Episodes

  • Episode 30 - Economist Susan St. John - on the human cost of austerity.

    Episode 30 - Economist Susan St. John - on the human cost of austerity.
    Dec 18 2024

    In the wake of Treasury’s Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update, Associate Professor Susan St John gives her assessement of the government’s unnecessarily hard neoliberal economic austerity measures and how the Luxon/Willis administration has not learned the lessons of the 1990’s and the misery caused by the austerity measures of then National Finance Minister Ruth Richardson.

    We discuss a wide range of consequences, including the way rising unemployment and increasing levels of poverty are causing our children to suffer from third world diseases, and the government’s complete lack of empathy in reducing support for foodbanks at the very time when people need it most.

    So what can we do to have a fairer society?

    Susan St John’s down- to -earth analysis is always enlightening.

    It’s thanks to my Paid Subscribers that I can continue to do my public journalism work, speaking truth to power and giving a voice to those who have none . For just $9 a month you can join (and chat with ) this great group of supportive people , plus get access to my podcasts and documentaries… and me :)

    And just a thought- with the Christmas soon upon us, you may also wish to consider giving a year’s access to Bryan Bruce Investigates as a present to a friend or whanau. Thank you



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    20 mins
  • Episode 29 - Melanie Nelson on fighting some destructive ACT legislation.

    Episode 29 - Melanie Nelson on fighting some destructive ACT legislation.
    Dec 13 2024

    A couple of days ago I read a very interesting Substack article about a piece of trojan horse, David Seymour, legislation currently before parliament that had managed to slip completely under my radar and perhaps yours too.

    It was about the Regulatory Standards Bill and written by Melanie Nelson who laid out the far- reaching powers this Bill would give to the right-wing in our country.

    You can find her excellent article here:

    So I contacted Melanie and I am delighted she agreed to be interviewed for Head 2 Head because I learned a lot about how this mundane sounding Bill could undermine what a many of us still think Aotearoa New Zealand should still be about - a fair go for everyone and protecting our communities and environment from the self-serving agendas of wealthy individuals and overseas companies.

    You can provide a submission:

    • through the engagement hub on the Ministryʼs website https://www.regulation.govt.nz/our-work/regulatory-standards-bill/

    • emailing your submission to RSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz, or

    • mailing your submission to Ministry for Regulation, P O Box 577, Wellington 6140

    Make no mistake, this Bill is a device designed to enhance the ME and undermine what is left of the WE society that once characterised life in Aotearoa New Zealand. Please don’t miss the chance to have your say. RSB consultation ending on 13 January

    _________________________________________________________________________



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    26 mins
  • Episode 28 - Melody Nixon PhD - Why we must resist US politics

    Episode 28 - Melody Nixon PhD - Why we must resist US politics
    Nov 25 2024

    Dr Melody Nixon is a writer, editor, academic and artist living between the Bay Area, California, and Aotearoa New Zealand. She holds an interdisciplinary PhD, with emphases in Literature and Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies, from the History of Consciousness department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

    Having spent over a decade in the USA she has a keen understanding of the the social and political undercurrents that saw Donald Trump re-elected and warns against the similar disturbing trends she sees developing here in Aotearoa New Zealand.

    Funding for independent public journalism has been cut off by the current government. To support my work in speaking truth to power, please share posts on your social media sites. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a $9 per month paid subscriber which will also give you access to premium posts,

    To my paid subscribers, please know your support is much appreciated. Please restack posts you like and share the links to friends and whanau as it all helps to build readership. With the Christmas soon upon us,you may also wish to consider giving a year’s access to Bryan Bruce Investigates as a present to someone . Thank you.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    23 mins
  • Episode 27- Economist Dr Ganesh Nana-on challenging Government fiscal policy.

    Episode 27- Economist Dr Ganesh Nana-on challenging Government fiscal policy.
    Nov 22 2024
    Last week a group of economists wrote to Prime Minister Luxon and Minister of Finance Willis to express their concern at the Government’s approach to fiscal policy, and their alarm at the consequences for the people and communities of New Zealand.In this episode of Head2Head I talk with the group’s lead spokesperson Dr Ganesh Nana.Here is the letter in full.Tēnā koe e Pirimia,re: Your Government’s fiscal policyWe write to express our heightening concern at your Government’s approach to fiscal policy, and our alarm at the consequences for the people and communities of New Zealand.We would welcome the opportunity to discuss in more detail, more directly with you as soon as possible, the immediate and long-lasting harm that your Government’s approach to fiscal policy is creating.We summarise our concerns below under four headings.* Reduced current and projected spending is needlessly exacerbating the current recession* A focus on government debt is far too narrow, as it ignores the impacts on private sector debt and external debt* The accumulating harm risks a long-lasting hollowing-out of business capacity and capability* Fiscal policy is in direct conflict with the Government’s stated export targetFiscal policy is needlessly exacerbating the current recessionCurrent and projected reductions in government spending appear to be central to the Government’s fiscal policy. The economic rationale for this approach is unclear. Rather, there appear to be few considerations outside the short-term impacts. For example, your Government’s cancellation of key infrastructure projects and sinking-lid cuts to the public service are powerful contributors to the current severe and prolonged recession. This is substantially worsening the contractionary effects on the economy of the Reserve Bank’s use of the Official Cash Rate to contain inflation.It is important to recognise that even prior to cutting back expenditure, government consumption spending was close to 20% of GDP. This covered spending on health, education, defence, administration, justice, transport, and culture. In addition, deferrals and reductions in projected infrastructure spending has further reduced employment and intensified the economic recession.There is ample evidence that government spending, including the necessary infrastructure and allied networks, has for many years fallen well short of that required for population growth and demographic changes. The Infrastructure Commission has stated that New Zealand has a $104 billion infrastructure gap at present – and that this picture will significantly worsen given current spending projections.These accumulating shortfalls put the nation in a poor position to improve its long-run economic resilience and to prepare for future challenges. If nothing is changed now, this under-funding simply passes the burden of adjustments, and investment spending, to future generations.Failure to correct this course will lead to higher economic scarring, with the costs borne by those with the least ability to pay, as has been demonstrated repeatedly in New Zealand’s history. It will also undermine the resilience of the private sector – particularly exporters – and will continue to constrain the capability of firms to scale up.A focus on government debt ignores impacts on private sector debt and external debtSimilarly, the fiscal policy focus on reducing government debt lacks a clear economic rationale. Irrespective of the debt measure adopted, international comparisons of government debt in comparison to GDP remain in New Zealand’s favour. Credit rating agencies continue to view the government’s debt situation without concern.Bluntly, there is no government (or public) debt crisis in New Zealand.The New Zealand economy’s ongoing problem is private sector debt. Importantly, private sector debt is being driven upwards by your Government’s fiscal policy in pursuit of surpluses for itself and its aim of rapidly reducing public debt.Standard economics shows the relationship between public and private sector financial balances. When total domestic saving (both public and private) is insufficient for domestic investment (both private and public), the gap needs to be filled by drawing on foreign funds. The overall current account (or external) deficit is a measure of this gap and requires overseas borrowing or asset sales to foreigners to finance such a deficit. With the banks acting as intermediaries, the resulting increase in liabilities is reflected on both the private and public sectors’ balance sheets.These connections – in particular, between the Government’s fiscal stance, the size of the current account deficit, and the consequent size of the nation’s external debt – are glaringly missing in documents describing the economic impact of fiscal policy. There is little explanation of how fiscal policy focussed on reducing government spending would reduce New Zealand’s external ...
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    32 mins
  • Head 2 Head with Shamubeel Eaqub - Episode 26 Dollars and Sense.

    Head 2 Head with Shamubeel Eaqub - Episode 26 Dollars and Sense.
    Nov 21 2024

    Why is borrowing to give tax breaks stupid? How could we use some of our superannuation fund to build housing? What’s an economy for anyway?

    Shamubeel Eaqub has the gift of making economics understandable and often gives voice to common sense solutions for some of the problems that beset us today.

    He has worked as an economist in leading international banks and consultancy in Wellington, Melbourne and Auckland and he is now the Chief Economist at Simplicity KiwiSaver.

    He is a columnist, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker and author who has published three books: Generation Rent (2015), co-authored with Selena Eaqub; Growing Apart: Regional Prosperity in NZ (2014); and The NZ Economy: An Introduction (2011), co-authored with Dr Ralph Lattimore.

    If you are a Free Subscriber please consider upgrading to Paid. The current government has cut all funding for public interest journalism and the broadscasters are showing little interest in supporting independent investigative documentaries which is why I started this Substack.

    Your $9 per month subscription will help me keep working as public interest writer, podcaster and film maker- to speak truth to power and give a public voice to those who have none.

    And thank you to my Paid Subscribers. Your support for my public journalism work is much appreciated and has allowed this podcast to now become freely available. Please restack the item if you like it and recommend bryanbruce.substack.com to your friends and whanau.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    26 mins
  • Episode 25 - Gareth Hughes on Alternative Economics

    Episode 25 - Gareth Hughes on Alternative Economics
    Nov 15 2024

    Gareth was a Green MP for 10 years and is now the Director of The Well Being Economy Alliance of Aotearoa which not only examines the neoliberal status quo that drives our current economy but looks a the many alternative economic models we could adopt to have a fairer society.

    WeAll have an upcoming conference : Economics in the Public Good ( see details below)

    He is is the author of A Gentle Radical, a biography of the late Greens leader Jeanette Fitzsimons which was published two years after her death in 2022.

    If you are a Paid subscriber please know that your support for my public journalism work is much appreciated. If today’s post reaches 50 likes from you, I will make it free for everyone to read.

    If you are a Free Subscribers please consder upgrading to Paid. The current government has cut all funding for public interest journalism and the broadscasters are showing little interest in supporting independent investigative documentaries which is why I started this Substack.

    Your $9 per month subscription will help me keep working as public interest writer, podcaster and film maker- to speak truth to power and give a public voice to those who have none. Thank you.

    It’s time to redesign our economy to deliver wellbeing for nature and all our people.Join us at the Economy for Public Good Conference in Pōneke Wellington, we’ll weave a shared purpose for moving beyond a broken ‘business as usual’ economy.If you’d like to build bonds and share ideas with people inspired to create an economy where people and nature thrive, this one day hui is for you.The conference will feature Dr Katherine Trebeck as international keynote speaker, thought leaders discussing the big ideas for Aotearoa 2040, practitioners sharing stories of the new economy in action, and in-depth interactive training and breakout sessions.Tickets for this in person conference are set at only $100 and numbers are limited.https://www.weall.org.nz/economyforpublicgood#EconomyForPublicGood#TimeToRedesign



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    18 mins
  • Episode 24 - Peter Newport

    Episode 24 - Peter Newport
    Nov 10 2024

    Peter Newport has had a long and distinguished journalistic career including becoming European Correspondent and Bureau Chief for Channel 9 , Deputy News Editor BBC TV News and a documentary producer with the Discovery Channel before returning to work in NZ with Mediaworks as a producer on their current affairs programme 3rd Degree.

    When he moved to Queenstown he decided to start Crux, a local digital media outlet featuring stories and events in the Southern Lakes and Dunedin districts where he applied his talent for public interest journalism.

    His channel got a significant following reaching almost 2/3rds of the population. However after almost 7 years of first rate journalism the funding for Crux has fallen because local business and councils had largely pulled their support and the government’s public journalism fund has been axed.

    In this interview I talk with Peter about his new approach which is to publish via Substack as I also have been forced to do because neither of us intend to be silenced.

    Thank you to my Paid Subscribers. Your support for my public journalism work is much appreciated. Please share and restack this article if you like it and recommend bryanbruce.substack.com to your friends and whanau.

    If you are a Free Subscriber please consider upgrading to Paid. The current government has cut all funding for public interest journalism and the broadscasters are showing little interest in supporting independent investigative documentaries which is why I started this Substack.

    Your $9 per month subscription will help me keep working as public interest writer, podcaster and film maker- to speak truth to power and give a public voice to those who have none.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    28 mins
  • Episode 23 - Prof. John Quiggin

    Episode 23 - Prof. John Quiggin
    Nov 8 2024

    John Quiggin is a professor of Economics at The University of Queensland, Australia and I first met him 10 years ago when I was making my documentary Mind The Gap . He had not long published his book Zombie Economics about how the dead economic ideas of neoliberalism such as “the market knows best”, deregulation, privatisation and “trickle down” theory, still manage to haunt the corridors of power in our country.

    In this interview we discuss how Australian political parties on both left and right have managed to kill off some of these zombie ideas (such as how public hospitals would be run more cost effectively if they were privatised) yet in the New Zealand graveyard of economics such dangerous ideas still walk among us.

    And in the wake of Trump’s victory in the American Presidential race last week, John gives his take on what impact it might have on the economies of both Australia and New Zealand and on the geopolitics of the Pacific.

    Thank you to my Paid Subscribers. Your support for my public journalism work is much appreciated.As agreed, if today’s post reaches 50 likes from you, I will make it free for everyone.

    If you are a Free Subscribers please consider upgrading to Paid. The current government has cut all funding for public interest journalism and the broadscasters are showing little interest in supporting independent investigative documentaries which is why I started this Substack.

    Your $9 per month subscription will help me keep working as public interest writer, podcaster and film maker- to speak truth to power and give a public voice to those who have none. Thank you.



    This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bryanbruce.substack.com/subscribe
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    14 mins