Ryan Bridge: The economic freeze has no end in sight

It’s about that time of year when it feels like winter really starts to drag.... and it must be feeling that way for Christopher Luxon, too.

It‘a cold and dark and we just want to be at the beach like our poser friends in Bali or Europe.

But we endure this gloomy season safe in the knowledge that one day, in a month or so, springtime will come, the days will get longer and everything about life will just feel easier. Easy, breezy and warm.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The Government aren't fixing our economic mess

We knew the Government books were going to be bad, but not this bad. 

No way we’re getting to the surplus we expected in 2028. That is now so far away it’s not even in Treasury’s forecast period anymore. 

It’s some time, who knows when, in the 2030's. 

NZCPR Newsletter: Moving Ahead

A number of opinion polls published over recent weeks confirm support for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s National-led governing Coalition is holding. That’s in spite of the tough economic times, public service resistance, and biased media reporting.

Ross Meurant: Economic Formulas for Failure

Eight Hundred jobs to go – in Timaru – meat works.(1)

Two hundred jobs to go – Ruapehu – timber mills.(2)

Shop closures and job losses in Auckland CBD.(3)(4)

Hundreds of jobs to be axed in New Zealand media restructure.(5)

The collateral impacts of these job losses, runs deep affecting thousands of New Zealanders.

Fear not.  The Official Cash Rate tinkering has Interest rates dropping.

Yeah, right mate. 

NZCPR Podcast: A Big Idea

The government is the answer to our problems, at least that’s what the politicians would like us to believe. 

Since Labour took office in 2017 there has been a seismic shift towards greater state intervention and socialist control. But it is also true that all of the major parties have moved to the left. 

Robert MacCulloch: Kiwi Secondary School Children are being taught misinformation about our economic history

Our new PM has been Education Minister the past five years. So what's his view on the "Labour in Power: Rogernomics, 1984 to 1988" part of the school textbook, Big World, Small Country: the 20th Century & NZ's Place In It? That book is being used in schools to teach National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) History. It states:

"Ironically it was the Labour government that, from 1935, introduced the major platforms of the welfare state; it would be another Labour government, 50 years later, which would begin dismantling them .. In line with the ideas of the "New Right", Douglas set out to remove much of the economic safety net that had been built up over the past 50 years".

Roger Partridge: Productive land hocus-pocus

 

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman once quipped that David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage defined who counts as an economist. Because every economist understands comparative advantage and its related notion of “opportunity cost” and practically nobody else does.

With that in mind, we must assume that no economists were involved in the drafting of the Government’s new National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land.

If anyone needed a textbook example for ignoring opportunity cost as a factor for analysing choices between different options for production, the Government has just delivered it. It shows the pitfalls of making policy that ignores basic economic insights.

Linnea Lueken: LinkedIn Bans Scientist for Presenting Inconvenient Truths About CO2

 

The big-tech censors are at it again: the CO2 Coalition’s Executive Director Gregory Wrightstone has been permanently banned from LinkedIn. What did Wrightstone do to earn the banishment? His “crime” consisted of posting charts from peer reviewed research supported by official sources demonstrating that current global average CO2 levels are well within the natural range of concentrations throughout the Earth’s history.

LinkedIn’s moderators sent Wrightstone an email informing him that his violations have been so numerous and/or so severe that they couldn’t allow him to continue to use the platform. A screenshot of the email and ban inducing charts have been provided by Wrightstone and are shown below.

Clive Bibby: Maharey has it all wrong - time to tell the truth

Former Labour Cabinet Minister and Vice-Chancellor of Massey University, Steve Maharey, wrote a piece last weekend that should have sent the alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power – see HERE.

Given that it was a holiday weekend, it may have been that no one in the Prime Minister’s Department was reading the daily journals that masquerade as publishers of respectable journalism these days and may have missed it.

But you can bet that those with responsibility for keeping an eye on potentially dangerous material in the media would have been quick to poke Maharey’s offending words under Saint Jacinda’s nose first thing Tuesday morning. On sighting it, she may even have choked on her coffee. It was a shocker.

Mike Hosking: Wider economic mood and performance will bite the Government

 

So we got a big jump for the minimum wage - $21.20.

The advantage for the Government is most of the people they pay, aren't on the minimum wage.

The burden is carried by the small businesses of this country, the same small businesses that any number of polls tells us were already downbeat about the year ahead. 

And how can you not be?

Mike Hosking: The economic carnage in this country is heartbreaking

 

You can't hide from simple statistics, because they are the truth and the reality. 

And this week's stats show there are fewer businesses opening in this country than closing.  

That's not just bad news, it's an indictment on the economic governance of this country. 

Yes, it's a pandemic, but the narrative is this country is doing well economically. It isn't doing well economically. 

Reynold Macpherson: Rotorua's Warped Economic Development Strategy

This opinion piece is offered to see if other district and regional councils are responding to the Covid Depression with economic development strategies that are unbalanced, divisive and misappropriating ratepayers’ resources. 

Rotorua Lakes Council’s framework is shown to be based on a fake collectivism, Te Arawa’s Vision 2050 replacing its obsolete Vision 2030, a simplistic dualism of short-term ‘economic recovery’ and long-term ‘economic development’ instead of pragmatic ‘economic reconstruction’, the Mayor’s co-governance agenda, a false virtue of ‘partnerships’ when they range from worthy intergovernmental projects to crony capitalism, unfulfilled political promises dating from 2013, deliberately marginalising ratepayers, and practices that violate the Auditor General’s eight elements of good governance.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: We Don't Know How Unlucky We Are In NZ

All eyes are on New Zealand.

In the lead-up to the election, Time magazine admired our "calmer democracy." The World Health Organisation once again praised our Covid-19 management. And in its latest issue, The Economist revealed that our Prime Minister is now the global leader with the highest approval ratings.

If the world had a choice, its people would either migrate to New Zealand or at least swap their political leaders for Jacinda Ardern. Kiwis went from “world-famous in New Zealand” to simply “world-famous,” and we love it.

But reports of New Zealand’s stellar performance are greatly exaggerated.

Mike's Minute: No Prime Minister, the economy is not back to level 1

You can feel the incredulity meter ramping up.

Good on all those who spoke out yesterday calling out the Prime Minister over her claim on Monday that the economy was back to level 1. 

Clive Bibby: Are you sitting down!

We sold most of the farm to our Iwi neighbours some time ago. Failing health and an interest in our colourful heritage combined to point what we retained of the farming partnership in a new direction.

We had to do something and here's why!

While we are greatful for the fortnightly New Zealand Superannuation payments, it is difficult to imagine people our age (76 this year) surviving on it alone - even if the home is mortgage free. So, for those of us who have (for whatever reason) not planned well enough for these twilight years, the prospects are not good - especially when something as disruptive as Covid 19 suddenly controls what happens to us all.

NZCPR Weekly: Election Choices

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week, we reflect on the election choices provided by National’s new leadership team and we outline the Green Party’s plan to increase taxes and welfare benefits in a Labour-Green Government, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Lindsay Mitchell explains how increasing benefit dependency endangers children, and our poll asks whether you believe Jacinda Ardern, or Judith Collins, will be New Zealand’s next Prime Minister.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE. 

 

Mike Hosking: Just what is the government's plan?

The unions are telling the government they need to move faster on infrastructure. When the unions are telling Labour to hurry up, you know this is not a government of action. And isn't that their real reputation? The government of announcements.

We've got $15 billion for shovel ready projects, and the crickets are chirping.

The Prime Minister's own handpicked advisory board in their final letter before being disbanded for the election are telling her Australia is beating us, and they're doing it better than us.

It is one thing to write cheques having borrowed or printed the money, but that is not delivery, and it's not a plan. Announcing the spending of other peoples money isn't even a skill. So just what is it we are doing? And is any one actually asking?

Sir Bob Jones: The Coming Economic Crisis and its Political Consequences

Have an election today and the government would bolt in, primarily because of Jacinda’s star power induced by the media’s obsession with her. But the election is six months away and then, I’m picking a change of government.

First, to clear the air, I like Jacinda and don’t wish the government’s demise. 

Long before there was any thought of her rise I admired her and Julie Anne Genter more than any other MPs. That’s because when I occasionally tuned into Parliament and they were speaking they did so enthusiastically, arguing for initiatives they thought beneficial, without ever resorting to the customary and tiresome abuse of the other side. This I found refreshing.

Mike Hosking: The political money fight is on

Do you feel $4000 worse off?

If Simon Bridges' numbers are to be believed, that's his claim, on average after all the new taxes, fees, and compliance under the Labour/New Zealand First/Green Government we are about $4000 a year worse off.

Median rent is up over $2500 a year. That will come as no surprise if you've looked for a place to rent as our family has. Queues are long, competition is intense, choice is small, and the quality at times is frightening.

Petrol taxes $200 a year, tax cuts you never got $1000 a year, and so it goes.

NZCPR Weekly: A Sacrificial Lamb

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look back at the causes of economic crisis, and question whether the Prime Minister has a plan to rebuild the economy after she introduces legislation that will cripple one of our main productive sectors; our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Edward Hudson reflects on the success of Silicon Valley and identifies policies that are hindering growth in New Zealand; and our poll asks whether you feel optimistic about the future of the economy under Jacinda Ardern’s Government?

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.