Shock horror, trickle down does not work

Written By: - Date published: 7:31 am, December 18th, 2020 - 54 comments
Categories: capitalism, class war, Economy, tax, us politics - Tags:

Well I never.

Can you remember how over the past five decades we kept being told that giving tax cuts to the most wealthy would make us all better off?  How the wealth would just trickle down?

And remember how some lefty extremists said it was a load of crap and was not true but were attacked as being lefty extremists and engaging in the politics of envy?

Well there is yet another academic study from the London School of Economics suggesting that giving lots of money to the wealthiest in the hope that we will all be better off is not a good idea.

From the LSE summary of the paper:

Major reforms reducing taxes on the rich lead to higher income inequality but do not have any significant effect on economic growth or unemployment, according to new research by LSE and King’s College London.

Researchers say governments seeking to restore public finances following the COVID-19 crisis should therefore not be concerned about the economic consequences of higher taxes on the rich.

The paper, published by LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, uses data from 18 OECD countries, including the UK and the US, over the last five decades. The Economic Consequences of Major Tax Cuts for the Rich, by David Hope and Julian Limberg, shows that the last 50 years were a period of falling taxes on the rich in the advanced economies. Major tax cuts were spread across countries and throughout the observation period but were particularly clustered in the late 1980s.

It states: “Our results show that…major tax cuts for the rich increase the top 1% share of pre-tax national income in the years following the reform. The magnitude of the effect is sizeable; on average, each major reform leads to a rise in top 1% share of pre-tax national income of 0.8 percentage points. The results also show that economic performance, as measured by real GDP per capita and the unemployment rate, is not significantly affected by major tax cuts for the rich. The estimated effects for these variables are statistically indistinguishable from zero.”

It continues: “Our findings on the effects of growth and unemployment provide evidence against supply side theories that suggest lower taxes on the rich will induce labour supply responses from high-income individuals (more hours of work, more effort etc.) that boost economic activity. They are, in fact, more in line with recent empirical research showing that income tax holidays and windfall gains do not lead individuals to significantly alter the amount they work.”

The authors conclude: “Our results have important implications for current debates around the economic consequences of taxing the rich, as they provide causal evidence that supports the growing pool of evidence from correlational studies that cutting taxes on the rich increases top income shares, but has little effect on economic performance.”

Short version? Trickle down does not work.  The authors of Rogernomics and Euthenasia, and John Key and his band of merry men should hang their heads in shame.

Here is something I wrote a year ago that I will repeat without quote marks. The post was about Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy.

The theory of trickle down dates back to Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics.  Relying on work by economist Arthur Laffer and the infamous Laffer Curve they argued that a reduction, any reduction in tax would improve overall economic performance.  Their analysis was simplistic, because clearly for the theory to work it was important that if public spending was decreased the replacement private spending allowed by the associated tax cut also be for a public good.  Private jets and French wine do not improve the plight of an ordinary person.

Supporters of the theory claim that Regan’s massive tax cuts in the 1980s helped pull America out of recession.  What was much more likely was a tripling of public debt from $712 billion in 1980 to $2.052 trillion in 1988 provided the stimulus.  Even with this large increase public debt was a relatively modest 41% of GDP in 1988.

And it has directly contributed to an increasing gap between the top 1% and the rest of us.

Kimberly Amadeo at The Balance offers this conclusion:

The trickle-down theory postulates that the benefits from tax cuts, capital gains, dividends, and even looser regulations on corporations and wealthy individuals would eventually flow down to benefit middle- to low- income earners. The extra wealth accruing from the deductions would drive the wealthy to invest in or expand businesses, boosting economic growth.

The Laffer Curve supports its effect but only up to the point where the tax rates are at a prohibitive range. Out of this range, trickle-down is deemed infeasible.

Trickle-down economics generally does not work because:

  • Cutting taxes for the wealthy often do not translate to increased rates of employment, consumer spending, and government revenues in the long-term.
  • Instead, cutting taxes for middle-and lower-income earners will drive the economy through the trickle-up phenomenon.
  • The added income for the wealthy, resulting from tax cuts, will simply increase the growing income inequality in the United States.

President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is of current concern because this trickle-down policy is seen to exacerbate the income inequality already kicked into overdrive by Reaganomics.

And Thomas Pitketty’s book Capital in the twenty first century is a withering deconstruction of the theory of trickle down. From the Guardian:

The gist of Piketty’s book is simple. Returns to capital are rising faster than economies are growing. The wealthy are getting wealthier while everybody else is struggling. Inequality will widen to the point where it becomes unsustainable – both politically and economically – unless action is taken to redistribute income and wealth. Piketty favours a graduated wealth tax and 80% income tax for those on the highest salaries.

Lord (Adair) Turner, the former chairman of the Financial Services Authority, says Capital is “a remarkable piece of work”. Turner, who has name-checked Piketty in his recent lectures, added: “He is saying that we have a set of tendencies at work to which the offset has to be a degree of redistribution. I completely agree with him.”

Krugman, writing in the New York Review of Books, says Piketty’s work will “change both the way we think about society and the way we do economics”.

The book has also created waves on the right. Allister Heath, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said the book was flawed but admitted that supporters of capitalism were being “slaughtered on the intellectual battlefield” and needed to get their act together fast.

The problem for Heath is that Piketty’s book seems to explain the brutal world of the Great Recession and its aftermath rather better than trickle-down economics. Capital speaks to the Occupy movement; it speaks to the under-25s in Britain whose real wages are 15% lower than at the end of the 1990s; it speaks to Generation Rent.

Trickle down is a fancy sounding theory justifying continued greed by the wealthy for even more. The sooner its complete lack of a rational let alone moral underpinning is exposed and acknowledged the better.

Maybe it is time for trickle up to be a thing?  The Covid response and the current robust state of New Zealand’s economy suggests that giving ordinary people sufficient to live on can have a beneficial effect.  For us all.

 

54 comments on “Shock horror, trickle down does not work ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Tony Veitch (not etc.) 1
    18 December 2020 at 8:21 am

    “Maybe it is time for ‘trickle up’ to be a thing?”

    Don’t hold your breath!

    Look at the Labour members of parliament – the vast majority are members of the PMC [Professional Management Class] whose vested interests preclude them from any meaningful and structural reform. Lawyers and teachers, health professionals and accountants – any hint of working class backgrounds there?

    About the best that can be said of this Labour government is that it is not as bad as National was/would be. And for anyone hoping for radical change, that is a damning indictment!

    Jacinda has been described as Tony Blair in heels. I despair for this country.

    • Cricklewood 1.1
      18 December 2020 at 8:59 am

      From an economic standpoint Grant an Jacinda are about as left as Bill English.

    • satty 1.2
      18 December 2020 at 9:50 am

      PMC produces rather excellent professional audio equipment. So I prefer EMMC, the Entitled Middle Management Class: In a position to come up with rules and never stick to rules themselves and hardly enforce any of those rules, as it would probably hit a fellow EMMC.

      So there won't be any proper working solutions on:

      • Poverty
      • Environment / climate change
      • Car traffic

      ACT, National and Labour are full of EMMC, as you described, and even the Greens are not immune in my opinion.

      Best example: One would think having "Climate Emergency" announced on national, regional and local government level (at least here in Wellington), clear measurable reduction of unnecessary car travel and associated pollution would be one of the top short-term priorities. Or simply starting enforcing NZ Road Rules.

      Back to trickle down…

      Growing up in the "Soziale Marktwirtschaft" (social market economy) in Germany, where a family of 5 could live on one income, build and pay off a high quality home (still in top condition after 50 years!), go on holidays, enjoy free health system, all kids through university for free…, most of the modern western world looks like a completely idiotic system favouring just a handful of people at top (thanks to Neoliberalism) and neglect / exploit the majority of people. Apart from very few exceptions (and none spring to my mind straight away), for every billionaire there have to be millions of extremely poor people out there.

      I guess now there are some coming up with how the capitalists improved the life of all the poor people in the third world (lifted them out of poverty). I'm certain the capitalists didn't do that to improve those peoples lives, that was just a by-product, but to squeeze as much monetary value out of them as possible (probably cheaper than owning slaves a couple of hundred years earlier) and punish the workers back home for insisting on fair conditions and pay. Other by-products are less health & safety regulations and carbon emission export.

      A couple of months ago, there was the picture of a city in the US (Denver / Dallas can't remember) with kilometre long queues of people waiting for a food bank parcel… and I though how "lucky" they are, they can do this in a huge air conditioned truck.

      • WeTheBleeple 1.2.1
        18 December 2020 at 5:24 pm

        Yes, but if the multiple thousands queued up for food had tuned into their local radio station they could have heard the good news: S&P breaks 3K.

    • Incognito 1.3
      18 December 2020 at 8:53 pm

      Lawyers and teachers, health professionals and accountants – any hint of working class backgrounds there?

      I’d like to think that you worded this poorly because otherwise you’re one confused and misguided person.

      • Tony Veitch (not etc.) 1.3.1
        19 December 2020 at 5:08 am

        Yes, poorly worded indeed.

        Having taught in one of the most prestigious private schools in the country and a decile 2 secondary school, my experience is that the chances of entering the higher (better paid professions) are stacked against the lower socio-economic classes Not that it can't happen – I've taught a few kids from decile 2 who have gone on to become doctors etc. But the pathway is much more difficult.

        So, a poor generalisation by me, but with a strong element of truth for all that.

        • Incognito 1.3.1.1
          20 December 2020 at 3:09 pm

          🙂

          I thought as much, thank you.

          So-called social expectations have a profound effect on one’s psychology too. Good role models help, as do strong (support) networks. Making tertiary education as accessible to all as possible helps but on its own, it is not sufficient.

          I guess there will be a working class into the foreseeable future and maybe human society will always (!) adopt socio-economic layers and categories of one kind or another.

  2. vto 2
    18 December 2020 at 8:43 am

    Yep, the world was sold a jip by the right wing and capitalists over this and all other neoliberal crap.

    Lesson: don't listen to the right wing and capitalists again

  3. vto 3
    18 December 2020 at 8:44 am

    .
    push the wealth down and society strengthens and prospers

    push the wealth up and society weakens and fails

  4. Cricklewood 4
    18 December 2020 at 8:56 am

    Hopefully the current govt reads the paper and actually makes meaningful change…

    Wont hold my breath.

  5. RedBaronCV 5
    18 December 2020 at 9:35 am

    Yeah the Labour government could give the lower paid the tools (called unions ) to improve the distribution of wealth (even if only in the bigger corporations) plus haul in a lot more on the tax front particularly from those who have economically recolonised NZ.

    Gordon Campbell nails it. Pointing out that the RW would do what they want quickly.
    https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2012/S00063/on-labours-timid-uses-so-far-of-the-power-that-voters-have-given-it.htm

    Will they? Not looking like it will happen. They don't have the courage to seize the day. And there lies the signpost pointing towards the sort of disgruntled voter that Trump and Brexit has harvested

  6. RedBaronCV 6
    18 December 2020 at 9:37 am

    And if tax cuts actually increased productivity then it would be best to put them in at the low end to increase the productivity of the many millions not the few rich.

  7. Sabine 7
    18 December 2020 at 9:40 am

    well lucky we have a government who will do all it can to prevent any trickle up.

  8. AB 8
    18 December 2020 at 9:41 am

    Far be it from me to sound like a Marxist – but Thatcherism/Reagonomics/Rogernomics was always a class-based project, not an economic one. The results are what was intended.

  9. Scud 9
    18 December 2020 at 11:55 am

    Anyone who did 5th Form School Cert History or 4th Form History as I did at Hornby High. Would know when we looked the Depression of the 30's in the US under Hoover that trickle down economics theory is just a load of bollocks. No amount of dressing it up with today's fancy words from the PMC's or EPMC's is going to make it work as it will never work as the big end of town will always look after themselves first before anyone else.

  10. Mista Smokey 10
    18 December 2020 at 12:10 pm

    Right-o you jokers, she's an oldie but a goodie.

    We can belt out the chorus, let's go:

    Poor Ned Kelly, it's easier to do, t'day.

    Poor Ned Kelly, y'don't even have t'run a-way

    Acknowledgement: Campfires

  11. RedLogix 11
    18 December 2020 at 1:09 pm

    The entire 'trickle down' theory was always based on some very weak economic maths that assumed that the wealthy would always have opportunity to re-invest their surplus in cash flow positive, productive investments.

    Well Hyman Minsky more or less proved that idea wrong decades ago:

    Minsky proposed theories linking financial market fragility, in the normal life cycle of an economy, with speculative investment bubbles endogenous to financial markets. Minsky stated that in prosperous times, when corporate cashflow rises beyond what is needed to pay off debt, a speculative euphoria develops, and soon thereafter debts exceed what borrowers can pay off from their incoming revenues, which in turn produces a financial crisis. As a result of such speculative borrowing bubbles, banks and lenders tighten credit availability, even to companies that can afford loans, and the economy subsequently contracts.

    This slow movement of the financial system from stability to fragility, followed by crisis, is something for which Minsky is best known, and the phrase "Minsky moment" refers to this aspect of Minsky's academic work.

    In a nutshell Keen showed conclusively that it was far more effective to inject liquidity (essentially just money supply) into the hands of consumers … who could be relied upon to spend it … than it was to give it to business owners who may or may not invest productively.

  12. Adrian Thornton 12
    18 December 2020 at 2:15 pm

    "Shock horror, trickle down does not work"…aaahhh I think this was exposed long long ago…not least when one of it prime architects admitted he dosn't know what he is talking about…BTW micky I think it it's about time Lange takes his fair share of the blame for this Neoliberal clusterfuck in NZ….we can't just keep heaping all the blame of Roger…also funny that you quote Piketty from The Guardian, when it just a fact that The Guardian have proved themselves to be one of the most ruthless guard dogs of this Liberal free market ideology and will actively go after any threat to this status quo.

    Greenspan Says “I Still Don’t Fully Understand” What Happened

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/greenspan-says-i-still-do_b_137280

    • Incognito 12.1
      18 December 2020 at 8:48 pm

      I don’t understand anything of your comment. For example, should we ignore Piketty and discredit his book because he/it was cited in the Guardian and what’s more, because it was reviewed favourably in/by “one of the most ruthless guard dogs of this Liberal free market ideology and will actively go after any threat to this status quo”? Sounds to me you’re shooting messengers but or rather because you have no real argument to make.

      • Adrian Thornton 12.1.1
        19 December 2020 at 11:21 pm

        My comment is there to just remind the casual observer and those who easily forget that the Guardian has proved itself to be a neo liberal Trojan horse in the fight for real progressive change, it does more damage serious Left wing political projects in the west than any right wing news source does imo …. David Cromwell and David Edwards from media lens with one example of The Guardian’s bias….

        How The Guardian Undermines Jeremy Corbyn and the Left

        https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/How-The-Guardian-Undermines-Jeremy-Corbyn-and-the-Left-20160704-0024.html

        • Incognito 12.1.1.1
          20 December 2020 at 3:42 pm

          I read your comment less as a “reminder” and more as an absolute and unconditional rejection of The Guardian as a source of information and considered opinion that’s worthy of our attention, i.e. B & W, because of a presumed anti-Left leaning across the board. Very few MSM outlets are ‘100% pure’ and neither should they be, when you think about it.

          Should we also ignore everything said by our MPs because of their obvious adherence to neoliberalism? We might as well terminate The Standard, in that case, unless we love charging at imaginary windmills.

          When finding information, e.g. in the form of a piece in a newspaper, it requires judgement based on content and merit rather than on author and source/medium to determine its validity and value. The same applies when reading and responding to comments on this site; repeating the same words and expecting a different outcome is a mugs game.

          I still don’t understand what you were trying to say in your comment @ 12 in response to the OP.

    • Macro 12.2
      19 December 2020 at 1:49 pm

      Oh for goodness sake Adrian – stop being so blinkered and one eyed. Your dismissiveness of The Guardian is completely over the top when one can read weekly articles, such as Robert Reich, which are epistles consistently arguing against the Free Market.

      Take for instance:

      To reverse inequality, we need to expose the myth of the ‘free market’

      The debate over market v government serves to distract the public from the underlying realities of how the rules are generated and changed, from the power of the moneyed interests over this process, and the extent to which they gain from the results. In other words, not only do these “free market” advocates want the public to agree with them about the superiority of the market, but also about the central importance of the interminable and distracting debate over whether the market or the government should prevail.

      This is why it’s so important to expose the underlying structure of the so-called “free market” and show how and where power is exercised over it.

      It’s why I write a weekly column for the Guardian – one of the few publications in the world committed to revealing the truth about the economy and exposing the myths that distract the public’s attention from what is really going on. The Guardian can do this because it’s not financed by commercial sponsors or any party with a financial or other interest in what it reports but exists solely to serve the public.

      Inequalities of income, wealth and political power continue to widen across all advanced economies. This doesn’t have to be the case. But to reverse them, we need an informed public capable of seeing through the mythologies that protect and preserve today’s super-rich no less than did the Divine Right of Kings centuries ago.

      my bold

      And his latest contribution: The pandemic has made clear that corporations need more – not fewer – incentives to protect workers

      As a former secretary of labor, I often receive mail from workers with job complaints, who apparently believe I still have some authority. But the email I received a few days ago from a worker at Amazon’s Whole Foods delivery warehouse in Industry City, Brooklyn, New York, was particularly distressing.

      She said that six of her co-workers had tested positive for Covid-19 since 22 October, because “safe social distancing is not only being ignored but discouraged,” adding that “when we express our discomfort to management, we are yelled at about filling orders faster, or told that we can take a leave of absence without pay.”

      She ended by noting “we work for a trillionaire.”

      Well, not quite. Jeff Bezos is worth $180bn, making him the richest person in the world. And his corporation, Amazon, which also owns Whole Foods, is among the world’s richest corporations.

      Bezos has accumulated so much added wealth over the last nine months that he could give every Amazon employee $105,000 and still be as rich as he was before the pandemic.

      Amazon employees who go public with their complaints are likely to lose their jobs. The corporation prohibits its workers from commenting publicly on any aspect of its business, without prior approval from executives.

      So far during the pandemic, it has fired at least two white-collar employees who publicly denounced conditions at its warehouses, as well as several warehouse workers who raised safety concerns to media outlets.

      Amazon isn’t alone. A survey conducted in May by the National Employment Law Project showed that one in eight American workers “has perceived possible retaliatory actions by employers against workers in their company who have raised health and safety concerns” about Covid-19.

      I think that these two examples (and there are many more), give the lie to your contention that :

      The Guardian have proved themselves to be one of the most ruthless guard dogs of this Liberal free market ideology and will actively go after any threat to this status quo.

      • Adrian Thornton 12.2.1
        19 December 2020 at 11:22 pm

        See my reply to Advantage…though I will remind you it was The Guardian that aggressively undermined Sanders in 2016 and Corbyn throughout his whole leadership of the UK Labour party, both the only politicians who actually threatened this liberal status quo…enough said.

  13. Maurice 13
    18 December 2020 at 7:26 pm

    One of the better cartoons describing the "trickle down" theory was of an Ivory tower topped with reveling champagne drinkers with we proles gathered around the base watching the result trickling out of the piss tubes running down the walls like down pipes.

  14. Tiger Mountain 14
    19 December 2020 at 1:27 am

    Micky is on a roll–calling for action the other day on poverty, housing, and climate change. And that is good to see, because he is a grass roots Labour loyalist. Interesting though that while Jacinda has admitted to having a book by French academic Thomas Piketty on her shelf, she also admitted she had not got around to finishing it! Draw your own conclusions, but I would say she is ideologically limited and committed to Blairism.

    Jacinda and Robbo with their majority, do not need to try and “turn back time” to Tony Blair’s 90s. A number of Nats even, that voted Labour on the COVID factor (and the Nat collapse factor), are mystified why the Labour Caucus have not already done, or at least signalled, that they will reverse on CGT, raise benefits, and build houses and apartments like crazy. After all, a number of middle class people have now experienced the tender mercies of WINZ/MSD.

    Labour has nothing to lose really, if some of the switchers revert to form, so what. The Greens would likely embrace being a proper part of a 2023 Govt.

    • Phillip ure 14.1
      19 December 2020 at 7:31 pm

      that is what really puzzles me..

      what the hell are they scared of..?

      of course they will shed some of those nats they got this time..

      and they are damned if they do..and damned (by their own)..if they don't..

      so what is stopping them…?

      because the greens are there as back-up…

      (strategically tho' it would suit the greens if ard-robbo don't do much..

      'cos if that happens labour people wanting change will turn to the greens and the maori party @ at the next election..

      and that could be a very good thing)

      see..that also puzzles me…can't ard-robbo see that politics 101 fact..?

      so..I repeat..

      what the fuck are they scared of..?

      did they have a couple of bad focus groups..?

      (groups that of course that always have poor people in them..)

      if not lack of political logic..can it be ideology..?

      does the very idea of returning dignity to the poor…stick in their (political) craw…?

      are they really labour in name only..?

  15. Obtrectator 15
    19 December 2020 at 11:19 am

    Trickle-down might just have worked, up to a point, if the wealthy had gone on to pay a fair rate for goods and services. Instead, they've used their economic clout to drive wages and prices to impossibly low levels. The trickle goes a little way down, then dries up altogether. Another example of how good ol' human nature gets in the way of fancy socio-economic theories dreamed up in academics' offices far removed from the actual sites of wealth creation.

  16. millsy 16
    19 December 2020 at 11:54 am

    Trickle-down economics isnt limited to matters of taxation.

    Deregulation is also a form of trickle down.

    The RMA is a case in point – "freeing up land" for developers to build more luxury housing in the hope of a few cheap houses as well.

  17. Brendan 17
    19 December 2020 at 11:54 am

    I read somewhere that trickle down does work – in a tax haven. Problem is that it then forces up cost of living for everyone else.

  18. UncookedSelachimorpha 18
    19 December 2020 at 12:00 pm

    Good article. We actually have "flood up", where the wealth of the many rapidly accumulates to the wealthy few.

    What we need now is a government who will believe and act on the facts on trickle down. Rejecting the wealth tax has the same effect as tax cuts for the rich – and it seems very likely to me that those who rejected it must believe in trickle down, it is difficult to think of any other justification (unless it was cynical politicking by people who knew what they were doing was illogical and harmful to society)?

  19. UncookedSelachimorpha 19
    19 December 2020 at 6:45 pm

    At first you won't think this has anything to do with this post….until about 1:20

    https://youtu.be/JgsRzTxzC0U

  20. Ad 20
    20 December 2020 at 8:32 am

    Inequality (and the factors that cause it) is an utterly forlorn political issue.

    Yet it's so weird to have facts on in equality that are so right …

    http://www.inequality.org.nz/understand/

    Trying to get the attention of 90% of all our Parliaments for the last two decades hasn't worked.

    Nor is there any imaginable New Zealand parliament that will take this on in future either.

    Which kinda sucks, given the New Zealand I grew up in through the 1970s.

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  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    1 day ago

  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    1 day ago

  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago

  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    2 days ago

  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Black Friday
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    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. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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 ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    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 ...
    Bowalley Road
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    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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