monetary policy
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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?
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.
Monetary Policy
Written By: - Date published: 7:14 am, February 14th, 2011 - 13 comments
John Key wants to take credit for Allan Bollard’s good work. The Reserve Bank is having to step outside its remit to save our economy from a National government and this is the thanks he gets…
‘Playing fair’ makes us losers in currency wars
Written By: - Date published: 6:29 am, November 12th, 2010 - 51 comments
The US Government has begun creating new money out of thin air, to inflate away the value of its debt and lower its currency to make its industries more competitive. It’s not the only country. Nearly all the major currencies are engaged in the ‘Currency Wars’, trying to force down their exchanger rates. We’re in the cross-fire doing nothing.
Neoliberal dominoes
Written By: - Date published: 9:55 am, November 6th, 2010 - 51 comments
According to some, the very definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. In economic terms the world, and NZ, have been doing the same neoliberal economic agenda over and over for the last 30 years. It hasn’t worked. It’s time for a change…
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.
Phil Goff: The Leader Emerges
Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, October 18th, 2010 - 43 comments
Phil Goff made an excellent speech yesterday. One that showed far more direction, and a lot of promise for going forward. Hopefully Labour can capitalise on this much better than they did on the excellent “The Many, Not The Few” speech. They should be able to – yesterday’s “Kiwi Dream” speech contained much more meat […]
Farmers see light on OCR
Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, September 15th, 2010 - 7 comments
The feds want the OCR frozen.
But that’s not a sustainable answer for exporters.
It’s time to look at better ways of controlling inflation.
Widening movement for monetary policy reform
Written By: - Date published: 11:15 pm, June 24th, 2010 - 42 comments
Unique in the world, we task our Reserve Bank with only one goal – keeping inflation in the target range – and give it one blunt tool to achieve it. Adding other objectives would bring us into line with other countries and giving the Bank better tools is long overdue. We need a smarter, more sophisticated approach to monetary policy. It is great to see the Left pushing for it.
Kiwi favourite of speculators
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, June 5th, 2010 - 13 comments
Read this story to understand why the real economy in New Zealand struggles to get ahead of a volatile currency driven by overseas speculators that devalues our exports. They also like to talk our interest rates go up. If you’re in Christchurch, come to the Fabian seminar next Tuesday 8 June at Mancan House, 253 […]
Goff speech on Labour’s vision
Written By: - Date published: 1:47 pm, May 12th, 2010 - 72 comments
Phil Goff has delivered his speech on Labour’s economic vision ahead of the Budget. It’s a good one, filled with core Labour values and ideas that will get New Zealand moving ahead. Goff talks about fairer tax rather than tax cuts for the rich, better monetary policy, and investing in New Zealand’s future.
Battlers vs billion dollar banks
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 pm, April 21st, 2010 - 33 comments
Finsec’s Andrew Campbell introduces the union’s Better Banking, a trans-Tasman campaign they’re running with their Aussie counterparts to get a better deal for bank workers and bank customers. Campbell notes the banks’ $1 billion profit in the last 3 months alone and asks “Have your fees gone down? Has your mortgage payment become more manageable?”
New export ideas not wanted on Stuff.co.nz
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, March 22nd, 2010 - 33 comments
A really interesting three-quarter page article by Ben Heather in today’s DomPost is titled “Looking for new tools to help exporters.” Lord knows we need them. But Stuff.co doesn’t seem to think so – you can’t find the article on-line, and when I enquired about why the answer was “We don’t put everything up.” No […]
Fabian seminar gets big tick
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, March 18th, 2010 - 19 comments
The first Fabian Society seminar in Auckland last weekend attracted a good crowd watch an participate as some of New Zealand’s top economic thinkers debated how to get the economy working for us. It has been judged a huge success. The next seminars will be in Wellington on Sunday 28 March and in Christchurch on 18 April.
Rod Oram on the Brash report
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, December 7th, 2009 - 20 comments
All the arguments in one handy location – thank you Rod Oram, who in his SSTimes column says: …All it [the report] can say is: we’re not sure what the problems are or what we can do about them. But much lower taxes, government spending and regulation will do the trick. It offers no evidence […]
What works?
Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, December 2nd, 2009 - 49 comments
As the dust settles on the cynical theatre that was the 2025 Taskforce, one fact is becoming abundantly clear. The political Right haven’t a clue what to do about the economy. Key and English don’t have a clue, or they’d be doing it. Brash and his Taskforce don’t have a clue and they said so: […]
Rod Oram on ETS and Monetary Policy
Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, November 25th, 2009 - 5 comments
Rod Oram did a business segment on Nine to Noon yesterday. As usual he went quite deep into the issues. A welcome contrast to Colin Espiner and his very limited level of understanding (“they did it too”) on the complete change of direction in the short-sighted changes to the Emissions Trading Act being pushed through […]
We can do better
Written By: - Date published: 2:24 pm, November 23rd, 2009 - 59 comments
By and large the Right are refusing to defend their neoliberal monetary policy system. The currency is causing chaos, the housing bubble is back, and the Reserve Bank is in a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ position as it tries to control inflation. But the Right treat the neoliberal doctrine like a […]
On “keeping your powder dry”
Written By: - Date published: 12:00 pm, November 20th, 2009 - 41 comments
Reproduced with permission from No Right Turn for a viewpoint on the process of policy formation. This morning, Labour leader Phil Goff announced that he was abandoning the NeoLiberal consensus on monetary policy, with the aim of getting a monetary policy that works for the many rather than the rich few. But specifics were few […]
Monetary policy needs to change
Written By: - Date published: 9:29 am, November 20th, 2009 - 66 comments
I’m really happy that Phil Goff has taken monetary policy up as an issue. The current system – a puritanical neoliberal model set in place twenty years ago – has never worked particularly well and has now become a major threat to this country’s ability to export competitively. Monetary policy is a big issue, as […]
- I Put A Spell On You
You know I can't stand itYou're running aroundYou know better, daddyI can't stand it 'cause you put me downOh, noI put a spell on youBecause you're mineSongwriter: Jay Hawkins.Please note that there is a paywall later in this newsletter, so before I begin, a reminder of my current offers and ...2 weeks ago - A Confession
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- Economic Progress May Not Add To Wellbeing
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Open access notables Global emergence of regional heatwave hotspots outpaces climate model simulations, Kornhuber et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Multiple recent record-shattering weather events raise questions about the adequacy of climate models to effectively predict and prepare for unprecedented climate impacts on human life, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Here, we ...3 weeks ago
- Friday 6 December
In another blow to the media landscape, Māori TV’s daily news service is set to end after 20 years, following the announcement that they have cut 27 jobs. PSA members at MBIE have voted to initiate industrial action, after rejecting a pay offer because it failed to keep up with ...3 weeks ago
- An experiment and our Christmas offer to subscribe to The Kākā
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It must be your skin, I'm sinkin' inIt must be for real, 'cause now I can feelAnd I didn't mind, it's not my kindIt's not my time to wonder whySongwriter: Gavin Rossdale.As the year winds up, I’m feeling a bit mentally drained, so today’s newsletter is one of reminiscing. Today, ...3 weeks ago - The Hoon around the week to December 6
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with: on Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay saying New Zealand would not buy emissions credits overseas, effectively admitting we’ll renege on our Paris commitments. (RNZ) ...3 weeks ago
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- Heading on an overseas holiday? The Australian dollar tumbled this week – but that’s not bad new...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor of Economics, Monash University Michael Leslie/Shutterstock This week, the value of the Australian dollar fell to 62 US cents, its lowest level since October 2022. The acute cause? A revelation by the United States Federal Reserve that ...6 days ago
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Subsidies are gone, road user charges are in, and ACC levies are up. So do electric cars still make financial sense? ...6 days ago
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The Regulatory Standards Bill and the Oranga Tamariki Bill are both open for public submissions, yet the urgency of these proposed laws remains largely under the radar for many. ...6 days ago - ‘Just like the pie’: Bubble tea is here to stay
Bubble tea has taken the world, and New Zealand, by storm. But where did it come from and is it here to stay? At 5pm on a sunny evening on Dominion Road, the retail shops have closed and the restaurants have yet to start doling out their saucy noodles ...6 days ago
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A group of high-profile Wellingtonians are launching a series of events about the future of the city, with the first to feature film director James Cameron. ...6 days ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shukla Poddar, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW Sydney The Australian summer has started to unleash its power. On Monday, the Victorian town of Walpeup reached 47.1°C, and towns in Queensland, western New South Wales, South Australia ...6 days ago
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