Economy

Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour

Categories under Economy

Fonterra failure and Government failure

Written By: - Date published: 7:38 am, August 19th, 2019 - 95 comments

Fonterra is dragging New Zealand down, faster and faster.  What is this Government going to do?

Slowing economy?

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, August 14th, 2019 - 39 comments

In May this year the New Zealand Treasury was projecting growth accelerating from 2.4% to 3% in 2019-20 while the Reserve Bank has pessimistically cut interest rates to 1%. Both can’t be right.

Do poor people and women exist in right wing economics land?

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, August 13th, 2019 - 125 comments

David Seymour has written a critique of Deborah Russel’s review of the hard right economic tome “Economics in one lesson”.  And totally missed the point of what she was saying.

Police – ignoring their job in Southland

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, August 12th, 2019 - 49 comments

“Allegations of trespassing and intimidation as Southland winter grazing protest escalates” yesterday. The reporter completely missed the most important salient point – the police don’t seem to be doing their job. Leaving a pissed lynch mob of farmers trying to force people out of their house to ‘talk’ to them is pretty clearly an act of intimidation. And that doesn’t even cover the original idiot farmer who is alleged to have rammed someone’s car.

Should the Government spend massively more?

Written By: - Date published: 3:18 pm, August 8th, 2019 - 58 comments

With yesterday’s announcement by the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates by 1%, some are suggesting that the government should embark on a massive public works spree to stimulate the economy while increasing national debt at low interest rates.  But Kiwisaver reform may be more effective.

Maybe we should take the plane

Written By: - Date published: 7:42 am, August 7th, 2019 - 119 comments

Activist Greta Thunberg is attending a United Nations global warming summit in New York, and will get there by boat not airplane.  But should she consider flying?

Five days is a long time in politics

Written By: - Date published: 2:20 pm, August 6th, 2019 - 27 comments

Five days ago Simon Bridges predicted that unemployment had gone up.  The latest figures show that the unemployment rate is at its lowest rate for the past eleven years. Update: My enthusiasm was too high. It has been pointed out to me that the Bridges tweet was from last year. My apologies to Simon …

Institutional poverty

Written By: - Date published: 12:34 pm, August 3rd, 2019 - 32 comments

Christchurch City Council have provided hundreds of social housing tenants with bubble wrap and a mop instead of insulating their houses.

Memo from Crosby Textor – fake news

Written By: - Date published: 9:06 am, August 2nd, 2019 - 19 comments

The Standard has obtained an internal memo from CTF Partners (formerly Crosby Textor) where it responds to allegations that it is a kindergarden for the rich children of Conservative Party donors, has engaged in misogynist behavior and ran anti and pro cycle astroturf campaigns to get a cycleway moved from near a client’s business premises to near an opponent’s premises.

Jacindamania

Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, July 28th, 2019 - 138 comments

Despite the babies and the engagements, maybe it’s time to ditch the default Jacindamania.

Fool me twice?

Written By: - Date published: 12:05 am, July 27th, 2019 - 29 comments

Boris Johnson’s ruthless purge of Cabinet and hard right shift looks like preparation for an early election.  Reminds me of 1984 at home, as a right wing coup is on the way. He lied his way to Brexit – will it work again?

When your Comms team goes rogue

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 am, July 24th, 2019 - 8 comments

Former UK Labour MP Jared O’Mara must be regretting not treating his staff better as his Comms adviser has announced his resignation via O’Mara’s own twitter account.

The strait of Hormuz

Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, July 20th, 2019 - 49 comments

With the seizing of an oil tanker by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz today as a presumably tit-for-tat escalation for British seizing an Iranian ship, and the U.S. Navy harassing their coastline, we are in for a senseless and dangerous political escalation.

Brian Easton on methane

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, July 18th, 2019 - 4 comments

Brian Easton has put up a interesting post at Pundit which looks at how we should measure and constrain in our methane emissions. My initial impression is that his approach defeats the purpose of trying to reduce the effects of climate change over the coming century.

Nats must hate Auckland’s building consents boom

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, July 15th, 2019 - 59 comments

The rate at which the building consents have increased in Auckland, and the shift to a more useful mix, has been incredibly fast. You can understand why National after their decade of failure for housing and transport have been targeting the authors of that success. It highlights National’s economic incompetence.

Simon Bridges Going Blue in the Face Barking at Green Cars

Written By: - Date published: 3:48 pm, July 14th, 2019 - 51 comments

Simon Bridges is barking madly at green cars.

Toll by Stealth

Written By: - Date published: 4:17 pm, July 13th, 2019 - 52 comments

A tunnel is like a wormhole to another dimension. It changes people’s behaviour ever so slightly, ever so briefly, without them realising.

Cannabis, teens, and fecal matter

Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, July 10th, 2019 - 28 comments

I’ve been musing on the subject of minor drugs that are currently illegal and their supply chain. It is early days so far, but almost all of the news coming through from where the recreational use of cannabis has been decriminalised hasn’t indicated dire consequences.  There are some pretty obvious benefits – especially in the quality of supply.

Guest post – Bucking the trend at ECAN

Written By: - Date published: 8:47 am, July 10th, 2019 - 26 comments

A guest post from Anthony Rimell about a very disturbing attempt by ECAN to allow the levels of nitrate leach into Christchurch’s water supply to increase.

On my reliable commute and dipshits like Mike Hosking

Written By: - Date published: 9:24 am, July 5th, 2019 - 38 comments

Traffic and parking in Auckland isn’t helped by ignorant conservative dipshit parasitic immigrants like Mike Hosking.  They really don’t get how this city can’t just keep adding roads as the roads backup after accidents. Or why it is so much safer for ratepayer cyclists to not have to contend motorists trying to accidentally kill them.

National supports 47% tax rate for top income bracket *

Written By: - Date published: 7:21 am, July 5th, 2019 - 25 comments

* this is one possible interpretation for National’s praise of the Morrisonn Government’s change to Australian tax system.

Tamihere wants to privatise half of Watercare

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, July 3rd, 2019 - 98 comments

John Tamihere has caused jaws throughout the region to drop by proposing that half of Watercare is privatised.

ANZ worried that it may be required to hold sufficient reserves

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, July 3rd, 2019 - 105 comments

ANZ is complaining that the Reserve Bank wants it to hold additional capital in case of a run on the banks.

5G flip flop

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, July 2nd, 2019 - 62 comments

Six weeks after banning China’s leading tech firm Huawei from contracts with U.S. businesses, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have reversed it after meeting China’s Premier Xi Jinping.

National offers to help with housing crisis

Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, June 28th, 2019 - 105 comments

On behalf of the National Party Judith Collins has offered to help Labour deal with the housing crisis, the one that National is responsible for.

100% carbon free power generation?

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, June 26th, 2019 - 77 comments

The Interim Climate Change Commission has come out saying that making our electricity generation 100% renewable would be really expensive and that that expense would land on the poor of New Zealand. But the Government has already indicated it could be flexible on the target. ICCC should be helping us plan, not throwing road blocks in the way.

Regulating Bankers

Written By: - Date published: 8:16 am, June 25th, 2019 - 76 comments

Grant Robertson gets occasional criticism from the left but it is hard to fault him for his timing or his delivery in seeking to strengthen banking sector oversight.

What happened to Hisco?

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, June 23rd, 2019 - 75 comments

Stuff has published details of a sweetheart deal where David Hisco bought the ANZ owned property they were living in for a greatly reduced price. But was this good investigative work or a leak from within ANZ?

National is pinning 2020 success on someone who is not in Parliament

Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, June 22nd, 2019 - 135 comments

An expensive advertising campaign suggesting that Christopher Luxon could be the next Prime Minister after the 2020 election has appeared.

Results matter

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, June 21st, 2019 - 29 comments

Everyone knows that getting employers to increase rates of pay and improve conditions of work takes real pressure and the only real way working people can exert pressure, in the unbalanced relationship that exists between individual employees and employers, is by acting together; collectively. And that’s what we’ve been doing week in, week out and getting real results.

Facebook is planning crypto currency service – what could possibly go wrong?

Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, June 19th, 2019 - 15 comments

The corporation that has become renowned as the purveyor of fake news and the underminer of elections is planning to roll out a crypto currency service.