Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have noticed that New Zealand’s government, under the guise of economic stewardship, is tightening the screws on its citizens, and using debt as a tool of control. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory whispered in pub corners...it’s backed by hard data and a pattern of policy that keeps Kiwis tethered to financial servitude. The state’s complicity in ballooning debt levels isn’t just mismanagement; it’s a deliberate strategy to keep people docile, dependent, and distracted.Let’s start with the numbers. New Zealand’s public debt has skyrocketed, hitting NZ$155.3 billion in 2023, a jump from NZ$128.9 billion the previous year. Net core Crown debt now sits at 42.5% of GDP, up from 39.3% in 2022. Households aren’t faring better. Debt levels are among the highest in the OECD, equivalent to 164% of disposable income. These figures aren’t just abstract; they’re a noose around the necks of everyday Kiwis, chaining families to mortgages, student loans, and credit cards while the government, and United States tariffs, only makes things worse.
On Thursday, Reuters reported:
IMF says tariff pressures to push global public debt past pandemic levels
Economic pressures from steep new U.S. tariffs will push global public debt above pandemic-era levels to nearly 100% of global GDP by the end of the decade as slower growth and trade strain government budgets, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.
The IMF's latest Fiscal Monitor projected that global public debt will grow 2.8 percentage points to 95.1% of global GDP in 2025. It said the upward trend was likely to continue, reaching 99.6% of global GDP by 2030.
The coalition of chaos government isn't doing anything about Trump's unfair tariffs, because they plan on just turning it into more household debt, which also has its own adverse effects.
Studies, like those from Princeton and Chicago economists Atif Mian, Emil Verner, and Amir Sufi, show high household debt predicts economic instability and stunted growth. New Zealand’s household debt-to-GDP ratio, at 94% in 2019, is a ticking time bomb, making families vulnerable to any economic shock. Yet, instead of easing this burden, the government’s policies, such as lax lending rules and a housing market left to run wild, have fueled a debt spiral. The Reserve Bank’s Large Scale Asset Purchase programme, while dressed up as economic stimulus, effectively shifts public debt to households, keeping the Crown’s books cleaner while citizens drown.
This month, The Post reported:
Shame and blame experienced by ‘Generation Debt’
Nearly half of people aged 25 to 40 are anxious about the debts they owe, with a quarter saying they have more debt than they feel is manageable, a new report says.
And student loans are part of the debt burden that is weighing them down, which some told researchers had led them to delay marriage and having children, or to decide to have fewer children.
The Generation Debt Report, paid for by life insurer OneChoice, found that 77% of people in the Gen Y (25 and 40 years old) group, sometimes referred to as Millennials, had debts, with most having three or more types of debts like mortgages, credit cards, buy now, pay later loans, and personal loans.
Work and Income client debt has also skyrocketed, with recent figures revealing a staggering $2.07 billion owed as of late 2024, up from $1.8 billion just two years prior, a 15% jump that screams mismanagement. The National-led government’s punitive welfare policies, like benefit sanctions and increasing debt because benefit levels don't meet people's living costs, are squeezing already cash-strapped and vulnerable Kiwis, trapping them in a cycle of poverty while inflation bites. Instead of support, clients face bureaucratic bullying, with over-payment claw-backs piling on misery. This isn’t fiscal responsibility; it’s social cruelty dressed up as policy.
There's no question that an indebted population is a compliant one. When you’re working overtime to pay off a mortgage or scrambling to cover your loan interest, you’re too exhausted to question the government’s priorities or protest its failures. The state’s fiscal strategy, as outlined in Budget 2024, claims to aim for “prudent” debt levels, yet it’s content to sit back and let net core Crown debt hover at 44% of GDP, a level not seen since the 1990s. Meanwhile, Kiwis are gaslit into believing this is just the cost of living in a modern economy.
The truth is uglier. By keeping people in debt, the government ensures a workforce too scared to strike, too busy to organise, and too broke to dream beyond the next paycheck. It’s time we called this what it is: a deliberate tactic to erode our freedoms. We need policies that prioritise debt relief, rein in predatory lending, and tackle the housing crisis head-on. And for that we need a change in government.
