While we cannot eliminate the impending unemployment; we have to flatten the curve.
Read MoreHow Much Unemployment?
Churchill beat Hitler, but Attlee won the election: Election strategies in a post-crisis world
New Zealanders are due to elect a Government in September. Will it be the way the Covid-19 crisis was handled or the creation of a new normal that will determine who wins?
Read MoreWhy Cabinet's decision on when to lift lockdown is like plate spinning
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 MoreContra Damien: what libertarians get wrong about preserving freedom
A short, sharp curtailment of freedom might be better than a protracted, dull one.
Read MoreThe King is dead, long live the (Hos)king
I kind of miss the days when Matthew Hooton was the designated bogeyman.
Read MoreWhere is the New Zealand Economy Going?
The 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 MoreLevel three and three-quarters: it’s not a holiday
This is going to suck
Read MoreThe five things to do for a radical recovery
To pull our society from the brink, we will need unprecedented economic change.
Read MoreThe cost of lockdown: Lives now vs lives later
The 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 MoreA Child's Introduction to Quantitative Easing
This 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 MoreBob Dylan, COVID-19, Trump and Murder Most Foul
COVID-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 MoreAfter Covid-19: Towards a New Normal
Covid-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 MoreWhat is the Real economy?
Well paid salaried progressives in Wellington should be prepared to share in the nation’s pain for their own self-preservation.
Read MoreThe biggest challenge for a generation ahead – covid-19. Defeat and Recovery
Last 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 MoreObituary for The New Zealand Listener (1939-2020)
The 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 MoreAnd God spake all these words, saying
We’re over a week into Level Four lockdown. The Government has just told us more precisely what that means for our daily lives.
Read MoreMaybe axing Clark would be unfair. But what about any of this is fair?
It is imperative that government ministers not be the only people immune from the inevitable vicissitudes of the lockdown.
Read MoreBackstage and Theatre
The 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 MoreRIP The Listener, New Zealand's pioneering voice
Today 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 MoreOK, Britney: stop sniping at National for doing its job
If we don’t have unity we must have sharp, focussed and vigorous opposition.
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