On Friday, ACT’s Stephen Berry wondered if the New Zealand government’s spending splurge will create “the most popular economic depression in history”. Berry echoed what has become mainstream economic argument: rather than “ending the Depression”, Roosevelt’s New Deal extended and deepened it. Berry also pointed to one
Ina Skosana The Conversation The global crisis triggered by the spread of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, continues to take fresh and dramatic turns, causing havoc in dozens of countries around the world. Stock markets remain volatile, having recording historic collapses in share prices. As the disease continued to
Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union The team spent yesterday afternoon working through the Government’s COVID-19 response package. A couple of the staff are in self-isolation, so we’ve well and truly rehearsed using the virtual technology in preparing this article and our media commentary.
The government has announced a $12.1 billion package to assist with job losses and general economic stimulus as a result of Covid-19. Before we look at it in more detail, it is important to remember that it is the fiscal responsibility of the last 3 finance ministers (including
Jordan Williams Executive Director New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union This is an article I never thought I would write, but in a paper just released the Taxpayers’ Union we are calling on the Government to massively increase expenditure. This is to combat what may be the largest economic shock to New
There has been a lot of talk about this virus thingy. In our daily meanderings we come across opinions covering all scenarios, “It’s not as bad as the flu”, “It’s only old people who die”, “It’s ok, we only have a few cases”, “The Governments aren’t
Alwyn Poole Before going into education I got myself a degree in Economics. People in that profession are often mocked for their lack of accuracy, assertions based on assumptions and 20/20 vision in the rear view mirror. Many times the criticism is deserved. Occasionally though they need to be
It doesn’t matter how much the government tries to beat up landlords, the landlords will always win. It is always the tenant that pays the price, no matter what. Sure, many landlords are affected by scumbag tenants who leave their property in a bad way, or damage it extensively,
The Coronavirus is rapidly turning into a pandemic. The really worrying thing about this virus is how incredibly easily it passes from human to human. It seems you only have to look at someone with the virus, and you’ve got it. Countries are trying desperately to bring the bug
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Last week I wrote of our Government’s plan to spend up large on creating trailer parks to provide emergency housing for the poor downtrodden potential Labour/Green voters. Well as a part of the same promise package, there are a few other items of expenditure that you will all
Yes, we are talking about houses without underfloor insulation, without range hoods or bathroom extractor fans. We are talking about houses with no fixed heating appliances. We are talking about houses that landlords decided to sell, because of the cost of keeping them up to a suitable standard that is
It was recently revealed that a clandestine group of Australian Labor politicians had taken to meeting and exchanging emails and texts. The group, which includes nine Labor frontbenchers, is determined to unshackle the party from the extreme left. Pandering to the left, they argue, is making the party unelectable. The
Ashley Church explains why it is a myth that there is a housing crisis: Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few years you’ve heard about the shortage of housing in New Zealand. There are variations of the view but the most popular version claims
