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Why be a public servant?

Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, July 20th, 2017 - 28 comments

Today thousands of IRD workers face the prospect of losing their jobs while two MOT workers who lost their jobs for whistle blowing are vindicated.  Who would be a public servant?

Debt to Income Loan Limits

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, June 15th, 2017 - 116 comments

this is not the hope you were looking for

The possible introduction of debt to income lending ratios will potentially have an enormous effect on New Zealand’s housing market.

Key’s Blind Trust vs Our Blind Faith

Written By: - Date published: 4:19 pm, April 29th, 2016 - 29 comments

So Key’s lawyer reckons the PM directly requested that trust industry leaders lobby the Revenue Minister. On the other hand, PM DunnoKeyo reckons he did no such thing. That leaves some really big questions …

Who is ultimately responsible for NZ’s massive dairy farm debt?

Written By: - Date published: 1:11 pm, March 12th, 2016 - 82 comments

People talk of excessive borrowing in the dairy sector. Of course, the real problem is that of excessive lending.

The great big list of John Key’s big fat lies (UPDATED)

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 27th, 2016 - 76 comments

How many more lies will John Key tell today in his so-called State of the Nation address? Virtual chocolate fish to whomever guesses the closest number.

Nats failing Christchurch and lashing out at Treasury

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, December 1st, 2015 - 128 comments

A Treasury report calls the Christchurch rebuild plan “unachievable”. Gerry Brownlee immediately springs in to action – attacking Treasury. Christchurch deserves better than this…

In face of share market meltdown, Govt’s options limited

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, August 26th, 2015 - 54 comments

John Key says New Zealand has options in the face of a share market meltdown and is not like Greece (well that’s a relief). Simon Louisson asks how real are John Key’s options? Thanks to this Government’s profligate past spending, including irresponsible tax cuts, our options have narrowed drastically.

National literally want to hide the costs of inaction on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, May 20th, 2015 - 134 comments

We the people only learned of Treasury projections on the costs of inaction on climate change (up to $52 billion) because someone screwed up a redacted document. We were never meant to know. And National’s Minister for Climate Change Issues statement on the matter is that Treasury should have done a better job of hiding this vital information from the public.

Polity: Income mobility

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, November 21st, 2014 - 17 comments

David Farrar seldom seems to actually read the reports fully before he starts inventing meaningless canards. A theoretical equality of opportunity is irrelevant when your parent’s lack of disposable income is the major determinant of your own education and opportunities. We waste the opportunities from peoples abilities because of income inequalities.

Hiding the government’s failure on poverty

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, October 17th, 2014 - 81 comments

Thanks to Radio New Zealand, we now know that National got no real plan to address poverty, but also that they really, really don’t want to be honest about it.

Polity: Mr Angry tries to reheat 2011 campaign

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, August 11th, 2014 - 13 comments

Steven Joyce is asking about how Labour can afford their policies. Half of the money is what National is planning to spend unwisely. The rest is from documented increases in revenue in a fiscal plan. Unlike National’s mythic surplus, these are solid values. They will produce a solid surplus to pay down National’s debt.

NRT: So much for the surplus

Written By: - Date published: 1:21 pm, July 8th, 2014 - 40 comments

As was generally expected by anyone who’d been watching the actual economy rather than just the dairy exports, business profits are lower than expected. And there aren’t the jobs and pay increases in our “rockstar” economy. So consumer spending measured by GST is low as well. Meanwhile the price inflation keeps increasing government costs. So we are already on track for a large deficit next year rather than the government’s much-touted imaginary surplus. You have to ask why we deserve a government that appears to live more in a universe of wishful thinking than reality.

National – pissing debt against a wall.

Written By: - Date published: 3:41 pm, March 11th, 2014 - 77 comments

The deficit was $637 million dollars bigger than expected. In fact it was more than double the expected size. Why? Well  mostly because of much smaller tax revenues than previously estimated. So much for the mythic recovery that National’s spinners have been pushing over xmas. We just finished paying off the mountain of debt that National gave me back in the 1970’s and early 80s. Now the shifty party of crony business morons are trying to do it to another generation.

NRT: Treasury, National, and child poverty

Written By: - Date published: 2:18 pm, February 28th, 2014 - 10 comments

In many ways what is even more irritating about this screwup by treasury is that it isn’t likely to be the children living below the poverty line that has an impact. It is the large numbers of elderly that Treasury has now discovered getting worse off and falling into poverty.  After all they have a vote. Whereas children don’t so the future accumulated costs of their poverty aren’t something that this government will concern itself about.

Tale of two Irelands

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, February 20th, 2014 - 42 comments

Tracey recounts the rise and fall of the `financial genius` John Key’s pet financial hub for NZ to emulate the paragon economies that tried it. Like Ireland – the home of the jobless and deserted housing projects.

Fortunately he was somehow prevented from stuffing NZ in this way. However he did put in some legislation of dubious value to allow NZ to be used as a haven for hot money fleeing taxes…

Polity: Key practices 56% truth inflation

Written By: - Date published: 3:48 pm, February 19th, 2014 - 21 comments

John Key makes up the figures during a session of parliament for the expected unemployment in coming years when he took office. The apparent reason is to make his governments piss-poor performance running the economy look better. Of course there is that problem that Rob Salmond can link to the December 2008 projections from the Treasury which show John Key to be lying (yet again).

Polity: The truth about the gap between the rich and the rest

Written By: - Date published: 1:31 pm, January 24th, 2014 - 60 comments

John Key was careful in his speech. He and his government have helped themselves and their affluent mates while screwing everyone else. It is pretty clear who has been getting the benefits – since 2010 just the households with at least a hundred thousand dollars income. The bigger the household income, the more National helps. John Key – a liar with numbers.

Power profits and the consumer

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 pm, April 22nd, 2013 - 15 comments

New Zealand’s energy pricing over the last twenty years was thoroughly canvassed by Dr Geoff Bertram last year in a paper presented to the Fabian Society as part of its “Light-handed Regulation” series.  In the light of the Labour/Greens’ announcement last week about NZ Power his paper is well worth a read.

Inequality: even Treasury cares…

Written By: - Date published: 9:21 am, February 16th, 2013 - 62 comments

There’s a book I’ve heard about that I’m hoping helps push the inequality awareness barrow a little further this year.

Charter Schools: A failed idea

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, January 17th, 2013 - 36 comments

Submissions for the Education Amendment Bill 2012 (includes Charter Schools) close on 24 January.  The PPTA reminds us that Charter Schools are a failed idea.  Even Treasury documents show they are a bad idea.

Asset sales referendum is a go!

Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, January 4th, 2013 - 92 comments

The Asset Sales petition has the numbers for a referendum, but need to continue to collect signatures til the petition is submitted at the end of the month.  Well done! The evidence & the majority of New Zealanders do not support the sales. Keep campaigning!

ImperatorFish: Treasury Report To Prime Minister On Meteorite Activities

Written By: - Date published: 2:41 pm, July 18th, 2012 - 4 comments

This report has been prepared for the purposes of verifying the Prime Minister’s statement on Tuesday 17 July 2012 that it was unlikely a meteorite would hit the earth that afternoon. Having comprehensively reviewed a number of economics journals that we agree with, we can find no evidence that a meteorite struck the Earth on the afternoon of Tuesday 17 July 2012.

ImperatorFish: Treasury Report On Sunlight Levels

Written By: - Date published: 1:48 pm, June 11th, 2012 - 9 comments

New Zealand has been enjoying a long period of uninterrupted sunlight, and this looks likely to continue until at least 2014.  The abundance of light can be attributed to prudent and sensible economic management by government, and the implementation of sound fiscal and monetary policies.

Retail Deposit Guarantee: When’s the enquiry?

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, June 1st, 2012 - 14 comments

Labour are pushing for an enquiry into how Treasury oversight of the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme was so poor that it has cost us hundreds of millions of dollars. Bill English can’t be allowed to hide this under the plus Treasury carpet, so his lack of oversight of Treasury isn’t shown up.

Asset sales: still bad

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, May 27th, 2012 - 16 comments

Adding to the canon of reasons and commentators on why you don’t sell your assets (particularly to pay for your maintenance) is an excellent article on The Guardian. It is an article exhorting the countries of the Arab Spring to resist Western countries pressure to implement neo-liberal economics in the name of ‘freedom’. It cites […]

A three-legged stool

Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, April 10th, 2012 - 4 comments

Ruth Richardson has forced every subsequent policy to be sized up for ‘fiscal responsibility’. I’d like them to be sized up for ‘social responsibility’ and ‘environmental responsibility’ as well.

Blinglish’s Treasury not so hot

Written By: - Date published: 4:16 pm, March 29th, 2012 - 12 comments

Bill English and Treasury adopted a “see no evil, hear no evil” approach to the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme. And it’s cost us $2 billion. The Deputy Auditor General has delivered a damning report on a ministry used to judging others, not suffering any oversight itself…

Good for the goose…?

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, March 21st, 2012 - 7 comments

Treasury has repeatedly proven itself incapable of forecasting its way out of a paper bag but, for some reason, that doesn’t stop it trying to tell everyone else how to do their jobs. Currently, they’re pushing for larger class sizes in the reduced education budget. Someone should ask why the education budget is under pressure but Treasury’s isn’t. Wait, someone did.

TEU: Treasury’s attack on ordinary Kiwis

Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, February 3rd, 2012 - 115 comments

Public education is the cornerstone of a good country and a buoyant economy. And New Zealanders have long enjoyed the benefits that come to them individually, to their families, their communities, their country, and the economy from having access to quality public education. But all this now seems under attack from a small group of Treasury officials.

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