While I know Lex Luthor will take no action whatsoever, Simeon Brown's over-reach deserves intense criticism and decisive action. Alongside Prebble's appointment to the Waitangi Tribunal (notwithstanding his abrupt departure), and Lester Levy as the Commissioner for Te Whatu Ora, this latest revelation is - at the very least - eyebrow raising; the government is clearly in the game of appointing individuals who are ideologically opposed to the roles they've been handed.
Adrian Orr should not be held liable for failing to accurately steer the ship with a canoe-paddle because Treasury ideologists refuse to steer using the actual rudder.
The proper tool for correcting over-stimulation of the economy by emergency fiscal measures is Supertax / Windfall tax (i.e. fiscal for fiscal) announced & imposed at the same time a the emergency measures requiring it. It's more immediate and more powerful, since those liable to pay it need to save money for known tax liabilities rather than spend it thereby creating unwanted stimulus. It's fairer, since those that have the money as it rises up the business hierarchy clearly have it to pay. Using interest rates places the burden onto already overstretched mortgage-payers.
There was a time all economists knew this- see Keynes's "How to Pay for the War". Top tax band was 99.25% for the duration of that crisis. Economists of our time are mere priests of an orthodoxy that supports policies that create conveyors of government money into the pockets of the already rich whether they 'earned it fair-and-square' it or not.
While I know Lex Luthor will take no action whatsoever, Simeon Brown's over-reach deserves intense criticism and decisive action. Alongside Prebble's appointment to the Waitangi Tribunal (notwithstanding his abrupt departure), and Lester Levy as the Commissioner for Te Whatu Ora, this latest revelation is - at the very least - eyebrow raising; the government is clearly in the game of appointing individuals who are ideologically opposed to the roles they've been handed.
Adrian Orr should not be held liable for failing to accurately steer the ship with a canoe-paddle because Treasury ideologists refuse to steer using the actual rudder.
The proper tool for correcting over-stimulation of the economy by emergency fiscal measures is Supertax / Windfall tax (i.e. fiscal for fiscal) announced & imposed at the same time a the emergency measures requiring it. It's more immediate and more powerful, since those liable to pay it need to save money for known tax liabilities rather than spend it thereby creating unwanted stimulus. It's fairer, since those that have the money as it rises up the business hierarchy clearly have it to pay. Using interest rates places the burden onto already overstretched mortgage-payers.
There was a time all economists knew this- see Keynes's "How to Pay for the War". Top tax band was 99.25% for the duration of that crisis. Economists of our time are mere priests of an orthodoxy that supports policies that create conveyors of government money into the pockets of the already rich whether they 'earned it fair-and-square' it or not.
A fossil fuel lobbies appointed to an energy conservation authority. Ugh.