Thursday’s Chorus: More nudges, fudges & kluges

The latest polls have Labour and Hipkins firmly in the underdog position, but neither he nor National’s Luxon are using the campaign to address the elephants in the room of our political economy. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā

TL;DR: Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins laid out their visions for economic and business growth this week, but failed again to address the elephants in the room of our political economy:

• fast population growth without enough infrastructure investment;

• our tax system’s overwhelming incentives for savers to invest in residential land rather than businesses; and,

• the unaccounted-for and massive climate, health and economic liabilities lurking in the Crown’s financial future without changes in housing, tax and climate policy.

Paying subscribers can hear more in the podcast above.

Quotes of the day