As we’ve recently learned, for all their skiting at today’s youngsters, it’s the Boomers who are the most narcissistic generation of snowflakes. Are they also the greediest? Comedian George Carlin (born before the Boomers) certainly thought so: whiny, narcissistic, self-indulgent people with a simple philosophy: “GIMME
Things have changed a lot in the workplace in the last 30 years, and much of it has been good. Women having babies in the 1980s had no paid parental leave, and may have been allowed to take a few months unpaid leave (if they were lucky), but fathers basically
Now for a boring little piece on tax… but bear with me. It will reveal the pettiness of this government, and how they really, really do despise farmers, tradies and almost anyone who actually works for a living. The Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) rules have 2 types of private vehicles:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is clearly itching to sign New Zealand up to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”. Ardern witters that the notorious scheme “has really evolved”, while Trade Minister David Parker urges New Zealand to “get on board”. All those billions of glittering yuan from Beijing are apparently
I have taken to reading The Spectator Australia and The Telegraph in the UK recently, as they produce decent journalism that is well researched, well written and thought-provoking without being inherently biased. The Telegraph attacks members on both sides of the political divide roughly equally, while The Spectator attacks
Eliora New Zealand is a small country in the South Pacific with its inhabitants described as “The Passionless People”. Gordon McLauchlan, the author of this popular book in 1976, recognised fourth-generation kiwis as easy going, down to earth and enjoying the status quo. Kiwis around the world are known
Whether or not you believe human intervention is responsible for increased CO2 emissions and that those emissions are a matter of planetary life and death, Ardern’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2035 is quite simply unrealistic. I hope the popular ute turns out to be Ardern’s shower
Half of the $10 billion Finance Minister Grant Robertson set aside in the case of a further Covid-19 resurgence has been spent funding Labour’s non-Covid-related ideas, National’s Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly says. The Government allocated a total of $62 billion to support the Covid ‘response
Damien Smith ACT Associate Finance spokesperson The Statistics Minister has shown how out of touch the Government is with middle New Zealand by making a mockery of serious questions in Parliament. Hardworking Kiwis know that prices keep rising, but according to Statistics New Zealand, inflation is at just 1.5
While it is encouraging to see that Labour have finally responded to the 2017 Sea Change report, the Government’s announcement bears the hallmarks of another shallow policy announcement, National’s Oceans and Fisheries spokesperson Tim van de Molen says. “New Zealand’s nearly four years under this Government is
In his excellent Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell argues that the fundamental principle of economics is scarcity. “Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses.” As Sowell says, that “may seem like a simple thing, but its implications are often grossly misunderstood, even by highly
I have a client who has been hit rather badly by the Bright-line Test. His profit on the property sale is over $200,000, on which he will have to pay tax. As he already has a reasonable income, this is going to push him well into the top
Sir Bob Jones nopunchespulled.com A private Super Fund purveyor, Sam Stubbs, gained ill-deserved headlines when he described the decision by Rob Muldoon to scrub Labour’s 1974 Super Scheme as, “The Worst Decision by a New Zealand politician ever”. Plainly Stubbs knows bugger all about New Zealand history,
I was chatting to a client the other day. He has been in the construction industry for the last three decades. Now in his 50s, his personal situation is quite comfortable; he has only a small mortgage and a nice house in a coastal area, and he has decided to
David Seymour ACT Leader The Reserve Bank printed $100 billion, the Government borrowed $60 billion – we’ve got an economy that’s running on a sugar hit. The Government has been focused on all manner of initiatives, from bike bridges to public holidays, and paying people more to stay home,
There is a disconnect between our government’s lobbying for a trade agreement with the UK and the EU and failing to foster an environment in New Zealand for increased commerce and trade post-Covid, so that we have the products and services available to sell in these markets. A
