The Standard

Economy

Posts on the economy, work, business, income, and labour

Categories under Economy

We owe a great debt to Grant Robertson

Written By: - Date published: 5:16 pm, March 22nd, 2026 - 9 comments

Today I learned, we owe a great debt to Grant Roberston and just wanted to say thanks

What We Can Do

Written By: - Date published: 6:50 pm, March 20th, 2026 - 30 comments

In absence of a concrete leadership plan from this government to address the impending oil supply crisis, this post is for us to simply note down what actions we are taking ourselves. 

The oil crisis: “We live in challenging times”

Written By: - Date published: 4:33 pm, March 19th, 2026 - 46 comments

The government has shifted position and is now directly talking about the need to plan and prepare for a potential crisis and doing so for the worst case scenario.

Why scrapping Labour’s climate change policies has made the oil crisis worse

Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, March 17th, 2026 - 10 comments

Driven by ideology, this Government has worsened the country’s prospects to reduce oil dependance by axing policies that would have cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

PSA: Help Us Now – 23,000 Home Support Workers Hit By Petrol Price Hikes Urge Govt. To Act

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, March 16th, 2026 - 25 comments

“There are 23,000 home support workers on low wages who look after our most vulnerable people – the elderly, disabled and injured – every single day who need help urgently, right now. They deserve better than being left to foot the bill” – Fleur Fitzsimons, PSA

The oil crisis – What would Jacinda do?

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, March 14th, 2026 - 43 comments

Jacinda Ardern led the country through some of the most taxing international crises imaginable. How would she deal with the potential oil shock caused by the Iranian war and how does this compare to Christopher Luxon’s response?

Will Israel/US wreck the Gulf States & Iran?

Written By: - Date published: 2:59 pm, March 13th, 2026 - 14 comments

We are now in the opening days of what may be the decisive war to determine either the survival of the Iranian state or the expulsion of the US from the Arab lands.

The oil crisis: she’ll be right?

Written By: - Date published: 1:05 am, March 13th, 2026 - 47 comments

“Every emergency plan principle that I’m aware of says you communicate early, honestly and with a plan.” – Nathan Surendran

What Should Be In the Plan for New Zealand’s Upcoming Oil Crisis?

Written By: - Date published: 11:31 am, March 11th, 2026 - 90 comments

In the short and medium term, what should this government do as a plan?

Iran: Compounding Chaos

Written By: - Date published: 11:44 am, March 5th, 2026 - 39 comments

Trump’s attack on Iran, in cahoots with, or in support of, his regional proxy, Israel, is illegal, but also unconscionable in moral and political terms. It is a resurgence of the post-war experience, in which the development of the rules-based international order was qualified by the arbitrary actions of “big players” in Iran, Suez, Cuba […]

The Tamatha Paul Cycleways vs Water Voter Never Happened As Described

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, February 26th, 2026 - 7 comments

How misinformation was used to discredit Tamatha Paul to divert attention away from genuine issues around Moa Point’s sewage disaster

Fining beggars

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, February 23rd, 2026 - 20 comments

Fining beggers will only increase their problems and moving them on will not solve the problem only spread it around.

Should job hiring be fair and transparent?

Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, February 20th, 2026 - 13 comments

Honi soit qui mal y pense.

The Opportunity Party still hates beneficiaries

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, February 14th, 2026 - 79 comments

If you dismantle welfare, you push many New Zealanders into desperate poverty.

Think Big 2.0

Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, February 12th, 2026 - 34 comments

The Government has responded to a perceived urgency caused by dry years to the country’s power supply by proposing something that is counter intuitive. Instead of rolling out solar it wants to burn imported Liquified Natural Gas. And use enabling legislation to avoid any overview of the proposal.

2.8% of New Zealand population outbound in 2 years as division widens

Written By: - Date published: 2:56 pm, February 10th, 2026 - 5 comments

OPINION: I visited Facebook recently and noticed some fake accounts (you know the ones with AI pictures depicting Māori in an unfavourable light, along with NZ flags featured prominently, as if love for a country is about a piece of cloth), and there’s a distinct anti-Indian sentiment being cultivated on the platform

“Surprise” unemployment high masks more damaging developments

Written By: - Date published: 12:50 pm, February 4th, 2026 - 8 comments

Unemployment hits 5.4% in the December quarter, but that doesn’t include the 140,000 plus Kiwi citizens that have fled in the last 2 years

This National-led Government is the best mis-manager of the economy

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, February 4th, 2026 - 9 comments

When the coalition is treating the economy as a game, are they having fun?

Green Shoots, Anyone?

Written By: - Date published: 4:11 pm, January 30th, 2026 - 27 comments

There is no evidence of immediate improvement in our economy, or of this government improving it.

Who would have thunk that slashing Health IT budgets would result in IT outages

Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, January 29th, 2026 - 9 comments

A year after the Government slashed a third of Health IT jobs the Auckland hospital system has suffered a massive IT outage.

Atlas NZ Inc: we are (the) good guys

Written By: - Date published: 3:55 pm, January 21st, 2026 - Comments Off on Atlas NZ Inc: we are (the) good guys

When holding out an olive branch to the Left in your Right hand, you should also show the other hand.

MCERT V MAF V MBIE V Treasury

Written By: - Date published: 3:01 pm, January 15th, 2026 - 4 comments

The merger of many functions of the central public sector concerned with cities, the environment, housing and urban development, and transport, was announced in the week before Christmas and is now underway. There’s plenty of good on the face of it.

Affordability is not about prices – it is about extraction

Written By: - Date published: 11:25 am, January 9th, 2026 - 10 comments

The real affordability crisis lies in the systematic extraction of income from households.

Simeon Brown sidesteps key issues in “catastrophic” Manage My Health breach

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, January 6th, 2026 - 12 comments

The company has been accused of using outdated encryption protocols, and has been slow to respond to community concerns. And importantly, has National put our other public health data at risk too?

Politician of the year?

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, December 31st, 2025 - 3 comments

Chris Bishop is thought by some to be the politician of the year, mainly for drafting a couple of bills plaigarised from the work of David Parker and untested promises to build hugely expensive roads of National significance. But they are ignoring the most extraordinary performance by an opposition leader in recent decades.

Peters spits the dummy over India Free Trade deal

Written By: - Date published: 7:54 am, December 24th, 2025 - 22 comments

“National preferred doing a quick, low-quality deal over doing the hard work necessary to get a fair deal that delivers for both New Zealanders and Indians.”

Advantage’s 2026 predictions

Written By: - Date published: 12:03 pm, December 23rd, 2025 - 11 comments

Advantage gets out the crystal ball and postilated what may happen next year.

The Tunnels project and SH 1 to Wellington Airport

Written By: - Date published: 9:50 am, December 20th, 2025 - 13 comments

The plan ignores standard traffic planning practice, takes no account of predicted sea level rise and will be obsolete before the last stone is turned.

Pirates of the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific. The White House National Security Strategy. 

Written By: - Date published: 2:06 pm, December 19th, 2025 - 18 comments

the US administration stresses that countries like Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan will need to militarise as never before in peacetime to keep China in its place. 

NZ First repeals Foreign Home Buyers Ban Under Urgency, Late At Night, During X’mas Period

Written By: - Date published: 12:29 pm, December 16th, 2025 - 17 comments

PLUS: Brooke Van Velden overturns historic Supreme Court Uber ruling, after Uber lost their appeal unanimously last month

Atlas Shrugged. Part One: Trump’s Security Strategy blows up the American world order.

Written By: - Date published: 8:27 pm, December 12th, 2025 - 25 comments

“The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” White House National Security Strategy, 2025