economy

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Our growing stress is everywhere

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, May 24th, 2025 - 7 comments

We don’t know where this country is going and it’s getting worse. 

We’ve Lost Australia

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, May 12th, 2025 - 45 comments

New Zealand was once in a sustained Australasian partnership. Now, with New Zealand tracking further and further into policy extremes, Australia – and our children – are leaving New Zealand behind.

Vale David Parker MP

Written By: - Date published: 2:08 pm, May 8th, 2025 - 20 comments

David Parker’s Deputy Leader ‘s speech in 2014 at the Wellington Labour Party Conference was the best I ever heard from a Labour Leader. Vision matched values in intensity and scope. Parliament now loses one of its very best.

The Trump Shock: Why the US President Crashed the Global Economy

Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, April 11th, 2025 - 19 comments

There is a method to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff madness. The chaos and confusion is deliberate; the aim is nothing less than the controlled disintegration of the world economy, writes Elliot Crossan. The eyes of the world are on Donald Trump once again. The world’s most successful attention-seeker has us all transfixed. It’s a story […]

NZD Freefalls & NZ First Linked To Green Party Attack Ads

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, April 8th, 2025 - 3 comments

Headlines: NZD free falls, misleading Green Party attack ads linked to NZ First, making NZDF lethal, and American billionaires regret support for Trump

Trade Like You Mean It: How Aotearoa Can Lead with Values in a Volatile World

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, April 5th, 2025 - 36 comments

In an era of weaponised tariffs, crumbling institutions, and trade policy made on the campaign trail, New Zealand’s long game is trust, credibility, and coherence.

If we choose to play it.

Winston’s war on wokeness

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, March 25th, 2025 - 41 comments

In what looked like an early election campaign launch Winston Peters has done his old man shaking his fist at the sky tirade against everything woke.

Reasons for Optimism

Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, March 22nd, 2025 - 14 comments

We’re good, but we know we want better leadership.

Cuts to Disability Services Are Part of a Class War

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, March 19th, 2025 - 14 comments

Over the last year, the Coalition has unleashed a series of cuts which have been devastating for the disabled community. These cuts are part of a class war — and it’s time to organise and fight back, writes Elliot Crossan.

Is NZ as Stable as Luxon Claims?

Written By: - Date published: 8:14 pm, March 15th, 2025 - 13 comments

By pursuing cuts, selling off assets to multinationals, enabling ACT’s attacks on the Treaty and cutting back on climate commitments, Luxon is guaranteeing that NZ will not be stable for long, writes Elliot Crossan.

Bring us your wealthy and your privileged …

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, February 11th, 2025 - 11 comments

National wants more wealthy people to come to New Zealand to increase investment fund levels. But what if we created the situation so that locals could increase investment through Kiwisaver contributions?

If that’s Luxon’s Plan, What About Labour? 

Written By: - Date published: 1:05 pm, January 26th, 2025 - 56 comments

It’s time to highlight what a Labour plan for the New Zealand economy under a 2026 government would look like. And ask questions. 

New Zealand’s worst leadership speech since 2008

Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, January 24th, 2025 - 22 comments

The PM’s ‘State of the Nation’ speech about the New Zealand economy titled “economic growth the key to better days ahead” was a bag of words with no plan.

President Biden’s Accomplishments

Written By: - Date published: 9:37 am, January 11th, 2025 - 33 comments

It’s common these days to see the rapid 2024 exit of multiple global social democrat leaders as just a post-COVID symptom of democratic impatience. But Biden achieved far more than his age-related decline obscures.

Who would have thought that austerity would stuff up the economy

Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, December 18th, 2024 - 47 comments

The HYEFU has been released and the results are pretty ugly suggesting that National’s austerity measures are having a negative effect on the economy.

Economy Nose Dives

Written By: - Date published: 6:42 pm, November 28th, 2024 - 24 comments

The economy is tanking and Treasury has downgraded the forecasts again after “the government inherited finances in better shape than expected” in January. So who is Nicola Willis blaming, and Winston Peters too?

Nicola Willis Deflects As National Splurge On Roads

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, November 10th, 2024 - 10 comments

Nicola Willis deflects a question on why National are spending billions on roads without a business case – after cancelling the 2026 i-Rex – which had a strong business case and required $1.4bn more to complete seismic upgraded ports and next generation ferries.

The Promises of Lange, Moore, Bolger, and the WTO

Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, August 4th, 2024 - 26 comments

In 2024 we ought to ask if the economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s has delivered on what was promised. 

A Deliberate Recession

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, May 20th, 2024 - 51 comments

It is sickening to see how economic power is being used against ordinary New Zealanders right now.

Back on Track?

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, April 7th, 2024 - 71 comments

National campaigned on the promise of getting the country back on track. How is it going?

Why Labour must change course

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, December 19th, 2023 - 49 comments

“A Left government with any claim to progressive credentials will focus on three policy areas – first, high-quality, high value production; second, taxation measures to reduce significantly wealth differences; third, strengthened democracy, including industrial democracy beyond collective bargaining. These three are indispensable. A Left politics, which does not build on these three, will founder.”

Highlights quoted out of the National-New Zealand First coalition agreement

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, November 25th, 2023 - 73 comments

Some of the more unusual policies from the National-New Zealand First coalition agreement.

Green growth or degrowth?

Written By: - Date published: 11:07 am, November 22nd, 2023 - 21 comments

There is growing scepticism among climate policy researchers about green growth, as concepts of degrowth go mainstream.

Tax or quality public services – which is more important to NZ voters?

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 pm, September 27th, 2023 - 16 comments

Earlier this year Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesmen, that Britain’s problem was that it wanted Scandinavian levels of Public Services and North American levels of taxation. His view was that Britain was overdue for an honest debate about tax and public spending. In New Zealand, there is a similar challenge.

National really, really needs New Zealand to be in a recession

Written By: - Date published: 7:59 am, September 24th, 2023 - 22 comments

After Stats NZ shot down National’s claim that the country is in recession National pirouetted by claiming that New Zealand WILL be in recession in the near future and that the Reserve Bank has predicted this. But according to the Reserve Bank this may not be true …

NZ Election: National’s tax policy

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, September 21st, 2023 - 7 comments

A year ago this month, the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng mini-budget destroyed once and for all the myth that the Tories are better at managing the economy. The New Zealand National Party could not even wait until they were in government to prove the same applies to them.

Understanding the New Zealand General Election 2023: Historical trends and perspectives.

Written By: - Date published: 6:01 am, September 20th, 2023 - 15 comments

From the outside, the New Zealand 2023 General Election seems both lacklustre and slightly strange. The Labour Government, having won a huge majority in 2020 is now fighting for its political life. Yet National, the main centre-right opposition party is still on average polling significantly worse now than they were when it lost power in 2017.

Critics of ‘degrowth’ economics say it’s unworkable – but from an ecologist’s perspective, it’s inevitable

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, August 20th, 2023 - 22 comments

Dr Mike Joy on the ecological imperative of degrowth

Climate extremes make NZ’s supply chains highly vulnerable – it’s time to rethink how we grow and ship food

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, August 5th, 2023 - 32 comments

“It’s clear domestic food supply chains have been increasingly challenged by natural disasters and the ongoing impact of climate change.”

Our Great De-Leveraging

Written By: - Date published: 5:05 pm, June 4th, 2023 - 13 comments

Debt is the most destructive and addictive form of economic behaviour we have in New Zealand. And mortgages are New Zealand’s very high grade heroin and we are being forced to come down off a most spectacular high into a rage-inducing forced withdrawal.

How come government doesn’t improve our economy?

Written By: - Date published: 8:24 am, May 21st, 2023 - 41 comments

When we continue to spend our money on stupid stuff, we get a dumb country.