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Savings: National’s failing

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, November 2nd, 2011 - 10 comments

National have a rubbish short-term plan for Government debt: Asset Sales.

But they have no plan at all for the private debt that is forecast to blow out worse than ever under their policies. Bit like the economy in general really.

1 in 5 Canty Uni jobs cut

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, September 2nd, 2011 - 11 comments

The Tertiary Education Union has revealed that 350 jobs are for the chop at Canterbury University – 18% of the workforce. The Uni, hardly reassuringly, says its 100 to 500. The Nats blame the quake. That’s rubbish. These kind of cuts will permanently gut the Uni, leaving it in no position to be part of the recovery. National: the anti-education government.

Free trade suckers

Written By: - Date published: 10:45 am, August 30th, 2011 - 38 comments

Free trade is meant to be about opening up markets for our exports so that we can improve our trade balance and, ultimately, become less indebted as a nation. Yet the opposite seems to be happening. Darkhorse shows that this is the experience of all countries that lower their trade barriers in a still largely protectionist world.

End slavery in NZ, create 2,500 Kiwi jobs

Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, August 7th, 2011 - 25 comments

Next week, a report will reveal the abuse of 2,500 foreign workers used as virtual slaves on ships employed by kiwi fishing quota holders in our waters. By rights, we should have a world renowned fishing fleet. Instead, we let our potential go to waste and employ foreign slaveowners and human traffickers to do the work instead.

Chart o’ the day: more trouble brewing

Written By: - Date published: 10:46 am, July 27th, 2011 - 97 comments

Every US dollar we make in exports is worth 17% less in New Zealand than 4 months ago. Gonna get worse. How long’s this sustainable?

 

Chart o’ the day: trouble brewing

Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, July 22nd, 2011 - 13 comments

Another big fall in dairy prices overnight. Yet the dollar keeps breaking record highs.

Dutch disease

Written By: - Date published: 5:10 pm, June 21st, 2011 - 69 comments

No it’s not a virus. It’s our dollar surfing on a dumper. Gareth Morgan and Neville Bennett have both written about it recently. Bennett says “There is increasing evidence that New Zealand is ailing. The symptoms are a high exchange rate, excessive foreign debt and a decline of the manufacturing sector.” The resulting damage if nothing is done, says Morgan, is  “a hollowing out of our non-commodity producing businesses, no correction in our household savings rate and in time, a balance of payments/external debt crisis as those factors conspire.” Bennett is not in the camp of those who say nothing can be done and offers some ideas backed up by the IMF. We need more thinking like that.

The next million

Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, February 12th, 2011 - 20 comments

Once upon a time New Zealand was the most prosperous country in the world, living on the sheep’s back. But that was when its population was only two million. The fruits of a raw commodity export sector now have to be spread over more than four million. We could provide decent jobs and income for all by processing these commodities in New Zealand.

Tackling the big issues

Written By: - Date published: 9:53 am, February 12th, 2011 - 60 comments

Key: So, Gillard’s coming. Are we talking about a single economic zone?
Groser: Umm. No. Mobile roaming charges.
Key: Christ, Tim. We’re really racking up wins for Kiwi exporters here, aren’t we?
Captain Panicpants: Your numbers with women are down over Hurley. They say you sounded disloyal and they empathise with Bronagh.
Key: Shit now that’s serious. Call the missus. We’ll do something cutsie and distracting.

Phil Goff’s State of the Nation

Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, January 25th, 2011 - 203 comments

Phil Goff has just delivered an excellent speech to start a year of laying out Labour Policy. $100/week tax free, stopping tax-dodging bludgers, support for R&D and exporters, correcting housing market anomalies and encouraging investment in the productive sector. There was a lot to like.

Too much of a Good Thing

Written By: - Date published: 12:57 pm, January 24th, 2011 - 42 comments

Higher commodity and food prices, we are told are a Good Thing. Our exporters (ie. Fonterra and foreign oil companies) get more money. But we consumers have to pay more to by the same products, so are we better off? And what about the poor saps overseas who are paying more for less, or the really poor saps who are priced out of the market?

Blood for milk? Pull the other one

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 pm, December 20th, 2010 - 29 comments

It’s surreal to see people who cried that not going into Iraq has cost us a trade deal with the US, now saying that the Reconstruction Team Labour sent was to get access for our milk exports. The claim’s based on a US Embassy cable but that doesn’t make it gospel. In reality, the Right wanted us to fight in Iraq to get an FTA with the US.

Is free trade worth it?

Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, December 18th, 2010 - 24 comments

Over at No Right Turn, I/S has picked up on some Aussie research that shows Free Trade Agreements aren’t the huge money spinners they’re sold as. Because FTAs create different rules for different trading partners, exporters have to meet complicated ‘rules of origin’ to prove they quality for the lower tariffs. The cost can eat up the supposed benefits.

Buttering up Russia

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, November 15th, 2010 - 30 comments

What’s so great about free trade negotiations with Russia? We export only $180 million a year to them, most of it butter. That’s 2% of our exports to the US and Japan and Key’s made no progress on their trade barriers. Rising  oil costs will soon make our butter uncompetitive vs Russian dairy farmers. Key got his photo op – but not with Obama.

The sea-change on the left

Written By: - Date published: 1:59 pm, October 25th, 2010 - 41 comments

One of the strange things about helping to run a left blog like this is looking at the varied opinions of those on the left of the political spectrum, and then looking at the monolithic opinions that the right seem to have of the left. I was musing on this while reading Matt McCarten’s excellent Saturday article. Now you have to understand that Matt and myself are almost at the ends of the spectrum when it comes to politics on the left….

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