TLDR: This week on the weekly ‘hoon’1 webinar for paying subscribers on Friday at 5pm for an hour, myself and co-host Peter Bale, along with economist Rodney Jones and University of Canterbury-based and Ukrainian-born political communications scientist Natalia Chaban discussed the news of the week in geo-politics, the global economy and Aotearoa’s political economy, including:
the anti-Labour backlash in local elections last weekend that saw older pro-car and anti-densification candidates win most of the mayoralties (except Wellington) … see my analysis earlier in the week here;
the Government’s proposal for a world-first methane and nitrous oxide levy on farmers to slash climate emissions, which beef and sheep farmers said would gut their sector because the scheme would not allow offsets from mass tree planting on farms and the levy would be set by the Government, rather than farmers (see my analysis here from Wednesday);
the Government’s announcement of the reopening of the Skilled Migrant and Parent residency visa programmes, along with the removal of the decades-long residency planning range (see my analysis here out today);
the Bank of England’s desperate attempts to avert a financial crisis in Britain after a disastrous mini Budget by new PM Liz Truss and new Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng proposed £45b of unfunded tax cuts for the rich (we talked about this with Rodney Jones last night before this morning’s news that Liz Truss had sacked Kwarteng and done a U-turn on a planned corporate tax cut);
hotter-than-expected inflation figures in the United States that is driving up expectations for US interest rates, driving up the US dollar to record highs and threatening financial market mayhem (we talked about this with Rodney Jones);
this weekend’s Communist Party Congress is set to confirm President Xi Jinping for a third term and unveil a new lineup of China’s leaders (we talked about this with long-time analyst of China’s politics and economy Rodney Jones); and,
Vladimir Putin lashed back at Ukraine with dozens of missile strikes on civilian targets in cities across the country after his signature bridge to Crimea was blown up (we talked with Natalia Chaban about how the strikes only hardened Ukraine and West’s resolve to push Russia out of Ukraine completely).
My longer deep-dive listening for the weekend
This weekly podcast from New York-based British political and economic historian Adam Tooze on Europe’s energy crisis is an eye-opener in explaining just how important Germany’s reliance on Russian gas was and how broken it is now.
This is a weekly podcast from Irish economist David McWilliams is one I try to listen to. He is a hoot and this week’s piece on how central bankers want more unemployment is a cracker. It explores the ultimate class war behind inflation targeting.
This week’s episode of The Spinoff’s ‘Gone By Lunchtime’ is an excellent and comprehensive debriefing of last week’s local council election results.
Useful longer reads elsewhere
There’s so much news around this week, but this shouldn’t be ignored. The US is really, really cracking down on US high tech exports or sharing with China.
Paul Krugman makes some great points about this week’s hot US inflation number. It’s mostly about rents, and the CPI numbers that looked hot are lagging indicators of rents that are now falling.
This is another big story among many this week I haven’t had a chance to tackle properly.
This is a sweeping and fascinating piece from Ben Hunt.
Scoops of the week elsewhere
Charts of the week
Cartoons of the week
The Craic
I’m a big fan of Gillian Tett from the FT.
Profundities and feel-goods
Ka kite ano
Bernard
Have a great weekend.
‘Hoon’ is the plural for Kākā, ie it’s not a flock of Kākā, but a ‘hoon’ of Kākā.
The week that was to Oct 15