Whatever it takes, except anything
A reader has spotted that Hide wasn’t the only minister telling porkies in Parliament yesterday. Fortunately for Bill English, he’s too smart to […]
Economy
economy
Bad or not too bad?
The latest unemployment figures look better than expected but appearances may be deceptive. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is up to 5.0%, lower […]
Quarterly Employment Survey
The Quarterly Employment Survey out today shows that 46,700 jobs disappeared between December and March. That’s 2.6% of jobs gone in a single […]
What a joke
This shows how meaningless tax cuts are. From last night’s TV3 poll: When you receive tax cuts this month [they began on April […]
Imagine.
Inspired by a forwarded e-mail about Obama’s speech to the NAS with this line in it Imagine Key committing to invest 3% of […]
Budget 2009: Why not tax the rich?
With the Government openly preparing the public for spending cuts in the upcoming Budget, No Right Turn reminds us that there are alternatives […]
Don’t fear the reaper
The Government’s response to the recession so far has been to curl up in a ball and hope it will go away. Incredibly, […]
‘Bout that gurgling sound…
The average house in New Zealand should be worth about 3.5 times the average household income. (3.5 * $48k = $168k) The historic […]
Oh no, not Sweden!
If you’ve been watching your Fox News, you know that the US is turning socialist. It’s going to be Sweden any day apparently. […]
National has blown it
National cannot be blamed for the current financial crisis and recession of course. But they can be blamed for their short sighted and […]
There’s optimistic and there’s just wrong
John Key has a habit of speaking much more bluntly to foreign media than he does to us. In his interview with the Financial […]
High quality government spending
I suppose the Herald means for us to recoil in horror at the headline “$325,000 bill to save 57 jobs” but I’m fine […]
Leaping into inaction
Cycling is a great way to travel, so it’s great that the government is going to back more cycleways around the country to […]
Elizabeth Warren on the bailouts
The best news source in America, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, interviews the woman responsible for making sure their bailout money is […]
More pain ahead
The current financial crisis originated in America with a wave of defaults in “sub prime” mortgages. The excellent presentation found here covers a […]
What plan? Government incoherent
Peeking through the OECD policy brief there were some interesting issues when looking at the short-term economic issues over the next few years. […]
NZ’s debt in perspective
Remember when John Key used to say “New Zealand has a growth problem, not a debt problem”? He doesn’t say that anymore, which […]
The next oil spike(s)
Remember the oil spike? Over the course of the last 4-5 years, oil kept on breaking records, culminating in a massive spike to […]
Weak
We’ve all been subjected to mainstream journalists gushing over Key’s ‘strong leadership’ but now it’s being put to the test and we’re seeing […]
Too Big to Fail
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is one of those rare thinkers who has the priceless ability to express complex ideas in ways that are immediately […]
Yes, if Bill will let me
A wag emails us: So Key is keen on offering mortgage holidays like in Aussie. Any bets on how long before English overrules him?
Who’s zooming who?
The Herald reports: Last week John Key used poor United States sales of the new BMW 7-series – 10 were sold in February, […]
G20 protests
Tens of thousands of people protested yesterday April 1st in London at the G20 summit. The protest is made up of a multitude […]
Criticising car corporation charity
Here’s why Fickle Cycle is rapidly becoming the best New Zealand blog focussed on international issues: I wasn’t impressed with December’s car industry […]
Mayday Mayday, Worth’s bought it and I’m losing altitude – Groser out
Richard Worth, OBE, is now in very serious trouble having been snared in what looks like untruths about using his Ministerial portfolio to […]
Fun with labour productivity
We often hear that labour productivity is not growing fast enough and some argue it should be a focus of government economic policy. […]
Take responsibility or take the blame
As Minister of Works responding to a disaster in his portfolio, Bob Semple famously said ‘I am responsible but not to blame’. That […]
Blindly cutting away
One of the most cavalier and foolish actions of the National led government during its first 100 day blitz of legislation (in itself […]
Gulp
The Key/English odd couple continue to give us a sweet and sour mix of messages – one with rosy promises that the recession will […]
Sinking shipping is stupid
Toad’s post on coastal shipping deserves re-posting: Coastal shipping is the most energy efficient means of moving freight. A ship consumes 75 – […]
Give the people what they want
Stephen Joyce keeps saying the reason he has slashed investment in public transport to build more roads is that he is giving the […]
Vampire economics
Earlier this week the Prime Minister announced $2.5 million for tourism advertising in Australia. New Zealand is not alone in trying to increase […]
Four wheels good, two wheels bad
The Government is taking nearly half a billion dollars out of public transport, cycling, walking, road maintance, and traffic policing to pay for […]
Fox in the henhouse
The National Business Review has an interesting article online that suggests Simon Power’s recommendation of Dr Mark Berry to take over from Paula […]
National’s cargo cult mentality
Over the weekend I pointed out that National’s plans to review the Overseas Investment Act would lead to even more foreign control of […]
Ambitious for New Zealand
John Key in the NBR*: There is more chance in this decade than the last one of New Zealand moving up the OECD […]