More facts on the table
Now, yesterday a couple of righties didn’t want to believe the evidence in front of their eyes that the GDP per person gap […]
Economy
economy
The house built on sand
Pick up the paper. The stories are ‘consumer confidence recovering’, ‘house prices stablising’ etc. These are taken as indications that the recession is […]
Those who don’t learn from history…
Supposedly, we need Don Brash and a gang of his right-wing cohorts to tell us how to close the wealth gap with Australia. […]
Good jab, now land some punches
It was excellent to see Phil Goff laying down the gauntlet to Key yesterday. He announced Labour’s policy to temporarily relax partner means […]
The Salesman
One of the stories from John Key’s days as a currency trader is that he was always more of a salesman than an […]
Time for a real debate on the economy
I wish Finlay MacDonald wrote more about politics and less about cats and kids and stuff because he’s well worth reading when he’s […]
Wee gripe: “lagging indicator”
John Key, sunny grin in place, says the recession’s all but over. Admits that unemployment will continue to climb (barring a miricle like, […]
None so blind
I read Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard’s speech on Tuesday with great interest. It’s an informative, if very mainstream review of the recession […]
Credit outlook cut but it’s not a credit rating downgrade
So, Fitch, the third of the big three sovereign credit ratings agencies, has moved the Government’s rating from a stable outlook to a negative […]
Key grins blankly, shrugs shoulders
I was going to do a fisking of Key’s ‘major speech‘ today. But there’s nothing to fisk, no substance, no ideas, no vision. […]
Leak: Key’s next big plan revealed
Today Key is giving a major speech on the economy. He told Oliver Driver on Sunrise yesterday that it would be “pretty high […]
We can haz vision?
According to NZPA John Key is going to deliver a big speech tomorrow in which he will “detail the problems and solutions for […]
Oil’s well that ends well?
Now days everybody wanna talk, like they got something to say, but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch […]
Symbol or substance?
It seems to me that National has fundamentally misunderstood what the foreshore and seabed debate is about. Key’s statements yesterday suggest it is […]
What goes up
There’s a lot of empty, over-optimistic talk around at the moment about ‘green-shoots’ in the economy. Supposedly, these are little early signs of […]
Lovin’ it?
Stuff reports that McDonald’s is getting up to $16,000 of taxpayer money per person it recruits from the benefit. I doubt this per-person […]
Just laugh in their faces
National is overseeing the most dramatic rise in unemployment on record (yep, 2000 a week is more than the 1980s, more than the […]
Jam tomorrow
I see John Key is promising new ideas to stop job-losses: We’ve got an economic strategy … and I intend over the next […]
Atlas drops the ball again
Why does this myth that the private sector is better persist in this country? At every turn, the bosses show themselves to be a […]
A rolling maul or treading water?
In the face of widespread criticism that his government is asleep at the wheel, John Key has boldly relaunched some tired old spin. […]
Asleep at the wheel
Yesterday, Goff asked Key for some evidence that his government is doing something to save jobs. Key squirmed and squirmed. Goff: What have […]
1 million Aussies? Don’t get too excited
So 1,001,880 Australians visited New Zealand in the year to May, up 3.7% over the last May year despite the recession Yay? Well […]
Productive debate
There was nothing in the Budget for productivity. Education, the foundation of producitivty, was actually cut when you take into account inflation and […]
New Zealand’s weakest link
Is its business leaders. There’s Keys, the Fyfes, the Weldons. Who all spend so much money to look good on the covers of […]
The $8 billion robbery
On Q+A this morning Guyon Espiner interviewed Bill English. Guyon had received papers from a treasury official that apparently show the cost of […]
The man in the mirror
The Budget is already costing jobs. AirNZ has announced that it will be cutting flights. 80 jobs will go. The EPMU has […]
No super contributions = worse net debt
I’ve had a dig into Treasury’s numbers and worked out that they expect the Superannuation Fund will make a 13% return next year, […]
The Debt Bogey Returns
Seems this op-ed was off-message for one of our larger media outlets, we’re happy to run it: _______________________________________ Alan Blinder, Professor of Public […]
Let them eat oysters
Remember – March against National’s undemocratic supercity today 25th, noon, Queen St [More info] Thousands of protesters take to the streets of Auckland […]
Power to the people
This just in – the electricity market isn’t working. Well, plenty of people were saying that would happen back in the 1990s when National […]
The root of the problem
I reckon New Zealand’s a bit of an economic miracle really. Small country, new country without centuries of infrastructure, middle of nowhere, good […]
NACT: Going backwards for politics
The Fast Forward Fund was axed by the NACT government in Feburary. This was a fund that was to be invested and the […]
Big numbers, Crazy ideas
Most of us work for a living, and worry about money measured in tens, hundreds, or thousands of dollars. For myself, I find […]
What would Key the Investor do?
Here’s a question for Mr Key but you can play along too. What if you could buy into an asset that performs well […]
Bosses ‘using recession’ to squeeze staff
Well that didn’t take long. Bosses ‘using recession’ to squeeze staff: Bosses being accused of using the recession to exploit workers by driving […]
Another nail in the neo-liberal coffin
Neoliberal economic policy has taken a bit of a beating lately. Unregulated financial markets have exploded spectacularly and the wreckage is dragging the […]