Nonsense. RBNZ estimated in May that the oil price shock would lead to higher unemployment for longer (yellow line) but today's data was worse than expected (again!) The trouble is the reckonomists believe their own recovery hype.

At some point we — all of us — have to have a serious conversation about priorities. We can't just keep squeezing corporate profits out of everything and insisting everyone just make do somehow.

RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 22h ago

Older Kiwis choosing between 'starving or heating' as price increases bite

I'm a bear of little brain, but in my book taxpayers should not be picking up the bill for any MP to travel to and from party political events, like election fundraisers or party conferences. Either they do it at their own expense, or from party funds. End of line. #nzpol

kyle@kyledchurch.bsky.social · 15h ago

Not for *government duties* for his role as leader of the National Party for a party *fundraiser* for the *election* Surely this is outside the bounds of what the Air Force should be used for?? Seems like an enormous breach of his access to public assets! www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Well now I’m confused. If a tank comes rolling past will it mean there’s an invasion or just Luxon on his way to a fundraiser?

Anyone heard from the Taxpayer's Union?

RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 16h ago

Christopher Luxon defends using Air Force flight to attend National Party fundraiser

Now the English is an official language of New Zealand I expect all posts to use your, you're, there, their and they're correctly.

#nzpol @musicalchairs.bsky.social explains (again) the current shitshow that is "economic policy"

Musical Chairs@musicalchairs.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Awful truth, unknown to 99% of the population... NZ Govt adopted an economic management model in the 1980s that MAKES SURE: 1. We always have tens of thousands of kiwis on the dole. 2. People with work / little work live in abject poverty that keeps them desperate for crap jobs. Why? [🧵 1/n]

#nzpol In the wake of today's unemployment figures I'm just reposting this anecdote from the Battle of the Bulge which has stuck with me for a very long time. Can't imagine why it seems relevant.🤬

Terry Baucher@trabaq.bsky.social · 4w ago

#nzpol This is the post I was looking for and also in the aftermath of an OCR decision. Still using an out of date map & the young paying for it with high unemployment & lower prospects. The needle is stuck but no-one wants to change the record. 🤬

The good economic managers have created high unemployment again lol who was in govt 11 years ago? Yeah that’s right.

How grim is this!?! Seymour's shitty lunches, made in Australia, were unsurprisingly shit and mostly inedible and instead of fixing that, this shit-for-brains-idiotic-govt thought adding sugar filled sauces would fix it (and only didn't because it would've cost too much). FFS. #nzpol

BusinessDesk@businessdesknz.bsky.social · 24h ago

As schools reported throwing out nearly one in three Compass lunches late last year, the Ministry of Education looked into adding sauce to make the meals more appealing but shelved the idea over cost.

Morning, Wednesday, 5 August, from Wainui Beach, Aotearoa / New Zealand. Panorama of another cloudy and windy and cold morning. Ata mārie / Good Morning ☀️

Just say no. Say no. You say no. That's all you say. "No." Jesus Christ.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Francesca Hong was asked last night by Kaitlin Collins if she still believes Thanksgiving should be canceled. Her answer was not 'no.'

“There is at least one important section of society where little shittery is rampant, destructive and harmful to the environment of the workplace. It’s actively impeding the ability of well-behaved people to perform well & limiting productivity. I’m talking, of course, about parliament.” No notes🙌

The little shits are coming from inside the House

Act wants to deal with the little shits in the classroom. Perhaps they should clean up the ones on their own turf first.

thespinoff.co.nz

Likewise. What's interesting about @musicalchairs.bsky.social is not that what they say is radical, it isn't, but that it's very orthodox. Critically, they deal in facts - what actually is happening in the economy, not what the reckonomists, Treasury, the RBNZ & the Govt think should be happening.

Katya@nzkatya.bsky.social · 23h ago

I have learnt so much about economics by reading @musicalchairs.bsky.social threads. Such a pity politicians and pundits aren't reading them too #nzpol

Mōrena e te whanāu, the Sun is a welcome sight after the coldest night of winter yet (it was 10.2° in our kitchen at 6.45 am). A cold, clear, start today and I'm feeling the cold even with wearing a beanie and two merinos. God knows how cold it is in Central Otago so wrap up well. Kia pai tō rā!

#nzpol Gull watch 7.22 am, 5th August. No change overnight. Meanwhile nice to see someone isn't out of pocket. Major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and climate crisis | Oil | The Guardian share.google/0hpWPDJVaYKz...

In today’s NZ Herald

Say embattled you fuckin’ cowards #NZPol

#nzpol Anyone who has been following the excellent @musicalchairs.bsky.social will not be surprised to hear the same is almost certainly true here thanks to our "sound economic managers" 🙄

Political Gadgets@politicalgadgets.bsky.social · 2d ago

Australian political discussion is heating up. Top trending: corporate profit-driven inflation, housing market collapse, and privacy concerns over police surveillance tech. Institutional distrust is peaking. 🧵1/3

My dog email to Sam Uffindell about Winston Peters has only become more and more relevant

CEO Johnny Cans@oldmatecans.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Email 103 - Sam Uffindell - National

#nzpol This is from 10 months ago but I very much doubt things had changed much by Friday when Luxon was being all adult like. We'll know more after the latest unemployment figures are released tomorrow. Hint, they won't be good, but never mind National has a plan: blame Labour

Sophie these days@spiderandme.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Sooo... you know how Luxon said young people should get off the couch and get a job, and business people in Rotorua clapped? Below is a graph of the Rotorua labour market. This is NOT a get-off-the-couch problem. Thanks to @musicalchairs.bsky.social for doing this. #nzpol

Remember when it came out that John Davy had faked his CV to become head of Maori TV? Trying to recall if anybody predicted that one day someone would do it to become Prime Minister

Stuff has absolutely nailed it with this picture caption. Chef's kiss. #nzpol

The PM's media team really hate him eh? Maybe watching 'VEEP' and 'The Thick of It' should be prime qualifications for media managers. I mean half the time what happens to the PM comes across as a deleted scene from those programmes.

Asher@asherwilsongoldman.bsky.social · 2d ago

Surely the Prime Minister could have found and booked a big venue for his Kāpiti public meeting that wasn't Jevon McSkimming's church...

Let me take a minute to tell you how bonkers this is. The first election I worked was (I think) 2008, before there was really any advance voting. At every election, if you weren't on the roll, we let you cast a special vote and then worked out if you were eligible afterwards. Two reasons: 1/2

Marc Daalder@marcdaalder.bsky.social · 2d ago

The Electoral Commission has told staff to turn away voters who aren't on the printed roll and who say they're unenrolled, but has no plans to count how many people will be affected. newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/03/t...

Four of our 5 kids, all in their 30s, now live overseas. Not through choice, but through lack of choice and opportunity here. I don't care what the economic metrics say... the litmus test for us is when they can afford to come home to live.

Matthew Hooton is doing all he can to get rid of Luxon but he's not doing it to be our friend, sadly. He just wants a more EFFECTIVE piece of rightwing shit as PM #nzpol

#nzpol Front page of today's Herald. More interestingly, the story (continued in second photo) starts to pick apart his pre-Air New Zealand business experience. (Also of note is that the print story doesn't tie up with the online version). www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...

Mōrena e te whanāu, low cloud obscured the sunrise looking east but looking west from Maungauika the Auckland CBD, if not exactly Pretty in Pink doesn't look too bad. There was a pretty bitter Westerly blowing at the time a harbinger of the cold snap headed our way. Kia pai tō rā!