Free market efficiency in health – not

Written By: - Date published: 7:05 am, March 15th, 2017 - 37 comments
Categories: capitalism, health, socialism, us politics - Tags: , , , , ,

Health care in the USA is very much in the news at the moment. That country likes to consider themselves the self appointed leaders of free market capitalism, but it’s well known that their market based health system is a train wreck compared to many state run systems. This piece (from a couple of economists) makes the point again:

Improving U.S. Healthcare and Coverage

As economists, we are genuinely partial to market-based solutions that allow individuals to make tradeoffs between quality and price, while competition pushes suppliers to contain costs. But, in the case of health care, we are skeptical that such a solution can be made workable. This leads us to propose a gradual lowering of the age at which people become eligible for Medicare, while promoting supplier competition.

Before getting to the details of our proposal, we begin with striking evidence of the inefficiency of the U.S. health care system. The following chart (from OurWorldInData.org) displays life expectancy at birth on the vertical axis against real health expenditure per capita on the horizontal axis. The point is that the U.S. line in red lies well below the cost-performance frontier established by a range of advanced economies (and some emerging economies, too). Put differently, the United States spends more per person but gets less for its money.

It really doesn’t matter how you measure U.S. health care outlays, you will come away with the same conclusion: the U.S. system is extremely inefficient compared to that of other countries.

Looking around the world, the healthcare delivery systems that have advanced longevity most at lowest cost—those at the top left of the first plot […] tend to be universal and with a substantial government role that establishes a statutory standard of insurance. At one end of this spectrum, Britain’s National Health Service is both the sole payer and provider—analogous to the workings of the U.S. Veterans Administration. Other systems offer a combination of statutory and private components: in the case of Germany, the former is several times larger than the latter. Our view is that the provision of universal care in the United States will require that the government assume a larger role than it has thus far.

The data behind that main graph, and a discussion of some possible explanations, can be found at OurWorldInData.org. Most of the countries that outperform the USA have state run / universal health care. Of those that do not, it would be interesting to know what legislative frameworks constrain private provision.

The idea of free market efficiency is not nearly as powerful or universal as its (often fanatical) proponents would have us believe. The sorry state of the USA’s health system is yet another compelling example of its limitations.

37 comments on “Free market efficiency in health – not ”

  1. Andre 1

    Fundamentally the US model adds enormous administrative cost with the insurance model. There’s all the administration overhead, marketing, and profit on the insurance side. But it may be even worse for the administrative inefficiencies it imposes on the healthcare providers even just for routine stuff let alone the time sucked up if there is a dispute with insurers.

    • Andre 1.1

      There’s always voices in the US calling for single payer, even among conservatives. Here’s one that seems to have Trump’s ear, at least sometimes.

      http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/14/14923784/christopher-ruddy-medicaid

      I’m really disappointed at how many US pollies missed their opportunity when Trump said “who knew healthcare was so complicated”. They should have been shouting “wanna make it simpler and cheaper? Go single payer. Medicare for all”

      • aerobubble 1.1.1

        14? million just lost access to healthcare, Trump delivered, he’s making it better, more inefficient more restricted. Trumps American dream.

        • Andre 1.1.1.1

          Has something just happened? Don’t see it on any news websites. As far as I know, the state of play is Ryan has shown his bill, the Congressional Budget Office has said it’s a steaming pile, more and more Repugs in the House and Senate are turning and saying they won’t vote for it when it comes up.

    • Sacha 1.2

      And the NZ govt wants to apply the same approach to privatising our social services. What could possibly go wrong?

      • Andre 1.2.1

        I’m more worried about how the US model is steadily creeping into health in NZ, stealthily under the radar. The big steps proposed for other services seem to spark more publicity and opposition.

        • Michael 1.2.1.1

          I agree. Labour must defend the public health system robustly, even if that means telling the people they will have to pay for it through progressive taxation.

      • Draco T Bastard 1.2.2

        Of course they do – the US healthcare system generates massive profits for the bludging shareholders.

        • AmaKiwi 1.2.2.1

          Draco, you’re spot on.

          Follow the money.

          Obama Care had to make huge compromises to be enacted. Add together the lobby bribes of the insurance companies, drug companies, and private hospital industry and you have mountains of money buying the legislators.

          “Sad”

          No. Criminal bribery.

  2. AsleepWhileWalking 2

    I heard that there is plenty of money but it is grossly misallocated. I was then given examples of outrageous G&A expenses.

  3. Bill 3

    NZ – an equal opportunity to receive a diagnosis (maybe). An equal opportunity to go on a waiting list…and then there are the outcomes.

    Private health insurance? Sorted.
    No private health insurance? How’s that wait feeling?

    I could bang on about this, but will limit myself to one instance about two people I know requiring hip replacements. One person, insured, done in a jiffy. The other, whose condition is more marked, but who has no insurance, has been waiting for yonks while their condition and general well being has deteriorated.

    At the moment they struggle to venture beyond the door and their body is fucking out because of the physical stresses and strains associated with compensating for the knackered hip joint. (I won’t go into any suspected opiate addiction resulting from the time spent waiting…waiting….waiting.)

    Still. Another six months and apparently the operation will finally be done…and any secondary complications may or may not iron themselves out after that. Or not.

    Healthcare should be about equal outcomes, not equal fucking opportunity.

    Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone with private health insurance just cashed in or up or whatever as a mark of solidarity and as a way to insist that this bullshit direction of travel for healthcare in NZ is not. fucking. acceptable…hm?

    Yup. I know. Not happening. Every person with private health insurance will have a reason for marking themselves out as a exception…

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1

      Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone with private health insurance just cashed in or up or whatever as a mark of solidarity and as a way to insist that this bullshit direction of travel for healthcare in NZ is not.

      If everyone had health insurance the wait for everyone would be just as long as the public list.

      You see, the pricing system that the market relies upon is actually there to price people out of the market.

      If people weren’t priced out of the market then the demand for doctors and hospitals and nurses would increase and thus wages would have to go up.

      • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1

        The US system and the NZ health insurance system proves that we cannot have an effective market in healthcare. It’s a natural demand monopoly – everyone needs it and a market is about pricing people out of getting that service.

        Healthcare, and many other modern services, isn’t something people should be priced out of getting.

    • AmaKiwi 3.2

      The rich would make sure waiting times disappeared if they did not have the fall back position of going privately.

    • miravox 3.3

      Agree Bill.

      I bang on about similar experiences in chronic care – specifically for conditions that requires ‘tweaking’ of medicine to control pain and progression of disease. I’ve known of public hospital care where the gap between appointments was 9 months. Pay for private care and the gap was the recommended 3 months.

      I’ve no idea how a person is meant to manage knowing that the constant stream of cumulative delays means they are in constant pain that affects all aspects of their lives and with the anxiety and stress of knowing the delay is not just enduring more pain, but also worsening the disease outcome.

  4. Tuppence Shrewsbury 4

    New Zealand still has a market in healthcare. And it’s very advantageous for consumers because of the nature of it. Health care is supplied at low cost by the state that’s pricing model is semi subscription on semi occurrence based, with subscriptions being arranged at a macro level. The othe key part of this is upstream where the state has almost monopsony like control In health. For 90% of health products it is the only purchaser, it is therefore the price setter.

    That’s not to say this is the most efficient model, but it works well with insurance companies having strong competition in the state itself and the state having its short comings compensated for by private medical care.

    It’s an efficient method of providing a public good. Probably why we see it mirrored in education too. If only we could admire it’s benefits and extend to other areas?

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1

      Bollocks – see above.

    • AB 4.2

      “and the state having its short comings compensated for by private medical care”
      That compensation of shortcomings is available only to the few who can afford private insurance.
      As these people also tend to be the powerful/decision-makers, the trend is towards the gradual degradation of the publicly-available services. Mainly because the powerful are happy to take resources off the public sector in order to award themselves the tax cuts with which they can pay their private health insurance premiums

    • Tophat 4.3

      Health is for those that can afford it. Our health system is great until you actually become sick.
      Our doctors only diagnose what their governing dhb can afford.
      Going on a wait list to get on a wait list is a very real issue, but being placed on that initial wait list is real work. Being told that having surgery would be, “contraindicative,” to your health is code for, “we have no money to carry out your surgery.”

      pharmac is great if you need paracetamol ,antibiotics etc but try to get a medicine that is not generic/commonly used, you will pay for it in total yourself.

      Acc is as useless as tits on a bull. All it does is deplete our access to proper accident insurance and reasonable compensation. They will try to break you by denying treatment costs and income compensation, sending you broke, forcing claimants to settle for far less than they deserve.

      While there may be a conscious effort to make going to the GP more affordable, only the looks have changed. It is certainly less expensive to catch flu these days but get truly sick and you’ll find the real costs of illness in NZ.

      • Draco T Bastard 4.3.1

        They will try to break you by denying treatment costs and income compensation, sending you broke, forcing claimants to settle for far less than they deserve.

        That sounds remarkably like the US health insurance industry as reported in Michael Moore’s Sicko.

        ACC, as envisioned and put into practice initially, was great. Neo-liberalism for the last thirty years has screwed it over thoroughly.

  5. Draco T Bastard 5

    That life expectancy chart is out of date: Life Expectancy In U.S. Drops For First Time In Decades, Report Finds

    One of the fundamental ways scientists measure the well-being of a nation is tracking the rate at which its citizens die and how long they can be expected to live.

    So the news out of the federal government Thursday is disturbing: The overall U.S. death rate has increased for the first time in a decade, according to an analysis of the latest data. And that led to a drop in overall life expectancy for the first time since 1993, particularly among people younger than 65.

  6. AmaKiwi 6

    As important as “life expectancy” is “reduced quality of life.”

    A good healthcare system helps people to be productive and self-maintaining until shortly before they die. A bad healthcare system has many people bed-ridden and/or disabled for many years before they die.

    The personal and social cost difference between the two is enormous.

  7. Paul Campbell 7

    When I lived in the US I had “good” health insurance – that meant that the main gatekeeper for me getting extended healthcare (more than a trip to the GP) was the insurance company’s agent on the phone who had to OK everything.

    That meant that every doctor or dentist’s office had at least one person (roughly per doctor in a multi-doctor practice) in the office who’s sole job was arguing with insurance companies about money) – there’s an inefficiency right there – two people (one at each end of the phone) that we just don’t have in our health system.

    The result is that it’s very hard to see a specialist in the US – took me a year of agony to get a gallstones diagnosis in the US, compared with my wife in NZ who took less than a month – on the other hand once I got my diagnosis I was in to hospital within a few days while my wife took close to a year – why? because in the US there are surgeons (and body scanners, etc etc) sitting idle waiting for work, while in NZ we have queues which mean that those expensive, scarce, resources busy all the time. Again far more efficient.

    Of course I’m arguing that queues for healthcare are a good thing – provided they’re not too long or course

    • Phil 7.1

      …in the US there are surgeons (and body scanners, etc etc) sitting idle waiting for work, while in NZ we have queues which mean that those expensive, scarce, resources busy all the time. Again far more efficient.

      There’s something you don’t see every day;
      an argument that spare capacity in critical societal infrastructure is a bad thing.

      *shrugs*

      • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1

        Cars are used, on average, 4% of the time.

        Does this, in your opinion, show good or poor use of scarce resources?

      • greywarshark 7.1.2

        What do you mean course? If I had to wait a long time in pain as you said you did I’d be course, as would befit someone who has often written on a blog with a love of freedom of expression.

        • greywarshark 7.1.2.1

          Probably I mean coarse. And I am not saying provision of health services is a laughing matter. I have a book on the USA lack-of system or rather it’s monetising of health. In a nation devoted to business and making money, there isn’t much that isn’t up for grabs, from principles to your liver, your health and welfare and everything that you need to live.

          And because money is so much the core of the society, if you can get past the Crime 101 stage and become a Master at it, with lots of dosh you will have broken through the picket fence pale. No longer beyond it you will have become one of the in-group too wealthy to be chastised satisfactorily and with a back door for slipping away. And so bent health professionals with money are vindicated by their wealth and hard to charge or change, despite the attempts of those who still have principles of public good.

    • Draco T Bastard 7.2

      Of course I’m arguing that queues for healthcare are a good thing – provided they’re not too long or course

      Yep, having a short queue shows high efficiency and the right amount of resources being put to use. Having either no queue or a long queue shows either poor use of resources or not enough resources respectively.

  8. RedLogix 8

    Watched Michael Moore’s latest film Where to Invade Next? last night. Hilarious, poignant and Moore at his clever best.

    I’ve always maintained the USA is an extraordinarily diverse nation; the ‘Land of the Free’ … you are free to be pretty much anything you damn well please. There are indeed many Americas, so it is wrong to make dogmatic generalisations about the place.

    Having said that Moore skewers right to the heart of all that is wrong with the American Dream.

  9. Adrian 9

    Aussie being a few years ahead is interesting, maybe it is the warmth, that helps longevity but I wonder if they are counting the Aboriginal stats yet, they weren’t for a long time.

  10. greywarshark 10

    Looking up info on Brit economist Douglas Hague I found some interesting bits in his obituary. He was an early adopter of Friedmans freemarket ideas. and helped Margaret Thatcher understand how to adapt these as Prime Minister.

    …During her tenure as Edward Heath’s education minister, contact with Hague was less frequent — but she insisted that they lunch occasionally (at the Epicure restaurant in Soho) because
    “the Department is full of communists and I need to check on issues… with someone whose views are like mine.”

    When she became party leader in 1975, Hague’s time was largely divided between his Manchester post and the Prices Commission in London, but he also served as one of her speechwriters; and during her 1979 campaign he was one of the very few academic economists who publicly supported her.
    After the election was won, an early paper in her Downing Street in-tray was from Hague urging the abolition of exchange controls — which was done within the year.

    Hague was a consultant to the No 10 Policy Unit from 1979 to 1983, advising on employment and other issues at a time when a gallery of economic thinkers were competing for the prime minister’s ear.
    During the painful 1981 recession he argued (and Mrs Thatcher, guided by another of her gurus, Alan Walters, eventually agreed) that interest rates were too high, and the private sector suffering too much, as a result of excessive focus on control of the money supply.

    Towards the end of his Downing Street stint, Hague moved his academic base from Manchester to Templeton College, Oxford — conveniently closer to London — and responded to a Policy Unit call for more sophisticated British management education by creating the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme, which became internationally recognised as a stepping-stone for high-fliers.
    The prime minister, however, was initially sceptical: “Leadership?” she said to Hague. “You tell people what to do and they do it. That’s leadership!” …

    From 1983 to 1987 he was chairman of the Economic & Social Research Council, and thereafter he was a non-executive director of a variety of business ventures. He continued to write speeches for the prime minister from time to time, and (as a member of Oxford’s Wesley Memorial Church, which she herself had attended as an undergraduate)
    [He}was particularly proud to have provided her in 1988 with words from John Wesley to support a call to the wealthy, who had recently enjoyed tax cuts, to turn to philanthropy: “Get all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11444810/Sir-Douglas-Hague-economist-obituary.html

    (But then I wonder, give to whom? The wealthy often become philanthropists giving away works of art. Applying money to ordinary folks is only worthy when it goes to some special group with some disablement. The disablement of poor childhood in all senses, and the effect of funding a micro bank with myriads of small successes, rates less.)

  11. Infused 11

    I think i’d trust the US system more than most others though. Get cancer or something over there, if you are insured, you’re getting treatment within hours.

    • Bob 11.1

      You’d bloody well hope so if you are effectively paying 3 times as much for healthcare as you do in New Zealand!

    • McFlock 11.2

      lol

      “if you are insured”.

      Yup.
      And driving drunk is a really relaxing and chill way to travel, if you don’t have an accident or get pulled over. /sarc

    • joe90 11.3

      if you are insured

      Indeed.
      /

      Mayo Clinic’s chief executive made a startling announcement in a recent speech to employees: The Rochester-based health system will give preference to patients with private insurance over those with lower-paying Medicaid or Medicare coverage, if they seek care at the same time and have comparable conditions.

      […]

      Mayo will always take patients, regardless of payer source, when it has medical expertise that they can’t find elsewhere, said Dr. John Noseworthy, Mayo’s CEO. But when two patients are referred with equivalent conditions, he said the health system should “prioritize” those with private insurance.

      http://www.startribune.com/mayo-to-pick-privately-insured-patients-amid-medicaid-pressures/416185134/

  12. Richard McGrath 12

    If you think the U.S. has a free market health system, frankly you’re deranged. It is massively regulated.

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    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    2 days ago
  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    3 days ago
  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    3 days ago
  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    3 days ago
  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    4 days ago
  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    5 days ago
  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Cans of Worms.
    “And there’ll be no shortage of ‘events’ to test Luxon’s political skills. David Seymour wants a referendum on the Treaty. Winston wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Labour’s handling of the Covid crisis. Talk about cans of worms!”LAURIE AND LES were very fond of their local. It was nothing ...
    6 days ago
  • Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back
    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not ...
    6 days ago
  • Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is not even an entry in Wikipedia. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago
  • The New Government: 2023 Edition
    So New Zealand has a brand-spanking new right-wing government. Not just any new government either. A formal majority coalition, of the sort last seen in 1996-1998 (our governmental arrangements for the past quarter of a century have been varying flavours of minority coalition or single-party minority, with great emphasis ...
    6 days ago
  • The unboxing
    And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the tree with its gold ribbon but can turn out to be nothing more than a big box holding a voucher for socks, so it ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • A cruel, vicious, nasty government
    So, after weeks of negotiations, we finally have a government, with a three-party cabinet and a time-sharing deputy PM arrangement. Newsroom's Marc Daalder has put the various coalition documents online, and I've been reading through them. A few things stand out: Luxon doesn't want to do any work, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Hurrah – we have a new government (National, ACT and New Zealand First commit “to deliver for al...
    Buzz from the Beehive Sorry, there has been  no fresh news on the government’s official website since the caretaker trade minister’s press statement about the European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement. But the capital is abuzz with news – and media comment is quickly flowing – after ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Christopher Luxon – NZ PM #42.
    Nothing says strong and stable like having your government announcement delayed by a day because one of your deputies wants to remind everyone, but mostly you, who wears the trousers. It was all a bit embarrassing yesterday with the parties descending on Wellington before pulling out of proceedings. There are ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Coalition Government details policies & ministers
    Winston Peters will be Deputy PM for the first half of the Coalition Government’s three-year term, with David Seymour being Deputy PM for the second half. Photo montage by Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: PM-Elect Christopher Luxon has announced the formation of a joint National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government with a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • “Old Coat” by Peter, Paul & Mary.
     THERE ARE SOME SONGS that seem to come from a place that is at once in and out of the world. Written by men and women who, for a brief moment, are granted access to that strange, collective compendium of human experience that comes from, and belongs to, all the ...
    6 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 23-November-2023
    It’s Friday again! Maybe today we’ll finally have a government again. Roll into the weekend with some of the articles that caught our attention this week. And as always, feel free to add your links and observations in the comments. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    7 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s strategy for COP28 in Dubai
    The COP28 countdown is on. Over 100 world leaders are expected to attend this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which starts next Thursday. Among the VIPs confirmed for the Dubai summit are the UK’s Rishi Sunak and Brazil’s Lula da Silva – along ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    7 days ago
  • Coalition talks: a timeline
    Media demand to know why a coalition government has yet to be formed. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    7 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Nov 24
    Luxon was no doubt relieved to be able to announce a coalition agreement has been reached, but we still have to wait to hear the detail. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago
  • Passing Things Down.
    Keeping The Past Alive: The durability of Commando comics testifies to the extended nature of the generational passing down of the images, music, and ideology of the Second World War. It has remained fixed in the Baby Boomers’ consciousness as “The Good War”: the conflict in which, to a far ...
    7 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2023
    Open access notables How warped are we by fossil fuel dependency? Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 35-40 million cubic meters per day of Russian natural gas are piped across Ukraine for European consumption every single day, right now. In order to secure European cooperation against Russian aggression, Ukraine must help to ...
    7 days ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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