Most days now in the lead-up to the Reserve Bank Official Cash Rate (OCR) announcement (it is expected to rise from 2.5% to at least 3.0%) media outlets are featuring articles on how much rates need to rise to conquer inflation. As far as I can work out, the Big Bank economists have largely morphed into PR and Comms types who are regularly in touch with the likes of the Herald appearing to helpfully explain how it all works, often complete with huge photos of themselves. Look

We recently heard about a deal between the government and the "Shortland Street" show related to promoting the recruitment of nurses. The Otago Daily Times reported (below), "Government spending on boosting nurse recruitment through TV soap Shortland Street & TVNZ is commercially sensitive and will not be made public, a spokesperson says". Why is it in the public interest to know about advertising deals between media outlets & governments? Because the media has been shown to

The NZ Herald's "Business Editor at Large", in order to defend the actions of our Reserve Bank these past years, had this to say about things written in the recent report authored by the former RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler & NZ Initiative fellow Bryce Wilkinson which critiqued the Bank's performance (along with several other Central Banks): "Like all economics, it is political". On and on the Herald goes with its lecture about the subject that I have studied for 30 years: "Ec

When you lack the monetary economics expertise to make decisions in the best interests of your own nation, then you copy others. But it can lead to disaster. The main reason why our Reserve Bank took the money printing / Quantitative Easing road was because other central banks were taking it. The bureaucrats figured that even if they ran into trouble by doing so, their excuse to save their own jobs would be, "Well, that's what others did". They called it "least regrets". The

The news is dominated today by the welfare payout of $350 which is being made to "New Zealand tax residents over the age of 18 who earned up to $70,000 in the last financial year". Apparently over 2 million are set to receive it !? The PM rebuffed claims that the payout would be inflationary: "A tax cut would also likely contribute to inflation but offering a targeted, time-limited payment would limit the possibility of that according to Treasury", she said. Hang-on. First,