CoveragePost
March 25, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Much of our conflict in the world has been (at least at the time it was happening) framed as Good versus Evil, and with Good therefore having a moral imperative to prevail ‘at any cost’. Once upon a time – and in my lifetime – many of us regarded War as ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/25/keith-rankin-analysis-can-good-be-the-greater-evil/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 25, 2024
Opinion by Keith Rankin. Do we need real income-tax cuts this year? Probably not. Do we need nominal income-tax cuts? Yes, we do. The government should go ahead with its proposed tax cuts, but only to low and middle income earners. The tax cuts should compensate for the inflationary component of the cost of living ... <a title="Keith Rankin Opinion – Tax Cuts?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/25/keith-rankin-opinion-tax-cuts/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Opinion – Tax Cuts?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 21, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. In this article, I will simply present the numbers for the key performance indicators (taken from tradingeconomics.com). And then I’ll give an update on GDP (gross domestic product) data, given today’s data release from Statistics New Zealand, and with the definition of ‘recession’ in mind. An important part of the context ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Economic Performance: New Zealand versus Japan" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/21/keith-rankin-analysis-economic-performance-new-zealand-versus-japan/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Economic Performance: New Zealand versus Japan">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 20, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Recessions in the last Ten Years: New Zealand and Japan Tomorrow we will see the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for New Zealand. It’s worth looking today, however, at what the situation is before that data release (with its revisions as well as new data). And in context by comparing ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand in Recession" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/20/keith-rankin-analysis-new-zealand-in-recession/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – New Zealand in Recession">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 12, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. On Monday morning on RNZ’s Morning Report, Revenue Minister Simon Watts admitted that it was a legitimate option for ‘landlords’ to leave their houses empty. (Refer Revenue Minister on mortgage tax deductions for landlords, RNZ 11 March 2024.) The official narrative of the elite political class is that when tenancies on ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Empty Rentals and ‘Investor’-friendly Taxes" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/12/keith-rankin-analysis-empty-rentals-and-investor-friendly-taxes/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Empty Rentals and ‘Investor’-friendly Taxes">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
March 7, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. In Question Time in Parliament, yesterday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis was asked a question about the extent of the cost of government debt-servicing. The answer, in short, was ‘a lot’; and she mentioned that the cost had been assessed on an interest-only basis. The ensuing round of supplementary questions never got ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Interest Costs, the Cost-of-Living, and the Cost-of-Government" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/03/07/keith-rankin-analysis-interest-costs-the-cost-of-living-and-the-cost-of-government/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Interest Costs, the Cost-of-Living, and the Cost-of-Government">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 13, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin Generally, more people die in winter. Not surprising, though some years have significantly more deaths than others, and the timing of ‘peak death’ each year varies between the wintery months. These charts show the deaths, determined from weekly data, of people named Smith, New Zealand’s most common surname last century. The ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – New Zealand Post-War Mortality: Seasonal Patterns" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/02/13/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-new-zealand-post-war-mortality-seasonal-patterns/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – New Zealand Post-War Mortality: Seasonal Patterns">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 1, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Collectiveness at it most potent has been called asabiyya by macrohistorian and cliodynamicist Peter Turchin. At its least potent, collectiveness is a recipe for social division, top-heaviness, escalating inequality, and societal breakdown. The present ‘debates’ in Aotearoa New Zealand – ostensibly about Te Tiriti, the Treaty of Waitangi – represent a ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Collective versus Individual: Māori versus ‘Maoris’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/02/01/keith-rankin-analysis-collective-versus-individual-maori-versus-maoris/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Collective versus Individual: Māori versus ‘Maoris’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
January 30, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Peter Turchin, author of End Times, has spent many years researching cliodynamics. His works in the 2000s include Secular Cycles (2009) and War and Peace and War (2007). A central concept in communicating his research is that of asabiyya, a word gifted to us from the renowned North African philosopher and ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – Asabiyya" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/01/30/keith-rankin-analysis-asabiyya/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – Asabiyya">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
January 22, 2024
Opinion by Keith Rankin. Last week, at the end of the long summer shutdown of Auckland’s train services, messages came through from AT about a limited restart on 15 January, though there would be no trains between Waitematā and Newmarket. Waitematā? When I looked it up in Google maps the top entry was of course ... <a title="OPINION – Keith Rankin on Communication Studies: Keeping the Public in the Loop" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/01/22/opinion-keith-rankin-on-communication-studies-keeping-the-public-in-the-loop/" aria-label="Read more about OPINION – Keith Rankin on Communication Studies: Keeping the Public in the Loop">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
January 19, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. In the European Union at least, mortality data is now available until close to the end of 2023. In northern Europe, mortality has been markedly higher than it should have been in the ‘Fall’ – autumn – of 2023. The main exception is Poland. Respiratory illness is most likely the culprit. ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Excess Mortality to Fall 2023: mainly Northeast Europe" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/01/19/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-excess-mortality-to-fall-2023-mainly-northeast-europe/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – Excess Mortality to Fall 2023: mainly Northeast Europe">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
January 18, 2024
Analysis by Keith Rankin. I enjoy Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup as a succinct and pertinent summary of current New Zealand politics. But, in The Liberal v Conservative anguish over the direction of NZ politics (NZ Herald, 3 January 2024) Edwards corrupts the word ‘liberal’ too much. The word ‘liberal’ has a definite, important, and nuanced ... <a title="Keith Rankin Analysis – To be (a) liberal" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2024/01/18/keith-rankin-analysis-to-be-a-liberal/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Analysis – To be (a) liberal">Read more</a>
