Here's our summary of key economic events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news central banks around the world are racing to raise rates in a concerted effort to squash inflation. The cost may be growth and jobs, but there seems universal agreement rampant inflation is a bigger long term risk.
But first, US jobless claims rose last week to +178,000 but this level is still very low by historic standards. It is no indication their tight labour market is easing. There are now still less than 1.3 mln people on these benefits and the insured jobless rate is a tiny 0.9%.
The US current account for Q2-2022 came in pretty much as expected, with a -US$251 bln deficit. It isn't good, and these huge quarterly deficits started in 2020 and haven't let up. Disastrous policy making is behind the ugly trend and although Q2-2022 was an improvement on Q1, it still came in at -4% of GDP. Recovery from mad policy isn't easy as they are finding out. (New Zealand's current account deficit is -7.7% and that isn't good either.*)
The latest regional factory survey, this one from the Kansas City Fed, reported a sluggish expansion, but firms continued to add workers and were moderately optimistic about growth in future months.
But with mortgage rates hitting 6.29%, the American housing market is wavering and ready to a substantial drop, it seems. The chance to reset to improve affordability is ahead of them. Rents may have peaked too.
The Bank of Japan met yesterday and held its ultra loose monetary policies. But the Japanese government had to intervene to support the yen for the first time since 1998 after the currency extended losses to fresh 24-year lows. The divergence between monetary policy in Japan and the United States has widened further adding to policy stress. The Bank of Japan maintained its key short-term interest rate at -0.1% with governor Kuroda saying the central bank won't be raising interest rates any time soon.
The Taiwanese central bank also met and raised its policy rate to 1.625% from 1.5%. It was a modest rise in the face of a slowing economic expansion.
Hong Kong had no inflation in August from July and very weak local economic activity, and the annual rate remained at 1.9% - almost all of which happened in October 2021 so is about to leave the index.
Indonesia raised its policy rate by +0.5% yesterday as they are starting to experience inflation at too-high levels for them and now running at +6%. That took their policy rate up to 4.25%.
Norway also raised its policy rate by +50 bps to 2.25%. They have an inflation rate running at 6.5%. Switzerland raised theirs by +75 bps to 0.50% and taking them out of a negative policy rate for the first time since 2015 and their highest rate since 2009. Swiss inflation is now running at 3.5%.
The Bank of England joined the queue unanimously raising their rate by +50 bps too, to 2.25%. Their inflation rate is currently 9.9%. They also said the UK may already be in recession.
EU consumer confidence confidence dropped further in August to a new all-time low since this series began in 2007.
Container shipping costs dived -10% in the past week alone as demand in the sector deflates very quickly now. But the same is not true for oil tankers; the cost for them has doubled in the past month. And dry bulk cargo rates are inching higher again.
The UST 10yr yield starts today at 3.70% and up a huge +19 bps from this time yesterday. This now its highest since 2010. The UST 2-10 rate curve is less inverted at -42 bps. Their 1-5 curve is much less inverted at -19 bps. And their 30 day-10yr curve has steepened further to +120 bps. The Australian ten year bond is sharply higher, up +16 bps at 3.85%. The China Govt ten year bond is little-changed at 2.69%. And the New Zealand Govt ten year will start today at 4.03%, down -2 bps from this time yesterday, but will probably rise later if the UST rates hold.
In Wall Street's Thursday trade the S&P500 is down -0.7% as the re-rating continues for equities. Overnight European markets all closed down about -1.8%. Yesterday Tokyo ended down -0.6%, Hong Kong closed down -1.6% and Shanghai closed down -0.3%. The ASX200 was closed for a holiday and the NZX50 ended up +0.2%.
The price of gold will open today at US$1672/oz. This is down -US$12 from this time yesterday.
And oil prices start today up +50 USc from yesterday at just under US$83.50/bbl in the US while the international Brent price is now just over US$89.50/bbl.
The Kiwi dollar will open today at just on 58.5 USc and more than -½ lower than this time yesterday, as the Fed signals settle in. Against the Australian dollar we are slightly softer at just 88 AUc and its lowest in seven years. Against the euro we are little-changed at 59.4 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at 68.4, and down -40 bps.
The bitcoin price is now at US$19,071 and down -1.8% than this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been very high at just on +/- 4.5%.
(Update: An earlier version of this article said in error the New Zealand's current account deficit was -2.7% of GDP. In fact it is -7.7% of GDP.)
The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».
Daily exchange rates
Select chart tabs
135 Comments
Off thread here admittedly, but still notable the NZH article this morning describing the utter lack of confidence and accord large parts of NZ’s business activity have in this government of ours. Not unexpectedly the Hosking foot was flat to the tack about this on the bass drum too. Undoubtedly this government will simply be incredulous about such a suggestion. Two distant gongs sounded for me though. Firstly Mike Moore, a Prime Minister rare in the fact that he knew business well from the shop floor to the top floor, warned his incoming colleagues prior to the 1984 election about business, something like - don’t piss ‘em off! And then, MichaelCullen in the next Labour government, his road to Damascus moment at that big wig business meeting up north, where he changed his hue overnight. This Labour lot today might now remember those moments, but too late, far too late.
To be fair I think the business community is NZ is probably going to have to learn a few harsh lessons themselves. Layers upon layers of ticket clipping may work in the boom times, but people simply don't have or don't want to spend that kind of cash anymore. It gets even harder to justify when you can see the same products for sale in Australia for a fraction of a price. This applies all the way from electric cars to consumer electronics.
It's quite something that businesses are pushing the 'we can't give employees pay rises or else we risk an inflationary spiral!' grift yet are quite happy to mark up their prices continuously whenever they feel their margins are under threat.
Agreed GV,didn't hear to many complaining when they had there snouts deep in the "corporate welfare" trough when the government support over the last few years meant many still had a business at the end of it...if it was a true free market,many wouldn't still be here without that support.
Now it's their turn to put there heads down and repay that support.They talk about being more productive as a nation and labour costs are rising too much...well how about investing in technology & tech to improve things,rather than looking to the government to provide them with an endless supply of cheap labour imported from poorer countries.
Vman this is only partly true as the alternative without support for lots of businesses was to fire staff
and actually there is plenty being spent on continuous improvement even at the small end of town - do builders still use hammers? or all have nail guns and other fancy bits of kit
our primary producers have a very long track record of productivity improvements -which many have to do just to survive
But yes its now time for Govt to get out of being a corporate welfare supporter - as well as lots of other support which is designed to "stimulate" the economy to much of whicg is very low value expenditure
Isn’t Labour obeying Business already? They’ve kiboshed their immigration reset and announced a return to mass immigration and underinvestment in infrastructure. This should keep NZ wages down whilst increasing the cost of living.
NZH ..Hosk..true journalism at its finest?
Intersting to drill into the figures quoted in The Herald.
"Hosking king of breakfast.."
Hosk has most listeners overall...but
ZM's Fletch,Vaughn & Hayley led the "key commercial demographic" of 25-54yo,Hosk 2nd..ZM also led 3 other key demographics...18-34,18-39 &18-49.
Takeout from this is,as Hosk has the most listeners overall,it seems it is mainly drawn from the 55+ demographic...hardly surprising.
I would extrapolate that to be matched in interest.co given much of the commentary in here at times lol.
I do a lot of driving for my job and prefer to listen to talk radio rather than music. I flick between Today FM, RNZ and ZB in the mornings. RNZ is crushingly dull, Today FM with Tova is best for Politics, but the Hosk is by far the most entertaining, with good guest contributors from France and the UK as well as interesting political panel discussions. I am somewhat to the left of Hosking, and disagree with about 80% of what he says, but there is no denying that he is a top broadcaster despite his open political bias. I am not 55 yet!
Agree Waikato,I used to listen to Hosk,but his out and out bias,which went out of control once JA gave up on him,it's as if his only reason for being on air at the moment is to bring the government down,he has lost any balance.I too have started listening to Tova & others on Today FM,much more balanced,they still hold the government to account,without so much bias.The annoying thing I find with Hosk,is no matter what is said by a commentator,once they are offline,he puts his spin on it with no right of reply.And given he doesn't take callers,there is no opportunity for opposing views to be broadcast,he is our version of Fox news.
Tova balanced...come on. Have you forgotten her pathetic questioning of the PM at covid press conferences?
Have you listened to Today FM ?...
I used the term "more balanced..."...Hosking is unhinged when it comes to any comment on this government.
... about as unhinged as the doors on a Kiwibuild house ....
Try listening to pod casts.
I'd rather learn history, language, social theory, science, than talking heads talking stuff.
Soo much pod cast material out there. Really good quality stuff.
Agreed. I cannot stand any of the radio presenters on normal radio.
Podcasts give so much more variety and better quality.
For example, NPR has some great podcasts, as does Wondery. I am also partial to a bit of Joe Rogan, even though he's an acquired taste (and I don't necessarily agree with everything he or his guests have to say).
To be fair,when you read the articles in depth,there seemed to be as much division within business ranks as with the general public...and when you read the industry they represented,a certain amount of bias..as in "housing CEO"..."open the borders and stand back,don't get in the way of growth"...well he would say that.
Many supported Govt housing tax polices,some against,once again,depends it seems on vested interests.
I was surprised at the amount of support for climate change policy,health reforms,even 3 waters,although I have to agree with a comment around the communication of these policies.
'the Hosking foot was flat to the tack about this on the bass drum'
the rapidly changing time signatures (flip-flops) would cause some serious carnage on the dance floor!
German Techno comes to mind..ya good!
The hosk is I think the most highly rated radio in the long white cloud aotearoa
Did you know that the literal translation for aotearoa is long day. Interesting eh
No
... yeah , nah ... the literal translation of " Aotearoa " is " land of the long white face " ...
'roa' means long
So that would mean that aotea square translates to 'land of the white face' square...
Ok that is a bit racist if you don't mind me saying
... if you choose to see it that way , fine ... alternatively ( as I intended it ) it's a parody of what a miserable bunch of whingey whiners we've become ....
So much irony in this comment the Australians want to mine it.
Can't argue with that Gummy, good to see you used the term "we've"that means you included...but it's your choice to come into interest.co,as it has become a gathering point for 'whingey whiners..."
I'm thinking that it was Billy T James who originally used the expression " land of the long white face " .... he'd be a riot today , in the current era of sensitivities & political correctness .... a shrinking violet he was not ...
Japan can keep on going to maintain low interest rates as long as they have US treasuries and dollars to sell.
Does the US jobless rate report tell the full story for an aging population? What about retirees, including involuntarily? https://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/jobs-report/no-great-resignation…
The Kremlin has dismissed reports of an exodus of Russian men of fighting age following Putin’s mobilisation announcement as “exaggerated”. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, also declined to deny Russian media reports that some anti-mobilisation protesters detained on Wednesday night had been given draft papers, saying: “This is not against the law.”
Sounds like a re-run of American young men heading to Canada when they were drafted to fight in Vietnam.
Many similarities to both wars. But only one was fought by 'our side' so that's what we get in our media.
Of course, that wasn't the only avenue available:
Clinton had agreed to join the R.O.T.C. as a way of avoiding being drafted into service during the Vietnam War and later reneged on that promise when his draft-lottery number ensured that he would not be selected.
At the height of the Vietnam War, Bush was 12 days away from losing his student deferment from the draft at a time when Americans were dying in combat at the rate of 350 a week. The unit Bush wanted to join offered him the chance to fulfill his military commitment at a base in Texas. It was seen as an escape route from Vietnam by many men his age, and usually had a long waiting list.
Russia are doing a speed run - they've already suffered similar casualties in 7 months to what America suffered in Vietnam over a decade or so. This is despite the US population at the time being larger than the current Russian population, with younger demographics.
I wonder if we'll see a similar scale of protests against this war as America saw against Vietnam?
Interesting article "The US and UK should be classed as poor countries with a few very rich people".
NZ seems to be heading the same way under this Government and National/ACT plan to speed up the process if they get in. Neo-liberalism is past its use by date and "trickle down" is a myth. TOP is starting to look like the only option.
US society has always seemed to be uncannily like that of developing countries I've lived in. Similar lack of provision for or protection of its people, thanks to regulatory capture and political corruption. Incredibly exploitative societies.
https://www.opindia.com/2021/01/meet-arwa-mahdawi-the-guardian-columnis…
You need to up your game Audaxes.
The article isn't overly wrong, though. Living in the US these days is particularly exhausting, and the US needs to up its game (but won't).
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/08/26/fundraiser-for-kiwi-facing-1m-in-med…
See link below - the base study is from The Economist who commission the research annually. Highly credible - nothing to do with who reports on the results.
Oops, my bad. It was a report linked in the article that used the Democracy index.
Ah, come on. He can't help it, it's a knee jerk reaction.
The US is #21 on the list. Not that bad. New Zealand is #13 equal with Belgium. We are all pretty close to the star players and usual winners of Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, Australia and Finland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index
Switzerland No1, yet I have left Switzerland to live in NZ. TBH, at the time, it was a decision based on love more than lifestyle. I've been back there for 5 weeks in July but after so many years living in NZ, I'm happy here and I wouldn't go back to live in Switzerland. Why… Switzerland is wonderful, no question but it's a bit too serious for me, I like the more fun, easy going side of NZ, even if it means I get frustrated by the lack of reliability, speed and precision at work here.
you missed out the government,.sorry us taxpayers making you very rich?
? You wanna elaborate on this ?
Really..you want to re-hash your emergency accommodation winfalls again?
@Baywatch .....our Swiss friend Yvil likes NZ, because he wouldn't get away with the "financial shenanigans" that this current and previous NZ governments have allowed here, in Switzerland.
I bet you dollars to donuts he wouldn't like a capital gains tax, if it was introduced here - but funnily enough now he would, as property prices decrease, he could claim against capital losses....aye those canny Swiss :)
You're sure true to your moniker Crazy Horse.
I have said before that I would be happy for a proper CGT on ALL houses to be introduced in NZ, but I guess you know better what I think and what I want
Hey mate you have reprimanded others for ad hominem insults. That's no way to make your point. Maybe just stop yourself
I didn't think I insulted anyone with my comment, but if I did, I apologize
I stand corrected Yvil .....glad to hear you support a CGT for ALL residential properties (while I know there are many out there who don't !)
I have now really come to the conclusion that short sighted, personal greed (with property) is rampant in this country and you and I know this would of never got to this stage in Switzerland. At least their authorities would of thought things through and not taken advice from parties like REINZ, trading banks and all their hangers on.
Having been to Switzerland a few times, up until 2017 I, like you thought everything was always on time and never broke down - well, tell that to the Zermatt Stationmaster when our 8.35am train from there to Brig was cancelled, due to a mechanical fault. Had to rearrange 4 separate train trips on that day, to get us to Avignon that evening - was a long day ! but the people at the ticket counter were fantastic :)
Glad you enjoyed Zermatt, I hope it was over winter time.
The gondola to the "Kleine Matterhorn" is amazing, as is skiing at 3'800m altitude
That gondola was awesome ! ....and the view ! ...those mountains are firmly entrenched in my mind .... you can even see Italia ! :)
We were there in September and yes, they were still skiing - watched a few of them from the cafe and I even walked out onto the ski field, as I used to ski years ago and loved it ! ......knee buggered now...
Sure Baywatch, what's the problem with me providing emergency accomodation to people who would otherwise be on the street?
I wonder how much is in a secret swiss bank acct lol?
Switzerland has winter sports that are about 1000x better than here though.
Oh yes! Les Portes du Soleil, 12 ski stations connected over the mountains across Switzerland and France, over 100 lifts and 600km of skiable piste! Also Zermatt, Verbier etc… I do indeed miss this!
Me too. Spent a good chunk of every winter out that way.
Not so great so great for beaches & surfing...horses for courses I guess.
Beaches aren't a problem there's beautiful lakes and the Mediterranean isn't that far away either.
Can snowboard on the glaciers even during the summer. Much longer rides than surfing.
vman cannot see anything good in anything that's not his
Crikey,that's a long bow to draw,I merely suggested each to his own,personally I prefer ocean beaches to lakes and i don't like the cold.Must be my Mediterranean heritage :-)
Spent a long time surfing and skiing. Snow sports don’t even come close to the satisfaction gained in the water.
I would add to this thread that the quality of golf in NZ available to ordinary people is exceptional.
Is "satisfaction gained in the water" a euphemism for "peeing in your wetsuit"?
Ha your name says it all 🤙
Surfing and snowboarding closely related but agree with the satisfaction riding a wave. Just need a tow rope in the water to eliminate the paddle back out.
Different index to the Democracy index (the subject of the initially linked article). Also a very good one though - but measuring a different thing. The HDI in a UN commissioned index.
The Economist index is an excellent study. Spot on assessment that the US is now a 'Flawed democracy'. NZ ranks No 2 in the world - we should all be very thankful for that;
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2022/02/09/a-new-low-for-global-democracy
No country/Govt tells the whole truth about unemployment. Australia's stats methodology is closely aligned with NZ's, both compare within OECD.
Question - is current methodology much different to the early mid 90s?
does an unemployment rate of 3.5% today potentially equate to say 5% 20-30 years ago???
I seem to remember that the Govt Stats definition of "employed" was changed a few years ago (under National?) to include people working more than 1 hour/wk.
the more significant change has been Labour moving almost 100,000 people on to long term benefits --where they are no longer required to seek work -- and therefore no longer classed as unemployed --- which in reality has created both welfare dependency, seem a massive increase in our social welfare costs but put huge pressure on the labour market - leading to LABOUR seeking a massive increase in low skilled migrant workers -- not the doctors, nurses, surgeons that we actually need! Just as we start to see the housing and rental markets easing -- boom in will come another 70,000 people this year all needing accommodation and healthcare services -- when our hip replacement waiting list is 15 months currently -- if you are lucky enough to get on it!
What are these "long term benefits" you're talking about? I see 170,000 people are on "Job Seeker Support" at the moment, which must be reapplied for after one year, but I can't find the "long term benefit" on the Work and Income website.
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/jobseeker-suppo…
It's not true, and that Job Seeker Support includes all the people who are mentally or physically unable to work. My daughter has a chronic health condition and has to go on it periodically when it flares up.
My wife just arrived home - went shopping for some summer gear. Her favourite store was closed with a sign up that they couldn't open due to lack of staff (Riccarton ChCh). She's online now ordering from Amazon.
NZ - land of millionaires who have trouble getting someone to serve them dinner.
Stats NZ changed a couple of key metrics to "align with other OECD countries" - never mind the truth, it's all about political spin.
Labour were elected with NZ First in 2017 -> promise to reduce immigration -> Stats NZ revised it's method ~2 months after and magically the numbers were halved...
For unemployment, it's not 100% - employed (which is 1 hour per week). Its:
All people in the working-age population who, during the reference week, were without a paid job, available for work, and had either actively sought work in the past four weeks ending with the reference week, or had a new job to start within the next four weeks.
So you're only unemployed if you've actively sought a job or are about to start a job. I couldn't find a definition of "actively sought" within the LMS dictionary -> does it mean simply browsed adverts, or made applications?
It took a lot longer than 2 months to design, build, test and implement a new immigration methodology. Source: I used to work there. The change was to move from intent (what people wrote on entry cards) to what people actually did i.e. they are still in the country after x months. This means less certain figures in the short term but very accurate figures in the longer term.
If it was a political move as you say (hint: it wasn't) then the work was started when National were in power. Sorry to spoil your narrative.
And was the order for change internally driven, or externally motivated? Since you worked there..
Stats NZ of that time were not exactly a shining light of competency (the census debacle comes rapidly to mind).
And the 12/16 model has looked suspiciously over-fit for the last year... be interesting to see what the long term adjustments are.
But I'm happy with the push back! (I was very cranky with NZ First for appearing to reneg on their election promise -> though I now know there were reasons not stated very well why at the time -> and that colours my thinking regarding that particular statistic).
The change was driven by the desire to produce more accurate population statistics. These are normally done via Census (adjusted by the post-enumeration survey) plus net immigration plus births minus deaths.
The Yen thing is on me lads, sorry. I finally got a car yesterday and naturally the BOJ intervenes in the exchange rate for the first time since 1998. To quote the commentary from the Lap of the Gods: 'All you can do is laugh'.
Those who took out million dollar mortgages at the behest of the moron squad are going to be sweating bricks as the mortgage rates head to seven and beyond...
That lousy terrace shitbox in the bad neighbourhood that you're trapped in for eternity will be costing well north of $1000 a week in interest repayment "dead money".
Watch us paper over the fact that no one in NZ can afford to take time off to look after kids so have fewer and fewer or stop altogether by importing another 300,000 people, and then argue about whether we should build the infrastructure to support the last 500,000 we added in twenty years time, and still end up building nothing.
Won’t be many who bought terrace houses with one million dollar mortgages, Brock.
650-850k will be common
850k is not far off!
They were unloading terrace garbage in the north west for 1.3+ at the peak.
Be quick!
They're still trying this on at Hobsonville Pt. Certain agents seem to think their listings are $100K more than the market is currently selling those units for.
I'm keen on the area but the prices are still well above the 2020 surge and they were borderline absurd. There's a lot of new supply both there and at Scott Point which is finished, has all the certs but sitting unsold. There's four in one street that I know of.
Keep telling my partner we need to sit back and let the market bring our next house to us. Now is not the time to go chasing after it.
Where is Printer8 these days?
... and 7jai and Luke83 and CWBW and the rest of them.
Back to hiding in the woodwork with the rest of the 🪳
I wonder how many of the "Bank of Mum and Dad", who stumped up a deposit to get them into a house, are now making monthly mortgage repayments as well?
The Bank of England joined the queue unanimously raising their rate by +50 bps too, to 2.25%.
It was far from unanimous. 3 of 9 BoE officials voted for a 75bps rise. One wanted 25bps.
And just for fun, and perhaps more than a dash of hypocrisy:
Biden received five student draft deferments and a medical exemption. Born in November 1942, Biden came of age amid the Vietnam War. But unlike millions of men of his generation, he never served in the military.
Another one with bone spurs eh
Imagine. Instead of the massive stimulus, we just took the economic hit during the pandemic, maybe with more relaxed lockdown rules.
It would be interesting to compare where we would be now.
I don't have a view, though I'd like to see someone cruch the numbers.
I'm taking global too. Ie all central banks.
Well I have a view, we'd be far, far, far better off, if took a much more measured approach with the Covid responses.
A view,rather than anything measureable...
Personally I am just pleased that we avoided the mass death seen in other first world constituencies by exposing our vulnerable population to the vagaries of chance when the more deadly strains of covid were circulating throughout 2020 and much of 2021. Awaiting vaccines was the prudent approach as we have a large at risk population in NZ. Especially within our poorer communities and the elderly.
The obese and the elderly.
FTFY
I stand corrected. The information I was given did not mention the risk of death was limited to those overweight and old. I know better now. My thanks to you.
Yeah. If think about it, it's a bit silly to imagine that a virus can read your bank statement.
I made another mistake replying to you. E kore e taea e koe te whakaaro ki te mahunga.
Risus abundat in ore stultorum.
Maori is one of 3 official languages of NZ,unlike Latin.
There are only 2 official languages in New Zealand, English is not one of them either.
I stand corrected :-)
1 : Maori , for news bulletins & Radio NZ ... and ...
2 : Sign Language , for when we're in the car , driving .
English is the de-facto language of New Zealand, but it's not "official".
But God Save The King is one of our two official national anthems, so I'm really looking forward to us singing that more often.
Latin is an interesting language to learn, being the root of so many European languages now spoken almost across the whole planet.
Our children would be far better off learning some Latin over learning how to say Creamy Milk with an accent.
It wasn't that long ago we were told we were better off learning Mandarin than some ancient european language.
Who was the diddle brain that was telling that?
Most people want to travel and live overseas in nice parts of the world. Mainland China is not one of those places.
I think it was John Key...but then he needed to communicate with the Chow brothers in their strip clubs before they became legit and have formed a property development with John & Max.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/461523/sir-john-key-to-partner-with…
The biggest diddle brain of them all.
He aha te mahi a te tangata ki te whakahee i te tangata kaikiri
What is the point of saying something that others cannot read or understand. Much like Simon Dallow being a git.
Are you also calling Brock a 'git' for using Latin?
That's cool. Been called worse, but should be obvious that it was a once-off to make the same point.
Totally valid. Nobody cares about what's being written in obscure dead languages.
I definately wasn't calling you that name Brock,I have the utmost respect for anyone that speaks or learns any additional languages,merely making a point.
... probably not just for using Latin ...
I do feel sorry for Simon Dallow ... he had Ali Mau ... and she got away from him : dude , I feel your pain ...
Agreed - I just tune out
And heaven forbid that one would learn and speak an unapproved language ! Especially when so few so called Kiwis can't speak their own languages properly and top language scores in New Zealand, sorry Aotearoan, schools are recorded by immigrants who have actually had to learn correct grammar such as differentiation between singular and plural cases and the use of adverbs. Remember them ? Like totally awesome dude ! Such is progress.
I think a better point is that it would be better to learn any second language to expand the mind,rather than denigrating someone's choice to learn anything but the classics.I didn't see anyone getting triggered by folk using sign language at any political stand ups,but say kia ora and all the Newstalk ZBoomer listeners get triggered.
Ko te mea tuatahi e marama ana i korero koe i te ra katoa.
I wish there was a way to filter out some commenters on this forum.
We waited far longer for vaccines than we should have.
You wanted AstraZenica? That's what was available, and it caused nothing but uncertainty and upheaval when Australia tried to use it.
I'm happy we waited for Pfizer.
Would have had zero impact on the US inflation which is the main driver of our interest rates.
For now. If our dollar keeps doing diving impressions then protecting ourselves against imported inflation will become an issue. But recent history shows that there is little appetite to protect living standards as the dollar drops.
kiwimm, so you think US inflation has nothing to do with the billions of printed money and lower interest rates as a response to Covid? I disagree
Interesting the quoted comments from Victor Orban the “democratically elected” leader of Hungary with regard to the sanctions imposed on Russia causing too much pain to Europe and should be ended. He is both right and wrong. Yes it is very painful but most Europeans currently seem to prefer to suffer rather than run the risk of the Russian military knocking on their door to dragoon their sons into the military machine of said Russia. Probably to serve as a military policeman in their own country.
You are confusing what most European LEADERS (mostly unelected) currently seem to prefer FOR THEIR PEOPLE to suffer, which is evident by (currently) small protests vastly underreported in NZ and globally. Upcoming winter may yet change all that.
No, it is what most European leaders and their supportive media are saying
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/129960960/50000-people-may-need-to-lose-…
Someone tell me why here in NZ unelected leaders demand that other's should suffer hardship and pain.
'(Update: An earlier version of this article said in error the New Zealand's current account deficit was -2.7% of GDP. In fact it is -7.7% of GDP.)'
..mortgage interest rates will be the next number requiring a revision into the 7% range
From our " Only in America " file , comes news overnight that police have arrested the Chief Operations Officer of leading vegan food producer " Beyond Meat " , one Douglas Ramsey ...
... for biting a man on the nose .... I guess that a red blooded American male can only go without real meat for just so long ... then ya snap ...
Australian Central Bank has had huge losses.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australias-central-bank-has-…
... correct me if I'm wrong : but hasn't our own Adrian Orr cost us $NZ 9 billion in forex losses ... a loss of similar magnitude to Australia's , given their comparatively larger size ...
I think our losses are being used to help shore up their losses.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.