Independent Analysis and Reportage
The world becomes a rather confusing place when we see a self-ordained 'Good' doing many evil things, and 'Evil' doing some good things. The greater evil may be to label oneself – or at least one's own side – as Good, thereby (through presumption) casting the other side(s) as Evil.
A View from Afar podcast: Change is impacting on all of us, whether we are navigating a pathway ahead with our careers, balancing the pressures and increases in our cost of living, or considering the consequences of global systemic change. Let's take the conversation to a deeper level of understanding and analyse Systemic Change, Geopolitical Change, Normative Change, and Structural Change.
Analysis by Keith Rankin.Role: Economic historian. Keith Rankin, 18 June 2026 – The latest quarterly economic growth data were released by Statistics today. The following chart summarises eight-quarter (ie two yearly) economic growth rates from 1990. I have colour coded the data to match the political party leading the government for each period. (Shades are lighter ... <a title="Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – New Zealand Economic Growth Update" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/06/18/keith-rankin-chart-analysis-new-zealand-economic-growth-update/" aria-label="Read more about Keith Rankin Chart Analysis – New Zealand Economic Growth Update">Read more</a>
Yesterday morning I listened to John Cambell (RNZ) interviewing an Iranian-born New Zealander, who came to Australia as a refugee 42 years ago, and subsequently moved on to New Zealand.
In the movie, Mary Mapes – under inquisition – was accused of conducting her research under a 'liberal' presumption that George Bush was guilty; whereas, under formal law, accused persons should enjoy the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. Dan Rather was accused, implicitly, of lacking judgement by going along with this...
Keynesian economics tells us that the most reliable circuit-breakers are exports and government spending. New Zealand's exports are booming, and have been for a while. But for New Zealand that's still far from enough; New Zealand needs a government spending circuit breaker as well.
I cannot imagine the age for KiwiSaver entitlement staying at 65 – what today is loosely called the 'retirement age' – while the age of pension entitlement is raised to 67 or higher. Requiring people to wait until they are 67 before they can access their retirement savings may prove to be even more unpopular than raising the pension-entitlement age.
Recorded Live @ 12:30pm Monday (NZ Time) – A View from Afar podcast. Series 06, Episode 04 – In this episode, political scientist and former Pentagon Analyst Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning deep-dive into: The PRC/USA Summit, Geopolitics, Institutional Lag, Industrial Resilience. Geopolitics is shifting, new alliances are forming, and co-operation between unlikely nations are paving the way for a different world.
Keith Rankin - Is it possible that an unintended consequence of moral compliance in relation to pay equity – of attempts to equalise pay by gender, within firms and other employing organisations – has been to create more young adult female NEETs? It's a hypothesis that at least deserves to be investigated further.
Keith Rankin - We can easily see that the United States 'national' debt is on an upwards, not a downwards, trajectory; the Department of War can loosen Treasury's guard-rails more easily than the Department of Health. (This is true in Germany too, with last-year's partial removal of that country's debt-brake.)
Keith Rankin - A lethal transmissible disease which is asymptomatic for six weeks, and which is infectious before symptoms occur, is one of our worst public health nightmares. The present scare should remind us of that.
Despite its minimal emphasis in the anglophile understanding of WWI, the central conflict of that war was between the German Second Reich (the Prussian Empire) and Russia (the Russian Empire). The war was started, with full intent, by the German military who were able to play the emotionally volatile Prussian Kaiser, Wilhelm II.