Economy

Julian Woodmaxim.org.nz Nations around the world are expecting low or negative growth and higher unemployment rates as a result of fighting COVID-19. The supply side shock means that parts of the economy are in hibernation or struggling with a lack of demand, while...

Julian Wood maxim.org.nz When the Government closed New Zealand’s borders in response to COVID-19, flaws in our labour market were exposed. Not only was tourism and accommodation brought to a grinding halt, a massive temporary workforce was removed from the New Zealand labour market,...

I am no statistician. Ask anyone who knows me. Statistics was the only paper I struggled with when studying accountancy. But when I heard yesterday that the unemployment figures for the June 2020 quarter had actually fallen to 4%, I decided that the old adage is...

Sir Bob Jonesnopunchespulled.com John Key is 100% correct. The economic crisis lying ahead is immensely greater than the health (COVID) threat. The latter can be managed but requires realism which is sadly lacking. For months numerous different experts have claimed...

We need to talk about New Zealand's ballooning debt crisis that the mainstream media seem to be ignoring. The only hope we have for political change in New Zealand is if people learn the truth about the bankrupting of our country. For the...

Jacinda Ardern is digging a COVID hole for herself, a hole that gets bigger with each passing day. The strategies she has put in place for eliminating the virus are not sustainable in the longer term. The reality is that at some point, she is going...

There was a lot to admire about the Australasian banks during the GFC. While the USA had its Freddie Macs and Fannie Maes, and the Bank of Scotland just about went broke, the banks in Australia and New Zealand never faltered. They had never really joined...

Luke Redwardnzinitiative.org.nz In a predictable statement earlier this week, the Green Party co-leader declared her party’s undying love for taxation. A rather Orwellian take on the libertarian war cry of “tax is theft,” Marama Davidson said those who fork out...

Sir Bob Jonesnopunchespulled.com Last Saturday’s Dominion Post front-page story was about the local red-hot housing market. Lower Hutt’s biggest residential real estate firm’s boss, John Ross, was quoted saying he’d never seen a market with so much demand pressure. To various extents...

Jacinda Ardern might (falsely) boast about her self-aggrandised “hard and early” response to COVID-19, but she is much less voluble about its economic effects – which are set to be just as hard, but much, much longer-lasting. With tourism (formerly) providing a sizable...