I was away from NZ politics for some decades but I tend to agree. I have just spent 30 minutes waiting for a bus in Hamilton city watching our country’s misery as 2 homeless people went through the rubbish tins, 1 scantily clad young man curled up on the bus station bench, 1 man walked past 4 times moaning as he picked up cigarette butts ..& it was so sad! We have enough food to feed people, we have houses, we can build warm houses & we just need hope!
Ripper of a post!! Scathing and true. I agree with you that Ardern gets far more of a pass than she deserves. She did next to nothing with her straight majority in her second term.
Arguably she had no mandate- her second term was merely a personal accolade. Thank God that British voters weren't so sentimentally attached to Churchill in 1945
Mo mandate????? She had a MAJORITY!!!!! Not 8.6% or 6% as the two extremists wrecking balls have now!!!! And as for Churchill, he enjoyed premiership again because the working class, the world over seem incapable of imagining a time where sharing wealth is not a dirty concept.
A large majority on it's own doesn't make a mandate- one has to have a tangible policy platform for the voters to vote on- not just "we'll see you right with doing Labour stuff". As I said- it was a personal accolade to Ardern for saving lives during Covid. You seem to forget she fought the election by cancelling a previous platform of more Left-leaning policies- if anything, this constituted her 'mandate'- to do centrist stuff. This needs to be seen in the context that NZ Labour's ambition is always to do as little as possible commensurate with winning enough votes to get across the line in order to, at the same time, retain the confidence of the Neoliberal order worldwide. It's a precarious fence to sit on.
Churchill LOST the 1945 election- to Labour, precisely because the war-weary were capable "of imagining a time where sharing wealth is not a dirty concept". There were also strong memories of Churchill's beastly behaviour to workers during the General Strike- but those memories eventually fade. Sentimental attachment to the old war leader and the idea that he would be a strong leader during the anti-USSR 'Red Scare' (which of course he was in large part responsible for creating) along with a perception that rationing was being prolonged unnecessarily, led to his defeat of Attlee's Labour in 1951. Voters in liberal-democracies were no less fickle in that time than they were when they turned against NZ Labour in 2023, and that is largely because parties prefer politically uneducated voters that succumb to 'trust us, we'll see you right' appeals that leave the parties essentially unmandated and thus free to manoeuvre round the considerations of international and business affairs, as well as their post-cameral careers.
The mandate of the present government was to "stick it to the bloody Maori's" and that's exactly what they've done. The collateral damage to all of NZ is the removal of obstructions to, and facilitation of the degradation & privatisation of public services and assets.
Luxon is a vote scrounger; he would sell his soul for a vote. His conversation with Hosking on Maorification was sickening; it emboldens racists as all of a sudden, Hobson’s Pledge petitions again appear on social media. It is not who we are.
I was brought up blue but left when Luxon sold out for votes on the Mongrel Mob rehab program. I found more compassion in the left. Labour may not be as ideologically placed as you wish however to an extent, politics do not lead, they follow. As a culture evolves, so informed politicians move with that. The flourishing of alternative media resources such as this et al informs & encourage that process. I do what I can within the local political machine to turn up and be amongst that growth.
There was much that Jacinda achieved in her tenure, aside from a successful pandemic plan, 13000 new social houses, so much that it took 100 days for Luxon to rip it apart. That is how terrified he was of her work. And the right was voted into power, remember.
There was no CGT but there was bright line, also gone.
In order to gain back that power, how far to the left can we veer?
The reason Natioal were able to strip back so main Labour gains is because they were all band aid solutions easily ripped off. Seymours Bill if passed will be transformational and very difficult to repeal. Labour squandered that opportunity in 2020
We're certainly in a pickle with our evolved Neoliberal Experiment at this stage of the game! Both of the Major Parties have abandoned their basic Platforms and have become extremely Me First, Capital Intensive with their Laws And Policies laid on Labour, while leaving Capital on it's own to plunder the Regions and their Resources.
Conservatism has changed to Snatch & Grab - Daylight Ram Raid robbery by Omission on everything that has "Public, or Service" tacked onto it. If there's a profit lurking somewhere, they'll damn well find it and put a fence around it.
Liberalism has abandoned it's Working Class Base for Trickle Down Classist Warfare, pretending they're still the champions of equality, while running away from what it takes to be a Lefty & standing up for what's right & Fair for all inclusiveness, while they're desperate to split the Right Vote to remain relevant while they steal the Silverware off our working class tables.
They both wear 2 faced masks to best represent themselves as Egalitarian / Neoliberalists depending on who they're talking to and which way their feet are pointing, being either too lazy, or too scared to alienate a potential supporter by having to turn around to face them head-on.
Sadly, the "User Pays" thing has done it's dash & on it's last legs and floundering to find a balance it has never had after Friedman turned the Spigot off to the working classes & made Trickle down Fallacy Capitalism our Pay Masters in the old Robbing Peter to pay Paul Game of Capital Thrones that Politic's has turned into.
The worst part of this current game is leaving our Kid's Behind with a horribly broken Education System that teaches them nothing as far as Life Skills & how Cooperation breeds Unity of purpose in creating a better future for everyone, not just the Landed Gentry Corporatist Interests.
Somehow Money has replaced God & your Soul has a monetary value on it, called Public Debt that you alone are responsible for paying in full for your daily Bread, so you can't slow down to catch your breath until you're weekly Debts are paid. Each week costs go up, but your wages go down in buying power value, so you have to work harder to buy less of whatever you need to stay afloat in this bottomless "Me, Me, Me, Money Pit we "Pick Axe" our way through to be broke at the end of the week before you go to the Grocery Shock Shop, or have to make a detour to the Food Bank instead because the Card Bounced.
But our Dear self serving, self interested Leaders insist that Empathy is for losers & we must step on some heads to succeed in this life where God is Gold & endless Profits & the Market will provide to those that pass the wealth to the top of the Great Pyramid in the Sky to mark their spots in the Great Pyramid of the Meritocratic Market(s). Do we not realise that the folks managing our Kiwi Savers are definitely NOT out for our Wellbeings and just use us as Cash Cows. Now, Nicola in her divine Economic Wisdom has decided to put our Super on hold again, so she can use the money elsewhere, where it's needed to produce more Profits for somebody else & not the folks that worked their entire lives and earned their rewards at the end of the Working life Tunnels.
I'm so sick of this BS I could spit!!! There's far more to a good life than Money & personal Wealth accumulation at the expense of the working heads they can push around through their bogus Policies and Authoritarian Laws meant to deprive & withhold from the folks doing it toughest through no faults of their own other than not having enough of the shiny stuff to pay off the Paymasters with their hands in your back pocket already.
I think it's pretty safe to say "Money is truly the root of all Evil in this world around us all today.
We spend far too much time figuring out ways of deprivation on those less fortunate & far too little time building a future that everyone can enjoy equally without the stress of Poverty hanging around our necks like some kind of Social Curse.
National ACT & NZ1 have descended on us in the middle and lower end of the economic spectrum like a Plague of Hungry Locusts, out to eat us out of house and home at our own expense...
If the Left have any chance of regaining the reins of Governance, they're gonna need to get back to their Roots for the "Labour" Side of the Social Contract" & kick Authoritarian Capital and Libertarianism to the Curb. Nothing less will do! This Neoliberal Spell must be broken & entombed back in Pandora's Box where it belongs!
Thanks Mike, I'm finding it difficult to keep a constant train of thought, trying to follow this Flying Circus Coalition through it's constant Smash & Grab routine that never ceases to amaze me in it's downright Selfishness & adherence to Atlas Policies.
These folks are extremely Dangerous to our General Wellbeing and we can't afford to keep this Neoliberal Economic & Financial Management system in it's current form around any longer.
I do like Chippy, I feel he's the closest thing we have as a Statesman for the Working Class folks in the Trenches, doing it toughest out there.
But I just can't get past the blown Opportunity that Labour had in 2017 to bring the Base together with their promised Wellbeing Budget that never materialised after they had already spent huge Taxpayer Dollars on Expert Groups to rearrange the playing field for the unemployed, Disabled, & Elderly folks on Super & the 1st thing they did following the WEAG Groups Report and recommendations was to throw it in the Bin and sign up for TPPA, hoping Trump might join in and open the door for American Trade in the Pacific.
Next came the Tax Working Group with Michael Cullin that was obviously Hi-Jacked before it even made it to the Table in Parliament with it's recommendations for Key Change issues on CGT & Wealth Taxing..
Sigh, once again it was Labours Fear of being abandoned by Right Wing Capital that forced their hand away from these 2 Critical Changes we needed to get the Country united behind them.
With the abject failure of Kiwi Build to get off the ground, they ran away from their Social Policies of Wellbeing, Fairness & inclusivity and by the time Covid arrived in 2020 it was all over but the gnashing of teeth you could have heard from outer space from the Labour Caucus when it finally realised their base had abandoned them.
They should have never tried to go it alone on Jacinda's reputation as a caring person following the Christchurch Terrorist attack against our Muslim community, that would free us from this ungodly system of Public Rorts that Neoliberalism is.
Chippy & Company are still stuck in Neoliberal World and hoping they can sway votes from disgruntled National Voters to get another chance at the Neolib - Roulette Wheel.
Good luck with that because Mr. Trump is gonna have his own way in changing the face of Finance & Economic Management to something entirely different and unworkable for other Western Countries to follow without waging war on their own People...
My head is wearing out on this stuff at this point! I don't like or appreciate having Government in my face constantly nagging me for More, More, More, while inflation leaves me Less, Less & Less of the Capital I need to run life off the smell of an Oily Rag while jerking the rug out from under me every other day. I paid my dues to sing the Blues and don't take this Sh*t lightly in my supposedly Golden Years left to try and enjoy as best I can on Baked Beans & Toast without the Butter...
Unfortunately, when the mother country abandoned their farm in the South Pacific it unwittingly lit a fuse of failure. Before that betrayal, “New Zealand experienced its wealthiest period, also known as the "golden age," during the 1950s and 1960s. At this time, New Zealand ranked third in the world for GDP per capita, remaining in the top five until 1966.”
So what happened? At its absolute core, the New Zealand story is one of vested interests capturing power, incompetent politicians, and systemic failure to innovate. And by 2025, nothing has changed except for the speed of decline, which is accelerating. Vested interests have captured the government, incompetence is rife, and the structural deficit is the evidence of the failure to innovate. The prosecution rests.
This piece captures a frustration many share but rarely see laid out so directly. Neoliberalism hasn’t just failed; it’s been bipartisan gospel for 40 years. What’s worse is how deeply it’s warped our sense of what’s economically possible.
One thing I’d add: to truly break out of this failed framework, we need to dismantle the fiscal myths that underpin it – especially the belief that the Govt must “find money” through taxes or borrowing before it can spend. That framing isn’t just wrong; it’s disabling.
Here’s how it actually works: Govt spending in New Zealand happens via the Reserve Bank crediting accounts – money is created into existence when Parliament authorises spending, and it flows through the Crown Settlement Account (CSA). Taxes and bond sales happen after the spending – and for different reasons entirely.
Taxes help remove money from circulation to manage demand and inflation. Bond sales simply swap bank reserves (which earn the OCR) for interest-bearing assets. This doesn’t “raise money” – it provides the private sector with a safe, income-generating asset. That’s why Govt bonds are routinely oversubscribed: they're treated as a default-risk-free store of value, especially prized by investors during periods of market volatility. The idea that public debt burdens future generations ignores the simple truth that these bonds are financial assets to the non-government sector – denominated in NZ dollars, a currency the Govt itself issues and controls.
And let’s not kid ourselves about interest rates being set by markets. The Reserve Bank sets the OCR and manages liquidity – it can always stabilise yields when needed. Long-term interest rates follow policy, not “bond vigilantes.”
So if we’re serious about disrupting the neoliberal status quo, the left needs to stop treating deficits like a problem and start treating public spending as a tool to meet public needs – with no false constraint. The truth is, the left’s aims are fundamentally incompatible with the neoliberal framework. You can’t rebuild public services, address inequality, or prepare for climate shocks while clinging to a ‘tax then spend’ narrative that actively curtails public investment. New Zealand operates as a self-funding state – its ability to act is not limited by money, but by real resources and political will.
For a clear, NZ-based breakdown of how Govt finance actually works, highly recommend:
Maybe we need a Green/TPM infiltrator to go into the Labour Party and do a "Roger Douglas" as a fifth columnist, and drag them leftwards again? With that larger platform they could not just be dismissed as the "looney left". You can see how concerned the government coalition are about the Greens by how much time and energy they spend convincing the public these are loonies, rather than debating policy. If only the poorest 50% would vote in their own best interests and demand real change - how do we convince them to do so? Actually, I vote Green against my own personal financial interests so why should I expect others to vote in their own best interests? It is an seemingly intractable problem - any solutions?
I abandoned Labour in 2020 and whilst I voted for my local Labour MP my party vote went to the Greens. I have zero faith that our current Labour leadership will do anything other than continue to pursue a watered down neoliberal economic policy. It's an outrage that the Green Party has NEVER been invited to cabinet even though their party vote often eclipses ACT. Our democratic process is being bush-whacked before our very eyes whilst the indolent fourth estate focuses on personalities rather that ripping into the extraordinarily way in which the likes of Costello, McKee, Van Velden, Jones, Peters, and Seymour have seized power and are intent on doing whatever they please. Ardern promised a transformative government yet it's these monsters delivering this by way of a nightmare
I held out hope for Labour longer than you did but it is clear they aren't moving in the right direction - I always voted Green, and I hoped Green success might drag Labour leftwards, but it clearly didn't - such a shame - how do we get the Green and TPM vote up to a third by next election so the other two have to start looking towards real reform in NZ?
I was away from NZ politics for some decades but I tend to agree. I have just spent 30 minutes waiting for a bus in Hamilton city watching our country’s misery as 2 homeless people went through the rubbish tins, 1 scantily clad young man curled up on the bus station bench, 1 man walked past 4 times moaning as he picked up cigarette butts ..& it was so sad! We have enough food to feed people, we have houses, we can build warm houses & we just need hope!
It must be a nightmare to return to this 😰
Ripper of a post!! Scathing and true. I agree with you that Ardern gets far more of a pass than she deserves. She did next to nothing with her straight majority in her second term.
Arguably she had no mandate- her second term was merely a personal accolade. Thank God that British voters weren't so sentimentally attached to Churchill in 1945
Mo mandate????? She had a MAJORITY!!!!! Not 8.6% or 6% as the two extremists wrecking balls have now!!!! And as for Churchill, he enjoyed premiership again because the working class, the world over seem incapable of imagining a time where sharing wealth is not a dirty concept.
A large majority on it's own doesn't make a mandate- one has to have a tangible policy platform for the voters to vote on- not just "we'll see you right with doing Labour stuff". As I said- it was a personal accolade to Ardern for saving lives during Covid. You seem to forget she fought the election by cancelling a previous platform of more Left-leaning policies- if anything, this constituted her 'mandate'- to do centrist stuff. This needs to be seen in the context that NZ Labour's ambition is always to do as little as possible commensurate with winning enough votes to get across the line in order to, at the same time, retain the confidence of the Neoliberal order worldwide. It's a precarious fence to sit on.
Churchill LOST the 1945 election- to Labour, precisely because the war-weary were capable "of imagining a time where sharing wealth is not a dirty concept". There were also strong memories of Churchill's beastly behaviour to workers during the General Strike- but those memories eventually fade. Sentimental attachment to the old war leader and the idea that he would be a strong leader during the anti-USSR 'Red Scare' (which of course he was in large part responsible for creating) along with a perception that rationing was being prolonged unnecessarily, led to his defeat of Attlee's Labour in 1951. Voters in liberal-democracies were no less fickle in that time than they were when they turned against NZ Labour in 2023, and that is largely because parties prefer politically uneducated voters that succumb to 'trust us, we'll see you right' appeals that leave the parties essentially unmandated and thus free to manoeuvre round the considerations of international and business affairs, as well as their post-cameral careers.
The right never seems to care that they don’t have a mandate. She had no political will either. That’s the “left’s” ongoing issue.
The mandate of the present government was to "stick it to the bloody Maori's" and that's exactly what they've done. The collateral damage to all of NZ is the removal of obstructions to, and facilitation of the degradation & privatisation of public services and assets.
Luxon is a vote scrounger; he would sell his soul for a vote. His conversation with Hosking on Maorification was sickening; it emboldens racists as all of a sudden, Hobson’s Pledge petitions again appear on social media. It is not who we are.
I was brought up blue but left when Luxon sold out for votes on the Mongrel Mob rehab program. I found more compassion in the left. Labour may not be as ideologically placed as you wish however to an extent, politics do not lead, they follow. As a culture evolves, so informed politicians move with that. The flourishing of alternative media resources such as this et al informs & encourage that process. I do what I can within the local political machine to turn up and be amongst that growth.
Nga mihi nui.
Ryan:
There was much that Jacinda achieved in her tenure, aside from a successful pandemic plan, 13000 new social houses, so much that it took 100 days for Luxon to rip it apart. That is how terrified he was of her work. And the right was voted into power, remember.
There was no CGT but there was bright line, also gone.
In order to gain back that power, how far to the left can we veer?
The reason Natioal were able to strip back so main Labour gains is because they were all band aid solutions easily ripped off. Seymours Bill if passed will be transformational and very difficult to repeal. Labour squandered that opportunity in 2020
Great post Mike....straight up !!
We're certainly in a pickle with our evolved Neoliberal Experiment at this stage of the game! Both of the Major Parties have abandoned their basic Platforms and have become extremely Me First, Capital Intensive with their Laws And Policies laid on Labour, while leaving Capital on it's own to plunder the Regions and their Resources.
Conservatism has changed to Snatch & Grab - Daylight Ram Raid robbery by Omission on everything that has "Public, or Service" tacked onto it. If there's a profit lurking somewhere, they'll damn well find it and put a fence around it.
Liberalism has abandoned it's Working Class Base for Trickle Down Classist Warfare, pretending they're still the champions of equality, while running away from what it takes to be a Lefty & standing up for what's right & Fair for all inclusiveness, while they're desperate to split the Right Vote to remain relevant while they steal the Silverware off our working class tables.
They both wear 2 faced masks to best represent themselves as Egalitarian / Neoliberalists depending on who they're talking to and which way their feet are pointing, being either too lazy, or too scared to alienate a potential supporter by having to turn around to face them head-on.
Sadly, the "User Pays" thing has done it's dash & on it's last legs and floundering to find a balance it has never had after Friedman turned the Spigot off to the working classes & made Trickle down Fallacy Capitalism our Pay Masters in the old Robbing Peter to pay Paul Game of Capital Thrones that Politic's has turned into.
The worst part of this current game is leaving our Kid's Behind with a horribly broken Education System that teaches them nothing as far as Life Skills & how Cooperation breeds Unity of purpose in creating a better future for everyone, not just the Landed Gentry Corporatist Interests.
Somehow Money has replaced God & your Soul has a monetary value on it, called Public Debt that you alone are responsible for paying in full for your daily Bread, so you can't slow down to catch your breath until you're weekly Debts are paid. Each week costs go up, but your wages go down in buying power value, so you have to work harder to buy less of whatever you need to stay afloat in this bottomless "Me, Me, Me, Money Pit we "Pick Axe" our way through to be broke at the end of the week before you go to the Grocery Shock Shop, or have to make a detour to the Food Bank instead because the Card Bounced.
But our Dear self serving, self interested Leaders insist that Empathy is for losers & we must step on some heads to succeed in this life where God is Gold & endless Profits & the Market will provide to those that pass the wealth to the top of the Great Pyramid in the Sky to mark their spots in the Great Pyramid of the Meritocratic Market(s). Do we not realise that the folks managing our Kiwi Savers are definitely NOT out for our Wellbeings and just use us as Cash Cows. Now, Nicola in her divine Economic Wisdom has decided to put our Super on hold again, so she can use the money elsewhere, where it's needed to produce more Profits for somebody else & not the folks that worked their entire lives and earned their rewards at the end of the Working life Tunnels.
I'm so sick of this BS I could spit!!! There's far more to a good life than Money & personal Wealth accumulation at the expense of the working heads they can push around through their bogus Policies and Authoritarian Laws meant to deprive & withhold from the folks doing it toughest through no faults of their own other than not having enough of the shiny stuff to pay off the Paymasters with their hands in your back pocket already.
I think it's pretty safe to say "Money is truly the root of all Evil in this world around us all today.
We spend far too much time figuring out ways of deprivation on those less fortunate & far too little time building a future that everyone can enjoy equally without the stress of Poverty hanging around our necks like some kind of Social Curse.
National ACT & NZ1 have descended on us in the middle and lower end of the economic spectrum like a Plague of Hungry Locusts, out to eat us out of house and home at our own expense...
If the Left have any chance of regaining the reins of Governance, they're gonna need to get back to their Roots for the "Labour" Side of the Social Contract" & kick Authoritarian Capital and Libertarianism to the Curb. Nothing less will do! This Neoliberal Spell must be broken & entombed back in Pandora's Box where it belongs!
Fooooowwwaarrrrr! What a great rant that was! I just wish that I had done it = thank you!
Thanks Chris, I'm happy it came off understandably as intended! Being in friendly company here helps!
Nailed it!
Thanks Mike, I'm finding it difficult to keep a constant train of thought, trying to follow this Flying Circus Coalition through it's constant Smash & Grab routine that never ceases to amaze me in it's downright Selfishness & adherence to Atlas Policies.
These folks are extremely Dangerous to our General Wellbeing and we can't afford to keep this Neoliberal Economic & Financial Management system in it's current form around any longer.
I do like Chippy, I feel he's the closest thing we have as a Statesman for the Working Class folks in the Trenches, doing it toughest out there.
But I just can't get past the blown Opportunity that Labour had in 2017 to bring the Base together with their promised Wellbeing Budget that never materialised after they had already spent huge Taxpayer Dollars on Expert Groups to rearrange the playing field for the unemployed, Disabled, & Elderly folks on Super & the 1st thing they did following the WEAG Groups Report and recommendations was to throw it in the Bin and sign up for TPPA, hoping Trump might join in and open the door for American Trade in the Pacific.
Next came the Tax Working Group with Michael Cullin that was obviously Hi-Jacked before it even made it to the Table in Parliament with it's recommendations for Key Change issues on CGT & Wealth Taxing..
Sigh, once again it was Labours Fear of being abandoned by Right Wing Capital that forced their hand away from these 2 Critical Changes we needed to get the Country united behind them.
With the abject failure of Kiwi Build to get off the ground, they ran away from their Social Policies of Wellbeing, Fairness & inclusivity and by the time Covid arrived in 2020 it was all over but the gnashing of teeth you could have heard from outer space from the Labour Caucus when it finally realised their base had abandoned them.
They should have never tried to go it alone on Jacinda's reputation as a caring person following the Christchurch Terrorist attack against our Muslim community, that would free us from this ungodly system of Public Rorts that Neoliberalism is.
Chippy & Company are still stuck in Neoliberal World and hoping they can sway votes from disgruntled National Voters to get another chance at the Neolib - Roulette Wheel.
Good luck with that because Mr. Trump is gonna have his own way in changing the face of Finance & Economic Management to something entirely different and unworkable for other Western Countries to follow without waging war on their own People...
My head is wearing out on this stuff at this point! I don't like or appreciate having Government in my face constantly nagging me for More, More, More, while inflation leaves me Less, Less & Less of the Capital I need to run life off the smell of an Oily Rag while jerking the rug out from under me every other day. I paid my dues to sing the Blues and don't take this Sh*t lightly in my supposedly Golden Years left to try and enjoy as best I can on Baked Beans & Toast without the Butter...
An eye opening post for anyone who cares. Thanks.
Brownlee is an absolute thick head. He needs to be sent to Coventry.
Eh, so sad, so true.
Unfortunately, when the mother country abandoned their farm in the South Pacific it unwittingly lit a fuse of failure. Before that betrayal, “New Zealand experienced its wealthiest period, also known as the "golden age," during the 1950s and 1960s. At this time, New Zealand ranked third in the world for GDP per capita, remaining in the top five until 1966.”
So what happened? At its absolute core, the New Zealand story is one of vested interests capturing power, incompetent politicians, and systemic failure to innovate. And by 2025, nothing has changed except for the speed of decline, which is accelerating. Vested interests have captured the government, incompetence is rife, and the structural deficit is the evidence of the failure to innovate. The prosecution rests.
This piece captures a frustration many share but rarely see laid out so directly. Neoliberalism hasn’t just failed; it’s been bipartisan gospel for 40 years. What’s worse is how deeply it’s warped our sense of what’s economically possible.
One thing I’d add: to truly break out of this failed framework, we need to dismantle the fiscal myths that underpin it – especially the belief that the Govt must “find money” through taxes or borrowing before it can spend. That framing isn’t just wrong; it’s disabling.
Here’s how it actually works: Govt spending in New Zealand happens via the Reserve Bank crediting accounts – money is created into existence when Parliament authorises spending, and it flows through the Crown Settlement Account (CSA). Taxes and bond sales happen after the spending – and for different reasons entirely.
Taxes help remove money from circulation to manage demand and inflation. Bond sales simply swap bank reserves (which earn the OCR) for interest-bearing assets. This doesn’t “raise money” – it provides the private sector with a safe, income-generating asset. That’s why Govt bonds are routinely oversubscribed: they're treated as a default-risk-free store of value, especially prized by investors during periods of market volatility. The idea that public debt burdens future generations ignores the simple truth that these bonds are financial assets to the non-government sector – denominated in NZ dollars, a currency the Govt itself issues and controls.
And let’s not kid ourselves about interest rates being set by markets. The Reserve Bank sets the OCR and manages liquidity – it can always stabilise yields when needed. Long-term interest rates follow policy, not “bond vigilantes.”
So if we’re serious about disrupting the neoliberal status quo, the left needs to stop treating deficits like a problem and start treating public spending as a tool to meet public needs – with no false constraint. The truth is, the left’s aims are fundamentally incompatible with the neoliberal framework. You can’t rebuild public services, address inequality, or prepare for climate shocks while clinging to a ‘tax then spend’ narrative that actively curtails public investment. New Zealand operates as a self-funding state – its ability to act is not limited by money, but by real resources and political will.
For a clear, NZ-based breakdown of how Govt finance actually works, highly recommend:
https://neweconomicmanagement.substack.com/p/how-the-new-zealand-government-spends
https://neweconomicmanagement.substack.com/p/rethinking-public-debt
Maybe we need a Green/TPM infiltrator to go into the Labour Party and do a "Roger Douglas" as a fifth columnist, and drag them leftwards again? With that larger platform they could not just be dismissed as the "looney left". You can see how concerned the government coalition are about the Greens by how much time and energy they spend convincing the public these are loonies, rather than debating policy. If only the poorest 50% would vote in their own best interests and demand real change - how do we convince them to do so? Actually, I vote Green against my own personal financial interests so why should I expect others to vote in their own best interests? It is an seemingly intractable problem - any solutions?
I abandoned Labour in 2020 and whilst I voted for my local Labour MP my party vote went to the Greens. I have zero faith that our current Labour leadership will do anything other than continue to pursue a watered down neoliberal economic policy. It's an outrage that the Green Party has NEVER been invited to cabinet even though their party vote often eclipses ACT. Our democratic process is being bush-whacked before our very eyes whilst the indolent fourth estate focuses on personalities rather that ripping into the extraordinarily way in which the likes of Costello, McKee, Van Velden, Jones, Peters, and Seymour have seized power and are intent on doing whatever they please. Ardern promised a transformative government yet it's these monsters delivering this by way of a nightmare
I held out hope for Labour longer than you did but it is clear they aren't moving in the right direction - I always voted Green, and I hoped Green success might drag Labour leftwards, but it clearly didn't - such a shame - how do we get the Green and TPM vote up to a third by next election so the other two have to start looking towards real reform in NZ?
Oh how we wish, hope and dream! It takes courage and self belief, and of course, the use of entitlement to vote. Let's just do it!