting the “bank paid economists” (Banksters in drag) analysis folks. They rule this rock star economy of NZ/USA. Private, corporate vested interest . Another version of TINA.

  7. SPC 7

    Bollard said one alternative was a surcharge on mortgages – that would enable the OCR (and dollar) to be kept lower.

    It has the benefit of raising tax revenues – a 1% surcharge would raise $2B pa. On top of that higher taxes from GST (lower dollar means goods cost more and thus higher GST off sales) and off higher taxable export revenue.

    Done at .25% in 4 instalments, it would replace an increase in OCR from say 3 to 4%.

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    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    2 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    9 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
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