Sunday, October 18, 2015

They Came Bearing Gifts

More NZ Farmers are being herded into the Dragon's Den. It appears that the Chinese Government owned Shanghai Maling has effectively taken over Silver Fern Farms co-operative with buying only 50% of shares.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Tim Groser Gets A Bit TPPsy

Well, the Nats have apparently locked us into another trading agreement that does little to solve NZ's balance of payments problems. Better in than out they claim, but it does seem odd that the TPPA began as an attempt to get better access for NZ into markets that usually shut us out or slap high tariffs and quotas on our exports. All we seem to be getting are some more dead rats to swallow while we wait for some trade restrictions to gradually come down.
More will be revealed in time but I am not optimistic that the Nats will have the guts to do what is really needed - and that is to put a fair trade levy on goods imported from countries that do not offer us the same access to their markets that we give them. Very few businesses would keep going the way we run our economy. No wonder we are heavily in debt as a trading nation and selling off our land, businesses and houses etc is no solution to keep us afloat.