James Hogan's Personal Blog
Nobody except economists thinks that hard about money. Admittedly, it’s the root of all evil (which is why it appeals to us black-hearted-rational-robot-like economists), but other then working hard to get it and using it to buy food and beersies, most people don’t really think about money all that deeply….
I and every economist with a bit more than pudding between our ears saw the economy crashing coming mainly because of the Reserve Bank doing this and this clown doing everything I’ve accused him of in this. Grant and Jacinda started this with REALLY bad economic management, which all the…
The first thing which struck me is how good Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke voice is! Her’s are not my politics: I’m all for the conversation ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill has started. The modern set of Treaty of Waitangi’s principles have been developed by courts since 1975’s and have been accepted…
Yeah! Good News! New Zealand’s nailed inflation.Don’t get me wrong – I dislike inflation, and everything about it. I don’t like how sustained persistent inflation is created by the government spending money it doesn’t have and buying up large on both the taxpayer and consumers ticket (inflation is a tax)….
I’ve long been an admirer of the Singaporeans. For the modern day equivalent of Greek city states, the Singaporeans have no lawrels to rest upon. They’re not endowed with mineral resources like Australia. They don’t have old money like Europe. They weren’t endowed with fertile lands like New Zealand. And…
I read somewhere that, regardless of the political environment, the top 1-5% of a society will always succeed. They might be the generals in Pakistan, Myanmar or some other dictatorship. Or American Ivy-Leaguers, with their path mapped out by family and familiarity connections. In England, they’re the Ox-bridge or Eton…
My partner and I were coming back from dinner when I recorded this display of people-trash making public trash.Walking back from dinner, we had already passed two separate areas of homeless people, each camped out around Victoria and Manners streets.Before I snapped this tirade between three homeless, or whatever people…
Before she, thankfully, stood down from re-election in October, Eugenie Sage from the Greens already ranked highly on my shit-list of worst political decision-makers ever. She was the “brains” behind the outlawing of single use disposable plastic bags. A Really Bad Decision-maker She wasn’t alone in her left-wing appetitite for…
Lots of the talking heads think that Wellington needs to return to the office for both productivity reasons, and also the good of the inner city. I’m currently at the Bank of New Zealand, and I asked my team why they don’t want to come into the office more. The…
Responses First response in from ACT Does ACT have a view on the Commission’s opinion around a 50-50 split, and would it seek to implement the Commission’s advice in the elected new parliament?ACT has not formed a position on the 50:50 split as advocated by the Law Commission in 2019….
I’m watching These Final Hours. All the best movies are grounded in economics. This wasn’t a Wall Street movie. It wasn’t about money, or greed. It was about economics: choice, constraints, outcomes and uncertainty. It was an apocalypse story based on economics. Wasn’t this an Australian Sci-fi? That’s the thing…
I’m reading the late Brian Gaynor’s articles on the activities of the New Zealand government and corporate New Zealand in the early 1990s, especially around the privatisation, and ultimate sale of the BNZ to the National Australia Bank. Poor management and irresponsible lendingUp until the bank was partially privatised in…
From the Bad Supreme Court Decisions file comes this latest missive: Fiona Margaret Mead v Lilach Paul and Brett Paul.A relationship property case starring one guy (Brett) and two women (Fiona and Lilach) all sharing the same bed for 15 years, temporarily swapping in and out other partners, before finally…
I’m currently reading The Bertrand Russell CollectionBertrand was one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, and widely regarded as a super smart guy with his head in many different subjects. Political IdealsBertrand had a lot to say about the State which I’m finding, when you look at…
There’s a difference between analysis and telling a rollicking good yarn designed to move people.Good analysis draws from the scientific methodology of making falsifiable statements about the world, and testing whether they’re wrong. For example, economics sets up a logical mathematical model as a simplification of the world, and draws…
Addendum – 23 February 2023: Nobody say “super-normal profits”: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/484767/how-air-new-zealand-went-from-crash-landing-to-stratospheric And still nothing was said about monopoly pricing by the mainstream media. Let’s assume nothing in this world comes for free.If you want something – food / shelter / your hip fixed / your water drinkable – these things are…
I’m currently reading this book: I strongly recommend it. I’m up to Lee Kuan Yew. I wish New Zealand had this type of leadership. Let me quote the good Professor: In Lee’s perception, excellence meant much more than individual performance: the quest for it needed to permeate the entire society. Whether…
From here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/474261/low-pass-rates-in-trial-of-ncea-literacy-and-numeracy-tests-alarm-principalsIn response to concerns that New Zealand school students are leaving school all NCEA qualified, but without having even basic literacy and numeracy skills, the Ministry of Education is rolling out a test.A recent trial of the test found: “some of the schools with poor results had good…
ADDENDUM: PROGRESS ON WAITING LISTS – August 2022 As predicted back in May, the expert committee’s action proved ineffective. Former DHBs were told by the Expert Committee they need to book everyone in for surgery (stellar advice!) (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/473303/hospitals-directed-to-book-surgical-slot-for-thousands-of-patients-by-month-s-end) And… Not much else happened: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/473204/south-auckland-s-elective-surgery-backlog-up-251-percent-in-year ORIGINAL POSTING FROM MAY: I can’t…
Always take the opportunity to read signs. Here’s one I found on my travels. It’s a very functional sign, devoid of hyperbola or ceremony. It speaks nothing of the time this road took to make, the amount of labour effort which went into it, nor the loss of whatever it…