Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Some months ago, this blog reprinted the final chapter of my autobiography, Incredible Luck. The chapter was headed “Does democracy have a future?” and dealt with the inherent temptation for elected governments to bribe voters with their own money. I quoted the great 19th century French
The sense is growing that Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ second budget is not at all what the government is claiming. Far from a triumph of good economic management, economists are calling it a “smoke and mirrors” budget, with a “surplus” that amounts to little more than an accidental windfall of
The Albanese government’s demented climate policies are helping drive the cost of living for Australians through the roof. So, the government is throwing money back at Australians as “cost of living relief”. To pay for the “relief”, they’re jacking up taxes on energy, which will… You get the
Somehow, it’s hard to be quite so hoopla as Zippy and Albo are at their “budget surplus”, when mortgages, power bills, fuel prices and grocery prices are zooming into the stratosphere. Especially when the “surplus” is entirely a chimaera of creative accounting and tax gouging, and splashing benefit handouts
lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com Earlier this week Ngati Kahungunu and Project Gender released the Mako Mama Mangopare Single Parents Project. The research is based on seven focus groups and an online survey of 3,545 single parents which asks about their circumstances regarding income, work, health, experience of discrimination and domestic
I can’t recall a time when inflation was so shockingly obvious, so astonishingly fast. I’ve lived through my share of economic cycles. I was too young to really notice the stagflation of the 1970s, but I graduated into the recession of the early 80s. I well recall a
As Australia’s economy sinks deeper and deeper into the mire, the Albanese government’s training wheels are spinning and going nowhere. Just digging us in harder. As for Anthony Albanese himself? Mr 32% is coming across as clueless as his Arts grad Treasurer. As Australia’s infrastructure teeters on
Simon Angelo Editor, Wealth Morning WealthMorning.com This article is general in nature and should not be construed as any financial or investment advice. Did you complete your 2023 census? Are you one of the ‘over 4 million’ thus far? This year’s form seemed more invasive. More complex. It
The number one issue for the election is going to be the cost of living crisis, fuelled by this spendthrift Labour Government and their wasteful spending and policy settings. Law and order will be very close to cost of living, but it will be cost of living that will be
Michael Cullen once called John Key a “rich prick” and said, “I’m proud of the fact that my secondary education was not paid for by the taxpayers of New Zealand but by the farmers of Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay. I ripped them off for five years then, and
mises.org In March 2009, in the midst of recession, then Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner was pressed to respond on the question of whether or not another currency – possibly the IMF’s special drawing rights (SDRs)—might displace the US dollar as the dominant global reserve currency. Geithner responded that
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com The latest IMF Current Account Ratings forecasts that our current account deficit will be proportionally the largest of the world’s 40 most advanced economies. Specifically, the IMF said it would be worse than notorious cot cases such as Greece and ranks us the 3rd
The IRD and the Government have released a report that shows the wealthy in New Zealand pay an effective tax rate of half that which ordinary wage and salary earners pay. Missing from the media and the report is the fact that this is all entirely legal and that none
PA Pundits – International House Republicans want to tie a new ceiling to some sensible spending cuts, but our nation’s historically profligate president seems unwilling to negotiate. Remember why the American people elected Joe Biden in 2020? Remember how he got those, er, 81 million votes? We’ll give you
