The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer on news about climate change. * Robert Patman about the latest news from Trump and others on Gaza, Kashmir, Ukraine and much more. This declaration in Dunedin was discussed. *...

Briefly in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to Sunday, May 11: * PM Christopher Luxon this week allowed ACT’s policies on pay equity and the Treaty of Waitangi to make National less electable in 2026. * He also doubled down on a budget-tightening strategy built on the false premise that the Government faced spiralling interest costs. * An overseas slowdown and that unnecessary tightening h...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer on news about climate change’s role in spreading birdflu in the United States and elsewhere, research showing marine heatwaves gathering around Aotearoa-NZ and news NIWA has a...

Briefly , in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Thursday, May 7 : * Retrospective legislation rammed through Parliament last night will cost women up to $17 billion of unpaid wages over the next four years, more than paying for $14 billion of tax cuts over the same time. * The Government is looking at selling at least $1.7 billion worth of land under Kāinga Ora...

Briefly , in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Tuesday, May 6 : * Growth in our housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on of an economy is stalling and sliding back into a deep freeze as the winter months approach, despite 200 basis points of rate cuts and pledges from PM Christopher Luxon to ‘go for growth.’ (See more in feature article below) * The Government’s ever...

Briefly , in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, May 5 : * When will our PM and Foreign Minister stand up to publicly express support for our long-time and close allies Australia and Canada in opposing Donald Trump ’s talk of annexing Canada and his tariffs on allies without justification or sense? See more in today’s feature article below. * Christopher...

Briefly, here’s the six big things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Sunday, May 4: * In response to slower global growth and wider deficit forecasts, Nicola Willis signalled another $4.4 billion in spending cuts over the next four years, all to get an uncertain extra 5-10 basis points of cuts in interest rates. See more below * Over 5,50...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer on news Tony Blair suggested giving up on net zero targets, on the debate about whether a full transition to renewable energy is possible, and why planting pine forests is not...

I spoke last night with Simplicity Chief Economist and Head of Policy Shamubeel Eaqub about the Government's latest budget policy tightening, the risks for infrastructure investment and a potential dampening of GDP growth. He points out that the Government has cut capital expenditure so far in the current financial year, rather than operating expenditure, and he worries further restrictions in inf...

The key long stories short in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, April 28 are: * There’s a nationwide shortage of 500 hospital beds and 200,000 people are waiting for a first specialist appointment. * MSD has stopped work on a programme to prevent homelessness because of front-line staff shortages after budget cuts. * Police appear to have lowered their fit...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance of climate change in the Defence Force’s strategic aims.....

Long stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22: * US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. * China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. * Trump says some trading partners may have to choose the US or China. * Nicola Willis says her fiscal policy will ignore the global tariff shock. * DHL stops sending parcels worth over US$800 to t...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer on a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ACT leader David Seymour’s comments that the Reserve Bank...

Long stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16: * Simeon Brown has attacked doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even though the $353,500 average salary he cites includes overtime, and hospitals can’t recruit enough doctors, who are being offered more elsewhere. Health NZ is also sacking a fifth of its HR staff. * Public health academi...

Long stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15: * New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and house sales data out yesterday and this morning. * In the teeth of recessionary headwinds, the Government is about to cut a well-loved education programme introduced by the last National Government. * Immigration is rising again at it...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman on the week in geopolitics and climate, including Donald Trump ’s shock and (partial) backflip; and, * Health Coalition Aotearoa Chair Boyd Swinburn on the la...

Long story shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: Donald Trump just detonated a neutron bomb under the globalised economy, but this time the Fed isn’t cutting interest rates to rescue markets because Trump’s 1910-level tariffs will both slow US growth AND increase US inflation. But we may benefit through high global dairy and beef prices, European wines being tariffed more than our...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer and Elaine Monaghan on the week in geopolitics and climate, including Donald Trump’s tariff shock yesterday; and, * Labour’s Disarmament and Associate Foreign Affairs Spokesman...

Long story short: PM Christopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. Instead, Luxon’s cabinet is choosing to reduce public borrowing at a time when investors are desp...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: * Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman on the week in geopolitics and climate; * Michael Baker on the fifth anniversary of the arrival of Covid and the second anniversary of the launch of the Publi...

Mōrena. Long stories shortest: The news this morning is dominated by the crises cascading through our health system after 20 years of being starved of funding and staffing in real, per-capita terms. Auckland’s Starship hospital is now without a paediatric palliative care specialist, meaning there is none at all in Aotearoa. Hundreds marched against cuts in services in Napier. Almost a third of doc...

Long stories shortest this week in our political economy: * Standard & Poor’s judged the Government’s council finance reforms a failure. * Professional investors showed the Government they want it to borrow more, not less. * GDP bounced out of recession by more than forecast in the December quarter, but data for the just-ending March quarter suggests the recovery is stuttering. * Behind in the pol...

Mōrena. Long stories shortest: Professional investors who are paid a lot of money to be careful about lending to the New Zealand Government think it is wonderful place to put their money. Yet the Government itself is so afraid of borrowing more that it is happy to kill its own popularity by starving our hospitals, schools and houses of the investment needed to become more productive and healthy. S...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with special guest author Michael Wolff , who has just published his fourth book about Donald Trump : ‘All or Nothing’ . Here’s Peter’s writeup of the interview. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 2...

It may be a bumpy ride for the world but the era of Donald J. Trump will die with him if we can wait him out says the author of four best-sellers on the indefatigable real-estate bloviator-turned-President. Michael Wolff has spent a decade tracking Trump’s improbable rise, Icarian fall, and resurrection, fed by salacious insider stories — gossip and alarming insights. His latest book All Or Nothin...