The hoon around the week to July 30

TLDR: This week, National called for an independent review of the Reserve Bank’s unleashing of a ‘tidal wave of cash’ during Covid after a former Governor joined a chorus of critics, which Finance Minister Grant Robertson dismissed as ‘hindsight economics’.

Reporters had a narrow window to ask Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis about their call for a review of the RBNZ’s Covid response, before the focus shifted to the tourist destinations of Te Puke and Hawaii. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

Also in the news in global geo-politics and our political economy:

• China warned the United States it was ‘playing with fire’ by planning to send House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan;

• Russia halved its gas supplies to Europe, forcing it to plan voluntary consumption cuts of 15% that economists see as recessionary;

• the US economy entered a technical recession, which stock investors celebrated because they think it means the US Federal Reserve won’t have to hike interest rates quite so much; and,

• Democratic Senator Joe Manchin backflipped on his opposition to higher taxes on US companies and hedge fund managers to pay for climate emissions reduction measures.

In this week’s ‘hoon’ webinar for paid subscribers to The Kaka at 5pm yesterday, I discussed these and other events with co-host Peter Bale and special guest Josie Pagani. The audio of the hour-long webinar is in the podcast above.

Elsewhere in the hoon above, we talked about Russia’s decision to end the International part of the International Space Station and the death of James Lovelock. Here’s Peter’s Weekly World Bulletin email newsletter for more background.

The highlights on The Kaka this week

In Monday’s Chorus, I made the case for profitable and dividend-paying companies to repay the remaining $19b of their Covid wage subsidies and for the beneficiaries of over $500b of land appreciation paying a Covid windfall tax.

In Tuesday’s Chorus, I covered former Governor Graeme Wheeler’s criticism of the Reserve Bank, including a pointer back to my call last week for a full independent review of its operation of monetary policy.

In Wednesday’s Chorus, I looked at National’s call for a review and why it had put Governor Adrian Orr’s reappointment for a second five-year term from the end of next March in doubt.

In Thursday’s Chorus, I dived into the positive reaction to the Fed’s second consecutive 75 basis point hike this week and why global investors and traders are now betting on a soft landing for the US economy.

In Friday’s Chorus, I covered the US economy’s surprise fall into a technical recession in the June quarter, and what that might mean for interest rates and house prices here in Aotearoa-NZ.

This is my weekly summary and sampler of the big news of the week we’ve covered on The Kākā for both free and paid subscribers. The public interest journalism I do daily on housing unaffordability, climate change inaction and poverty reduction is possible with the support of paid subscribers. Join our community by subscribing in full.

A reminder to free subscribers reading here that we have a special $30 a year deal for under 30s and anyone on a benefit. We also have a new special $65 a year deal for over 65s who are renting and reliant on NZ Superannuation. Any students, teachers and staff who signs up to the free tier with a .school.nz or .ac.nz email address will also be comped up to the full paid tier for free.