Interesting interview with Claudia Sahm (former Fed economist and last year consultant to the NZ Tsy) mostly on Fed issues, esp independence. ft.com/content/6835f4…

Why is an ostensibly centre-right govt, supposedly focused on reducing waste & letting mkts work, having a “national creative & cultural strategy” at all, let alone championing quantitative targets that seem like something from a 1960s central planner? beehive.govt.nz/release/govern…

Interesting interview with RB MPC member and chief economist Paul Conway ($) thekaka.substack.com/p/rbnz-says-it…

Seems long on wishful thinking (plus not clear that Cook represents particularly strong ground on which to mount any sort of effective stand against the multi-decade decline and fall she refers to) westpaciq.com.au/economics/2025…

Great news that - at last - Quigley has gone and MoF says she would have asked for his resignation if he’d not v belatedly submitted it. But….these words are v similar to the utterly misleading ones in Quigley’s statement when Orr resigned… beehive.govt.nz/release/depart…

Some comments from me in here (mostly to the effect that Quigley’s departure shouldn’t have a huge impact on getting to the point where a new Governor can be appointed) businessdesk.co.nz/article/econom…

She has been anything but transparent or straightforward and so, again tonight, bits more of the story and timeline seep out. nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/ne…

Excellent searching interview iheart.com/podcast/211-he…

Visiting Larnach Castle today and one of the history billboards was reminding us of the central econ planners at work in the 1960s……and all too reminiscent of governments today.