Mmm… American politics are for Americans to decide. But… …Was Biden the best candidate the Democrats could really offer up to American voters?
Who’s winning?
Why Can’t New Zealand Make Something This Creative?
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…
Trash Town: The shabbiest little capital in the world
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…
Eugenie Sage: Our Most Regressive Politician
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-makerShe wasn’t alone in her left-wing appetitite for using public…
The Price of Booze and Smokes
Stats NZ released its Consumer Price Index today. Booze & Ciggie InflationHere’s what’s been happening to the relative cost of your weekly booze and smokes.Booze and smoke annual prices increased approximately 1.6% faster than other goods and services between 1988 and 2009. All other goods and services increased in price,…
Working From Home
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 most…
Brisbane Construction Boom
Rebecca and I landed in Brisbane last night, and we’re staying at the Emporium Hotel in South Bank. We have this phenomenal view of the Brisbane CBD. Check out this photo. It wasn’t clearly defined, so I added red marks over each.There are 13 cranes helping construction in Brisbane’s CBD….
Milk Scarcity
Oddest sign…… why does NEW ZEALAND have milk supply issues?!?!But it looks like it’s backed up by evidence:I’ll be damned… That’s not good for both June GDP, and New Zealand, especially given inflation and a contracting monetary policy stance.🫤
Single Issue Voter
ResponsesFirst response in from ACTÂ 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. We…
A Foolish Government and Our Money are Soon Parted
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…
When a Couple Means Three
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…
Market Structure: Rewarding Political Control and Funding Non-Market Redistribution
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…
Leadership
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 in government service,…
Low pass rates in trial of NCEA literacy and numeracy tests alarm principals
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…
The Dead Hand of Government in Health
ADDENDUM: PROGRESS ON WAITING LISTS – August 2022As 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-yearORIGINAL POSTING FROM MAY:I can’t really say I’m a…
The Real Land of the Free
Singapore really is, for me, the Land of the Free. It’s big news is they’re just about to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality.All good. But the Singaporeans are concerned about the impact of the change on its society and its culture. It’s not worried about…
Falling health sector productivity
Productivity – how much output is created from a given volume of inputs – is one of economic’s most important metrics. Productivity captures everything about economic development and economic ordinance. Technological change, process change, labour skills improvement and capital improvement are all get captured in a productivity metric.Countries rise and…
Meaty, beefy, big and bloaty
One of the reasons why market solutions are superior to centrally planned solutions is that there tends to be a better match between supply and demand when provision is left to the market. Scarcity or abundance, reflected through price change, is a far better and faster signal of shifts in…
Inflation is ALWAYS Caused by Too Much Money Creation
Pinning New Zealand’s latest inflation figures on overseas factors misses a distinction between a temporary “price shock”, and an increase in “permanent” inflation. New Zealand is experiencing permanent inflation, and it was caused by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.New Zealand’s inflation rate, back in March, was an annual rate…
Lockdown Opportunity Cost and the Statistical Value of a Life Saved
I’m currently watching an acquaintance doing the Tour of Aotearoa on bicycle (https://vicsefton.wordpress.com/). It’s a four week unsupported cycle from Cape Reinga down to Bluff.I tried it last year, but got into mechanical difficulties north of Auckland at exactly the time the government decided to put Auckland into lock down…