Inflation targeting puts Kiwis under the gun
As you know, petrol and food prices are up. These are international prices spiralling up due to growing demand and limited or falling […]
Economy
Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour
On the scrapheap
This graph shows the number of people employed in New Zealand, and employment would have been had the number of people with a […]
A decent job with fair pay
That’s what the labour movement is all about: ensuring that people who want to work can find jobs and that they receive fair […]
National’s interest rates record
National’s latest line is that interest rates have doubled under Labour, with the implication that National would magically lower inflation (while simultaneously pouring […]
Bad politics
National’s current attempt to stop the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union from registering as a third party pretty much proves what we all […]
National forced to support meal breaks
National has found itself politically unable to oppose the amendment to the Employment Relations Act that will ensure workers are entitled to meal […]
NZ Growing Faster Than Aussie, US, Japan, and UK
The Reserve Bank produces a series of helpful tables of economic data. One table compares our growth to that of Australia, the US, […]
Winston and the FTA
New Zealand First’s opposition to the China FTA is no surprise but it is interesting to reflect on the grounds for it that […]
Fair and balanced
The Herald could barely contain its self-satisfaction when National’s David Farrar complained to the Electoral Commission that the country’s largest private sector union, […]
Davey gets it wrong again
David Farrar’s latest political campaign on behalf of the National Party has, like so many of them before, foundered on the sharp rocks […]
In praise of ACC
It was nice to see this independent report into the ACC scheme by Price Waterhouse Coopers. Amongst the general positive comments was this […]
Sack Spotless
I’ve just got back from a small but very vocal picket outside Spotless’ corporate HQ on The Terrace in solidarity with the 800 […]
The trans-Tasman wage gap
Now this is rich. National, the party that gave New Zealand its low wage economy, is running the line that the trans-Tasman wage […]
April 1 changes boost wages and cut taxes
Today is a big day for government policy affecting Kiwis’ incomes: The minimum wage is now $12 an hour, up from $7 when […]
National’s tax cut dilemma
If National are so keen to cut taxes and so critical of the Government for not doing so earlier, why are they being […]
An embarrassing effort
Ever since the Herald lost its rag over the EFA I’ve come to expect little more than half-truths and inaccuracies from its editorials, but […]
Boohoo
Legislated breaks for workers are unnecessary according to Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O’Reilly. His bitter protest against proposed changes to employment […]
Meal breaks
I had planned to write something about the business lobby’s moaning over Labour’s plans to restore workers’ rights to meal and rest breaks, but as […]
Calling coal to account
New Zealand’s coal industry is a mess of contradictions. We worry about carbon emissions and Kyoto while State-owned Solid Energy exports coal to dirty Chinese […]
The 50 cent tax cut
This morning on Breakfast, John Key repeated his line that capping the size of the core public service (that includes planning staff for health, […]
Kiwisaver breaks half a million
Congratulations to Kiwisaver’s 500,000th member, baby Remy Van Cruysen, whose parents, Jules and Megan, signed him up today. By the time Remy is an […]
Blackball centenary
The weekend marked the centenary of the Blackball miners’ strike. TV3 reported that: “Politicians flocked to Labour’s spiritual home on the West Coast […]
It’s your fault I keep saying contradictory things
Regular readers will remember that one of John Key’s excuses for he ‘we would love to see wages drop‘ quote was that the […]
Whatever, Roger
NZers’ wallets will bulge under Act, says Roger Douglas. Sure they will Roger – with the bills from our kids’ user-pays schools, our […]
GDP up; parents’ time with kids plummets
One of the most interesting questions from the audience at the Stiglitz interview in Wellington last week was whether he thought we were […]
Is it a recession Mr Key?
I am intrigued by the recent coverage of the state of the economy. We have reports that things will get bumpy from some […]
What the hell is the sub-prime crisis?
The sub-prime crisis is at the heart of the world’s current economic problems. It all boils down to financiers playing fast and loose […]
Guest post: Simon Tegg on Peak Oil
Meet Guest post. Guest post is 32 years old, he likes long walks on the beach and lively political debate. He is our […]
Counting our collective coin
Check out this groovy little gadget. You put your money in the slot and it gets counted, with the power of ‘digital’! Maybe […]
Nationalise Air New Zealand
The recent scandal over Air New Zealand underpaying its Chinese workers to the tune of four times less than their New Zealand counterparts […]
Good for the ears
For those of you who haven’t already found it, Left Business Observer editor Doug Henwood has a bloody good economics-based radio show that […]
Adapting to the oil endgame
Today oil broke US$111 a barrel. Two weeks ago the record price was $101. Just six months ago the price broke $80 for […]
Tax cuts = no rise in the minimum wage?
From the ABC site: “A peak business group says the Federal Government’s promised tax cuts should be taken into account when deciding on […]
Reactions to New Zealand Fast Forward
Groups that issued press releases welcoming the Government announcement of the $700 million research and development fund for argiculture (press releases on Scoop): […]
Dolla Dolla Bill, Y’all
Days after saying ‘we’ve always said, we aren’t that worried about, um, whether the Crown needs to borrow a bit of money [for […]
$700m for R&D
The Dom reports that “Prime Minister Helen Clark unveiled the $700 million funding boost for research, development and innovation projects today and said […]