Don't Bet Against NZ. We have the 4th highest no. of space launches in the world (after US, Russia & China).

Amongst the doom & gloom, its time for uplifting news. Isn't it extraordinary NZ now ranks as having the 4th highest number of space rocket launches in the world? Higher than all Europe combined, higher than the UK, higher than India & Japan, and a host of huge countries, the only exceptions being superpowers US, China and Russia. In the bar graph below, which records top 10 Space Launch Providers in 2023 by total launch count, SpaceX is first, followed by CASC (the Chinese State Aerospace Corporation), ROSCOSMOS is third (the Russian Space Corporation), and NZ's Rocket Lab is fourth. Even more extraordinarily, both the Chinese & Russian programs are State-backed. SpaceX & Rocket Lab are the two top private programs in the world, though Rocket Lab did receive some government grants when it was starting up, along with investments by the Warehouse's Stephen Tindall. Another extraordinary fact is that Rocket Lab's Founder, Peter Beck, did not go to University - he was an apprentice at Fisher & Paykel. Just shows we should not get obsessed about the role our Universities play in innovation. The hugely successful entrepreneurs who started Mainfreight, Bruce Plested, and Briscoes, Rod Duke, also never attended University.

When you consider the founder of the world's first serious Artificial Intelligence company, Deep Mind, was Rotorua's Shane Legg, now in charge of AI at Google, Kiwis are changing the world. Channeling their individual success into NZ national success seems to be the problem, symbolized by the fact that Rocket Lab is now "Headquartered in Long Beach, California" and "operates facilities including advanced manufacturing & mission operations centers in Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Maryland, Toronto and NZ". Despite being founded here, NZ is almost dropping off the company's list of "mentions". Meanwhile Deep Mind's Share Legg lives in London. That's the brain drain for you.

Has ANZ Bank Become NZ's Very Own Colonial-Style East India Company?

Who owns ANZ Bank? It may surprise you. Despite having "NZ" in its name, it has next to nothing to do with New Zealand. Geographically, most of the ownership is concentrated in the US, Bloomberg data shows, with 42.4% of owners living there, distantly followed by Australia at 24.8%. Kiwis don't figure in the equation. Yet its impossible for NZ'ers to escape from the clutches of ANZ Bank. Its former Chair was Sir John Key, the former PM, of course. The woman who conducted the Leaders Debates at the last Election, Jessica Mutch McKay, who worked for failing State-Owned One News as its Political Editor, resigned last year from that job to become Head of Government Relations & Corporate Responsibility at ANZ. Don't you love that euphemism, "Government Relations"? ANZ's present Chair & CEO were on the Air Force Jet with PM Luxon on his Japan trip. He says they're "A-listers". Apparently a Kiwi starting up an internet finance company to take business away from the Big Banks doesn't qualify. ANZ's Chief Economist, Sharon Zollner, is given free time & space across the Main Stream Media, including the likes of NewsTalkZB, to go on anytime to pretend to talk economics, but actually just advertise ANZ Bank. A few years ago, Infrastructure NZ invited the ANZ Chief Economist to interview the Secretary to the NZ Treasury at the start of its conference. Nice for some to have the inside track on the future of NZ, no doubt helping ANZ plan its financial future. None of my University colleagues have ever been invited to do that kind of thing. But then again, we're not a big corporate sponsor.

ANZ is the "Key, Premier Sponsor" of a conference this August, called Building Nations, in Auckland. Who are they paying for to speak (with your mortgage interest payments)? The likes of Ed Glaeser, Head of the Harvard Economics Department, who I already invited to NZ a few years ago on a non-partisan visit hosted by Auckland University & Motu in Wellington, during which time he spoke with everyone he needed to in government, Councils & private sector. What's the point of a repeat visit, other than a publicity stunt to generate headlines for ANZ? The ANZ CEO & Chief Economist will be sharing the stage and "networking" with Chris Bishop, Minister of Infrastructure, MP Simon Watts, MP Simon Court, Mayor of Auckland, and CEOs of the NZ Transport Agency & NZ Infrastructure, who will also be there.

John Judge, a former Chair of ANZ Bank is a Director of the NZ Initiative, which has become the Think Tank of the National Party, whilst pretending to be non-partisan. ANZ Bank is a fully paid-up Member of the Initiative. Its' former employee, Matt Burgess, is PM Luxon's Economic Adviser. Its' current employee, Michael Johnston, was appointed Chair of the Coalition's newly established Ministerial Advisory Group to review the primary school English, Maths & Statistics curricula in NZ. I could go on, filling pages on how ANZ Bank has become indistinguishable from the NZ Government. Its our very own East India Company. No wonder Kiwis are losing faith in capitalism. It has become dominated by those who pretend to support free markets, but in practice, behind our backs, push back against them. This claustrophobic, inbred side of NZ, whereby the "A-Listers" get together to carve up the country and put up the cost-of-living for C-listers has got to stop.

Sources: https://www.fool.com.au/2022/04/08/who-owns-anz-shares-take-a-look-you-might-be-surprised/