Thursday Nightcap
The Chinese Money Trap | Pakistan, Srilanka, Kenya, Papua New Guinea | Losing Home for Debt
Economy
The Economic Denial of Urban Elites
Despite the image of the rugged Aussie bushman, Australia has long been one of the most urbanised societies in the world. Even in 1889, the narrator of Banjo Paterson’s Clancy of the Overflow, “sitting in my dingy little office…[in] the dusty, dirty city” was more typical of the
Largest Cut to Interest Rates Since Christchurch Earthquakes
Taxpayers Union This week’s most important story: the Reserve Bank Governor’s move to cut the interest rate from 1.5% to 1.0%. New Zealand has not seen a cut this large since the Christchurch earthquake. Previous rate cuts of this size were seen during the global financial
Official Cash Rate is 1%. Now What?
No one expected the OCR to drop to 1% on Wednesday. Adrian Orr seems to be determined to kickstart the economy by dropping the rate to – almost – as low as it can go. But if he thinks that this will cause the economy to suddenly rebound and everything will be
The Government Needs a Plan for the Economy
It is widely expected that the Reserve Bank will cut the OCR again this week, probably by another 25 percentage points. The problem here is that the OCR is now so low that further cuts are mostly pointless. We are rapidly heading towards an OCR of 0%, or possibly even
The Sharing Economy
I noted this in the NZ Herald. Amanda Chapman’s tiny home has taken her on a journey through Auckland’s sharing economy. The 28-year-old has been building the house over the past two years using all borrowed or hired tools thanks to the community phenomenon many believe
The Government Is Going to Wreck Our Economy
The Greens conference at the weekend may have been mostly done behind closed doors, but snippets came out, including James Shaw calling Simon Bridges a “climate change denier”. We all know Bridges is no denier, but his attitude towards climate change is somewhat more benign than that of the Green
Global Bankruptcy in Just 2 Days
In this interview, Darryl and Brian Panes from As Good As Gold Australia discuss with Chief Economist, John Adams the extreme vulnerability of the economy and the current real estate market, as the Australian government throws its full arsenal at it, including a reintroduction of first home buyer grants with
Cash Payouts if the Economy Crashes
We have been saying it on the blog for some time. This government is crashing what was, only a short time ago, a very well managed economy. The signs have been there for a while, but one of the most worrying aspects of recent times is that interest rates are
Slower Speeds Put a Handbrake on Our Economy.
National party If the Government is serious about improving road safety it needs to get on with building safer, well-engineered highways. Julie Anne Genter is completely out of touch with New Zealanders if she thinks that reducing speed limits is the answer. Kiwis lead busy lives and we don’
To Lobby or Not to Lobby
By Owen Jennings You either believe in democracy or you don’t. If you do you will accept that lobbying is an essential ingredient in the mix of factors that ensure a robust democracy. It may be that on some issues lobbying is akin to the proverbial “pushing water uphill
Alarm Bells are Sounding
By Owen Jennings Alarm bells are sounding. Not loudly, yet, but persistently and with growing clangour. In another apt analogy, the storm clouds are gathering and the first peals of thunder can be heard. Our economy is heading toward danger and those in charge are oblivious to the problem but,
The Government has Crippled Investment
National party The NZIER quarterly survey of business opinion has fallen yet again to the lowest point in ten years because the government has no plan to grow the economy, National’s Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says. “There has been a sharp decline in the New Zealand economy under this