Sitemap - 2024 - The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix for Tues, Dec 24

Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Monday, December 23

Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024

Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21

Austerity thumps GDP most since 1991

The Hoon around the year to December 20, 2024

MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day

Blaming Treasury & Labour, Willis looks for even more Austerity

Willis' austerity strategy just isn't working

When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP

Coalition forced to back down on tolling Manawatu Gorge replacement

Govt cancels Tauranga housing expansion

The Hoon around the week to December 13

Join us at 5pm for The Hoon

Ferries delayed again, then handed to Peters, who hits out at Seymour

When haste makes waste & is risky, dangerous & mean

Govt eyes 'PPP-lite' for health centres

Simeon Brown alienates another National electorate

My Saturday Soliloquy for Dec 7

TKP 26/50 solutions: A new home without a power bill

An experiment and our Christmas offer to subscribe to The Kākā

The Hoon around the week to December 6

A housing market with bits tacked on doesn’t need many (if any) pure scientists

'The cuts will continue until the economy improves'

Govt says borrowing to build now last resort

Labour leaning back towards Capital Gains Tax

'Why we've cut the OCR so much since August'

The Hoon around the week to November 29

RBNZ loosening as the Govt is tightening

Bishop cautious on guaranteeing social housing bonds

'Guarantee us and we'll build thousands of social homes'

PM 'constructively dissatisfied' with himself

The Hoon around the week to November 22

Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

'These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense'

Economists call on PM to suspend budget cuts for the sake of the economy

27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year

Why Govt & NZ Inc should boycott & regulate Facebook

Shipley warns Seymour’s bill is ‘inviting civil war’

Adding up the climate cost

Auckland chafing at Bishop’s housing intensification orders

The Hoon around the week to November 15

Trump's return to White House brings the climate's 'find out' phase closer

An opportunity for a pro-growth tax switch

Victims of abuse want Una Jagose to go

The 30/30 fiscal rule that rules us all

Dawn Chorus for Monday, November 11

Dawn Chorus for weekend of Nov 9/10

The Hoon around the week to November 8

What Donald Trump's second Presidency means for us financially

How our housing market distorts education too

National risks being eaten alive by NZ First & ACT

Budget cuts penny wise & pound foolish

The Hoon around the week to November 1

'Get ready for more landlord buying'

Toxic positivity and toxicity in the kitchen

A deliberate and unnecessary crash landing

Will banks & insurers back self-consented homes?

'Happy to watch your grandkids grow up in Australia via WhatsApp?'

After years of cover ups and hacks, the truth on gas is out

Brown orders motorway building to start before business case done

The Hoon around the week to October 25

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

Health NZ eyed charging for ED visits

What's driving the exodus of workers to Australia

DTIs set to restrain housing-debt-led economic rebound

Note to subscribers: No Hoon today.

Funds cut for social housing with 3 days notice

Fast-tracking a much bigger prison

Bishop goes for growth, but leaves finance hand brake on

Deep-dive: What does an ageing population mean for Aotearoa?

Extreme weather events coming for us all

The Hoon around the week to October 4

Govt to underwrite new private house-building

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

Luxon escapes having to pay $70,000 in ‘brightline’ capital gains taxes

‘I don't know what the point of the questioning is.’

One in four march against Govt in Dunedin

The Hoon around the week to Sept 27

Could a doubling of Co2 trigger 8° of warming?

Treasury warns of unprecedented cuts in real spending per capita to achieve surplus

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

An attack 'unbecoming of a leader'

ANZ CEO says 'it's time' for a Capital Gains Tax

ACCC accuses Woolworths of misleading pricing

Fixing child poverty would cost <1% of GDP

Kaka project: What could a revamped Entrust do with/for/to Vector?

Deadly floods and streams of non-solutions

Three years of recession deeper than GFC

The Hoon around the week to Sept 20

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

NZ’s lack of a capital gains tax means the richest here pay vastly less than elsewhere

Too much haste & waste in Simeon Brown's need for speed

Tolling revolt brewing in National heartland

Driving blind at higher speeds

Govt may kick elderly out of hospitals

48 seconds on a plan that would reverberate for a million years

Using blunt instruments and magical thinking to ignore evidence of harm

The Hoon around the week to Sept 13

Treasury warned Govt lower debt limits meant less ‘productivity-enhancing investment’

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

How Substack works to take (some) craziness out of America's elections

ACC wants to administer inflation at more than double the RBNZ’s target rate

An average 219 NZers migrated each day in July

Question Two of The Kākā Project of 2026 for 2050 (TKP 26/50)

The 'Infra Boys' Highway to Budget Hell

Hipkins challenges long-held Labour view Government must stay below 30% of GDP

Dead even tie for hottest August ever

The Hoon around the week to Sept 7

The professionals actually think and act like our Government has no fiscal crisis at all

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

Inflation alive and kicking in our land of the long white monopolies

No new funding for cycling & walking

Just one Wellington home being consented for every 10 in Auckland

Ditch the climate double speak and get real

The Hoon around the week to August 30

This Govt's infrastructure strategy depends on capital gains taxes & new road taxes

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

What austerity actually means and how it pays for $10 billion of tax cuts for the richest 40%

Disabled now have to commit crime, be insane or in crisis to access residential care

Land tax among Labour’s wealth tax options

Starting The Kākā Project of 2026 for 2050 (TKP 26/50)

Labour revisiting 30/30 fiscal rules. Good.

How covenants trumped density in court

Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for August 24

Weirdly hot oceans that are losing their breath, and solar panels in the wrong place

The Hoon around the week to August 23

'Those spending cuts will go into the bone'

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live at 5pm

PM lectures councils he needs help from

An electricity crisis after a lost decade

The ugliness inside our churn and burn economy

Cutting funds now, but increasing costs later

Introducing The Kākā Project of 2026 for 2050 (TKP 26/50)

Weekly Climate Wrap: Will the planet run AMOC?

PM looks for infrastructure tips in Australia

The Hoon around the week to August 16

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

The longer recession the RBNZ and the Govt decided we had to have

House buyers ready to pounce on OCR cut

How not to win friends and tax people

Deficits are not the constraint we think they are

Bernard’s Sunday Soliloquy for the week to August 11

Weekly Climate Wrap: Olympians broil as European temps continue to soar

The Hoon around the week to August 10

Finally, Govt turns to borrowing to try to solve our infrastructure deficit

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Willis screws down fiscal lid even tighter

How Aotearoa's political economy works

Inside NZ's Housing Theory of Everything

At least a decade to achieve affordability under Labour

Bernard’s Sunday Soliloquy for the week to August 4

The Hoon around the week to August 2

Weekly Climate Wrap: The methane mess

The week the mask came off an Austerity Government, revealing front-line job cuts

Join us for the Hoon on YouTube Live

Health NZ directors accuse PM of disinformation

Govt warned of mounting climate liability

The day our health system crumbled

When ‘going for housing growth’ means stopping building

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 29

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 29

Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 27

Weekly Climate Wrap: The unravelling of the offsets

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 26

The Hoon around the week to July 26

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 26

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Will debt reduction trump abuse in care redress?

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 25

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 25

'Let's build a motorway costing $100 million per km, before emissions costs'

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 24

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 24

Are we fine with 47.9% home-ownership by 2048?

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

Tax cuts for tobacco companies & landlords

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

The Hoon around the week to July 19

We're back again! Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

How and why Treasury fuels inter-generational wealth transfer

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 18

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 18

Coalition’s climate plan failing to meet both Zero Carbon and Paris targets

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 17

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 17

Luxon tells FT NZ ‘very open’ to AUKUS II

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 16

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 16

We grew NZ Inc by exploiting migrant workers

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 15

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 15

The Kākā’s diary for the week to July 23 and beyond

Govt flounders while ocean temps soar

Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 13

Govt flounders while ocean temps soar

Why restarting drilling is the costliest move

The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 12

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 12

The Hoon around the week to July 12

We're back! Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Three pages and five bullet points is not a strategy

Bernard's Pick 'n' Mix for Thursday, July 11

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Thursday, July 11

An ‘economic’ decision without a full financial analysis

Bernard's Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 10

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Wednesday, July 10

Is an inheritance tax better than a CGT?

Bernard's Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 9

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 9

The same old gap in ‘Going for Housing Growth’

Bernard's Pick 'n' Mix for Monday July 9

The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 8

The Kākā’s diary for the week to July 15 and beyond

Our State of The Kākā Nation 2024

Bernard’s mid-winter pick ‘n’ mix for Thursday, June 27

Growing affordability concerns over power and housing

Employee confidence collapses past covid lows after Budget

Coalition goes for cheap ferry option assuming no population growth

Per-capita GDP recession now worse than GFC, and still falling

Disabled pay cut to $2/hour to pay for tax cuts handing 64% of cash to richest 40%

Consumer confidence collapses after Budget, in contrast with rest of world

Services sector survey indicates deeper and longer recession

Bishop talks up value-capture & congestion charging

The Hoon around the week to June 14

Climate policy axed in broad daylight, while taxpayer liabilities grow in the dark

Seymour sees more joy in faster driving, not accidents, road damage or emissions

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Our churn and burn economy with houses tacked on

Farmers get free pass on climate AND get subsidies

Jones: 'NZ has to mine its way to the future'

Bernard’s Saturday soliloquy and weekend Pick ‘n’ Mix for June 8/9

The Hoon around the week to June 7

Did we boil the oceans by cutting pollution?

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Watering down emissions rules may cost $680 million

One person regulating a killer of 3,300 people

Cancer charities excoriate Government

Tiwai Point stays open, delaying fair transition

Falling monkeys and 'kitty cat' storms

The Hoon around the week to June 1

Willis borrows an extra $12b to pay for $14.7b of tax cuts

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

A 'cost of living relief' Budget for some, but not others

RBNZ locks in guardrails to limit the next housing boom to income growth

When ‘back on track’ meant going into reverse

The Kaka’s diary for the week to June 3 and beyond

A ute-tax-killing Government wants ute buyers to pay more fringe benefits tax

How much climate reality can the global financial system take without collapsing?

‘On a Fast-track to environmental disaster’

The Hoon around the week to May 24

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Choosing landlords and the homeless over first home buyers

House-builders in limbo for longer while Govt focuses on paying for tax cuts

Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix 6 @ 6:06am on Sunday, May 19

The Hoon around the week to May 17

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

The damage being caused by broken Council-Govt financial relations

A generation is leaving at a rate of one A320-load per day

The climate battleground heats up

Aotearoa Inc stuck in suspended animation

The Kaka’s diary for the week to May 19 and beyond

Why we almost blacked out and how to fix it

The Hoon around the week to May 10

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Bernard’ s Dawn Chorus & Pick ‘n’ Mix for Thursday May 9

Bernard’ s Dawn Chorus & Pick ‘n’ Mix for Wednesday May 8

A nod and a wink that will unnecessarily cost Aucklanders tens of millions per year

Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, May 7

Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, May 6

The Kaka’s diary for the week to May 12 and beyond

Bernard’s dawn chorus for Saturday, May 4 and pick ‘n’ mix for the weekend

Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Friday, May 3

The Hoon around the week to May 3

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Agribusiness following oil and gas playbook

Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Thursday, May 2

Infrastructure & home building slumping on Govt funding freeze

Business confidence sliding into winter of discontent

Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, April 30

Worst poll result for a new Government in MMP history

Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, April 29

Coalition's dirge of austerity and uncertainty is driving the economy into a deeper recession

'Lacks attention to detail and is creating double-standards.'

Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links for Wednesday, April 24

Both Parliamentary watchdogs hammer Fast-track bill

Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links at 6:36am on Tuesday, April 23

Bernard's six-stack of substacks for Monday, April 22

An announcement about an announcement

Bernard’s pick ‘n’ mix of the news links at 7:16am on Monday, April 22

The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 29 and beyond

'This bill is dangerous for the environment and our democracy'

The Hoon around the week to April 19

The ‘Humpty Dumpty’ end result of dismantling our environmental protections

Study sees climate change baking in 19% lower global income by 2050

Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Should the RBNZ be looking through climate inflation?

Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links

Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am

Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm

Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?

Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal

Auckland faces 25% water inflation shock

The Hoon around the week to April 12

Antarctic heat spike shocks climate scientists

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Like sand through an hourglass* - trust leaks away

Standby for bad things

Bernard's Top 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10 am on Thursday, April 11

When 'going for growth' actually means saying no to new social homes

Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:06 pm on Wednesday, April 10

Bernard's Top 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10 am on Wednesday, April 10

Bishop more popular than Luxon in Curia poll

Back to the future, with a 2032 deadline

The hunt is on for an asterix for farm emissions

The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 15 and beyond

Dawn Chorus for Friday, April 5

The Hoon around the week to April 5

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New oil and gas to quadruple by 2030, threatening climate goals

Media News You Need - Theoretically

Shit happens; China calls out US on spying

Confidence in Government collapses

Cutbacks and capital freezes chilling economy in longer, deeper recession

The debt rules being used to strangle NZ

The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 8 and beyond

Failing to internalise new realities

The Hoon around the week to March 29

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Curated World-Who to believe on Moscow?

Borrowing $15b more to pay for $14.9b of tax cuts

The elephants still in Chris Bishop’s infrastructure room

Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 7:06pm

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10:10am pick ‘n’ mix for Tuesday, March 26

GDP-per-hour worked stagnant at 2012 levels

The Kaka’s diary for the week to April 2 and beyond

Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.26pm

Simeon Brown threatens councils on water reform

Bernard’s 6-stack of substacks at 6.16 pm on Friday, March 22

Paying for tax cuts by not funding insulin pumps and glucose monitors for disabled kids

The Hoon around the week to March 22

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IMF calls for capital gains and land taxes

Funds for disabled suspended to pay for tax cuts

Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19

Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19

Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18

Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18

The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond

Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16

Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15

The day Wellington up-zoned its future

The Hoon around the week to March 15

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14

No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13

Funding hole for tax cuts growing by the day

How strangling housing supply is killing our capital city

Why isn’t the funding on the same fast track?

The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 18 and beyond

The Hoon around the week to March 9

Public infrastructure and service potholes under massive population pressure

The National Development Act (1979) redux

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'Couch surf. It's better than motels & cheaper for us'

Our nation of inflation displacement

Simeon Brown’s road-taxing bait-and-switch

Luxon's housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on moment

The Hoon around the week to March 2

Migration surge reduced inflation, says Orr

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RBNZ's dovish pivot revives rate cut hopes

Bishop wants house prices to halve vs income

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 am 'pick 'n' mix' for Feb 27

The day our infrastructure deficits came home to roost

Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 am 'pick 'n' mix'

Will the RBNZ upset NZ Inc's applecart?

The Hoon around the week to Feb 23

Child poverty progress reverses to 2019 levels

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Govt's Budget 'just like a household,' says Willis

S&P slams new Govt's council finance vacuum

We’re not as fragile or as lazy as Luxon says

Is 2.8% per year population growth too much?

The Hoon around the week to Feb 16

The Dawn Chorus for Friday, February 16

Join us for the weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

Tax cuts paid for by up to 13k more kids in poverty

Mortgage rates seen high for even longer

The holes in National’s water reform pipes

Kicking down and pulling up the ladder

Looking at clouds from both sides now

The Hoon around the week to Feb 9

The Dawn Chorus for Friday, February 9

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Watching the ladder being pulled up in real time

The magical thinking is still strong in Wellington

This Government has an inflation problem too

Notice of no Hoon today

'Please manage and fund our climate retreat'

Dawn Chorus for Wednesday, January 31

Dawn Chorus for Tuesday, January 30

When a few climate sceptics skew debates and elections

The Hoon around the week to Jan 26

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Dawn Chorus for Thursday, January 25

The years of living dangerously

Dawn Chorus for Tuesday, January 23

Dawn Chorus for Monday, January 22

The Hoon around the week to Jan 20

Join us for 2024's first weekly Hoon on YouTube Live

EVs to be taxed twice as hard as petrol cars

Dawn Chorus for Wednesday, January 17

Why The Kākā is staying on Substack

Dawn Chorus for Monday, January 15

Dawn Chorus for Friday, January 12

Dawn Chorus for Thursday, January 11

Dawn Chorus for Wednesday, January 10

Dawn Chorus for Tuesday, January 9

10@10 for Monday, January 8

Dawn Chorus for Monday, January 8