The Standard

Economy

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

Categories under Economy

Labour’s Targeted Families Package

Written By: - Date published: 1:54 pm, July 11th, 2017 - 101 comments

As covered by Vernon Small on Stuff: “Labour is promising to scrap National’s Budget tax cut plan. Instead it will funnel the cash into higher Working for Families payments and extra help for those with young children. It’s a package it says will deliver up to $48 a week extra to middle income families.”

Generous donation – why was it necessary to get a hospital built?

Written By: - Date published: 12:58 pm, July 11th, 2017 - 28 comments

Thank you Mark Dunajtschik. But why did it take a generous private donation to get a badly needed public hospital off the drawing-board?

That’s cold

Written By: - Date published: 6:31 am, July 11th, 2017 - 50 comments

What’s wrong with a few mid-winter power cuts down south?

The Government is misrepresenting the effect of the Ruataniwha Dam decision

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, July 9th, 2017 - 21 comments

The Government has responded to the Supreme Court decision which puts a halt on the Ruataniwha Dam by claiming wrongly that the protected land was of low quality and by stating that a law change, possibly retrospective, will occur.

Does the left do more of the same or does it get radical this election?

Written By: - Date published: 11:12 am, July 7th, 2017 - 252 comments

Andrew Dean has written an opinion piece for Stuff where he suggests that to win this election Labour and the Greens have to become more radical.

The cost of the surplus

Written By: - Date published: 12:39 pm, July 6th, 2017 - 9 comments

Where are our priorities?

Labour and National government spending

Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, July 6th, 2017 - 3 comments

The magical disappearing Foreign Trust industry

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, July 6th, 2017 - 22 comments

National’s original claims that New Zealand was not a tax haven are in tatters as the Sherwan rule changes have resulted in the mass exodus of Foreign Trusts from New Zealand.

The great Auckland housing crash of 2017

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, July 6th, 2017 - 79 comments

Two indicators both agree that the Auckland property market has started trending downwards. Over leveraged buyers are going to get burned, and first time buyers are still shut out. Perfect.

Citizenship – one law for the rich

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, July 3rd, 2017 - 185 comments

As other citizenship cases are compared to Peter Thiel, it starkly highlights our “one law for the rich” approach.

About that pay equity deal

Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, July 1st, 2017 - 15 comments

More excellent reporting from Newsroom: “Long overdue pay rate increases affecting 55,000 New Zealand care and support workers kick in on July 1. But the Government’s failure to fully fund the changes is threatening to derail service providers”

Spare a thought for the homeless tonight

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, July 1st, 2017 - 20 comments

Not just because it’s winter, and the weather is lousy, but also because of this…

Employers don’t like Labour’s new employment relations package

Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, June 30th, 2017 - 43 comments

In shocking news, it turns out that employers don’t like Labour’s new employment relations package. They (and the usual suspects) are running lines about a return to the 1970s. A time when workers’ share of the wealth was higher, poverty was lower, inequality was lower, and workers had more rights. Sounds awful.

Labour’s new employment relations package

Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, June 29th, 2017 - 107 comments

Labour: “After nine years of National, working people’s share of the economy is falling. Less than 40 per cent of economic growth under National has gone into working people’s wages. If working people’s slice of the economy hadn’t shrunk under National, workers’ pay packets would have been $23 billion larger.”

Brighter Future Delivering the Cusp of Something Special for New Zealanders

Written By: - Date published: 11:41 am, June 28th, 2017 - 8 comments

That’s a mish-mash of Nat soundbites past and present. For the reality underlying it all, check out the excellent RNZ series “Is this the Brighter Future?”

Jesse Mulligan owned Bill English on national television

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 am, June 27th, 2017 - 48 comments

Getting very bloody angry and speaking truth to power.

Something to go to in Wellington

Written By: - Date published: 10:08 am, June 26th, 2017 - 13 comments

Greater Wellington regional Council has tendered their bus service without protecting drivers’ terms and conditions. That’s going to cost drivers and average of $200 per week. Danny Scotford sent out this email asking people in Wellington to protest at the councils’ next meeting.

Oil and Water Mix.

Written By: - Date published: 11:17 am, June 20th, 2017 - 23 comments

Our economic paradigm (market capitalism) and oil don’t mix. False hope (BECCS) and survival doesn’t mix. Current political settings (Paris pledges produce 3- 4 degrees C warming with the US on board) and intelligent action don’t mix. Incrementalism (time is not on our side) and AGW doesn’t mix. Whatever can’t be mixed into some AGW solution needs to be flushed.

Scary, huh? Well, yes and no…

Why the America’s Cup is better than Rugby

Written By: - Date published: 10:41 am, June 19th, 2017 - 136 comments

And now for something completely different.  Is the America’s cup a more potent example of New Zealand’s unique place in the world than the Rigby World Cup.

New Pike River footage

Written By: - Date published: 6:44 pm, June 18th, 2017 - 21 comments

Tonight Newshub had new footage from deep inside Pike River mine. It showed no fire damage.

Greater Wellington Regional Council is harming public transport

Written By: - Date published: 4:12 pm, June 18th, 2017 - 19 comments

The Wellington Regional Council has contracted its bus services but not protected its drivers’ incomes. They stand to lose an average of $200 a week.

And Wellington risks losing the great public transport system it is so proud of.

Skepta remix – Tory Magic Money Tree

Written By: - Date published: 3:09 pm, June 18th, 2017 - 1 comment

A little bit of UK political parody grime…

Our brilliant economy

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, June 16th, 2017 - 51 comments

We need new thinking on the economy – zero emissions, sustainable, a big redistribution from rich to poor. But the list of current economic woe shows that even on their own old conventional terms the Nats are useless economic managers.

UNICEF on our appalling child welfare record – but apparently we don’t care

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, June 16th, 2017 - 199 comments

UNICEF has another major report ranking the wellbeing of NZ kids 34th out of 41 developed countries. This is not new news, and apparently a lot of voters just don’t give a damn.

Signals

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, June 16th, 2017 - 124 comments

The politics of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Debt to Income Loan Limits

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, June 15th, 2017 - 116 comments

this is not the hope you were looking for

The possible introduction of debt to income lending ratios will potentially have an enormous effect on New Zealand’s housing market.

When immigration means exploitation

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, June 15th, 2017 - 37 comments

Those arguing for unrestricted immigration are – wittingly or unwittingly – fueling higher levels of exploitation in NZ.

Fabian seminar tonight: What would a people’s Budget look like?

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, June 14th, 2017 - 5 comments

Something to check out if you are in Auckland tonight, the CTU’s Bill Rosenberg discusses the budget. He will “examine the Government’s priorities and look at what needs to be done”.

Immigration and economic growth

Written By: - Date published: 8:16 am, June 14th, 2017 - 54 comments

English’s scaremongering about Labour’s immigration policy does nothing but highlight the fundamental weakness of our economy. Just how anemic are we after 9 long years?

Panama Papers fallout – trusts leaving NZ

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, June 13th, 2017 - 118 comments

Herald: “More than 1800 foreign trusts have told Inland Revenue they don’t want to register under new rules that require them to reveal financial information and their ultimate owners.”

The Freshwater Rescue Plan

Written By: - Date published: 8:17 am, June 10th, 2017 - 12 comments

Seven steps to reclaiming our lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers.