We’re going to burn it all, until we burn it down.
What does it really mean to reduce NZ’s total fossil fuel use by 50% by 2030: a warm up discussion for an upcoming thought experiment.
Economy
debt / deficit
Trade deficit worst in seven years
Add it to our record debt, our record pollution, our record housing unaffordability, our rising inequality, our terrible carbon emissions…
A Song from John (All your questions answered)
Okay. So rumoour has it that John was merely a co-writer.
Who is ultimately responsible for NZ’s massive dairy farm debt?
People talk of excessive borrowing in the dairy sector. Of course, the real problem is that of excessive lending.
Fonterra faces liquidity issues as rivers of “white oil” dry up
Pundits, most residing in the National Party, just three years ago predicted the economy would surf high on “rivers of white oil” flowing from the dairy industry, but they now have cow pats splattered on their faces as Fonterra today announced another payout downgrade and signalled liquidity pressures.
the Global Death Economy
A new edition of “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” has been released. It makes it clear that we are in the grip of a global “Death Economy” and a collective embrace of ‘Thanatos’, the death instinct.
National the party of economic lunacy
A “$17 billion hole in the economy”. An estimated $18 billion lost because National stopped investing in the super fund. A record national debt. And we’re still talking about tax cuts? Lunacy!
So, how would you spend $1.2B per year?
A Kiwi Kids allowance for all under fives, with totally fee free public primary and secondary schools.
Keep Calm and Carry On
Regular commenter Paul rounds up the links you need to read to prepare yourself for the coming second GFC. National won’t be able to pass this one on to future generations by loading NZ up with crippling debt. We’ll be paying for GFC2 economically, socially and personally, right here, right now.
Why are we working so hard?
A recent New Matilda article discusses why at a time of increasing productivity the need to work has increased and not decreased.
The problem with free market capitalism
This morning’s Herald contains a story about a young man who with a family gift has managed to purchase eleven houses over the past five years and can afford to pay World of Warcraft all day.
Thanks Canterbury for the surplus
The Government books have hit surplus. But it looks like treatment of the financials for the Canterbury Earthquake may account for pretty well all of it. Update: Underspending on special education accounts for much of the “surplus”.
No, National shouldn’t have balanced the books.
Simon Louisson recently made a post about National’s profligacy, and all of the debt they have racked up. Guest poster Michael disagrees with Simon and says that “Yes, National was profligate.” and “No, National should not have balanced the books.”
In face of share market meltdown, Govt’s options limited
John Key says New Zealand has options in the face of a share market meltdown and is not like Greece (well that’s a relief). Simon Louisson asks how real are John Key’s options? Thanks to this Government’s profligate past spending, including irresponsible tax cuts, our options have narrowed drastically.
National Debt cracks the ton
The Crown has reached an unfortunate milestone and national debt now exceeds $100 billion.
Slash Greek debt now!
Europe must agree to slashing Greece’s debt so that economic growth can begin again. Germany should understand this better than most.
Oram on the budget and Treasury fantasies
Extracts from Rod Oram’s piece in the SST as posted on Facebook. “What’s missing from [the budget], and the six before, is any glimpse of the world we live in, let alone the political leadership we need to survive and thrive in it.”
Masters of Finance?
And they’ll be grateful!
Bill English tells us that the promise that they won the election on – that they’re the only Masters of Finance who could balance the government books (because that’s all that’s important…) – now isn’t at all important to the public.
And Bill tells us: they’ll get their surplus when I give it to them, and they’ll be grateful for it.
Record-breaking Government
Not satisfied with setting records for biggest deficit and largest total deficit over term, the Key government is now going for most deficits in a row. They now look to equal the National government’s 7 deficits from 1966-72. And this is the stuff they want to be judged on…
Greece to reclaim its future?
Greece has voted to reclaim its future from the banks.
On the economy and tax cut bribes
National are not responsible for the eventual recovery, they are responsible for delaying it.
ImperatorFish: “I said surface, not surplus”
Scott examines Bill’s likely excuses for failing to deliver something National have promised since 2011
Surplus sunk
The Nats are going to miss the only target they ever cared about hitting – the mythical surplus. Seven wasted years and counting…
Fudge-it-Budget
The lied about surplus in the run up to the 2014 National Election is looking like matching Penn and Teller for magical skills. […]
Polity: Mr Angry tries to reheat 2011 campaign
Steven Joyce is asking about how Labour can afford their policies. Half of the money is what National is planning to spend unwisely. The rest is from documented increases in revenue in a fiscal plan. Unlike National’s mythic surplus, these are solid values. They will produce a solid surplus to pay down National’s debt.
Polity: Herald on regional roads fiasco
The National Government’s $212 million plan has Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee explicitly admitting that it is a massive pork-barreling for government MPs with public funds, and explicitly tells people to piss off if they don’t like it.
NRT: So much for the surplus
As was generally expected by anyone who’d been watching the actual economy rather than just the dairy exports, business profits are lower than expected. And there aren’t the jobs and pay increases in our “rockstar” economy. So consumer spending measured by GST is low as well. Meanwhile the price inflation keeps increasing government costs. So we are already on track for a large deficit next year rather than the government’s much-touted imaginary surplus. You have to ask why we deserve a government that appears to live more in a universe of wishful thinking than reality.
Real Monetary Reform
The most important thing that needs to be learned is that money is nothing. Or, to be more precise, money is a tool that can be used to distribute the resources available to a society. In and of itself it has no value nor does it have a physical representation. Specifically, money is not a medium of exchange but a symbol of exchange and because of this the cost of money, usually presented as interest, should be zero.
Polity: Budget 2014: Over-promise. Under-deliver.
Earlier this week I predicted the Budget would be Labour-lite. I was right, but only in part. By far the biggest disappointment is in housing. The government signalled help for home buyers would be a highlight in the Budget. A few pathetic morsels isn’t a highlight. This will make next to no difference to the housing affordability crisis. First home buyers aren’t $3,500 short of a house. They are hundreds of thousands short, because there aren’t nearly enough homes.
National’s cows coming home to roost
As interest rates crank up in debt-laden NZ, we’re about to reap the consequences of 5 years of do-nothing, anti-worker, National government.
Hypocrisy
The levels of hypocrisy of John Key and National are astounding. Nanny State, borrowing’s bad, too many public servants… all while doing far more of their supposed “crimes” than any government previously.
The Genesis share float – or is that share sink?
The Government is continuing with the Genesis share float. Shares with an anticipated yield of 15% are being sold to pay off debt on which interest at 5% is being charged. What sort of economic lunacy is this?
National – pissing debt against a wall.
The deficit was $637 million dollars bigger than expected. In fact it was more than double the expected size. Why? Well mostly because of much smaller tax revenues than previously estimated. So much for the mythic recovery that National’s spinners have been pushing over xmas. We just finished paying off the mountain of debt that National gave me back in the 1970’s and early 80s. Now the shifty party of crony business morons are trying to do it to another generation.
Have National’s asset sales officially cost more than they’ll earn?
In a previous post at The Standard I did a wee bit of math and came to the conclusion that National has already […]
National Party economics: make $2 billion, spend 5
The National Party are the good economic managers, right? So why are they spending money we don’t actually have yet?