Gordon Campbell on National’s crackdown on shoplifters
Politicians do like being tough on crime. Flexing law and order muscle is a feature of the patriarchal Daddy State, and is beloved by the […]
Economy
Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Stubborn Refusal To Invest For Growth
Economists have earned their reputation for jargon and tunnel vision, but sometimes, it takes an someone as perceptive as Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub to identify […]
Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Gaslighting About Growth
Donald Trump made his fortune by speculating in real estate. These days, Christopher Luxon makes a lot of his money the very same way. True, […]
Gordon Campbell On Why We Can’t Survive Two More Years Of This
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis […]
Gordon Campbell on the US opposition to mortgage interest deductibility for landlords
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s fear of commitment
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax […]
Gordon Campbell on the attack of the tax cut zombies, and a music playlist
As long ago as 2007, New Zealanders were telling pollsters that while they wanted tax cuts, a majority of the public opposed tax cuts if […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) […]
Gordon Campbell on Luxon’s landlord myths, and the needless nightmare of high interest rates
During the PM’s post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, Christopher Luxon claimed that renters will be feeling “grateful” for the way the government is putting “downward pressure“ […]
Gordon Campbell on National spreading panic about the economy
It is a political strategy as old as time. Scare the public with tales of disaster and stampede them into supporting your ideological agenda because […]
Gordon Campbell on National passing bad policies under urgency
If National really had faith in its welfare policies, it wouldn’t be ramming them through Parliament under urgency – a step that means the policies […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s misleading policy packaging
Truth in packaging can be a political rarity, but the gap between what the Luxon administration says it is doing and what its policies will […]
Gordon Campbell on the politics as a morality play
To a striking extent, the working class vote in Western societies has been going to right wing demagogues, not to left wing social democrats. Even […]
Gordon Campbell on ACT’s flat tax fever
Party on, dudes. Repeatedly, the policy adventures of Christopher Luxon and David Seymour are taking New Zealand back in time to the most excellent year […]
Gordon Campbell on Nicola Willis’ impersonation of a Finance Minister
“I don’t make merry myself at Christmas, and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support [the poorhouses]…. They cost enough, […]
Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when […]
Gordon Campbell on APEC, Mali and Sleater-Kinney
Sideshows are inevitable when the main event – the coalition talks – is taking place behind closed doors and the usual sources for political news […]
Gordon Campbell on breaking up the supermarket duopoly
Someone better tell Mark Mitchell, because the two big supermarket gangs – the New World Crips and the Countdown Bloods – seem to be operating […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s divisive plans to heal our divisions
As we wait for crime to cease, rents to fall, and food prices to plummet, how does the Luxon government propose to heal the divisions […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s myths about the desolated state of the economy
Familiarity breeds consent. If you repeat the line “six years of economic mis-management” about 10,000 times, it sounds like the received wisdom, whatever the evidence […]
Gordon Campbell on the cynical brutality of the centre-right’s welfare policies
The centre-right’s enthusiasm for forcing people off the benefit and into paid work is matched only by the enthusiasm (shared by Treasury and the Reserve […]
Gordon Campbell on whether Winston Peters can be a moderating influence
As the centre-right has (finally!) been subjected to media interrogation, the polls are indicating that some voters may be starting to have second thoughts about […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s (lack of) plans for El Nino
Debate time: In contrast to most debates, political debates aren’t simply about winning on points of logic, but are also about looking likeable on television […]
Gordon Campbell on the fictions about reckless government spending
Yesterday, the Treasury’s pre-election portrait was significantly out of whack with National’s repeated claims of rampant government mis-management of the economy. Instead, it seems that […]
Gordon Campbell on Seymour acting up, and Labour’s lost cause
To use a musical analogy, ACT Party leader David Seymour is to centre-right parties what Lindsay Buckingham was to Fleetwood Mac – a talented guy, […]
Gordon Campbell on the foreign buyers tax, and attack ads
It has now been six days since National unveiled its tax plan – eons ago in the 24/7 news cycle – but the credibility problem […]
Gordon Campbell on National’s tax cuts
Since tax cuts are never a free lunch, collecting the revenue to pay for them was always going to be the credibility test of National’s […]
Gordon Campbell on using contractors as an election bogey
The demonising of consultants and contractors in the public service assumes that their functions can readily be added to the work burdens of the existing […]
Gordon Campbell on why China isn’t a real military threat
Not that anyone would know it, but there has been quite a massive spendup on Defence since 2017 by the Labour government. The big ticket […]
Gordon Campbell on the elitism framing the election discourse
So… Almost all the tax experts rounded up by the mainstream media have damned the proposal to remove GST from healthy food. Some have called […]