economy

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Reaching out to expat Kiwis

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, April 19th, 2011 - 61 comments

The Kea “Census” of expat Kiwis is under way.  Unfortunately it coincides with government plans for a Crackdown on student loan repayments. Instead of chasing our expats for an entirely hypothetical return, we should be reaching out to them, embracing them, making them welcome back home.

Inflation credit and blame

Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, April 18th, 2011 - 11 comments

Back in October last year the Nats, in a sea of bad news on the economy, latched on to the low inflation rate as something that they could claim “credit” for.  No doubt they will now be just as ready to accept blame for the worst inflation rate in 20 years.  Almost half of this figure is driven by the Nats’ GST increase…

Economists line up on “Robin Hood” tax

Written By: - Date published: 9:16 pm, April 15th, 2011 - 31 comments

1000 economists have written to the G20, about to meet in Washington, and to Bill Gates, asking for a tax on financial transactions known as a Tobin tax after its originator, or a Robin Hood tax as it is known in the US. 4 New Zealanders are among the 1000; Prue Hyman, Stefan Kesting, Peter Conway, and Petrus Simons. Good on them.

Skinheads in Suits

Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, April 14th, 2011 - 53 comments

ChrisH has been goaded to write this post by a couple of Jim Mora panels last week, which created a stronger than usual temptation to throw the radio out the window. Here he writes a scholarly polemic castigating the implied or explicit assumptions of the people involved in these panels.

Pragmatism and the limits of patience

Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, April 13th, 2011 - 20 comments

Bill English managed to cause quite a fuss this week with his claim that New Zealand had a “competitive advantage” due to factors like our low wage economy.  Another of the factors that English cited was how “pragmatic” the public are as the Nats ram through their economic changes…

Stop deep sea oil

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, April 12th, 2011 - 138 comments

Protest action by Greenpeace has disrupted prospecting activities in the Raukumara Basin by Brazilian petrochemical giant Petrobras.  John Key has come out swinging for Big Business, and wants to send in the navy to sort out the protesters.  But Greenpeace has it right.  We shouldn’t be drilling for oil…

On Hickey on tax cuts

Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, April 11th, 2011 - 24 comments

Bernard Hickey sets out the “theory” behind National’s tax cuts, and sums up the impact of the tax package as a whole: “Simply put, it’s not working”.

Why isn’t it working?  Well the fact that the theory is nonsense probably doesn’t help…

Even the IMF is starting to get peak oil

Written By: - Date published: 7:58 am, April 10th, 2011 - 40 comments

Peak oil.  We’ve long had warnings from scientists and greens.  Right wing governments never listen to those.  But recently we’ve also had warnings from organisations that you might think that any government would pay attention to.  The IMF is the latest to sound the alarm.

Armstrong on “Austerity”

Written By: - Date published: 5:24 pm, April 7th, 2011 - 12 comments

John Armstrong is losing patience with the Nats: “National is certainly consistent when it comes to cutting spending. It consistently fails to practise what it preaches…”

IMF: Neo-liberalism dead

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, April 7th, 2011 - 48 comments

This post is largely by the head of the IMF. “[T]he pendulum will swing … from the market to the state,” Mr Strauss-Kahn says, “The benefits of growth must be broadly shared, not just captured by a privileged few … the invisible hand must not become the invisible fist.”

RESIGN

Written By: - Date published: 6:25 pm, April 5th, 2011 - 87 comments

National Cabinet

Actually Phil Goff has it right – these clowns should resign – all they seem to be able to do is screw the economy and cut juicy public-money deals for their mates.

Oh yeah, and photo ops. Can’t forget the photo ops.

Economy

Written By: - Date published: 8:25 am, April 3rd, 2011 - 84 comments

The economy, shall we say politely, is facing some difficulties. With a National government there was no plan as to how to weather the economic storm, we just got tax cuts for the rich and an economy that just can’t get growing.

Nice to have

Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, March 31st, 2011 - 116 comments

Bill English wants to cut things that are “nice to have”, like the adult education classes (that he used to praise in opposition), and keep “necessities”, like tax cuts for the already wealthy.  This is the kind of economic “wisdom” that has Bill leading us into an all time record budget deficit.

Hickey on borrowing

Written By: - Date published: 6:58 am, March 28th, 2011 - 91 comments

The latest piece from economist Bernard Hickey is a despairing warning on the subject of borrowing.  With the current government making things worse not better, is there any way out of this downwards spiral?

Flat as a pancake

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, March 24th, 2011 - 59 comments

The economy grew just 0.2% in the December quarter, enough to avoid the technical definition of recession but did it feel like that for you? No. It felt like recession because the economic pie grew slower than the population. National’s economic record is GDP per capita 5% below its peak and down another 0.6% between […]

Re-run: Unemployment up, productivity up

Written By: - Date published: 2:42 pm, March 16th, 2011 - 9 comments

As I predicted in this post last year, productivity has risen sharply in the latest stats but for all the wrong reasons.The Herald gushes “NZ employers squeeze more out of fewer workers” but that’s fundamentally wrong. We’re getting less out of even fewer workers. “Labour input” fell 4.3%, while GDP fell 0.8%. Why anyone would think this is a Good Thing is beyond me.

Today’s Economic Roundup

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, March 10th, 2011 - 34 comments

Digested: the Reserve Bank cuts rates, the dollar weakens, oil prices rise and Sovereign Homes goes out of business.

Some free advice for National

Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, March 9th, 2011 - 20 comments

Hey National – stop lying and inventing dodgy stats to try  and prove that we’re all better off.  The tax cut received by most people was derisory, and the cost of living is shooting up fast.  Even the Kiwiblog heartland isn’t buying the lies.  If you can’t convince them, you can’t convince anyone…

Unemployment tsunami hits Chch

Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, March 5th, 2011 - 28 comments

3065 people have already claimed the special benefit for people left unemployed due to the Christchurch earthquake. Once that payment expires in a few weeks they’ll be on the dole, if they’re eligible. The quake killed and did physical damage in seconds but, without action, it will keep strangling the economy and taking jobs for […]

The benefits of public spending

Written By: - Date published: 9:36 am, February 21st, 2011 - 97 comments

We know from history, and from our own recent experience, that tax cuts don’t cause growth.  Privatisation and public service cuts don’t do us any good either.  What does cause growth?  Public spending.  What’s more, public spending is much more efficient than the private sector too…

English lashes out

Written By: - Date published: 7:07 am, February 10th, 2011 - 66 comments

By every significant measure our economy is a mess.  Bill English is finance minister for what is looking increasingly like the most useless do-nothing NZ government in living memory.  So is he working on a plan to put things right?  Is he rolling out the big ideas that will get New Zealand moving again?  No – he’s lashing out at public servants.  Pathetic.

As much as possible for the underclass

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, February 9th, 2011 - 8 comments

The PM has obviously been stung by the surge of negative publicity generated by the TV3 piece on the residents of McGehan Close. The revival of this particular piece of exploitative hypocrisy risks tarnishing the sacred Key brand.  Can’t have that.  So Key is trying to convince us that the Nats have done “as much as possible” for the underclass…

No Jobs is Government’s Fault, Not Recession’s

Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, January 17th, 2011 - 25 comments

The “Great Recession” saw a greater spike in unemployment in New Zealand compared to its drop in GDP than almost everywhere. Whilst GDP slumped, unemployment did less so in all but 2 countries across the world: NZ and Spain.  The Government, far from being relentlessly focussed on jobs, has ensured with its policies that workers were laid off in swathes.

Christmas present

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, December 23rd, 2010 - 2 comments

Couldn’t resist this excellent BODY cartoon

Ten ways to beat our snowballing debt

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, December 9th, 2010 - 70 comments

Even Fran O’ Sullivan has been moved to admit that debt is getting out of control and our current Emperor has no economic clothes.  She sets out a top ten action list, the usual regressive right wing stuff.  What would a leftie action list look like?  What would be on your top ten list for reducing debt?

Cunliffe’s bad politics

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, November 29th, 2010 - 167 comments

By backing private public partnerships David Cunliffe has potentially given the government a free pass on privatisation – one of the biggest issues of the next election.

That’s bad policy and bad politics. I expected better from him.

US says no to fox guarding NZ meat

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, November 17th, 2010 - 11 comments

I know it’s in National’s DNA to fight regulation where ever they find it but it looks like the meat industry and government ‘watch dog’ MAF’s Food Safety Authority may have bitten off more than they can chew with their proposal to do away with independent  meat inspectors in the country’s freezing works. Seems a 6 month trial to […]

Key’s economic bravado now reduced to whining

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, October 21st, 2010 - 25 comments

In three short years John Key and National have gone from economic bravado, to failure, to lies, excuses and whining.  As the economy languishes they will have nothing to offer except more lies and excuses.

This is a time for fresh thinking, both globally and locally.  But we won’t get it from National.

A Case of IHG?

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 pm, October 6th, 2010 - 31 comments

Seems these days that when people get in to financial strife, the Government is all too happy to offer a helping hand loaded down with wadges of cash.  Sometimes…

And then sometimes something altogether more short and sharp is offered. Depending…

Over promise under deliver

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, September 24th, 2010 - 22 comments

“I also want to pay a special acknowledgement to my friend and deputy, Bill English.  What a great job he is doing as Finance Minister. He’s delivered two Budgets that have steered New Zealand out of recession and put the economy firmly back on track to grow and create jobs”.  Or has he?…

Job queues longer

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, August 24th, 2010 - 17 comments

Contrary to the sunny prognostications of Nice Mr Key, job queues are getting longer. How much more great economic management from John and Bill can the country stand?