The outcome will be Level Three or Level Four, but the decision itself is not a simple binary. The government has to balance many factors, not least the public’s state of mind
Read MoreA short, sharp curtailment of freedom might be better than a protracted, dull one.
Read MoreI kind of miss the days when Matthew Hooton was the designated bogeyman.
Read MoreThe economy may not follow any of the just released Treasury scenarios, but they provide a basis for a discussion on our economic track. (The graph above is from the Treasury report.)
Read MoreThis is going to suck
Read MoreTo pull our society from the brink, we will need unprecedented economic change.
Read MoreThe indirect costs of the lockdown are seldom discussed in New Zealand. You will not hear the Government talk about it much. These costs need to be weighed against the benefits of a strict Level 4 lockdown.
Read MoreThis paper demonstrates the truism that for every financial liability is matched by an asset. A fiscal deficit creates a liability of the government. Somewhere outside government – somewhere in the private sector – there is a private asset matching this public liability.
Read MoreCOVID-19 has exposed Trump as not up to the job and America as a failing state. None of this is good for America or the world. Bob Dylan’s Murder Most Foul captures the mood of the times.
Read MoreCovid-19 is a crisis. Everyone agrees there is going to be a new normal. It is time to start saying what we want the future to look like.
Read MoreWell paid salaried progressives in Wellington should be prepared to share in the nation’s pain for their own self-preservation.
Read MoreLast month I wrote my blog on covid-19 pointing out the in our pre Alert Level 4 days that a subject no one had heard here months ago was now dominating the media. An amazing feature of this crisis is how quickly it has swept every other issue aside worldwide. It is now the only focus.
Read MoreThe vast majority of tributes to the Listener hearken back to its glory days, with little reflection on the magazine as it was at its end.
Read MoreWe’re over a week into Level Four lockdown. The Government has just told us more precisely what that means for our daily lives.
Read MoreIt is imperative that government ministers not be the only people immune from the inevitable vicissitudes of the lockdown.
Read MoreThe swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion.
Read MoreToday Bauer Media announced it was pulling out of New Zealand, closing down magazines such as The Listener, North & South, Next and NZ Women’s Weekly. The media is changing and the loss of The Listener cuts deep
Read MoreIf we don’t have unity we must have sharp, focussed and vigorous opposition.
Read MoreTwo weeks ago Grant Robertson announced the coalition government’s $12.1 billion rescue package as “just the beginning”. So when do we get the next bit?
Read MoreWe have handed over extraordinary powers to state officials to keep us safe. But if that is going to work, and to be tolerable for us over the weeks and months to come, we really need to know quite clearly just what it is that we need to do and why.
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