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The biggest surprise announcement out of Labour’s conference last weekend was the proposal to establish KiwiAssure, a new state-owned insurance company. Speaking to his party’s delegates, opposition leader David Cunliffe argued KiwiAssure would inject more competition into the insurance market. Read more
In his book, The Great Degeneration, Niall Ferguson describes how the West’s six ‘killer applications’ (competition, science, property rights, medicine, consumerism, and work ethic) are on the decline. "Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Read more
Last week the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union was launched, with a purpose as challenging as its name. Claiming the term ‘union’ is a smart move strategically. Read more
It is unreasonable to ask investors to risk their capital on start-up or research and development funding without offering them a return commensurate with that risk. And yet, this is precisely how the current government framework for funding start-ups and research grants is structured. Read more
Can representative democracy survive in the 21st century? According to Leon de Winter, the Dutch novelist and intellectual, the chances are not too good. Read more
Twenty-four hours from now local election voting closes. Time is ticking to tick those boxes, lick that envelope and proudly post your papers off, thus exercising your democratic right to vote for your chosen local government representatives. Read more
Safely perched in the obscurity of Wellington, it’s with a strange combination of boredom and fascination that I’m watching the US budgetary showdown, a bid by the Republicans to force the Obama administration to dial back state healthcare spending. This is because as a former markets reporter, I know almost with a certainty that one side will blink before too long. Read more
It is a sign of maturity when children discover that Santa is not real. There is no fat, bearded man who comes down the chimney and deposits gifts under the Christmas tree. Read more
Simon Cowan, at last weekend’s Liberty & Society conference, addressed the pressing issue of Australia’s ballooning federal expenditure and the huge economic and social impact this will have if spending isn’t curbed soon. The elephant in the room that Cowan, a research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, is referring to is Australia’s dwindling economic growth, an ageing population and the rapidly rising healthcare and pension costs associated with the demographic shift. Read more
The shifts in the political landscape with the anointment of David Cunliffe have sparked a flurry of ‘what if Labour and Greens get in?’ policy speculation recently, and unsurprisingly the electricity sector has been spotlight. Since it was first mooted earlier this year, the electricity industry and business sector have been at pains to call for a thorough economic analysis before policymakers dismantle the free market system currently used and move to a single buyer model. Read more