Admitting that austerity has failed

Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, June 16th, 2012 - 56 comments
Categories: economy, john key, national, uk politics - Tags: , ,

We’ve written before about how misguided a program of economic austerity is, and in particular how the fantasy of expansionary austerity doesn’t work in the real world. In both the UK and NZ recently elected tory governments have doomed their countries to years of austerity and cuts, and in both cases the results have been dismal. Now it looks like the Cameron’s government has woken up:

£140bn kiss of life for Britain

Chancellor and Bank of England in ‘panic’ bid to hand small firms and house-buyers cheap loans – but will this gamble kick-start the economy?

  • Banks will be loaned money on condition they pass it on in the form of cheaper loans and mortgages
  • Huge sum represents 1/5 of all Government spending
  • Scheme aimed at limiting impact of ‘Eurozone debt storm’ which is blamed for raising the cost of lending
  • Government will soon announce another initiative to underwrite tens of billions of pounds on spending on housing and infrastructure

So much for austerity. I’m no economist, but the package looks panicky and poorly designed to me.  Housing and infrastructure is good – where is the education (reverse the cuts!), where is the research and development? Where is the green, sustainable investment?  The main moves seem destined to just feed another housing bubble, surely we know by now where that ends.  The UK Labour Party weighs in:

Throwing money at banks won’t solve economic crisis, Ed Balls says

Shadow chancellor says banking stimulus package announced by Osborne and King fails to address lack of confidence

Ed Balls has warned that an emergency multibillion-pound package to inject lending into the British economy still fails to address the lack of economic confidence and demand. … He said the measures announced on Thursday night at the Mansion House in London by the chancellor, George Osborne, and the bank’s governor, Mervyn King, should have been implemented two years ago and would not work if businesses were not investing.

So is it too little too late? Probably. But credit to Cameron’s government, they recognised (eventually) that austerity wasn’t working, they’ve ditched it, and they haven’t dithered with half measures. The impact of this package will be watched by the world.

Compare and contrast with our local Nats. They’ve given up on their economic programme too. You can see it in Bill English’s admission that (summarised) “The desired rebalancing of New Zealand’s economy has not been as sufficient as the government would like” and “the government expected its 2010 tax switch to be beneficial following a 5-7 year period” (yeah right). You can see it in John Key’s reaction to the Reserve Bank’s assessment, based on better data, that the economy will not grow as predicted in the budget, and we won’t achieve surplus by 2014/15. Key said “There is nothing different we would want to do at this time”. A total failure of leadership.

Austerity has failed in both the UK and NZ. But at least Cameron’s Conservatives have the wit to realise it, and the courage to act. Key and the Nats are capable of nothing but looking on as the economy spirals slowly down the gurgler…

56 comments on “Admitting that austerity has failed ”

  1. ghostwhowalksnz 1

    The clever Conservatives at least dont have to put the extra borrowing ‘on the books’ as its not borrowing in the usual sense, they are merely printing the money.

  2. tsmithfield 2

    Irresponsible spending eventually leads to austerity because people will stop lending the money to fund the irresponsible spending. In Europe it is not so much that austerity has failed, but rather that people aren’t lending the money to fund it. Look at the trends in yields on sovereign debt in many of those countries and you will see what I mean.

    • RedLogix 2.1

      Irresponsible spending eventually leads to austerity because people will stop lending the money to fund the irresponsible spending.

      Absolute arse about face. The goods and services people purchased with that money were all produced. The materials, the machinery, the labour and organisation that produced all these goods and services existed. The houses, the cars, the household goods and so on were all produced with means that existed.. That’s a really important point.

      The idea that as an economy we were ‘living beyond our means’ is an utter nonsense. Because demonstrably the means were all there. There were two main drivers for why people tended to borrow money.

      1. Workers pay as a portion of GDP is too low. In a stable economy it should be close to 70%, but in many Western countries it has fallen below that… in this country to a miserable 45%. This prompts a rise in household credit to buy the goods and services that the economy is producing.

      2. The bankers and financiers make money by lending money. By deregulation they succeeded in expanding their fraction of GDP activity from under 5% to much higher levels. At one point some 50% of the entire GDP of the UK was in the City of London. This parasitic function squeezes out legitimate productive activity; everyone starts speculating on the rising price of second-hand goods and assets like houses and land… with money that the bankers are lending them.

      There is no need for an economy to ‘borrow money’. Like most right-wingers you keep making the mistake of confusing a household with an economy. While households may have short-term needs to save and borrow… an economy does not.

      If you doubt this proposition consider this. For all practical purposes the whole world is one single economy. From whom do you think the planetary economy needs to ‘borrow money’ to fund itself? Martians?

    • Olwyn 2.2

      Money is not sacred; in the history of the world whole currencies have been dropped and debts cancelled. Apart from rapidly dwindling fossil fuels, (which certainly makes a difference to modern ways of getting out of economic holes), the same land, people and things are there, whatever else money is doing. Bankers can be brought to heel, debts cancelled, and new ways of going about things considered. Rome had to cancel debt at one stage, following on a revolt. According to Simone Weil, “…even if there had been no revolt, a partial cancellation of debt had become imperative, because with every plebian reduced to a slave, Rome lost a soldier.” In modern terms, for every person that falls into the recently minted “underclass” society loses a contributor.

      • Foreign Waka 2.2.1

        You have to ask the question whether the upper class really cares. Look at India or China where you have a vast amount of very poor people and life is cheap. Literally, in the mind of the named societies dead is not such a big affair. Neither is life.
        It seems to me that the push is to create a lot of fear and with that the willingness to accept anything that looks better than the painted picture. Only very few overcome this fear as we see on TV i.e. the man that stood in front of the panzer.
        Many things that are being presented are done via the media which heeds to its master, the one who pays the bills (who might that be?) I personally don’t belief that all this is about money as money is just a means to get what a small group want: power. Power over land, commodities, and people.

        • RedLogix 2.2.1.1

          Literally, in the mind of the named societies dead is not such a big affair. Neither is life.

          Exactly. Which is why politics is essentially a morality business. What we believe in is really, really important.

          • Olwyn 2.2.1.1.1

            Foreign Waka: It is true that I may have been a bit over-optimistic in assuming that people may care whether other people are members of an underclass or social contributors. However, on purely instrumental grounds, the well being of those who have it relies upon a modicum of order. The more abandoned people within its ranks, the more that order is liable to break down. And taking on board what RedLogix says, which I think is true, where morality is overridden, it has a habit of biting people later. Zygmunt Bauman has said, of those who later felt ashamed of not helping others during the terrible events of World War II, “I am sure…that had I refused shelter, I would be fully able to justify to others and to myself that…turning the stranger away was an entirely rational decision. And yet I am sure as well, that were it not for this feeling of shame, my decision to turn away the stranger would go on corrupting me for the rest of my days.” Instrumental rationality has its limits, and they are in many cases moral limits.

          • ianmac 2.2.1.1.2

            Redlogix: I read of life and death in the slums of India. A community was close knit, cooperative and sympathetic but with nothing except a few fancy clothes for special occasions. When one died there was grief and sadness, but such was the pressure to survive that the day after the funeral life carried on. It seems that the effect of death in a Western society lingers on and on on and on. Do some here indulge in grief as a badge and because in an affluent society you can afford the “luxury”?

        • fatty 2.2.1.2

          “Look at India or China where you have a vast amount of very poor people and life is cheap. Literally, in the mind of the named societies dead is not such a big affair. Neither is life.”

          they do have about 40% of the world’s population and India has religious influences their perspective on life/death…its wrong to say ‘life is cheap’ in those countries

          • Olwyn 2.2.1.2.1

            I agree Fatty. I think it is easy to mistakenly conclude that the acceptance of death in poor, crowded places shows that life there is cheap. Affluent Western countries have more defences against death, so it comes as more of a shock to the people who live in them. But this does not mean that life is less valued in the former and more valued in the latter.

            • Foreign Waka 2.2.1.2.1.2

              fatty and Olwyn – Did I say that I find it acceptable that in poor countries life is cheap (?????).
              It is great that you try to take the high moral ground – good on you – because I hope you can hold it when poverty surround you and all the fine qualities go out the window. As they do in any society I may add. It is human nature to protect one self and kin before the country or god forbid its ruler.
              As for my comment, it is in India the belief that a person is on a life/death journey but also the atheistic aproach in China that leads to the notion that life is either a/ a repeat experience or b/ replaceable by the next person. And by the way, both of these answers did come from individuals of these cultures. Just saying……

              • Olwyn

                Sorry Foreign Waka, my answer was to Fatty & ianmac, not you in that instance. I accepted your point that the upper class might not care if other people are deprived, and your use of those countries as examples. And I took ianmac’s point about life and death in India & Fatty’s response as a sub-topic, rather than a denial of what you were saying. I agree that life can seem cheap to the upper classes looking on, but not necessarily to the people who are living it.

              • fatty

                “Did I say that I find it acceptable that in poor countries life is cheap (?????).”

                No you didn’t, and neither did I.
                I am saying that assuming ‘life is cheap’ in China and India is wrong.
                They value life no more or less than Kiwi’s do, I don’t know where you get that idea from?
                …in fact I would argue that that global North cheapens the lives of those in the global South.
                We buy the i-phones – Chinese workers kill themselves…they lose their quality of life to pay for our greed.
                If their lives are ‘cheapened’…it is us that is driving the price down. We make sure their life is cheap.

    • mike e 2.3

      THe Stupid Monetarist irresponsible lending by big banks with Goldman Sachs corrupting practises .
      Loan sharks knowing full and well those countries and their banks weren’t able to pay them back.
      Now Goldman Sachs has ex Conmen[Goldman Sachs employees] in every major country as their finance ministers the gouging of Europe continues..
      Fact.
      Austerity for the peasants
      Massive bonuses for the robber barons.
      Lets hope Hollande has some balls to do the same to the bankers as they’ve done to overpaid public servants.

      • Colonial Viper 2.3.1

        THe Stupid Monetarist irresponsible lending by big banks with Goldman Sachs corrupting practises .

        Worthwhile remembering that this has all been empowered by the Federal Reserve printing money at massive quantities, and then lending it out to major institutions like Goldman Sachs at record low (essentially zero i.e. ZIRP) interest rates.

        Oh yah, the Federal Reserve is staffed from top to bottom with alumni from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. As is the White House economic council. What a co-incidence.

        NZ does almost as well with an alumni of Merill Lynch as PM.

  3. ianmac 3

    “In modern terms, for every person that falls into the recently minted “underclass” society loses a contributor.”
    In a nutshell. Yes Olwyn. This Government seems to pride itself on creating more “underclass.”

  4. DS 4

    This isn’t an end to austerity in the UK: Cameron and Osborne (and Clegg) are wedded to the idea that slashing government spending in a depressed economy somehow stimulates growth. This is just a significant easing of monetary policy to prevent a credit crunch is (or when) Greece (or Spain) leaves the Euro. Mervyn King and the Bank of England have been the only thing preventing Britain from economic catastrophe since the austerity madness started.

    • RedLogix 4.1

      This is just a significant easing of monetary policy to prevent a credit crunch

      Which will of course not work. Giving banks the credit to create more lending cannot achieve anything when everyone is debt saturated. The are literally injecting the money to exactly the wrong point in the economy.

      Everyone makes the valid point that the solution to too much debt is not more debt. We get that. The only valid answer is to get rid of the debt… especially debt that was created dishonourably in the first place.

      There are only two ways to get rid of it. One is to spend the next few decades in austerity mode painfully paying it all back. Many nations have Debt to GDP ratios over 200%; if we divert say 5% of GDP ( a huge de-leveraging hit) to paying this down to a more sustainable 30% then logically it could take something in the order of 30-40 years to unwind. That is an insanely unstable and risky proposition… societies everywhere, especially in the face of peaking resources, will simply collapse.

      Alternately you could just treat this dishonourable debt with the contempt it deserves. Cancel it and get on with life.

      • Colonial Viper 4.1.1

        Alternately you could just treat this dishonourable debt with the contempt it deserves. Cancel it and get on with life.

        While placing future lending under very strict central controls.

      • Draco T Bastard 4.1.2

        Doesn’t even matter if it was “dishonourable debt” or not either – just cancel it and, as CV points out, put in place some very strict lending rules.

  5. Foreign Waka 5

    The problem is a created one. Once the gold value was disestablished as a benchmark, money became a commodity in itself. Look at all the currency traders and the hedging of money value as well. When they loose, every one of us does too, with a stroke of a pen. When they win, dividends galore. In that way money is being sucked out of any economy with the more unstable ones suffering most. Inflation rides up no matter what and there are only one group of winners, and they are the same all the time.
    Instinctively people realise that savings can be lost in that way but housing and land, once paid off, is logistically and politically a heck of a lot more difficult to grab.
    No matter how much the tell us to invest and save I am suspicious that we are being told to prop up the very ones that devalue our lives. How many times have the oldies paid the price for the politicians short sightedness and the banks greed by saving for old age. In my lifetime I heard stories of already 2 generations experiencing the same debacle.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.1

      Once the gold value was disestablished as a benchmark, money became a commodity in itself.

      This is what happened but you’re looking at the wrong cause. In fact, I think you’ll find that money was a commodity before and partially led to the dropping of the Gold Standard. What makes money a commodity rather than the tool that it should be is interest. Get rid of that and money will no longer be a commodity.

      • Foreign Waka 5.1.1

        just some history of money:
        Many cultures around the world eventually developed the use of commodity money. The shekel was originally a unit of weight, and referred to a specific weight of barley, which was used as currency. The first usage of the term came from Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC. Societies in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia used shell money – often, the shells of the money cowry (Cypraea moneta L. or C. annulus L.). According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins.[14] It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650–600 BC.[15]
        Song Dynasty Jiaozi, the world’s earliest paper money
        The system of commodity money eventually evolved into a system of representative money.This occurred because gold and silver merchants or banks would issue receipts to their depositors – redeemable for the commodity money deposited. Eventually, these receipts became generally accepted as a means of payment and were used as money. Paper money or banknotes were first used in China during the Song Dynasty. These banknotes, known as “jiaozi”, evolved from promissory notes that had been used since the 7th century. However, they did not displace commodity money, and were used alongside coins. Banknotes were first issued in Europe by Stockholms Banco in 1661, and were again also used alongside coins. The gold standard, a monetary system where the medium of exchange are paper notes that are convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold, replaced the use of gold coins as currency in the 17th-19th centuries in Europe. These gold standard notes were made legal tender, and redemption into gold coins was discouraged. By the beginning of the 20th century almost all countries had adopted the gold standard, backing their legal tender notes with fixed amounts of gold.
        After World War II, at the Bretton Woods Conference, most countries adopted fiat currencies that were fixed to the US dollar. The US dollar was in turn fixed to gold. In 1971 the US government suspended the convertibility of the US dollar to gold. After this many countries de-pegged their currencies from the US dollar, and most of the world’s currencies became unbacked by anything except the governments’ fiat of legal tender and the ability to convert the money into goods via payment.

        • Draco T Bastard 5.1.1.1

          Yes, I’m quite aware of the history. Now what was your point in quoting it? What, specifically, were you addressing in my comment?

          The first usage of the term came from Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC.

          And that’s about the first record of debt, interest and financial collapse due to over accumulation by a few as well and probably the main reason why nearly every religion (including Christianity) bans interest as it always results in that over accumulation.

          The gold standard, a monetary system where the medium of exchange are paper notes that are convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold, replaced the use of gold coins as currency in the 17th-19th centuries in Europe.

          Yeah, it took 2 centuries to implement because it kept failing. In fact, after full implementation in ~1891 it was then dropped, again, ~1911 so that the build up for WW1 could be paid for.

          After World War II, at the Bretton Woods Conference, most countries adopted fiat currencies that were fixed to the US dollar. The US dollar was in turn fixed to gold.

          Which was why the US$ became the reserve currency and why it should no longer be considered that. The reasons why it still is seems to be a) habit and b) the US managed to persuade OPEC (Specifically, Saudi Arabia) to price oil in US$.

  6. captain hook 6

    gosh they will all be able to buy hardly davisons and leaf blowers and chainsaws now.

  7. NattyM 7

    I’d really appreciate it if someone could explain if there is any benefit to countries or their ordinary people in currency trading or is it just another way of greedy people and greedy companies making money out of actually producing nothing of any tangible worth or benefit?

    • RedLogix 7.1

      It is vital to understand that virtually all money is nothing more than ‘credit’. Credit is simply a ‘promise to pay’.

      Let’s put it this way. You go to Mitre 10 and grab a leaf-blower off the shelf, stroll up to the check-out and whip out your EFTPOS card. No actual money changes hands. What happens is a bit of double entry bookkeeping. Credit is swapped from your bank account to Mitre 10’s. An equal and opposite debt travels back the other way. Essentially the bank has acted as a trusted bookkeeper tracking a credit transaction. That is their legitimate role and they are entitled to charge a modest fee for doing so.

      We stopped using gold or silver coins ages ago. Even paper notes are clumsy compared to this remarkably elegant system of pure credit transactions.

      At the same time however it places the bankers in a position of privilege, or Seigniorage as the technical term goes. The core problem is that when bankers are allowed to exploit seigniorage and make too much money as a result. They use that wealth and power to capture the political system in order to give themselves more privilege, and thus more wealth. And as the above article states, one of the most lucrative forms of illegitimate seigniorage is the trading in currencies. Money changing is one of the oldest evils.

      In a just economy people are paid enough to buy the goods and services they produce. If you cannot do this then by definition you are a slave. Being forced to borrow money in order to buy goods and services is simply a form of debt-servitude. In effect we have not really moved all that far from the Company Town model.

      This again is an ancient evil but rife in the modern world.

      Money is a necessary tool. But like all tools it must be used with discipline and restraint.

      • Olwyn 7.1.1

        Beautifully said, RedLogix!

      • Colonial Viper 7.1.2

        The nature and role of money (Steve Keen)

        http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2012/06/01/guest-post-nature-and-roles-of-money-and-banks/

        Thus, suppose Tom would like a pig from Jane but Tom’s wheat crop is not yet ready to harvest. If Jane trusts Tom she might be willing to give him the pig now and have Tom give her the wheat when it’s ready. But suppose Tom is a stickler, and he writes a formal little note that says “Tom owes Jane one pig’s worth of wheat” and gives it to Jane in exchange for the pig. Later, at harvest time, Tom delivers the wheat to Jane and she gives him the note in exchange, since she doesn’t want to claim any more wheat from Tom. Tom can throw the note in the fire, because he has fulfilled his promise and the note has no more purpose. Figure 10.1 is a little diagram of the two-part exchange. Tom’s note is depicted as IOU (I owe you: Tom’s promise to Jane).

      • True Freedom is Self-Governance 7.1.3

        “In a just economy people are paid enough to buy the goods and services they produce. If you cannot do this then by definition you are a slave. Being forced to borrow money in order to buy goods and services is simply a form of debt-servitude.”

        Nicely put, now if only more people would accept that people in debt aren’t neccessarily blowing it all on excessive luxury items, that many of them simply had no choice but to borrow to live.

      • ianmac 7.1.4

        +1

    • Foreign Waka 7.2

      http://www.investorwords.com/6780/currency_trading.html

      Essentially traders take advantage of fluctuations in the value of currencies. The better the prediction (political and economical) the more money one makes from – money. So in that sense Money is a commodity.

  8. Colonial Viper 8

    OMG what a screw up.

    Loading households down with more debt is absolutely the wrong way to go. Trying to get “growth” with debt. It’s just more of the same: pretend and extend.

    Steve Keen has the right idea. Issue every household with a $10,000 credit. If the household has debt, that credit must be used first and foremost to pay that debt down. If that household does not have debt, it can use that bonus as a cash injection.

    And make it much harder for ponzi loans to be made ever again.

  9. DH 9

    The pommy initiative does sound pretty stupid and ill-advised. Banks have caused the economic problems, you don’t give them more money to make things even worse. The Govt will carry the cost of the low interest and the banks will still whack on their usual high margins & lend into the property market.

    The problem is fairly straightforward IMO. NZ banks don’t do venture capital, they haven’t since they were privatised. They only lend against secured assets which with a business is usually shareholder capital or the private assets of the owner(s). When you get a recession the asset base of a business tends to shrink and banks won’t lend against depreciating assets so businesses get hit with a shortage of capital and higher interest rates. At a time when businesses need to cut costs they’re instead faced with higher interest rates on borrowing or no access to funding at all.

    IMO the best way to kickstart the economy is to bypass the private banks and start lending more to small & medium business direct at low interest rates. Go back to the old ways when banks lent on the back of a good business plan and responsible risk evaluation. Forget the tax breaks, Govt subsidies & handouts, make businesses earn their keep just give them access to reasonably priced capital and the good ones will start thriving.

    It would be costly to do that, we don’t have the BNZ infrastructure any more, to begin with the Govt would end up writing off a good percentage of the lending due to incompetence but it would still more than pay for itself IMO.

  10. Money lend to banks under the condition they would lend it to main street and you believe that?
    Here is what Mervyn King said about the banks unwillingness to loan money to small businesses in February of this year. The unregulated wilderness that is the UK banking system is collapsing under a ridiculous mountain of debt created with the Derivative scams and this is just a banking bailout UK style. 
    Austerity is fine for the plebs in the street just so long as it isn’t for the perpetrators of the banking Short Change con artists!

    • joe90 10.1

      In this interview Paul Buchanan notes how the lenders refuse to take a haircut by conveniently ignoring the inherent risks of capitalism.

      http://36th-parallel.com/2012/05/interview-glenn-williams-ivs-paul-buchanan-on-france-greece-elections/

    • DH 10.2

      Yeah King has it right and it’s even worse in NZ. NZ banks are risk averse, I can’t even get a simple business overdraft without putting up 150% security to cover it. And if I did get an overdraft the interest rates are usurious. The banks have strangled our economy with their refusal to take any risks with business lending.

    • Johnm 10.3

      HI TRAVELLEREF

      You’re 100% right! This is Bankster Insurance as the Euro zone heads deeper and deeper into crisis. Pete Pom won’t see a bean of it!

      Want to get the economy moving? Then start transferring the 1%’s illgotten gains down to the ordinary people reduce inequality big time. Getting the rich to part with their huge surplus wealth to help Pete Pom would cause the most almighty howling uproar! But it’s the way to go.

  11. Draco T Bastard 11

    We’ve written before about how misguided a program of economic austerity is,

    Get it right, it’s not economic austerity but financial austerity and the poor are having it imposed upon them by the rich.

    Key and the Nats are capable of nothing but looking on as the economy spirals slowly down the gurgler…

    Which is, apparently, what they want as it would allow them to sell even more of NZ off in a firesale to their rich mates.

  12. captain hook 12

    money is quite simply a lien on future production but unfortunately is absolutely vital to the maintenance of life in industrial countries.
    It also keeps the score for psychopaths who use it to keep the populace cowed, obedient and in awe of expensive gew gaws that they will never be able to afford.
    we right up the old wittgensteinian ladder now kiddies.

  13. OneTrack 13

    Just keep borrowing and spending. What could go wrong?

    • RedLogix 13.1

      Not read the thread much?

      I’ll give you a clue. I agree that the answer to too much debt is not more debt.

      So what are our choices do you imagine?

      • OneTrack 13.1.1

        Cut wasteful government spending ( useless quangos such as the Race Relations Conciliator), enable more revenue generation (hydrocarbon exploration, coal and other mining), reduce government barriers to development (excessive RMA restrictions, etc).

        How about them for starters?

        • BernyD 13.1.1.1

          We’d be better declaring ourselves part of Australia go over there if you want to work in a mine.
          It’d be a hard sell , but if we tell them our government is crap they might take pitty on us.

        • RedLogix 13.1.1.2

          A government exists to serve all the people, not just you. Everyone has particular interests and needs, so what is useless to you is certain to be vital to someone else. The National party made great noise about ‘cutting wasteful’ spending before it came to power, but despite every opportunity and motivation to do so in the last four years it has found relatively few genuinely ‘wasteful’ areas to cut.

          You’re welcome to the warm fuzzies you get from ranting about it… but in reality the big four government expenditures are super, education, welfare and health which alone account for around 80% of all expenditure. Fritzing about with tiny quangos on the margins is pointless and insignificant.

          New Zealand is one of the easiest places in the developed world to do business; if you can’t do business here you shouldn’t be in the game.

        • Draco T Bastard 13.1.1.3

          Ah, typical RWNJ answer – it’s all the guvumints fault, WAAAAAH.

          Hey, did you know that private surplus more or less equals the government deficit? See, contrary to the neo-liberal BS that you’ve swallowed the government is actually the source of wealth and not the rich or private enterprise.

          • RedLogix 13.1.1.3.1

            That is one hell of an interesting link DtB. Keith Rankin was my first economic lodestar. In particular Keith has done a lot of interesting work around Universal Income over the years….and it’s great to see him out there with this.

    • Draco T Bastard 13.2

      Well, that does seem to be this governments reaction to the GFC. Cut taxes, borrow heaps and hope like hell that things come right through the magic of the market.

  14. Huginn 14

    Here is a similar conclusion from the IMF

    ‘. . . the evidence from the past is clear: fiscal consolidations typically have the short-run effect of reducing incomes and raising unemployment. A fiscal consolidation of 1 percent of GDP reduces inflation-adjusted incomes by about 0.6 percent and raises the unemployment rate by almost 0.5 percentage point (see Chart 2) within two years, with some recovery thereafter. Spending by households and firms also declines, with little evidence of a hand­over from public to private sector demand.

    In economists’ jargon, fiscal consolidations are contractionary, not expansionary. This conclusion reverses earlier suggestions in the literature that cutting the budget deficit can spur growth in the short term.’

    http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2011/09/ball.htm

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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    4 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    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 ...
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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
    9 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
    9 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
    10 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
    10 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
    11 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
    12 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
    14 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
    1 day 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    2 days 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
    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
  • 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
    3 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
    3 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
    3 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
    4 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours 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
    8 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
    10 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
    10 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
    24 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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