Colette Palmer

Site Tester

colette@bpsl.co.nz

Recent Blogs

12 May 2011 - 1:13pm

By Gary Becker
March 2011

Rich nations are facing enormous pressure to increase the number of immigrants. This pressure stems in major part from the very large gap between the earnings of workers at all skill levels in the USA, Western Europe and Japan compared with the rest of the world. In addition, low birth rates in the developed world create excellent opportunities for young persons from poorer nations and travel between nations has become much cheaper.

Economic Sovereignty

7 Apr 2011 - 2:18pm

An increasing number of New Zealanders are questioning the drive for foreign investment, which in the mind of many amounts to a sell-off to foreign owners and with it a loss of assets. There is evidence of the crippling effect of interest remittance to overseas investors, which is not offset by job creation and regional development. This is particularly evident in the financial services and insurance sectors. The inability by Kiwi owned companies to compete effectively with multinational corporates on an equal footing has been brought home by the effect of theChristchurche

New Zealand is in a dangerous debt spiral

24 Mar 2011 - 8:02am

By Oliver Marc Hartwich
10 March 2011

The earthquake that struck Christchurch two weeks ago was not only a national catastrophe for New Zealand. It is also becoming clear how devastating it is to the Kiwi economy. The New Zealand Treasury estimates an impact of 1.5 per cent of GDP, or $NZ15 billion, for this year. Prime Minister John Key went further and warned that the country’s economy could stand still in 2011 instead of growing 2.5 per cent, as initially forecast. The consequences for public finances will be substantial in any case.

Employer of Choice recognition

9 Mar 2011 - 1:53pm

The recent experience of a typical small business, employing fewer than ten staff, in its effort to attract an office all-round person was faced with unexpected challenges in the recession. A listing of the position on a popular website produced 172 responses, of which only 9 met the criteria set out in the advertisement. This experience identified what can be regarded as one of the root causes of our country's low productivity: low skill levels and job instability that prevents employees from accumulating adequate levels of experience in any position previously held.