One day older and deeper in debt
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7:15 am, March 21st, 2013 - 105 comments
Categories: debt / deficit, exports, jobs, monetary policy, overseas investment -
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There’s this almost puritan kind of myth that we’ve got so much international debt as punishment for our spendthrift ways. We ‘live beyond our means’, apparently. But it’s not true. If ‘our means’ is the money we make in exports, then most of the time, they exceed what we spend on imports. Yet, we run a $10 billion deficit as a country. Why? Because of the profit outflow.
We hear about the current account deficit all the time and most of us conflate it with the trade balance (ie exports minus imports) but the trade balance is just one part of the current account deficit – the other big part is the income balance. That’s how much overseas investors make in profits on the debt Kiwis owe them and the assets they own in New Zealand minus the profits New Zealanders’ loans and investments overseas make.
The trade balance is usually in surplus – we export more than we import (although not at the moment). It’s this second part – the income balance – that causes the current account deficit to be so massive.
Here’s the latest figures, breaking down how we racked up $10.5 billion in deficit last year:
As you can see, we exported more goods than we imported, imported more goods than we exported and ended up with a small trade deficit. But that’s dwarfed by the nearly $10 billion that was the net outflow of dividends and interest (the ‘current transfers’ is overseas aid, other donations, remittances, and people taking their money with them when they leave the country).
The irony is that to fund the deficit we have to borrow more from overseas or sell our assets to foreigners. And that just means a greater outflow of profits the next year. On and on, worse and worse each year.
Now, let’s go right back and look from the start of the neoliberal era to the present. Remembering that for quarter of a century, the Right has blamed our international debts on us ‘living beyond our means’.
We’ve actually exported $17 billion more worth of stuff in the last 25 years than we’ve imported. But it’s a pittance compared to the net $189 billion we’ve sent offshore in interest and dividends. That $163 billion figure at the end – allowing for currency fluctuations and asset value changes – that’s pretty much the net $150 billion that we owe the rest of the world in the form of debt and overseas ownership of New Zealand assets.
You can see the cycle, we borrow from overseas or let foreigners buy our assets, then we have to pay them interest and dividends, and we pay for those by selling more assets or taking on more debt… and so on.
Now, part of the solution is exporting more and importing less – that’s half of why we need a lower dollar, the other half is to create and protect Kiwi jobs.
Other steps to improve the trade balance include government favouring Kiwi businesses for big contracts (note National sent the rail rolling stock, Novopay, ultrafast broadband cable, and Mighty River website contracts overseas), investing in R&D, and importing less oil – the rising cost of crude means that we spend $8 billion importing the same amount of oil that cost us half as much in 2005.
But more important is reducing or at least stemming the growth of our debt pile with the rest of the world.
Start by looking at the banks. The foreign banks are the biggest owners of New Zealand debt and the biggest cause of the balance on income deficit. They make their money by inflating our housing market. Bring in rules to stop the foreign banks lending so much money into the housing market and not only will you make housing more affordable, you’ll reduce our current account deficit and international debt.
The next biggest source of international debt is foreign ownership of New Zealand assets. Although smaller than our debt via the banks, the rate of return is higher for the foreigner investors. Tackle this by preventing foreign ownership of strategic assets, by not selling our public assets, by putting in rules about overseas landlords for residential property and generally insuring that foreign investment is real investment in new capital wealth – not just buying what we already have.
(The other sector of foreign debt is the government sector – actually, we usually lend more to the rest of the world than we borrow thanks to the Reserve Banks big overseas reserves, but that’s gone negative under National, too).
If we don’t do something, if we keep on just letting foreign capital buy up more of New Zealand and pay for the pleasure by sending a larger and larger share of our GDP overseas each year, then our net international debt is forecast to grow from an eye-watering $150 billion this year to a disastrous $200 billion in four years.
Where does that road end? It ends when our debt pile gets so big that our overseas creditors fear we won’t be able to make our payments and they stampede for the exits – our businesses are suddenly left high and dry unable to get refinancing, the government has to pay much higher interest rates on its debt, and the currency suddenly plunges sending shockwaves through the economy.
Better to manage things and avoid hitting the wall like Greece did, by using the kind of policies I’ve mentioned above. Of course, those are the policies that the Greens, Labour, NZF, and Mana espouse, and which National has rejected in favour of sticking its head in the sand and letting the wealth flow out of our country at the rate of $10 billion a year.
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Te Whatu Ora’s bill for contracting and consulting staff has ballooned by nearly 20 percent under the National Government, breaking a promise they made during the election campaign to cut contractors. ...4 days ago
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- Government’s move to monetise access to nature a slippery slope
The Green Party is voicing serious concerns over the Government’s proposal to charge for access to public conservation land, released today. ...1 week ago
- Green Party condemns the passage of Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party condemns the passing of the Treaty Principles Bill at first reading, and is clear that the fight is not over. ...1 week ago
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Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our country’s founding document. It forms the basis of the relationship between Māori and the Crown – and the Aotearoa New Zealand we live in today. ...1 week ago
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The fast-track legislation passing its second reading in Parliament is another step towards environmental ruin. ...1 week ago
- Greens join King’s Counsel in calling for Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned
The Prime Minister must answer the call from a group of senior lawyers of the King’s Counsel to abandon the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...1 week ago
- Chris Hipkins’ apology statement to state and faith-based care survivors
...1 week ago
- Release: Labour formally apologises to state and faith-based care survivors
Labour joins with the Government in unreservedly apologising for the abuse, neglect and trauma including torture in state and faith-based care and for ignoring the voices of survivors for too long. ...1 week ago
- Green Party stands in support of survivors of abuse in care
Today, the Green Party stands alongside the survivors of abuse in state care and faith-based care as the Government issues an historic apology. ...1 week ago
- Green Party calls for conscience vote on Treaty Principles Bill
The Green Party has written to the Speaker of the House requesting he enable a personal vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt move to exclude journalist risks chilling effect
The Green Party is alarmed by the Government’s move to exclude a journalist from covering this week’s apology for the survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. ...2 weeks ago
- Without action, an apology will be empty air
For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place. ...2 weeks ago
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Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
- Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principles Bill
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Record number of submissions received on granny flat proposal
Nearly 2,000 submissions have been received on the Government’s proposals aimed at making it easier to build a granny flat of up to 60 square metres without a resource or building consent, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk say. “This is the highest number ...2 hours ago - District Court Judge appointed
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Rebecca Guthrie as a District Court Judge. Judge Guthrie was admitted to the bar in 1997 following her graduation from the University of Canterbury in 1996 (LLB, BA). She commenced her legal career in Hastings in 1997 before moving to London in ...2 hours ago
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The latest Predator Free 2050 Board appointments will help to strengthen biodiversity efforts across Aotearoa New Zealand, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says. Mr Potaka today announced two appointments to the Board of Directors of Predator Free 2050 Limited, a key player in the wider Predator Free 2050 Programme. “The Predator ...3 hours ago
- New facility in Christchurch will improve the lives of young New Zealanders
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey today opened Kahurangi, an innovative and much-needed facility for Canterbury’s Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health Services. “The new state of the art outpatient facility opened today will be a gamechanger for the way mental health is delivered for young people in Canterbury,” says Mr ...3 hours ago
- Driver safety screens to be installed on Auckland buses
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed news from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) that bus driver protection screens will be installed across Auckland’s bus fleet by 2026.“The Government is committed to improving the safety of working environments for bus drivers, and Budget 2024 allocated $15 million of Crown funding over ...4 hours ago
- Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements
The Government is taking action to ensure Southland farmers and growers are not affected by unreasonable regional farm plan deadlines, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard say.“Cabinet has agreed to provide more time for farmers and growers to comply with regional rules ...20 hours ago
- Bill reaffirms Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending
The Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Bill had its first reading at Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says. “In recent years we have seen an unacceptable spike in youth offending. “This Bill makes ...21 hours ago
- Critical milestones for earthquake buildings review
Fairer, more sensible rules about managing earthquake risks are a step closer with the passing of legislation and the appointment of an independent chair to provide expert advice, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The Government is committed to reinvigorating our cities and regions to support economic growth, ...21 hours ago
- State of the art radiology machine for Auckland
People in Northland and Auckland will benefit from a new machine for cancer treatment installed at the Regional Cancer and Blood Service at Auckland City Hospital. The MV5 linear accelerator, or LINAC machine, officially opened today targets cancer tumours with pinpoint accuracy. Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says this new, ...22 hours ago
- Foreign Minister to visit Europe
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Europe for high-level talks with France, Germany and the United Kingdom next week. "Since taking office almost a year ago, the Coalition Government has emphasised the importance we place on New Zealand's traditional and likeminded diplomatic and ...22 hours ago
- First arrests made under gang patch ban
Police have made their first arrests under the new gang patch legislation, with two gang members arrested, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “Just before 11 this morning, Police in Wairoa apprehended a gang member for wearing a patch to the supermarket. He has been arrested and will now face enforcement ...24 hours ago
- Better support for victims of sexual violence
The Government is proposing two major changes to name suppression laws that will put the views of victims of sexual violence first, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “We are committed to restoring law and order and these two proposed changes will help ensure the victims of crime are put at ...1 day ago
- Government moving forward with Regional Deals
Cabinet has agreed to invite all regions to submit proposals for Regional Deals between central and local government that drive economic growth and deliver the infrastructure our country needs, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say. Inviting all regions to propose a Regional Deal that boosts ...1 day ago
- MSA pilot participant update
One of the ten young men selected to participate in the Military-Style Academy Pilot has allegedly reoffended. Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is disappointed but says it would be naïve to think that none of these young men would reoffend. “I’m saddened that this young person has not taken this opportunity ...1 day ago
- Fighting for Kiwis in Trade
Delivered at Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School Good morning and thank you Deputy Vice Chancellor Lithander for your warm welcome and for inviting me to open Auckland Trade and Economic Policy School today. A Special thanks to the University of Auckland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ...1 day ago
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Associate Education Minister David Seymour says that school attendance is continuing to rise. In Term 3 of 2024 51.3 per cent of students attended school regularly, an increase of 5.3 percentage points from 46 per cent in Term 3 of 2023. “This Government has prioritised student attendance and it is ...1 day ago
- Improving the lives of young New Zealanders
Ensuring New Zealand is the best place in the world for children and young people is the vision at the heart of the Government’s new Child and Youth Strategy, Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston says. “Childhood represents a huge opportunity to set people on a positive path towards living ...1 day ago
- Government continues work to reinstate livestock exports by sea
The Government is reinstating the trade of livestock exports by sea while ensuring the highest standards of animal welfare, says Associate Minister of Agriculture Andrew Hoggard.“The Government will introduce legislation changes to reinstate the trade, enhance oversight, and strengthen requirements for exporters to identify risks and manage the welfare of ...2 days ago
- Speech to the National Quality Forum 2024
Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
- New Zealand’s COP29 National Statement
Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
- Latest Quarterly Investment Report released
The Government has released its second Quarterly Investment Report (QIR) which shows substantial work still to be done by agencies to improve investment reporting and meet the Government’s expectations, Infrastructure and Acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “New Zealand has significant infrastructure and investment needs. The Government is determined to get ...2 days ago
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- Gang crackdown begins at stroke of midnight
The free ride for gangs is over when the clock strikes midnight tonight, with tough new laws officially coming into effect, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell say. “Gang patches will no longer be able to be worn in public. To earn the right to wear a ...2 days ago
- LGFA increases borrowing capacity to support high growth councils
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- Temporary Traffic Management costs revealed
The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...3 days ago
- Jurisdiction of Disputes Tribunal to double
Legislation that will double the financial jurisdiction of the Disputes Tribunal from $30,000 to $60,000 has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith. “We need to improve court timeliness and access to justice so that Kiwis and get on with their lives. Court delays affect everyone, the ...3 days ago
- Protecting New Zealand from foreign interference
Legislation that will specifically criminalise foreign interference and strengthen espionage offences has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “It is normal and appropriate for states to interact and work to influence one another. This encourages cooperation and can have mutually beneficial outcomes. “However, the reality ...3 days ago
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- Next steps for Regulatory Standards Bill
Regulation Minister David Seymour has today announced the next steps in the Government’s plan improve the quality of regulation by opening consultation on a proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. “New Zealand's low wages can be blamed on low productivity, and low productivity can be blamed on poor regulation,” says Mr Seymour. ...3 days ago
- Red Tape Tipline goes live
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- Youth Parliament 2025 announced
The Minister for Youth Matt Doocey has today announced the eleventh Youth Parliament will be taking place in 2025. “Youth Parliament offers a unique youth development opportunity to young people from across New Zealand to experience the political process and learn about how government works,” says Mr Doocey. “The two-day ...4 days ago
- Police stats show promising change
After nearly a year in Government, Kiwis have seen significant change across law and order with promising early results shown across some Police statistics, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. “In August 2023, I told New Zealanders that if they had not started to see a change in public safety within ...4 days ago
- Better coordination of anti-scam efforts
With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...4 days ago
- Minister to consider 7AA select committee report
Minister for Children Karen Chhour will consider the recommendations made by the Social Services and Community Committee in its report back to Parliament on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. “I want to thank the people who made submissions and those who appeared before the committee in ...4 days ago
- Defence Minister to attend ASEAN meeting
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos. “We need to take every opportunity to engage with our international partners, given the increasingly unstable geo-political situation,” Ms Collins says. “New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to this ...4 days ago
- Launching the White Ribbon Ride
The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour, was on hand to wish riders well at the start of the North Island leg of the White Ribbon Ride in Whakatāne this morning. The ride helps mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ...5 days ago
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Construction on the next stage of the SH1 Papakura to Drury project will begin early next month, with the contract for works awarded to Fulton Hogan, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. "SH1 Papakura to Drury is a key project that will drive economic growth and productivity, reduce congestion, and enable people ...6 days ago
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The committee plans to hold hearings in the week starting Monday, 27 January and the weeks starting 10, 17 and 24 February 2025. ...2 hours ago
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 22 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...8 hours ago
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Crikey. I was aware expatriated profits were big (like decent percentage of GDP big) but that’s astounding. On the other hand it’s a simpler policy fix than a massive trade deficit would be.
It is freaky… Much of that is just from interest on housing mortgages – pretty unproductive for the country. And easier to contain.
Government should reduce OCR by 1% and introduce 1% tax on residential mortgages instead. Keep the money in NZ.
Nope, the government should stop the private banks from printing money and take over that function themselves. Make loans out to businesses and individuals at 0% and dump the OCR altogether.
As soon as the government takes the privilege of printing money off of the private banks then we can do something about the economy. Leaving it as is will continue our path to debt slavery.
+1
So how many on this site have Kiwibank accounts?
I used to have a PostBank account until some shit of a government sold it off.
I have my savings (minor) in wholly-owned NZ banks and my borrowing (also minor) with an Australian bank. But my real savings are in physical precious metals – gold and silver. Have been a gold and silver bug since the GFC when I first realised how much of a racket the global financial scam was.
Forget gold, get yourself a decently priced dairy support block
every loyal Kiwi should have a kiwibank account. the government should give westpac the flick and use its own(ours actually) bank.
Cullen could have done that.
Looking forward to Shearer doing that.
I opened my Kiwibank account in the first week it was established. Foundation member, I am, and that is printed on my card.
🙂
I was a foundation member of the Canterbury Savings Bank, until some shit sold that off too.
I imagine there were some rules under the Public Finance Act he had to stick to. Westpac probably made the better offer.
Ah ha. But what was the better offer for the country?
The Westminster powers of a sitting Government come in handy at that point.
Or a Co-operative Bank account
Or a TSB account
Or a SBS account
Or a Credit Union account.
There is also Heartland Bank. I don’t know which of those is wholly New Zealand owned, although I suspect Credit Unions would be. This uncertainty is a good reason to keep Kiwibank wholly owned – it is clear to everyone that it is not putting money in the hands of overseas shareholders..
My home loan is with Kiwibank…… why? Because they gave me the best deal.
Yeah they give you good deal as long as you at least 20% deposit. Good luck to the average first-home-buyer getting that much money together.
Kiwibank? Me personally, this site, our household account, and I think Lyn has at least one because I send stuff there when she pays for my airflights or whatever..
I also have an account with a ANZ (damnit) for my apartments mortgage. I originally fled to the National bank to escape the irritating and fee ridden clutches of the ANZ many years ago and now they have gobbled me up again. At some stage I will summon the time to move again when and if they irritate me again.
They got me young. When I was five years old I had a school banking (do they still do that?) account with the post office. Which was a two minute walk from my small suburban school. And then a couple of years later someone closed down that post office and I was given a different passbook – not one with the colourful design of kids flying kites over some blocky city, but a boring grey one that simply said “Postbank”. Then they got bought out by ANZ. By that stage it was too much of a hassle to change banks.
I do have a Kiwibank account in my name. It was originally a flat account.
just when you thought you were out, anz pulled you back in…
Kiwibank myself.
I’m with KiwiBank.
I have been looking at opening a KB account – sorted out the specific account that suited me – am planning to do it in the next week.
I’ve banked with KiwiBank since its day one.
As at today I have something over $150,000 on on-line call, 32-day and 90-day notice accounts there but the week-end’s events in Cyprus have made me seriously consider the wisdom of maintaining so much in one jurisdiction, let alone one bank. Indeed, given the present exchange rate this might be a good time to park some in a US$ account in New York. If it’s good enough for our Great Leader it should be good enough for me.
I wouldn’t go near the US dollar… it’s on a hiding to nowhere. Personally, I maintain as little fiat currency as possible, I invest what I can into gold and silver. If I was to store cash in a non-NZ currency, I’d look for a currency whose central bank is not quantitatively easing it into oblivion.
I avoid precious metals – they need a functioning market and if the excrement really hits the fan…
So my primary investment is a chunk of good land far from the madding crowd from which I supply my own milk, cheese, beef, mutton, lamb, veges, chooks and eggs, with my own spring above the house which was still running before last week-end’s rain, and enough solar power to keep the freezers chilled if nothing else.
I cook and heat my home and water with wood from the forests around me in which there are deer and pigs and possoms gallore (and rabbits too, alas), gather oysters on the beach nearby and have snapper, blue cod, green-lipped mussels and salmon as short row down the bay.
Oh yes , and I’ve a rifle for the deer and pigs and a shot-gun for the possums and rabbits, and plenty of ammunition for both.
There’s supposed to be gold in them thar hills, too, but I’ve never bothered to look for it.
You are where I would want to be when the SHTF… I’ve always considered land (as opposed to real estate) as the number one investment – provided you can get it without the assistance of a bank and that’s out of reach of most people these days. I like your set up.
I should qualify that my investment in precious metals is really a hedge, not an investment. Which is why I distinguish the physical from the paper. It is a response to loss of confidence in fiat currency and paper precious metals (especially gold and silver) are being gamed even more than other ETFs – TPTB are desperately trying to keep the illusion going that the US dollar and other QE currencies are actually worth something now.
I will convert it back when things settle down but if that’s not in my lifetime, I’ll leave a map for my children with an ‘X’ for where I’ve buried my hoard! Lol… 🙂
I must admit that, just sometimes, it would be really, really nice just to be able to send out for a pizza.
Do you ever Tire’ of the Good Life ?
No.
Yep, Kiwibank here. Joined the first day as a Foundation Member. Do all my banking through them.
I have one. I started it when I took out my 100% first time buyer mortgage, and I’d never dream of changing banks… Until the nats privatise it.
Nope.
Don’t give me the loyal crap. They need to drop their fees. It’s nice to be able to actually walk in to a bank and deal with issues there and then.
Also, kiwibank didn’t give me a mortgage, TSB did.
TSB, that evil foreign owned corporate bank.
hey…wait
I’d be happy to see the total of foreign debt & capital nationalised without compensation. The cabal of vulture capitalists shouldn’t be rewarded for their theft.
There’d be an immediate capital strike against NZ. Say bye bye to fuel, pharmaceuticals, farm exports.
We have plenty of our own oil for fuel.
We can source generic pharmaceuticals.
With the stress on the environment, and animal welfare issues, we shouldn’t even be farming ruminants in NZ anyway. We can make do with just supplying the local market, and countries that aren’t controlled the the world bankster elite.
Look I’m as green as you get, but your post is just silly and delusional……… or are you a RWNJ troll doing a very poor parody post ?
Yes NZ can manufacture one or to two dozen of the most commonly used drugs, several of them by violating international patents (hey in for a penny…), but that leaves pharmacy shelves 95% empty.
Does this mean you’ve recently changed your tune a bit regarding this, CV?
Oh, noes, we might have to do some R&D.
And what do patients who need their medications daily do for the 5-10 years before that R&D outputs?
Any other glib solutions?
As I said below, I doubt if we’d actually lose all that you assume we would.
No I’m getting you confused with DTB
no probs mate
I think a dramatic “Great Leap Forwards” style exercise is to be avoided for the moment, in favour of a planned, strategic import substitution programme.
That’s ok, we don’t need them.
Pharmaceuticals we can, and do, make here.
Fuel, meh – that’s what we have electricity for and we also have our own oil wells. Sure, it’s only 44000 bbl/day rather than the 150000 we use but it’d work out.
I’m sure the farm exports wouldn’t decrease either – they’d just change destinations.
I don’t think we’d lose as much connection to the rest of the world as you think we would.
Didn’t Iceland tell the IMF to fuck off? The icelandic bloke that Kim Hill interviewed last week didn’t give the impression that Icelanders were starving in the street. It’s all scaremongering that
the powers that be use to try and keep nations under control. There’s just no way that business, financial or otherwise, would ignore the trade potential of 4 million westernised consumers.
Speaking of finance….it looks like the karma might finally be catching up with the likes of Jamie Dimon and J P Morgan. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lynn-parramore/jamie-dimons-ultra-americ_b_2915429.html
Bring on the global debt jubilee.
Sorry but the Iceland-economic-miracle-sans-IMF is fiction. Educate yourself.
http://icelandicecon.blogspot.fr/2013/01/the-economic-truth-on-iceland.html
“So there you have it. The cosy picture drawn of the economic miracle of Iceland has serious stains on it. Despite the fact that the economy has, partially, rebounded to its pre-crisis level, the underlying foundations are so termite-infested that the slightest wind could blow the whole economy to kingdom come! That applies especially to the problem of abolishing the capital controls.”
IMF Says Bailouts Iceland-Style Hold Lessons in Crisis Times
It seems that the IMF disagrees with, from what I can make out, is a RWNJ think tank.
I’m not denying Iceland did much better for its people than, say, Greece or Argentina, but believing there’s an easy, pain-free way out of such a mess that only punishes the guilty is a delusion.
I never said Iceland had a pain-free transition. I was pointing out that they haven’t been shut out of the global economy in the way that say North Korea has been.
If anything, Iceland hasn’t gone far enough. What you appear to be advocating for is crony capitalism. It is absolutely possible to punish the guilty more effectively than has been done so dar and it is slowly beginning to occur in the US because it has become politically untenable to ignore the crimes.
” What you appear to be advocating for is crony capitalism.”
What on earth have I written that makes you think that?
I never said there was a pain free way out of the mess that the banksters have left us in but I do believe that we do need to look for a way out and getting rid of foreign owners/investors and telling the banks where to get off is a good start.
For it to be not wholly disruptive it’ll have to be a decades long project. And they’ll make sure that the government responsible doesn’t survive in power that long.
That’s why you put it to referendum. Governments may change, the people won’t.
Worse than that… I suspect the banksters would engineer a coup or a crisis to overthrow the Government. They might have tolerated our anti-nuclear stand but renationalisation of capital would send TPTB into apoplectic fits and see NZ reduced to rubble like Libya or Iraq. All in the name of democracy, of course.
They got rid of Salvador Allende, Chile. TPTB then installed a neoliberal, banker friendly leader by the name of Augusto Pinochet.
From wikipedia
Or you could make yourself even happier by migrating to North Korea and living the experience of a citizen in an International pariah.
10 Billion and rising, for the last quarter the current account deficit widened from 2.5 billion to 2.7 billion so on that track it will soon be an annual 11 billion,
Government ‘contracts out’ some 30 billion dollars of ‘work’ annually, much of this also goes to overseas company’s,
Labour have said that they will look at all this 30 billion dollars of spending to see which of it can be spent here in New Zealand,
Obviously we as a country are now tied into being sucked dry like the host of a leech by various international trade agreements so the Government cannot simply proclaim that all it’s spending will favor New Zealand owned and operated companies,
Such trade agreements tho do not preclude a silent and unspoken bias by any Government toward having it’s contracted ‘work’ carried out only by New Zealand companies,
Interestingly or not, Chinese buyers of our diary products have at the latest auction pushed the price of milk powders up from 4 thousand dollars a tonne to 5 thousand dollars a tonne thus going some way to ‘saving’ those farmers who have been hard hit from the drought losing up to 20% of production and as an incidental once contracts are settled helping to at least stabilize the current account deficit…
Why its annoying to hear the Gibbs, Fay, Richwhites etc (tho latter two seem quite quiet these days) making smart remarks about the New Zealand economy that they plundered in the 80s! And now with the energy “companies” government is doing it all again .. not to mention the sale of our best land and housing stock. Nuts.
Yea, Messrs Fay and Richwhite are rather amusing. (As in trying to feign horror at Crafar farms potentially going offshore and doing a deal, considering their history).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfu2A0ezq0
I owe my sole to the company store ….
I believe it’s ‘soul’, but in New Zealand’s case, the soles of our shoes is more accurate.
Yes of course, brain wobble… It is also “another day older” not “one day older”.
16 tons and whadda ya get..
another day older and deeper in debt..
Johnny Cash does a good version too. “St Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t gooooo ….. I owe my soul to the company storeeeee…”
Good commentary
AnthonyJames but you must be joking when you say Labour have policies to fix it. I’ve yet to see one.For what it’s worth some $100billion or so of our overseas debt is owed by the Australian owned banks. We don’t owe it, the banks do. We just owe the banks via mortgages but that’s domestic debt, not foreign debt.
One of the most effective means of managing away much of that overseas debt is to cut the banks adrift and force them to wind down their capital base paying back their overseas borrowing. We can do that by greatly expanding Kiwibank. It needs a large injection of capital and if the Govt is going to put an SOE on the sharemarket it should be Kiwibank. Not to sell it but to expand it; issue more shares to the NZ public.
Australian owned banks??? your kidding are you not, your belief in the ‘fairy tale’ of New Zeland banks being owned by our close mates from Aussie makes me smile,
As our bnaks are nominally owned by the Australian Banks the Australian Banks are all owned by the bigger fish in the pond namely the International Banking Cartels,
Mostly you wont find the names of the big US banks on the share registers of those Aussie banks, such shareholdings are all held in Nominee companies and it is the name of the nominee companies which appear on the share register,
Keeps a hell of a lot of us believing in the ‘fairy tale’…
“Good commentary Anthony…..”
Damn, where’s the edit function. I meant James, not Anthony…. duh!
Tweaked it – don’t worry – James wouldn’t mind!
Someone who is adding to the total wealth of this country is not depriving you of anything.
But someone who is consuming the nation’s wealth, without contributing anything to it, is.
Yet our tax system penalizes those who are producing wealth in order to subsidize those who are only consuming it.
Tax reform is overdue, national debt or no national debt. 😎
http://angryflower.com/atlass.gif
Foreign investors aren’t adding anything to this country.
What do you mean by wealth? Do you mean “money”?
You do know that all wealth originates from the resources of nature, right?
“What do you mean by wealth? Do you mean “money”?”
Money is just a medium of exchange; a convenient means of storing value that’s portable. If a nation increases it’s collective wealth then it must follow you’d need more money in circulation to cover it. We’re only in trouble because we’re not increasing wealth, rather inflating the value of assets. Money isn’t the problem, they’ve just allowed too much of it to be created.
If the Reserve Bank had been told to include asset inflation in their low-inflation targets we probably wouldn’t be in this mess. From a monetarist perspective there’s no difference between consumer inflation and asset inflation. They’re both monetary in origin so it’s a total mystery why they’ve ignored asset inflation.
Also, do you believe in the provision of a commons of goods for society? And how do you believe that commons of goods be paid for?
Harriet, the pathetic ‘contributes’ argument has been round and round so often that i cannot be bothered to raise the arguments with you that show it, (the contributes/doesn’t contribute argument), is a load of bovine defecation,
Needless to say your argument only holds the slightest bit of credibility where the individual does not contribute over the period of a life-time,(how many million of the New Zealand people do you know in that category,
You are of course free to pack your s**t and find a country to reside in where the State contributes mostly ZERO to the individual and the individual is solely responsible for their own means of existence,
Vanuatu springs to mind as the closest destination, Somalia if you hanker for the African sunshine…
Don’t need any of that, just need to ban foreign ownership. As your figures show, we don’t need, and have never needed, foreign investment. The people who say we do are lying even if they don’t realise it as we have enough resources (both physical and human) in the country to support ourselves. This is true of every country.
So, who benefits from investment? The rich of other countries who have so much accumulated money that they can’t invest in their own countries any more as there isn’t enough wealth in that country to absorb the money.
What you describe here is The Road to Serfdom and it’s the exact opposite of what Hayek said. The road to serfdom isn’t from socialism but from capitalism.
+1
For the past 30 years we have NEVER had a year with a positive balance of payments. NEVER. Greece boasts precisely the same record.
They fiddle while Rome burns (or NZ drowns). 30 years of National AND Labour governments and NONE has taken steps to keep us from serfdom.
Since the politicians are too timid / compromised / short-sighted to sort it out, it’s time for the people to take back our government. 30 YEARS of inaction!
Got a boat, bach and beamer, is anything else important to our business and political elite?
yep, making sure no one else gets a sniff
AmaKiwi
I agree take it back is the only way- these buggers that believe socialism or capitalism will sort things out forget just what caused the problem in the first place… found a good plan to start that take back on justice site- in the form of a “legal challenge”-forces the issue it does
https://newzealandjustice.com/showthread.php?577-Would-Justice-effect-Mighty-share-Prices
“The foreign banks are the biggest owners of New Zealand debt and the biggest cause of the balance on income deficit. They make their money by inflating our housing market.”
Can someone please explain why they are allowed to?
Excellent article!
Peter
http://www.buggerthebankers.com/
Mostly, as far as I can make out, it’s because people don’t realise that the banks are printing money at such a rate as to cause that inflation. It’s not so much that we’re allowing them to as that we just don’t know that they’re doing it and that they’re doing it only for their own benefit.
however, according to the sage Joyce, in the Dec quarter, “New Zealanders received record returns from OFFSHORE investments (of which they re-invested locally 7%, from memory)” Well, that IS helpful…
Most likely from the Cullen Super Fund…
So we are left with the idea that somewher out there in the great big world, outside of New Zealand there is a great big chest filled to the brim with New Zealand dollars and that when we want to buy a house, our banks go and get some money out of the chest and lend it to us and that our interest payments have to go offshore to the people who have the chest filled to the brim with New Zealand dollars.
The funny thing is that we as a country sell nothing in New Zealand dollars, nor can we spend New Zealand dollars outside of New Zealand. In fact there is noone in the world who actually wants New Zealand dollars except us.
So there is no chest filled with New Zealand dollars at all is there.
All we have is banks running a scam whereby when they type the loan into existence on a computer they pretend that the money is owed to someone in another country. It sounds so silly that no one would believe it so they don’t. Trouble is it is basically a true story
“Bring in rules to stop the foreign banks lending so much money into the housing market and not only will you make housing more affordable, you’ll reduce our current account deficit and international debt.”
How would housing become more affordable?
Deflate the property price bubble
Confused
James
This is good stuff. But I don’t understand one part under a small table.
“As you can see, we exported more goods than we imported, imported more goods than we exported and ended up with a small trade deficit. ”
It appears from the table that we imported more services than we exported and…. Is this correct?
I
I wonder if my question can be addressed? Possibly there are some other confused people out there besides myself. Or do you have to be one of the favoured to get a response?
Now we’re told that our banks can, if they foul up too much, take a portion of our savings and we are told that the answer to our country’s woes is to save more! Government here not content with facilitating dodgy financial businesses that in going bust have destroyed good people’s lifetime accretion of savings, the government now introduces a new tax and almost justifies the saying that “All tax is theft”.
Our own Reserve Bank thinks it is right to take what are privately owned cash assets and give them to the business we are dealing with. And now we are told that it all underlines another verity, that there is no such thing as a safe investment. As the whole deal is man-made why isn’t there action to ensure reasonable safeguards?
So if the highly paid bank CEOs and boards fuck up and lose a tonne of money in the markets, we the savers get to bail them out.
Yeah that sounds fair.
Yeah, fair like an understanding that we’ll tolerate muggers as long as they only take 10% of the money in our wallets, but if we start objecting they’ll take it all.
Tiresias
Well Terry Pratchett wrote that into his Discworld story of Ankh-Morpork. The Patrician set up a guild to control the unfortunate habits that we have. so there is one for thieves, and there is one for killings, each with their own set of proscriptions, rules and expectations. This business with the OBR or whatever it’s called is sort of similar. An attempt to codify the customary practices really. Fact over-ruling fiction eh!
Anat Admati’s new book “The Bankers New Clothes” focusses on these issues exactly.
We’re an export nation, ergo we would accumulate wealth unless another process was imposed to extract wealth. The question is, how do we let wealth leak out so easily? Whose in charge? Govt.
Govt is too easily lobbied because it has no upper chamber. Loopholes, oversights, tax regimes, all pander to exporting our wealth.
/facepalm
That has got to be the most nonsensical thing I’ve seen in a long time – and I’ve been having long chats with Tribeless. The lobbyists will obviously lobby both houses.
As I’ve told you before – having two houses only produces worse government as which ever party has dominance of one house can, and will, prevent anything that they don’t like going through and if one party dominates both houses it just becomes another rubber stamp. Just look at the US and the trouble the republicans have been causing over the budget for the last few years.
Some people won’t learn from history and, apparently, some can’t learn from what’s going on in front of their nose.
Exactly. Two houses and getting rid of the Queen and having a formal constitution etc. – all beside the point and all with their own potential risks and additional unseen complications.