On Treasury’s ideological hostility to film tax breaks
Treasury’s religious objection to tax breaks and the left wing’s objection to paying subsidies to US multinationals like Warners have converged in their joint hostility […]
Economy
On the Welfare Working Group’s latest round of welfare bashing
Well, in its Options report this week, at least the Cabinet-appointed Welfare Working Group was clear about whose interests it is there to serve: ‘The […]
From the Hood : Lost in Wiseacre Wood
Isn’t it funny / How a bear likes cutting the public service? / Buzz buzz buzz, / I wonder why he does.
On John Key’s illusory gains on free trade
John Key’s tendency to govern by photo opportunity took a drastic new turn on the weekend. As Radio New Zealand reported this morning, the New […]
On the US midterms
[Image amoeck, via The 100 Best Signs At The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear] On the eve of the inevitable catastrophe for the Democrats […]
On The Hobbit finale
Great. The Hobbit stays here. Everyone’s happy about that – you, me, John Key, Robyn Malcolm…we’re all so very happy, at least until we look […]
On the Latest stage of The Hobbit drama
So, according to Sir Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens all that Warners are asking for in an uncertain world is certainty. A surety that no […]
Gordon Campbell on The Hobbit countdown to D-Day
At his post Cabinet press conference last week, Prime Minister John Key was asked (by me) whether the government-convened talks to keep The Hobbit in […]
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 […]
Gordon Campbell on the trade unions vs Peter Jackson wrangle over 'The Hobbit'.
If the production of The Hobbit does finally move to eastern Europe, it would not be because of the actors’ wage bill or any fresh […]
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 the government’s hostility towards women
Image: Pay equity campaigners want “no stone unturned” Once again, the Key government has shown it doesn’t give a stuff about issues that primarily affect […]
On welfare bashing, and driving up a dead end in Afghanistan
The government’s welfare working group has dutifully delivered the findings the government wants to hear. To Paula Rebstock and her colleagues, being on welfare is […]
John Key Gets In Touch With His Feminine Side
Using a softline pitch to women, to sell hardline policies
On the mining backdown
The government’s formal capitulation ( due later today) on the mining of Schedule Four conservation land is a smashing victory for the public – one […]
On the making of The Hobbit
Given that successive governments have identified the film industry as a prime catalyst of the knowledge economy, you might have expected more local media attention […]
On the ideology behind state spending cuts, and the Bethune aftermath
Clearly, the cuts to government spending are being driven by ideology and not by the state of the economy. Yesterday’s figures revealed a government deficit […]
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 Jackson Film Commission review
So the long awaited, year-in-the-making blockbuster review of the Film Commission has finally been delivered by Sir Peter Jackson and David Court, and is now […]
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 – […]
On John Key’s shifting rationales for tax cuts (& leaky homes)
[Leaky homes below] See: PM’s Presser Audio & Report – Leaky Home Loan Scheme When asked by Scoop at yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference to name […]
On CEO pay, and the calls to hike up interest rates
Lets get this straight. Paying schoolteachers is said to be a very very bad thing to do as we emerge from the recession – but […]
On RWC fever, and Obama’s Supreme Court choice
RNZ this morning carried the news that “new research” now shows that the Rugby World Cup would add an estimated $535 million to the nation’s […]
On getting a fair deal for our oil and mining resources
As the deadline approaches for public submissions on the government’s plans to open up sensitive conservation areas to mining, the likely economic returns to New […]
On the Government’s Greenlight to the Mining Industry
Click for big version Well, we learned yesterday that Forest and Bird leaks had been right all along, and that the government is indeed planning […]
On the Economics of Mining DOC Land
Click to enlarge At yesterday’s Post cabinet press conference [video], Prime Minister John Key repeated the government’s current defensive position on the proposal to extend […]
On the problems in making the tax cuts equation stack up
Would scrapping the depreciation rules on rental residential property really deliver the $1.6 billion promised? That $1.6 billion sits on one side of the ledger […]
On John Key’s agenda for the nation
Compensate is such a slippery word. If you set out to make the elite squad in team A immensely better off with money taken from […]
On why free trade with the US is more Monty Python than Holy Grail
Perhaps we can all quietly sign a pact to forego comparing a free trade deal with the US to the quest for the Holy Grail. […]
On the government’s clueless response to unemployment and why Mike Moore shouldn’t go to Washington
Well, we’re now seeing some of the fruits of small government, and having government butt out of our lives. Unemployment rose to 7.3 % during […]