A long-standing mate stopped me in the street last week. He asked me if I was livid about property rights. Read more

The government’s Budgets in 2020 and 2021 arguably breached the Public Finance Act 1989. This is a serious concern. Read more

Parliament, not government, passes legislation. Legislation is law. Read more

Who thinks that the current Labour government should seek to emulate the “great traditions” of the 1935 Labour government? At least one person thinks it should, and his opinion counts. Read more

In his Budget speech last year, Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, outlined the government’s policy aspirations. He saw Labour as being able to take decisions that “will define the lives and livelihoods of many people for years to come”. Read more

The recent passing of Sir Michael Cullen, the former Minister of Finance, has been widely covered. The Super Fund, KiwiSaver and “Working for Families” are among Sir Michael’s lasting contributions to New Zealand - whether we like them or not. Read more

We seem to be living in a time of shameless posturing about caring for ‘our’ wellbeing by the government, and too many government agencies to list. The posturing reminds me of the saying - in the context of runs on a bank - that if a bank has to proclaim its virtue, it has already lost it. Read more

What happens to even the best juggler when ball after ball is added to his load? Sooner or later, collapse is inevitable. Read more

In my book, governments that do not publish a competent cost-benefit assessment justifying their spending and regulatory proposals do not take community wellbeing seriously.(Only if the wellbeing benefits plausibly exceed the costs is the policy likely to benefit the public.) The absence of such an assessment is now common. It suggests that a measure is being imposed on the public for partisan or elitist, paternalistic reasons. Read more

A news item this week reported the Minister of Health was “enormously frustrated”. We can think of quite a few in the private sector who know that feeling. Read more