On the bailout in Greece
Illustration by Tim Denee – www.timdenee.com Evidently, the recent attempt by EMA boss Alisdair Thompson to justify the gender pay gap has been just the […]
Finance
On revelations about government borrowing
For years, government borrowing has been treated as a sign of irresponsibility, of a country living beyond its means, of the policies of borrow and […]
Gordon Campbell On The Budget – And Petrobras
Cartoon by Trace Hodgson While Deficit Phobia provides the rationale for the austerity and privatisation measures contained in this year’s Budget, the government’s stance is […]
On the Government’s bogus victory over price increases
Out in the real world, it is hard to see why anyone would want to take credit for the current state of the economy. Economic […]
On the South Canterbury Finance bailout
Like the war in Iraq, there doesn’t seem to have been an exit strategy for the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme – and the extension of […]
On why our business leaders continue to believe in the confidence fairy
(Also: On Vincent Ward) Given the poor economic data from the United States in June, the Reserve Bank obviously needs to halt the upward march […]
On the plans to sell state assets
At yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference Prime Minister John Key said that work ‘had not yet begun’ on deciding which state assets – if any – […]
Gordon Campbell: Risk Free Tax!
On current indications the Buckle Tax review will provide the final draft of their recommendations to the government just before Christmas – to enable it […]
Bill English’s Homing Instincts, for the Money
Clearly, the first item on the review of ministerial expenses is going to be to create a clear definition of what constitutes ‘home’ – because […]
Foreign ownership rules, and California’s support for Chief Justice Sian Elias
To its critics, the government’s response to the recession has looked like an Eighties Revival. Psychologically speaking, that’s not so surprising, When in trouble, politicians […]
The bogus benefits of PPPs
Occasionally, someone in business lets the cat out of the bag in a way that is impossible to satirise. Thus in the NZ Herald this […]
The need to control loan sharks
As jobs vanish and incomes shrink during the recession, loan sharks can be expected to prey more avidly on poor and vulnerable communities. After all, […]
How Treasury put us on the hook to finance companies
Click to enlarge If a firm stopped taking deposits last September, and was heavily exposed in the current economic climate to a major loan to […]
John Key’s infrastructure announcement
Click to enlarge So earlier today, we saw Prime Minister John Key unveil phase two of his government’s ‘rolling maul’ of solutions to the financial […]
Campbell: Sir Roger Douglas, And His Orewa Speech
Quaint. 25 years after Roger Douglas first won the power to affect this country, he has returned to Orewa, the elephant’s graveyard of politicians ( […]