Why New Zealand Is Going Broke (Econ Central)

What happens when paradise starts running out of luck? 🇳🇿 In this video, we break down how New Zealand — once celebrated as a “rock-star economy” — is now sliding toward its worst downturn in decades. Behind the postcard views and global praise lies a fragile system built on soaring housing prices, shrinking productivity, and a dangerous dependence on a few raw-material exports.

We’ll uncover how overreliance on property wealth, an exodus of skilled workers, and policy missteps turned one of the world’s most admired nations into a cautionary tale for modern economies. From record debt and rising costs to an aging population and crumbling infrastructure, discover why New Zealand’s financial foundation is cracking — and what it must do to survive.



A detailed explanation of what is happening with the New Zealand economy. The country has been hollowed out economically, like many others, under globalist policies, where complex value-added industry has disappeared with a reliance on primary industry. Many New Zealanders are leaving for Australia where wages are higher. Being a small country New Zealand needs to protect itself from predatory outside influence, and from the problems associated with mass migration. The key to the success of small nations is for the country to be as self sufficient as possible and to own its national assets. Money siphoned off to international finance can be devastating. 

Best comments on You Tube:

@ronin548
We lost 30,000 trained people last year, but don't worry Kiwis we imported 30,000 uber drivers

@konceptgaming9469
New Zealand is going broke because our governments—across the board—have consistently made short-sighted decisions. We sell off successful companies to overseas buyers the moment they start doing well, and we let speculative investors drive up prices without enforcing proper capital gains taxes. A perfect example: the National Government’s 49% sell-off of our power companies. It was a quick cash grab, but now those companies are expected to turn huge profits for shareholders instead of serving the public. That’s backfired badly. Add to that decades of weak leadership, and it’s no wonder we’re in this mess. Manufacturing won't return here at scale—our cost of living and business is just too high. We've priced ourselves out of our own economy.

@elvista1040
When the bankers got into the NZ Government and it started with Rogarnomics, they sold off most of the NZ assets to their mates, then their mates sucked all the value out of the assets to fill their pockets and left NZ in the mess its in now.

@sjdtmv
Australian living in Australia here, we are going down the same wormhole, we have become the gravel pit of the world, Home ownership is out of this world

@joyandrews3804
We can’t even afford to buy our own products. We’ve brought in hundreds of thousands of immigrants without ensuring extra infrastructure is in place. Not enough housing, not enough hospital beds, not enough classrooms. Everything is becoming more expensive to buy, while our wages are stagnant. We have a government who doesn’t know what to do. We are told if we wait long enough somehow everything will work out.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, October 21, 2025.]