Shows / The Kākā by Bernard Hickey
The Kākā by Bernard Hickey
Bernard Hickey and friends explore Aotearoa’s political economy together.
thekaka.substack.com
Episodes
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyAntarctic heat spike shocks climate scientists
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon between…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWhen 'going for growth' actually means saying no to new social homes
TL;DR: These six things stood out to me over the last day in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy, as of 7:06 am on Thursday, April 11: * The Government has refused…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyBack to the future, with a 2032 deadline
TL;DR: The six news items of note for me in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy as of 9:06 am on Monday, April 8 are: * PM Christopher Luxon announcing “nine…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe hunt is on for an asterix for farm emissions
TL;DR: The six news items of note for me in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy as of 9:06 am on Monday, April 8 are: * The Government is setting up its own…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyDawn Chorus for Friday, April 5
TL;DR: The six news items of note for me in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy on Friday, April 5 included: * Just as the Government freezes infrastructure…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to April 5
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyNew oil and gas to quadruple by 2030, threatening climate goals
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded this afternoon between Bernard…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyConfidence in Government collapses
TL;DR: The six news items of note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy on Thursday, April 4 included: * A Roy Morgan poll taken last month and published last…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe debt rules being used to strangle NZ
TL;DR: My top six news items of note on the morning of Tuesday, April 2 include: * A review of council borrowing has found central Government-driven debt…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyFailing to internalise new realities
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to March 29
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyBorrowing $15b more to pay for $14.9b of tax cuts
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include: * The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyGDP-per-hour worked stagnant at 2012 levels
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include: * Workers have been treading water in output per hour…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeySimeon Brown threatens councils on water reform
TL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include: * Simeon Brown threatening intervention if councils refuse reasonable Three…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to March 22
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to March 15
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyNo, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to March 9
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyPublic infrastructure and service potholes under massive population pressure
TL;DR: A CTU analysis of Government spending and investment has found already gaping holes in promised public services and infrastructure will widen by as much…
The Kākā by Bernard Hickey'Couch surf. It's better than motels & cheaper for us'
TL;DR: In an effort to save $340 million a year, the new Government plans to slash the number of motel vouchers given out to homeless families, arguing many…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyOur nation of inflation displacement
TL;DR: The new coalition Government’s zeal in its first 100 days for freezing and cutting spending and investment at the central Government level is having an…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyLuxon's housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on moment
TL;DR: Aotearoa-NZ’s utterly broken, expensive and unhealthy housing market is at the heart of our economic, social and political problems. It distorts our…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to March 2
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyBishop wants house prices to halve vs income
TL;DR: Housing, Infrastructure and RMA Reform minister Minister Chris Bishop gave the new Government’s most important and ambitious speech of its first 100…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Feb 23
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyGovt's Budget 'just like a household,' says Willis
TL;DR: Flying in the face of comments from a ratings agency and a mountain of demand for a new long-term sovereign bond issued yesterday, Finance Minister…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyS&P slams new Govt's council finance vacuum
TL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the outlooks for the debt issued by 15 councils, immediately increasing borrowing costs and forcing…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWe’re not as fragile or as lazy as Luxon says
TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has adopted the language of Ruth Richardson before her 1991 ‘Mother of All Budgets’ in arguing for benefit sanctions to…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyIs 2.8% per year population growth too much?
TL;DR: The Government is reviewing migration settings that produced 2.8% population growth last year and is looking at a longer-term strategy of matching…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Feb 16
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyTax cuts paid for by up to 13k more kids in poverty
TL;DR: The Government has reverted indexation for main beneficiaries to price inflation from wage inflation under Parliamentary urgency to save money for tax…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyMortgage rates seen high for even longer
TL;DR: Stronger-than-expected US inflation data out overnight is expected to delay the first US Federal Reserve rate cut into the second half of 2024, which in…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe holes in National’s water reform pipes
TL;DR: The National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government has unveiled the first versions of its replacement for Labour’s Three Waters laws, but without the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyLooking at clouds from both sides now
TL;DR: In this week’s wrap of climate news, Bernard Hickey and Cathrine Dyer talk about new research on the role of clouds in climate sensitivity suggesting…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Feb 9
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWatching the ladder being pulled up in real time
TL;DR: Shock and outrage is mounting at the rulings of the Independent Hearings Panel (IHP) on a new District Plan for Wellington City, which actually expand…
The Kākā by Bernard Hickey'Please manage and fund our climate retreat'
A year on from Cyclone Gabrielle and devastating Anniversary Day floods in Auckland, the new Government and councils remain mired in a pass-the-parcel and…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWhen a few climate sceptics skew debates and elections
TL;DR: In this week’s wrap of climate news, Bernard Hickey and Cathrine Dyer talk about how climate sceptics amplify research that confirms their own biases…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Jan 26
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe years of living dangerously
TL;DR: Sea and air temperatures smashed records in 2023 and now most of the Davos crowd expect a catastrophic global climate event in the next decade. So why…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Jan 20
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWhy The Kākā is staying on Substack
TL;DR: After a few weeks of debate and some digging around, we’re happy to commit to staying on Substack for the foreseeable future. Substack doesn’t have a…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyDawn Chorus for Monday, January 8
TL;DR: Two days after Christmas, Immigration NZ ordered a ‘temporary’ dairy farm worker who has built a family in Tokoroa over 10 years on rolling visas to go…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyDawn Chorus for Friday, December 29
TL;DR: The Government spent around $1.5 billion on emergency housing in the last five years and is now spending upwards of $7.1 billion a year on accommodation…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyA yawning gap opens up between climate advice and Government action
TL;DR: A massive gap is opening up between the Climate Commission’s advice and the new Government’s actions on reducing emissions. Two large swathes of…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyAuckland's double-cab utes and yoga pants drive massive ocean micro-pollution
TL;DR: Auckland’s beaches have 50 times more microplastics pollution than previously thought, a new study shows, partly because of all the synthetic rubber…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyA smoking gun without smoke or a barrel
TL;DR: Weeks ago, Nicola Willis accused Grant Robertson of ‘fiscal vandalism” in handing over a set of books she said were littered with ‘snakes, snails and…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWhat to look for in the ‘mini’ Budget
TL;DR: Finance Minister Nicola Willis will publish her first ‘mini’ Budget at 1pm today. It should detail her earlier warnings about the ‘fiscal cliffs’ and…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyResend: Infrastructure & planning pipelines deep-frozen
(Resent to include correct audio. My apologies.) TL;DR: Councils and infrastructure managers are warning unplanned and unbuilt-for population growth has…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyGovt bans cycling & walking projects to help fund tax cuts
TL;DR: Transport Minister Simeon Brown has written to regional councils and told Waka Kotahi-NZTA to immediately stop cycling and walking projects paid for…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Dec 15
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWe cooled our jets. So where's our rate cut?
TL;DR: Aotearoa-NZ’s economy contracted unexpectedly in the September quarter, unleashing further falls in wholesale mortgage rates that mean banks could…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyGovernment chooses slower economic growth
TL;DR: The new National-ACT-NZ First Government announced yesterday it had cancelled a $3 billion plan to build two new ferries and terminals that would have…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyRecord high net migration now deemed “unsustainable”
TL;DR: Net migration hit a record high 128,900 in the year to October, which the new Government has decided is “unsustainable” and requires a review of…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeySo much noise and so little signal
TL;DR: It started with pomp, pageantry and a speech from the throne laying out the new National-ACT-NZ First Government’s plan to turn back much of the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Dec 8
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyDreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
TL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit of ecological integrity’ at…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyWhy we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
TL;DR: Just when most of the rest of the world’s inflation rates are falling, Aotearoa-New Zealand faces high inflation and mortgage rates for longer next year…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyNicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
TL;DR: New Finance Minister Nicola Willis has set herself a very high bar for retaining confidence in her rhetoric by accusing Labour of “economic vandalism”…
The Kākā by Bernard HickeyThe Hoon around the week to Dec 1
TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the…