Independent Analysis and Reportage
New Zealand is almost completely dependent on four things for its survival in the contemporary world. Imported wheat, rice, and refined fuel. And ships.
Inflation is a topic which has, for a long time now, been at the forefront of normative economics. Normative economics is the economics of mainstream ideology, not the economics informed by concept or science.
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 17 April 2026 My first paragraphs here feature Steve Keen, Australian economist, who was a panellist on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story 12 April 2026 (Could the Iran war pose lasting risks to global food security?, or here on YouTube): Interviewer: “You’ve warned that the world could face famine within months … ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Marooned in the Pacific Ocean: Famine Down-Under?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/20/keith-rankin-analysis-marooned-in-the-pacific-ocean-famine-down-under/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Marooned in the Pacific Ocean: Famine Down-Under?">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 15 April 2026. On 14 April 2026 I heard this on TV3 News (about 8 minutes in): Sharon Zollner, ANZ Bank chief economist: “We were earlier picking that the Reserve Bank wouldn’t need to hike until December, but the news out of the Middle East has kept getting worse. It does ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Aggravating an Aggravated Cost of Living Crisis" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/20/keith-rankin-analysis-aggravating-an-aggravated-cost-of-living-crisis/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Aggravating an Aggravated Cost of Living Crisis">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 14 April 2026. Despite the mega-commentary about the Israel-Iran war, and especially the United States’ participation in that war, almost nothing is being debated about how the war is being funded. I’ll make some comments about Iran later. But we need to focus on the United States, which is by far ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Printing Money to Finance this and other Wars" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/14/keith-rankin-analysis-printing-money-to-finance-this-and-other-wars/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Printing Money to Finance this and other Wars">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 20 March 2026. The human world changed twice during the twentieth century. The first transition lasted from 1914 to 1945. The principal cause of World War Two was World War One. So, to understand the drivers of that long transition, indeed a great levelling event, it is necessary to investigate the ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – 1956, 1967, 1973, 1979 and all that: Shipping, Oil, and Inflation" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/20/keith-rankin-analysis-1956-1967-1973-1979-and-all-that-shipping-oil-and-inflation/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – 1956, 1967, 1973, 1979 and all that: Shipping, Oil, and Inflation">Read more</a>
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 27 February 2026. I heard this on RNZ News 11am 12 Feb 2026: “The government’s finances are in better shape than expected due to lower [government] spending and a higher tax take. Treasury figures … show a deficit of $5.2b for the six months ended December, almost $1.6b below the half-year ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand’s Fiscal Crisis" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/28/keith-rankin-analysis-new-zealands-fiscal-crisis/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand’s Fiscal Crisis">Read more</a>
Essay by Keith Rankin, 25 February 2026. Over the last few days, there has been plenty of media chatter in relation to the government’s proposal to pass a law enabling police to forcibly shift street dwellers from Auckland’s CBD. (Refer ‘Move On’ orders penalise those with the least, Scoop 22 Feb 2026.) While Labour likes ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – Vagrants and a Very Basic Universal Income" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/28/keith-rankin-essay-vagrants-and-a-very-basic-universal-income/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – Vagrants and a Very Basic Universal Income">Read more</a>
COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle If Israel and the US attack Iran, the cosy worlds of Europe, Australia and New Zealand could be swept up in an economic catastrophe. Should the Iranians survive a terrifying onslaught, they have vowed to strike back in a way that could crash the global economy. How they could quite possibly ... <a title="How a US-Israeli attack on Iran could crash UK, German, NZ and Australian economies" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/24/how-a-us-israeli-attack-on-iran-could-crash-uk-german-nz-and-australian-economies/" aria-label="Read more about How a US-Israeli attack on Iran could crash UK, German, NZ and Australian economies">Read more</a>
By Kaya Selby, RNZ Pacific journalist Papua New Guinea is under a close watch for money laundering, running a risk of being abandoned by global investors. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed PNG on its “grey list” due to “strategic deficiencies” in government oversight. The grey-list means that watchdog officials are monitoring closely, ... <a title="PNG one step away from blacklist, warns global money laundering watchdog" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/18/png-one-step-away-from-blacklist-warns-global-money-laundering-watchdog/" aria-label="Read more about PNG one step away from blacklist, warns global money laundering watchdog">Read more</a>
ANALYSIS: By Bryce Edwards Politicians are under fire overseas. But New Zealand should take note too. The US Justice Department’s release of more than three million Epstein files (including 180,000 images and 2000 videos) has blown the doors off the most protected social network of the late 20th century. What these documents reveal is not ... <a title="Bryce Edwards: What the Epstein scandal means for NZ politics" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/16/bryce-edwards-what-the-epstein-scandal-means-for-nz-politics/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards: What the Epstein scandal means for NZ politics">Read more</a>
Keith Rankin, 13 February 2026 On 14 January, Al Jazeera produced an episode of ‘Inside Story’, their daily current affairs feature programme: Why is the US Fed chair criminal probe causing global alarm? The context is the conflict between the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, versus the man who appointed him to that role, President ... <a title="Keith Rankin Essay – The New Alchemy: Democracy, and the Church of Money" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/02/15/keith-rankin-essay-the-new-alchemy-democracy-and-the-church-of-money/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Essay – The New Alchemy: Democracy, and the Church of Money">Read more</a>