The Standard

Economy

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

Categories under Economy

The monkey still has the gun!

Written By: - Date published: 5:47 pm, May 2nd, 2025 - Comments Off on The monkey still has the gun!

When John Oliver isn’t ragging on New Zealand, he and his writers have a keen senses in explaining complex topics clearly. He did one long section a couple of weeks ago that took apart the Trumpian view on the economic value of tariffs. Worth watching.. But first about that monkey image

The Greens’ Industrial Strategy: Green Jobs Guarantee and Ministry of Green Works

Written By: - Date published: 5:17 pm, May 1st, 2025 - 39 comments

New Zealanders should be in control of our economy, our jobs and our future. We don’t need to leave our fate to be decided by international shareholders

Poking the dragon

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 pm, April 24th, 2025 - 36 comments

Seven cross-party New Zealand politicians have just paid a “private” visit to Taiwan. They were received publicly by the Taiwanese government, who paid for the trip. In the current geopolitical environment, it was extraordinarily foolish.

Farewell Pope Francis

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, April 22nd, 2025 - 10 comments

“Let us not be afraid to say it: we want change, real change, structural change. The system has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature.”

Spare a thought for poor Nick Mowbray

Written By: - Date published: 11:26 pm, April 16th, 2025 - 12 comments

Nick Mowbray, who has supported and promoted a number of right wing causes, finds himself losing out big time because of Donald Trump’s tariffs. And is complaining.

And now, the end is near …

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, April 14th, 2025 - 82 comments

It looks like the three way marriage made in hell is on the rocks.

The Empire strikes back

Written By: - Date published: 5:40 pm, April 13th, 2025 - 7 comments

A recent run on US Government bonds showing possible coordination between different countries may have been the reason that Donald Trump walked back the worst of his tariff changes. And he has also realised the US can’t make cheap IPhones.

The Trump Shock: Why the US President Crashed the Global Economy

Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, April 11th, 2025 - 19 comments

There is a method to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff madness. The chaos and confusion is deliberate; the aim is nothing less than the controlled disintegration of the world economy, writes Elliot Crossan. The eyes of the world are on Donald Trump once again. The world’s most successful attention-seeker has us all transfixed. It’s a story […]

The maniac president blinks, but for a moment…

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, April 11th, 2025 - 29 comments

Faced with an inability to fund the the US government debt, Donald Trump halted his insane rush to toward a global depression. However the political system in the US that produced this global economic insanity is still there and is still nonfunctional. Time to disengage and let the US time to heal itself.

NZD Freefalls & NZ First Linked To Green Party Attack Ads

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, April 8th, 2025 - 3 comments

Headlines: NZD free falls, misleading Green Party attack ads linked to NZ First, making NZDF lethal, and American billionaires regret support for Trump

Trump Schadenfreude

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, April 6th, 2025 - 68 comments

All the fools supporting hard right political leadership will now be reminded of what they signed up for.

Trade Like You Mean It: How Aotearoa Can Lead with Values in a Volatile World

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, April 5th, 2025 - 36 comments

In an era of weaponised tariffs, crumbling institutions, and trade policy made on the campaign trail, New Zealand’s long game is trust, credibility, and coherence.

If we choose to play it.

US imposes 10% tariff on NZ imports

Written By: - Date published: 1:43 pm, April 3rd, 2025 - 52 comments

While 10% is at the lower end of this unjustified tax, it is very serious for our whole NZ economy.

Yeah, Nah, National Don’t Deserve A Second Term

Written By: - Date published: 3:34 pm, March 27th, 2025 - 23 comments

A response to right wing commentator Matthew Hooton.

Winston’s war on wokeness

Written By: - Date published: 7:04 am, March 25th, 2025 - 41 comments

In what looked like an early election campaign launch Winston Peters has done his old man shaking his fist at the sky tirade against everything woke.

The Unbearable Weight of Being a Useful Idiot

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 am, March 23rd, 2025 - 96 comments

Res Publica takes aim at modern day ‘tankies’. Pro-authoritarian leftist, who can apologise for any authoritarian regime provided that it is intellectually cloaked in the ‘correct’ rhetoric and a veneer of geo-politics. In their view, modern day tankies are only good at reducing the left’s credibility to rubble in real-time.

Reasons for Optimism

Written By: - Date published: 11:10 am, March 22nd, 2025 - 14 comments

We’re good, but we know we want better leadership.

The Libelle liquidation

Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, March 20th, 2025 - 20 comments

The first liquidator’s report on Libelle Group Limited suggests the company was hopelessly incapable of performing its role in providing the National-Act Government’s version of school lunches.

The World Turned Upside Down (again)

Written By: - Date published: 4:52 pm, March 19th, 2025 - 73 comments

The world is in turmoil as political and economic uncertainty grow, and as conflict spreads. How the Left prepares for the next decade is a pressing challenge.

Cuts to Disability Services Are Part of a Class War

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, March 19th, 2025 - 14 comments

Over the last year, the Coalition has unleashed a series of cuts which have been devastating for the disabled community. These cuts are part of a class war — and it’s time to organise and fight back, writes Elliot Crossan.

Is NZ as Stable as Luxon Claims?

Written By: - Date published: 8:14 pm, March 15th, 2025 - 13 comments

By pursuing cuts, selling off assets to multinationals, enabling ACT’s attacks on the Treaty and cutting back on climate commitments, Luxon is guaranteeing that NZ will not be stable for long, writes Elliot Crossan.

Failed Conference

Written By: - Date published: 1:03 pm, March 14th, 2025 - 46 comments

Luxon’s team have delivered zero deals out of the multibillionaire conference on infrastructure. This is a fail.

NZ Science is in Big Trouble

Written By: - Date published: 5:36 pm, March 13th, 2025 - 12 comments

Science and tertiary education are being ignored in NZ, which is just dumb.

Going for poverty: National’s new procurement rules

Written By: - Date published: 6:51 am, March 13th, 2025 - 35 comments

Nicola Willis is picking a fight with unions and environmental groups by proposing changes to Government procurement rules that would do away with environmentally beneficial policies and the requirement to pay the living wage.

Where Is the Resistance to Privatisation and Austerity?

Written By: - Date published: 5:19 pm, March 11th, 2025 - 13 comments

As the Coalition moves to partially privatise our healthcare system, and Seymour fatally undermines the free school lunch programme, it is time for us to take to the streets and fight back, writes Elliot Crossan.

Deloitte’s Health NZ Review Falls Short

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 pm, March 10th, 2025 - 8 comments

Shane Reti and Simeon Brown

This week Simeon Brown used a Deloitte report to criticise Health NZ and accelerate his privatisation message. But, writes Mountain Tui, the Deloitte report appears to reveal a lot more from what it omitted, than what it covered.

Climate change?

Written By: - Date published: 8:43 am, March 10th, 2025 - 101 comments

Chris Hipkins has released his priorities should he be Prime Minister. They do not include addressing climate change.

Labour to campaign on tax reform

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, March 10th, 2025 - 57 comments

1News: The party leader told Q+A that Labour would be announcing its tax policy later this year, ahead of the 2026 election. He said too much investment was going into property rather than “productive businesses that create jobs”. “We’ve got to rejig the tax system so that the burden of taxation is more evenly spread,” […]

Great America

Written By: - Date published: 12:23 pm, March 9th, 2025 - 17 comments

The United States of America is in full territorial expansion mode and there is little that anyone can do about it. 

Blink twice if you are being held hostage

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, March 5th, 2025 - 27 comments

Vladimir Zelensky has apologised to Donald Trump for being the receipient of Trump’s appalling behaviour recently. And Trump has sparked a full on trade war with some of America’s closest allies.

The Chinese Shadowboxing Show at Sea

Written By: - Date published: 4:42 pm, March 1st, 2025 - 21 comments

The World is at war and the level of mind-control is mind-blowing.