It was only ever a matter of time. The government has been looking at ways to solve the so-called ‘ageing population’ issue and has proposed that, if superannuitants have earnings other than their pension, they should pay a higher rate of tax on those earnings. Welcome back to the 1980s.
Don Brash bassettbrashandhide.com Don Brash was Reserve Bank Governor from 1988 to 2002, and National Party Leader from 2003 to 2006 One follower of our blog wrote in recently and said he would like to see a column on “the impact on New Zealand of the printing of billions
No doubt attracted by the irresistible scent of mountains of government money, renewable energy and climate activism are fields rife with charlatans, troughers, rent-seekers and frauds. From the billions the clueless Obama sunk into boondoggles like Solyndra, to the obvious scam of burning trees and calling it “emissions free”. Most
Taxpayers’ Union The Taxpayers’ Union has continued to expose how the Government has frittered away the $62 billion Cv response fund. The Cv response fund was 20 times larger than Shane Jones’s infamous Provincial Growth fund, and yet even before the current lock down, Grant Robertson had whittled it
David Seymour ACT Leader Grant Robertson has today told the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee that it doesn’t matter how much of the COVID-19 Recovery Fund he’s blown on unrelated spending because he can always borrow more. Three months ago, there was only $5 billion left from the
Andrew Bayly Shadow Treasurer For several weeks now, National has been highlighting the fact that, according to Budget documents, Finance Minister Grant Robertson has already blown $57 billion of a total $62 billion of funds set aside to deal with the Covid pandemic. We were highlighting this before the current
David Seymour ACT Leader The day has arrived where businesses will rightly need support from the Government after they’ve been forced to close but the rainy-day fund has already been raided. The Government has been dipping into the $50 billion COVID fund, with $515 million on school lunches, $26.
With the latest lockdown, Jacinda Ardern is effectively holding this country and therefore its people to ransom. She is holding businesses and livelihoods to ransom. She is holding the economy to ransom. She is, by her actions, pretty much holding the share market to ransom. None of this bothers Ardern
The Reserve Bank’s decision to hold the Official Cash Rate at 0.25 per cent is the right one given the economic uncertainty New Zealand now faces as a result of the new Covid-19 lockdown, says National’s Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly. “The Bank has done the right thing,
Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez really as stupid as she apparently wants us to believe? I mean, “Occasional-Cortex” has an actual degree. In Economics, no less. So, surely she can’t be a complete cretin? So why does she keep saying such stupid, stupid things – especially about political-economy? Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash has fumbled negotiations with Amazon and now the billions of dollars that would’ve been spent in New Zealand will now go to the UK economy, National’s Economic Development spokesperson Todd McClay says. The extra 5 per cent rebate paid to production companies is
StatsNZ’s latest rental and food price index data is further proof of New Zealand’s rapidly overheating economy and the skyrocketing cost of living, National Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly says. “The rising cost of living was made abundantly clear when StatsNZ recently released data showing inflation was now at
Damien Smith ACT Associate Finance spokesperson The cost of living is falling fowl of New Zealanders with chicken prices a sign of what’s to come. “The egg-onomic impacts of this Government’s decisions have started to peck, but it’s no laughing matter for shoppers with Tegel putting prices
One of the most startling things — in hindsight — about economic collapses is not just how long the signs were ignored, but how quickly the inevitable collapse hits. In his memoirs, Groucho Marx recalls how he’d grown steadily uneasy with the giddiness of the stock market through 1929, but his
Nicole McKee ACT Conservation spokesperson A Government programme to carry out pest control of wallabies is costing taxpayers $685,000 per person hired. Budget documents released this week say the “cost is approximately $685,000 per job and considered low-value economic stimulus. Associated natural capital benefits should be investigated further
News that Refining New Zealand shareholders have voted to shift Marsden Point to an import only terminal adds further uncertainty to New Zealand’s energy future, National’s Energy and Resources spokesperson Barbara Kuriger says. “In four short years, Labour has upended New Zealand’s energy security and created an
