Donald Foster: The Coalition Government’s Progress

In his 15^th May, 2024 pre-budget speech, the Prime Minister asserted that “New Zealanders voted for us last year to do three things – rebuild the economy, restore law and order, and deliver better public services”. 

That may have been his personal perspective on the issue, it may even have been the National Party’s perspective on the issue, but the Coalition Agreement more reliably reflected the electoral issues of concern at point three of the preamble to the agreements between National, Act, and NZ First, which stated “The Coalition Government’s priorities for this term include (in addition to those picked out by the Prime minister and amongst other issues) ending race based policies (and)  defending freedom and democracy, (the latter expanded elsewhere in the Agreement  to uphold the principles of liberal democracy, including equal citizenship and parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law and property rights), followed by a number of specific steps to that end.

Donald Foster: The Enigma of Negative Interest Rates

The background:

As the contagion of the 2008 global financial crash (GFC) spread, central banks fought to restore confidence in global financial systems and re-generate economic growth. The main levers used were to lower interest rates and expand debt (quantitative easing/money printing) in the hope that it would be used productively to generate growth, stimulate inflation and with it the incentive for consumers to spend.