Category: Economic Issues
Looking at the wider picture, all over the world, liberal democracies are being threatened by authoritarian forces. We experienced it ourselves just five years ago, when almost every single one of our democratic rights and freedoms were stripped away without warning. It was into the democratic vacuum Jacinda Ardern created, that tribal rule was ushered in.
National wants economic growth. Opening up the agricultural sector to less regulated gene editing and the more wholesale use of GMO’s could be a quick way to get quantum leaps in production. But there are no guarantees and the evidence for increased production from gene manipulation is scant. Yet the changes are being hustled through.
If a line-by-line review had been carried out, Coalition Ministers would have been shocked to discover Labour’s toxic He Puapua programmes are still operating. De-funding those including “Rautaki Maori” policies to deliver preferential hiring practices for Maori. would not only have helped the Coalition to deliver on their election pledge to “Stop He Puapua”, but it would also have saved millions of dollars to reduce spending and pay down debt.
Nicola Willis described Budget 2025 as a “No BS” Budget. That’s true, to the extent that it lacked the stratospheric BS that characterised the political spin of the Ardern/Robertson budgets. That was the good news. The not-so-good news is that the budget lacked substance and was devoid of the economic reform that this country needs to reverse its long-term economic decline. It tinkered with the problem.
Quality reform is now called for. But where is the party with the courage to set New Zealand on the path to a better future – one where the good of New Zealanders is put first, and where there’s no kowtowing to vested interest groups demanding special privileges.
The current welfare system has over the years piled mountains of debt onto the shoulders of today’s children and young people, who as a result, should be marching in the streets in protest. The crisis of New Zealand’s unfunded obligations is about to hit us hard. .
In the interest of national security, the country’s coastal marine area needs to be nationalised in the public interest by repealing the Marine and Coastal Area Act, cancelling the claims, and restoring the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act, so New Zealand’s coastline and Territorial Sea will be owned and controlled by the Crown on behalf of all New Zealanders.
President Trump wants to re-establish reciprocity in trade to enable the US to strengthen its economic base and rebuild a security umbrella for citizens and allies. His ultimate goal is to use tariffs to switch the US from taxing labour to taxing imports, by using funds collected to lower income tax towards zero for most Americans.
We now have a clearer picture of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and how they will affect other trading nations. The “reciprocal” tariffs are designed to impose charges on other countries equivalent to half the costs they supposedly inflict on US exporters through tariffs, currency manipulation and non-tariff barriers levied on US goods.
As a result of policies introduced to meet the demands of the United Nations Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the security of New Zealand’s electricity system has been severely compromised through the increasing use of intermittent wind and solar power. The ultimate objective of 100 percent renewable generation is clearly impossible.
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