Here's our summary of key economic events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news the pressure is off the US Fed from inflation threats, temporarily at least.
First today, and as markets had expected, US CPI inflation came in at 3.4% in July, dipping from 3.5% in June. Food prices were up +3.0% from a year ago, petrol prices up more than +24%. From June petrol prices fell -2.9% however, which was a bit more than expected. (In August, petrol prices dipped slightly in the first week, but have since started rising again.) Rents were up +3.2%. Electricity prices were up +4.2%.
US core inflation - without food and energy - was up +2.5% and this is probably the Fed's get-out-of-jail card. US PCE July inflation data is next due August 27.
US mortgage applications recovered notably last week, up +3.6% from the prior week after four of the prior six weeks were decreases. The rise was driven by refinance activity, borrowers who could not wait any longer and taking advantage of a very minor dip in mortgage rates to 6.77% (which will seem high to our readers).
Last week, the US reported a huge surge in crude oil stocks, the larges weekly rise in more than three years. It wasn't expected - in fact another retreat was expected. It is not clear why, because it wasn't driven by imports, according to this data. Strategic reserves will next be reported at month-end.
The August USDA WASDE report has raised its estimates for beef imports in 2026 and 2027, and lowered its expected milk prices marginally.
The US Treasury reported a much larger budget deficit for July than expected, and the expected July deficit was outsized to start with. They ended up with almost a -US$½ tln deficit in the month alone. The public mismanagement is now epic. For their fiscal year to September, they will be reporting a deficit of at least -US$2 tln (-US$1.95 tln over the past 12 months), easily a new record. Trump's swamp creatures are helping themselves.
Meanwhile, a well-supported UST 10yr auction delivered a yield of 4.63% today (high ofg 4.68%), compared to 4.53% at the prior equivalent event a month ago.
Canadian building consents jumped notably in June, up +18% from the same month a year ago driven by non-residential construction. Residential construction rose too, just not as sharply as the commercial sector.
In Japan, the Reuters Tankan index for manufacturers rose in August to its highest reading since March. Leading the mood improvement was solid semiconductor demand. But the chemicals sector also rose along with the metal and machinery sectors. Non-manufacturers' sentiment also rose, buoyed by strong domestic consumption. This survey likely points to a similar rise in the official Tankan survey that will come later in August.
Japanese machine tool orders continued their very strong growth in July, up +50% from a year ago and while the value wasn't a record, it was very close. These orders have taken off since March 2026. Demand was huge from both domestic and export customers.
China's vehicle sales slipped below 2.5 mln in July and recorded a year on year dip of -0.3%. But it is the September to December period when their domestic vehicle sales usually peak.
The UST 10yr yield is now just on 4.67%, dipping -2 bps from this time yesterday. The 30 year yield is at 5.25% and holding. The key 2-10 yield curve is now at +48 bps (up +2 bps). Their 1-5 curve is now at +37 bps (+1 bp) and the 3 mth-10yr curve is at +99 bps (unchanged). The China 10 year bond rate is little-changed at 1.70%. The Japanese 10 year bond yield is now at 2.84%, up +4 bps. The Australian 10 year bond yield starts today at 4.98%, down -1 bp. The NZ Government 10 year bond rate is at 4.73%, and up +2 bps from yesterday at this time.
Wall Street has recovered somewhat with the S&P500 up +0.3% and the Nasdaq up +0.6%. Overnight, European markets were all lower between London's -0.1% drop and Paris's -0.5%. Yesterday Tokyo was up +0.8%. Hong Kong was down -0.8% but Shanghai rose +0.3%. Singapore fell back -0.6%. The ASX200 ended down -0.4%. And the NZX50 fell -0.9% in its Wednesday trade in a sell-off that gathered pace after the special National Party caucus meeting.
The price of gold is rising at US$4417/oz, up +US$51 from yesterday. Silver has risen +US$1 to just over US$65.50/oz.
Oil prices are down -50 USc from yesterday at just under US$83/bbl in the US, while the international Brent price is now just over US$88.50/bbl. Hormuz transits are still very low. There have been two crude tankers and only 3 cargo ships exiting over the past 24 hours (3 dark with transponders off) and eleven entering for new loads (3 dark), again all Iran-linked. Oddly, Trump is claiming the US is in control of Hormuz and it is safe to transit. The data shows no-one believes him. The Red Sea activity is less than 20 either way at the Yemen chokepoint.
The Kiwi dollar is down -25 bps from yesterday at just under 58.6 USc. Against the Aussie we are down -40 bps at 82.9 AUc. Against the euro we have retreated -20 bps to 50.8 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at just on 62.2 which is down -30 bps from this time yesterday.
The bitcoin price starts today at US$63,420 and down a -0.2% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has also been low at just on +/-0.9%.
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65 Comments
Interesting comment late yesterday that Opportunity were potentially more left than the greens. Interested in thoughts on that. My thinking is that they are not looking to increase total tax, just change how it's collected, so that is centre. As for UBI, you could argue it's extreme welfare so far left, or you could argue it's a more efficient way of achieving welfare and efficiency is right.
Stealing assets that families have spent their lives working for themselves & their families wellbeing and security to pay people who can't be bothered to get off the couch is Marxist.
But stealing income is fine?
We already pay people to sit on the couch. The problem is that if they get off the couch and do some work they probably don't end up much better off as they lose their benny. In one way the incentive to work is higher with a UBI.
"Stealing income"?
Because land falling under "Land tax" would either be earning nothing, except increasingly devaluing digits every rating valuation, or maybe productive land generating an income for the owners, wouldn't that mean "Land tax" was paid out of income, or borrowed out of necessity? i.e. Stealing income, or forcing indebtedness, or even forced sale?
YES, JJ!
In fact, in Scott Smith's seminal book "A Tale of Two Economies" he hypothesised that a properly integrated UBI in conjunction with a very modest FTT of 0.25% levied in the US, could turn the heavily indebted economy around both socially and financially.
This seemingly minuscule tax, which would ALL other taxes, could generate a massive revenue surplus, because it would tax the financial casino as well as the real economy - it would be capable of funding advanced public benefits, and eliminating the public debt within a decade of when it was proposed back in 2021.
It demonstrated how integrating a UBI could serve as a mechanism to drive entrepreneurship and wealth accumulation. By providing a permanent safety net and avoiding means-tested welfare traps, this form of UBI alters the risk-reward calculus dramatically for individuals who want to pursue business ideas.
This model eliminates the welfare cliff, by ensuring that earned income is purely additive, and that baseline support never shrinks as earnings grow. This structure provides a permanent risk buffer which removes penalties for failure, and fosters the confidence needed to pursue employment and entrepreneurship.
The US economy is technically not "capitalism" but instead a perverse form of reverse socialism and bankism, where the billionaire club and the financial economy receive all the perks and the working classes and real economy carry the vast majority of the tax burden.
Smiths model would completely up-end the status quo. Just think - if it had been implemented back in 2021, the US could be half-way through their journey of financial recovery.
Of course this was never going to happen because the financial status quo make certain that major reform of this nature cannot be politically brokered. Tragically the train-wreck will have to occur before society demands these radical reforms - this applies within the NZ debt-burdened scenario as well.
How is it any different from the government stealing my income that I have spent my life working for? It’s not. As the commentator said it’s simply balancing the tax system so that non productive assets are taxed more than productive.
"non productive assets are taxed more than productive."
Paid for out of income I guess. In other words income tax dressed as something different.
Two issues. 1, in my opinion, looking at tax first is the wrong end of the telescope. How about you look at the policy to turn around our poor productivity? All the parties now in Parliament have just parroted the failed neo lib stuff that has seen our productivity fall over a cliff. And 2, about tax. Kinda related to point 1, we have chosen to give tax incentives to, for example, ownership of residential properties over say, business investment. Now we have got to where we are, can you explain why it is such a sweet spot that you want to preserve it? Definition of insanity, keep doing what has failed before expecting a different outcome.
I'm curious why you think Joe Average would be interested in "Business investment" over owning residential property? The more enterprising Joe average types might use their equity in property to leverage themselves into a business which the banking cartel would have otherwise have zero desire to fund.
How about you look at the policy to turn around our poor productivity?
The only way currently to encourage banks to lend more readily to business is to remove the prospect of security in property. Currently it is simple to leverage property by pulling equity to get the startup cash for a business, as it is far too difficult otherwise to get money from the bank. if there wasn't the prospect of large capital gain from housing, less people would pile into it for investment, and as such, the banks would be getting less profit, or having to actually re-weight property in terms of risk-weighting as there would be a decrease in value and as such, more selling at a loss and having to pay the remaining mortgage down after sale. Sort property, and you sort productivity. Or productivity has been artificially masked by capital gains for decades.
The core of this discussion is about the wrong point. I agree with KKNZ, and also that taxing income is misplaced. the core debate is that the myth our taxation model is based on is just wrong. TOP are looking at changing that, but they are still wedded to the core of the old myth - that we have to tax to spend.
Taxing low and middle income earners is fundamentally detrimental to the economy. The real purpose of taxation should be to promote business, employment and societal wellness. This requires people to be able to develop a decent living standard through earning a decent wage. Government paid benefits undermine universal responsibilities to provide for oneself.
At the top end taxation should be used to disincentivise profiteering, and excess profits, as well as stopping foreign companies fleecing us. The bottom line is our government should understand this, and have a long term vision that they can communicate to the public on how they will build the economy to support the people of NZ, not business's and foreign corporations.
Its just a new tax model that address NZ's future issues. Something no other party seems to have a model for.
The issues being - the cost of the boomer wave retirement and less workers, stupid housing prices, and investment focused on tax avoiding capital gain rather than productive business and or assets. News flash, debt stacker's housing specuvestor types have overshot. Naturally the "Ive worked hard for my tax avoided free gains" crowd are all waking up to the fact that their speculation model has been directly target. About time. Cry me a river of new unavoidable tax...
What to do tip. You should note that commercial property is exempt from this tax. So how about an investment shift from exploiting the need for the human shelter, and onto one that grows business and business assets...?
I see it as ultra rich individuals looking to undermine Opportunity in case they take votes away from National or ACT.
So brand them as commies!
It's like the people that keep banging on about New Zealand's economy always tanking under a Labour government, while others (on this very website) have said the opposite is true.
To me, JJ, TOP is merely a misnamed nothing-burger whose flagship policies utterly fail to address NZ's underlying economic structural problems.
In essence, all they are doing is proposing the rearranging of the tax chairs on the fiat Titanic.
TOP, as do all the incumBENT parties, misses the impending global systemic monetary collapse, which would require moving past tax reform entirely, and focusing instead on sovereign currency creation, and localised hard-asset economic productivity.
In the last week or so I crunched the NZ NIIP numbers and arrived at a mind-numbing per taxpayer liability of $235,000 per person - this highlights our economy's reliance on foreign capital, structural current account deficits, and the debt burden that debilitates our entire economy.
TOP policies do nothing to address NZ's debt-doom-loop, because they are entirely fiat-dominated and rely on traditional GDP metrics, which obfuscate the underlying structural train-wreck.
As do all the other parties, they utterly ignore the private bank debt-based money creation system which diverts billions of dollars worth of capital out of the domestic economy, and into the coffers of global private banking monopolies in the form of unearned economic rent.
When measuring economic output against a hard benchmark like gold, rather than fiat tokens, our currency purchasing power and productivity are both shrinking... dramatically.
As nations like China and Russia increasingly build out alternative settlement mechanisms and accumulation strategies for physical gold and other hard assets, in their reserve asset portfolios, Western fiat-reliant nations will face increasingly severe headwinds.
For a small isolated, dramatically net-debtor nation like NZ, the looming global hard asset revaluation will cause its fiat currency to sharply lose purchasing power against real-world commodities, making foreign debt-servicing increasingly harder.
When, not if, the systemic monetary reset occurs and forces real-asset price discovery, the monetary illusion supporting NZ's balance sheet will collapse. A $235,000 liability per tax-payer cannot be sustained if global capital markets demand repayment in hard-asset terms or a sharply devalued NZD.
This reality would trigger a rapid acceleration of the debt-doom-loop. The state would be forced into severe austerity, asset sales, or structural defaults on public infrastructure and entitlements. Traditional tax policy tweaks become completely irrelevant in this scenario.
TOP's policies propose mere band-aids on a fundamentally flawed monetary system. As such the Opportunity label is a complete misrepresentation of their nothing-burger policies.
The fact that the latest polls are currently flagging them as the looming election's "kingmaker", only serves to highlight how desperate the disenfranchised voter cohort has become.
Are you able to put a rough date of when you foresee the monetary system collapse?
Your arguments have a lot of theoretically relevant and possible outcomes but I’ve been hearing all these things in different forms since I started trading in 1995. Do you think this is likely within the next 30 years ?
Absolutely.
And sooner than that - the global trading System is in trouble NOW.
Which renders the upthread 'tax' discussion somewhat irrelevant.
No one can put a definitive date on this, Don.
Personally, I expect the reset to occur within months, as the Eastern bloc put the finishing touches on their new multipolar financial paradigm.
As the global fiat-based bond markets approach 5% and beyond on the longer dated paper, the entire fiat casino-Ponzi will begin to implode - rolling bonds over into short term bills could well hasten this already baked-in-the-cake unwind.
China and Russia, etc, could revalue gold at anytime. The only reason they haven't is that they didn't want to hasten the demise of the Western-facing system, because that would only harm everyone, including themselves.
Given that the imbecilic Trump Admin has almost singlehandedly imploded the existing Wester-centric system anyway, I expect this group will complete the last phase of their bullion-stacking and then unceremoniously pull the pin.
China alone has a huge stack of gold to back their currency internationally, and I expect them to back their yuan domestically with silver, which will in turn dramatically reinstate its former glory as a vital monetary metal.
Perhaps some of the precursors will be the gold price reaching an organic supply/demand market discovery level, and of course the long-dated UST yields as mentioned above.
The ballooning US twin deficits, and the dawning realisation that the overall situation is not much worse, only due to the US panicking and boosting their flagging GDP by dumping gold overseas, will begin to hit home.
The fact that US student debt is the largest asset on their federal balance sheet is to me a tragic indication that Rome II is already on fire.
"As nations like China and Russia increasingly build out alternative settlement mechanisms and accumulation strategies for physical gold and other hard assets, in their reserve asset portfolios"
Well China is, but Russia is cashing up its gold reserves to fund bombing civilians in its imperialist war on democracy.
https://www.mining.com/web/russian-central-bank-sells-44-tons-of-gold-i…
The sheer idiocy of that comment does not even warrant a response.
The only idiot around here is the Putin fanboy living in denial.
They sold 44 tons out of a 2,322 ton stockpile. Russia still holds over 98% of its gold reserves and remains the world’s fifth largest gold holder. And their annual domestic mining output of 300 tons comfortably exceeds this drawdown.
The central bank sold the gold to their domestic market, consisting primarily of Russian commercial banks via exchange-traded and OTC channels. The central bank needed to meet liquidity demands without exhausting its remaining non-sanctioned foreign currency assets, namely its Chinese Yuan holdings.
Not exactly the headline you think it is..
"China purchased a record $961 million in gold from Russia in November 2025"
"This was the second month in a row that gold deliveries from Russia to China exceeded $900 million, the report noted, citing Chinese customs data."
https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2025-12-22/largest-bilateral-gold-tr…
Wee Vlad liquidating assets for his Special Genocide Operation.
Probably connected?
"The report finds that Russia's liquid sovereign wealth fund assets have fallen from 6.5 percent of GDP at the beginning of the war to just 1.8 percent in April 2026. At the same time, the federal budget deficit exceeded the government's full-year target within the first three months of 2026, while oil and gas revenues collapsed by 45 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026."
https://www.kielinstitut.de/publications/news/endgame-russias-war-econo…
7 tons in November. Whoop-dee-shit
Let's see how US war spending is going...
“As we gather here today, the War Department is seeking a historic generational investment of $1.5 trillion for American warriors. And Lindsey himself said to me in his office, ‘This is the best military budget I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress."
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/10/politics/hegseth-graham-charleston-p…
Beware, Time Lord - you may have to fall back on some age-old sage advice...
"Never argue with the truly stupid - they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience"
Aw didums. Is the pro fascist resorting to yet more attempted insults?
I did warn you, Time Lord... then again this does serve a purpose....
The longer the exchange persists, the more it exposes the projection, the patent parroting of AAZ drum-beating meme's, dodgy sources, and last but definitely not least, his classic xenophobia.
Just want to confirm you stand by this comment from our discussion you made a couple of days ago about Putin banning a party wanting an end to his genocide in Ukraine?
"Furthermore the lawsuit against Yabloko were, ultimately because they received campaign funding from third parties originating in foreign countries like the US and Germany, the very same ones who support Ukraine's attacks on Russian assets deep inside their territory."
Huh? Are you attempting "whataboutism"? Try to concentrate huh? Putins forever war is impoverishing Mother Russia.
I was pointing out that Russian central bank gold reserves clearly aren’t going through some fire sale. The quantities you highlight are miniscule.
No reference was made about war in my original comment.
Do you speak Russian?
'The quantities you highlight are miniscule."
I wouldn't call billions miniscule. We'll see what happens to the sales going forward before I decide whether they constitute a fire sale. Putin has to fund his war somehow and other avenues aren't that rosey.
Russia was building its reserves pre war in anticipation. Since the war started there's been no nett accumulation of stocks and recently there's been a decline in gold held in reserve.
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/gold-reserves
China IS a purchaser of Russian gold.
Yes, I speak a little Russian. My wife is fluent.
Nice chart with a non-zero baseline, how clever of you.
Here’s the reality you’re attempting to hide: https://en.macromicro.me/series/29700/wgc-central-bank-gold-reserves-russian-federation
44 tons of 2,322 tons is 1.89%
This is clearly not a fire sale, you’re being ridiculous.
Seems you're trying to tie together two sensationalist narratives that you’re passionate about.
Sharing a foreign social media reel with secondary translations is not helpful here. Just makes one even more suspicious of how your algorithm is shaping your perceived reality
My perception of reality includes knowing a genocidal manic when I see one. My passions include democracy and freedom.
My memory recalls you defending Lindsey Graham though?
I'll get you to reference that comment, because my opinion of Graham is/was pretty low. The ONLY positive he ever offered humanity was wanting to support Ukraine in defending itself from Putins invasion.
You defended one of my posts about him and claimed he was a devout Christian.
Yet a notorious warmonger who gets giddy when innocent Iranian school kids are bombed is clearly no “devout christian”
So your echo chamber induced selective bias has clearly failed you. How you don't see this only emphasises the stupidity in your argument.
Ah, I maybe see? As an atheist myself, being a fundimentalist evangelical capitalist Jesus worshipping nut job doesn't win brownie points. I can't stand fake christians like him. I guess you'll never find the comment you claim I made, because you either took it out of context, or it never existed!
Concerned about Graham being a moron with sway? You should recognise the behavior from the Putin sanctioned propaganda channel?
"A pro-Kremlin television presenter has been accused of inciting genocide after calling for Ukrainian children to be “drowned” and “burned” alive during an interview on the state-funded RT channel"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/24/russian-tv-presenter-anto…
Your response to Time Lord completely overlooks the institutional bias of outlets like The Guardian.
They habitually print statements from pro-West and Ukrainian officials as objective facts while ignoring long-term historical factors like blatantly threatening NATO expansion and the dire need for regional security diplomacy.
Rather than offering objective journalism, this reporting aligns closely with the aggressive foreign policy goals of the US and UK, acting as a megaphone for their associated military-industrial complex (MIC).
This manic obsession with demonising the Russian Federation is an incredibly dangerous path. Historically, the West relied on the Soviet Union to defeat fascism.
Treating the modern Russian state as an existential evil, while ignoring Western military expansion, pushes humanity closer to global conflict, and the misguided public cheerleading of these narratives does too.
More RT blah blah! No one was threatening Russia! Ironic "western military expansion" occured after Putins imperialist invasion began. The reasons being glaringly obvious to anyone not suffering RT brain rot.
As you said, Putin asked to join NATO (disingenuously) himself. The only threats to turn Europe into "molten glass" have been by Putin vodka soaked puppet Medvedev and various other officially approved talking heads on Kremlin TV.
Too true, Time Lord - and even the insignificant 1.89% figure that you mention could well be far too high as well.
Why 25 to 44 Tonnes is a mere "Drop in the Bucket"
Given that Russia’s actual gold reserves and mining outputs are almost certainly understated, then the only real question remaining is by how much.
Remember that China's are understated at least 20 fold, so lets err on the conservative side in Russia's case.
Percentage of Understated Reserves: If Russia’s true sovereign gold hoard is actually 5,000 to 10,000+ metric tons (hidden across the Gokhran, NWF, and unrecorded state funds), selling 25 to 44 tons represents less than 0.5% of their total estimated stack.
Percentage of Annual Mining Production: Russia officially mines around 320 to 330 tons of gold per year. If true production is higher due to unrecorded domestic mining, exporting 25 tons to China accounts for less than 8% of just one single year of mining output.
From this perspective, the vast majority of Russia's gold remains entirely untouched, resting securely within domestic vaults as a massive, un-weaponised financial fortress.
The physical exports to China are statistically irrelevant to Russia's overall financial health.
Russia is a physical gold superpower. Moving a double-digit tonnage of gold across the border to China is simply a trade partnership between two allies. It barely amounts to a pimple on an elephant's arse, in the context of Russia's multi-thousand-ton golden shield.
The russophobes within our midst can talk this up until the cows come home... which they will, because when the multipolar financial reset arrives, these understated numbers will have monumental consequences for countries that didn't prepare for this event, and as the entire Western-centric fiat casino-Ponzi implodes.
Oh... something I neglected to mention - Russia's NIIP which stands at a positive $1.121 trillion , when divided amongst ~74.8 million taxpayers, this works out to a positive credit of $14,848 per taxpayer.
This stands in stark contrast to the US with its massive -$21.27 trillion. When combining this official NIIP debt with unfunded liabilities that works out to a massive $1.43 million debt per active US taxpayer.
Isn't is peculiar.... the Lindsey Grahams of the Western world and their ardent war-drum beating fan-club fail to mention any of these numbers.
No prizes for guessing which of these two economies is going down the gurgler.
Appreciate the warning Col. Was worth it for this zinger though:
"My perception of reality includes knowing a genocidal manic when I see one."
RAW FOOTAGE: Lindsey Graham TEARS OF JOY After Iran Strikes
(no language translations required)
No problem, Time Lord.
This level of russophobia, and projection that your link highlights, is a classic example of the self-destructive idiocy of the warmongering West.
Graham has gone, but Narco Rubio and other lunatics like Hegseth remain to keep beating those war-drums, and to try to suck in and recruit the eternally gullible, as well as the useful idiots.
Because this creation of mayhem and contrived adversaries remains an ongoing bipartisan US obsession, it will persist until the US is so utterly financially broken that it can no longer prosecute these eternal wars.
That day is not very far off, and it will also signal when the hegemony will be enering its most dangerous phase.
With the evangelical-rapturist cult entrenched within the halls of power of the two main aggressors, this makes this danger all the more profound.
The RoW is slowly waking up to the fact that as long as they purchase or hold US debt in the form of USTs, then they are effectively financing their own potential victimhood.
Projection much. You really do have concentration problems TL.
I genuinely thought you were smarter than this Palmtree.
See above.
Actually, while I'm here and hopefully you are too, I'll take issue with your gold stance. Your graph clearly shows gold reserve flatlining post war. So what happened to the claimed production? Colin Vladimir Maxwell claims, with the proviso "if", as though this constitutes some sort of unquestionable reality, they have been squirreled away into some invisible vault somewhere? Of course the Kremlin is expert at tithing anything of value and spending on super yachts, Eton educations and mistresses in Manhatton and Geneva, so this may well be true. Neither Colin nor you know where this gold is, or if it exists! The reality is Russia is selling gold reserves to prop up it's budget deficit. How long or deep this goes is unknown. We will find out in due course!
2% is cumulative, just like the draw downs from the SPR!
“Your graph clearly shows gold reserve flatlining post war. So what happened to the claimed production? “
Palmtree. You can’t seriously be asking why Russia’s domestic mining output isn't automatically showing up on the Central Bank’s balance sheet?
Confusing commercial production with sovereign central bank reserves shows you don't understand the basic accounting here.
Your argument is completely non-sensical and silly, and frankly a complete waste of time
Enough of the insults huh? You seem to have a fundimental ignorance of the way the Russian economy works! Russia is Putin, Putin is Russia. There is no line between "commercial production" and "sovereign production"! It all belongs to Putin for disposal as he sees fit!
Again Palmtree. You’re attempting to claim that all Russian domestic gold production goes straight into Russian central bank reserves. This exposes a very fundamental flaw in your argument.
The fact you can’t see this and continue to dig yourself deeper into this hole, is quite frankly mind boggling
It's been a very a very educational thread, Time Lord.
This giant hole that he insists on digging for himself in a curiously Trump-like manner, would be amusing if the broader implications of this behaviour weren't so dangerous
This is a classic illustration of the destructive human conditions of bigotry and projection.
In fact, psychological projection frequently drives and coincides with bigotry and prejudice.
When individuals or groups cannot accept their own negative traits, failures, or anxieties, they often shift those flaws onto others in order to try to bolster their own self-esteem
.
"Historically, the West relied on the Soviet Union to defeat fascism."
Historically it's debatable whether the Kremlin or the Reich Chancellery were the biggest threat to human society during the war era. Stalin was happy to partner with Hitler if it meant more people to oppress and land to thieve!
"When individuals or groups cannot accept their own negative traits, failures, or anxieties, they often shift those flaws onto others in order to try to bolster their own self-esteem"
Obviously there are no mirrors in your house.
Might be time to put the keyboard away Palmtree.
I'm genuinely starting to feel sorry for you as this trainwreck goes on
You should feel sorry for the children being murdered nightly by Russian dictator Putins ballistic missiles. Obviously basic humanity isn't one of your strong points.
FFS Palmtree. Where did I say I support children being bombed?
You're a total nut case, and making no sense to anyone except yourself. Seeya
Your selective use of "ifs" then repackaged as verifiable evidence is duly noted and placed in the bin labelled "garbage". :-)
Sometimes Colin through your vehemence it can be hard to determine your bottom line perspective, but I think this sums it up on this topic; "...which would require moving past tax reform entirely, and focusing instead on sovereign currency creation, and localised hard-asset economic productivity."
Absolutely agree. My arguments around how we apply tax are about achieving what you encapsulate here in that statement. Using tax to support, guide and promote business creation, employment and national resilience.
Do you ever check your own comments, Murray?
In this instance you explicitly agree with a statement that demands moving past tax reform entirely, then you immediately contradict yourself by explaining how you want to use tax
to achieve goals.
Perhaps you are conflating two different mechanisms?...
#1 Scott Smith's solution for the US economy which is built on a major FTT reform and addresses the financial doom-loop.
#2 And ending the debt-based money creation by the private banking cartels, which I see as the absolute essential, because that is how TPTB heist the trillions from society to finance their forever-war model.
I'll respond although I doubt you'll ever go back and read this; Tax is in my view an essential tool of government. How it is applied has not changed as economic basics have changed. So what does "moving past tax reform entirely" mean? Are you arguing we should not reform the tax system, or drop tax altogether? Do you seen no problems with the tax system as it currently is, or do you think we shouldn't be taxed at all? Both possibilities are significantly flawed in my view.
#1 "I'll respond although I doubt you'll ever go back and read this; Tax is in my view an essential tool of government."
My comment was to try to point out how you often you contradict your own argument within the same comment.
And yes, of course tax is an essential part of govt, but with a well designed FTT system it could be extremely minimal, and tailored to remove a lot of burden from the productive economy and working classes, onto the parasitic financial sector.
#2 "How it is applied has not changed as economic basics have changed."
This line simply doesn't make any sense on any level - how tax is applied changes constantly, whilst "economic basics" really haven't changed at all down through the ages.
#3 "So what does "moving past tax reform entirely" mean?
For goodness sake, man, it means precisely what it states.
#4 Are you arguing we should not reform the tax system, or drop tax altogether?"
Neither - I have always made this perfectly clear.
#5 "Do you seen no problems with the tax system as it currently is"
For crying out loud - I have constantly made it clear that I see massive problems within the tax system, and in particular, with how it penalises the real economy, and stifles it accordingly.
#6 "or do you think we shouldn't be taxed at all? Both possibilities are significantly flawed in my view."
Of course we should be taxed - I explained this in #1.
Colin, if that's his real name, openly admits to worshipping Sergei Glazyev, a Putinite fascist heavily involved in the Russian destabilisation and annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory.
"In 2016 Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko published wiretaps of telephone calls between Glazyev and a number of people in Ukraine directly involved in organizing pro-Russian demonstrations in Odesa, Kharkiv and other cities in 2014."
"In the call Glazyev gives instructions on how to increase the impact of these riots and turn them into the occupation of administration buildings, and giving instructions for receiving funding."
The tax is theft argument is bogus in all configurations.
Tax is a recognition that being a member of society carries an obligation to the functioning of that society....the form that obligation takes can vary, it just so happens in our society that transacts in the way it does means that the tax is monetary....we could choose to tax by time, or labour or a host of other measures as have (and possibly some still do) sociaties done so in the past.
Yes and no. We all are members of our societies and all have an obligation contribute, but the argument that this is done through tax on income, arbitrarily imposed by government is wrong. The core of that argument is based on the constraint of how much money the government could have in circulation. When Nixon tossed out the gold standard at Bretton Woods in 1971, he also effectively tossed out those constraints too. The way tax is applied across the economy creates imbalance and unfairness. It is not that we should or shouldn't tax, but rather how and where.
You are describing a function of taxation within a monetary system (inflation control) not the rationale for taxation per se.
"We could choose to tax by time, or labour or a host of other measures as have (and possibly some still do) sociaties done so in the past."
Is this statement not an over-simplification of history and coercion?
Comparing modern income tax to historic labour taxes (like corvée
labour) ignores the fact that many historical systems were
forms of state-sanctioned theft or forced labour.
It neither ignores it nor assumes it was always the case...it is the foundation of social contract. As has been noted before human constructs are subject to human failings.
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