Espiner on Inflation
Colin Espiner looks at what he calls the horrible inflation data:
Labour will be happy that this week’s truly horrible inflation data came out during the Parliamentary recess.
After all, the highest inflation in 13 years and the biggest quarterly increase in food prices since June 1990 isn’t something either Prime Minister Helen Clark or Finance Minister Michael Cullen particularly wishes to be quizzed on.
It’s amazing how quickly things have turned. It seems like only yesterday that ministers were asking each other patsy questions in the House so they could in turn stand and brag about record low unemployment, growth rates higher than Australia’s, or some other positive fiscal indicator.
It never ceases to surprise me how quick any government is to claim the credit when things are going well, and how fast it is to distance itself when things are not.
Take Cullen’s prepared lines yesterday: “It is important to remember that our economic challenges are not of New Zealand’s making. The global increase in the prices of petrol and food are outside New Zealand’s control.”
Now whether you agree with Cullen or not depends, I guess, on whether you subscribe to the free trade market economy we operate in. But assuming he’s right, it’s still ironic. Can you imagine Cullen saying, after delivering one of his whopping surpluses of yesteryear: “It is important to remember that our economic good fortune is not of New Zealand’s making. The global rises in commodity prices are outside New Zealand’s control.”
Um. Don’t think so.
So true. The reality is that international forces will always have more of an impact than anything we do domestically. However Governments can and do make a difference around the margins – especially by focusing on increasing productivity and havign sensible fiscal and monetrary policy.
However, Cullen can distance himself all he likes from the causes of inflation running at 4% and heading for 5%. He can blame all the Middle East unrest and growth of developing nations he likes for the fact that petrol is up a whopping 25% in the last year. He can moo about the rise in the value of dairy prices that has seen milk up 22% in a year and cheese 62% until the cows come home.
The fact is it’s happened on his watch and voters, rightly or wrongly, expect him to do something about it. Cullen recognised this yesterday, referring to the October 1 tax cuts package which, he said, “will provide some relief”. Actually, as Cullen knows only too well, it will deliver very little.
The cruel reality of inflation is that the value of his $16 a week for the average wage-earner is eroding by the day. By the time October 1 rolls around, the increase in the price of petrol alone since the Budget would have accounted for half of the extra Cullen has promised. Fresh increases in the price of milk, bread, cheese, and fruit and vegetables will take care of the rest.
And people know deep down Dr Cullen is not giving tax cuts to help people out. He cancelled tax cuts just over a year ago, and his u-turn on tax cuts was poll driven. Now u-turns are part of politics, but to then claim the u-turn as a virtue goes too far with some people. It would be like National trying to take credit for income related state rentals, when everyone knows they prefer market rentals.
We could always have a debate about it, if the Opposition would engage. Yet all I know of National’s plans for the economy is that it will reduce taxes, “cut red tape”, spend more on infrastructure, reduce government spending “so that interest rates track downwards” and improve education standards.
There’s almost enough apple pie in those statements to feed a starving family of five for a week. But the polls show voters are still happy with this level of detail from National, for the meantime anyway.
That’s a great line – enough apple pie to feed a starving family of five. And some truth in Colin’s criticism. He has however overlooked the fibre to the home policy which is a major point of difference with Labour, and is intended to be a significant foundation for lifting NZ’s productivity and economic growth.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:41 am
i think the punters are a bit smarter than you (and espiner) give them credit for..d.p.f..
..by election time it will be abundantly clear that outside forces are wreaking havoc upon us..
..(the exception is dairy prices..that’s good old fashioned farmer-gouging..(they get their subsidies in different ways..nowdays..)
..and cullen/clark/labour will be able to package/sell themselves as ‘safe(r) hands’ for these ‘troubled times’..
..i can’t see nationals’ tired old reagonomics/privatisation formula as being for ‘those times’..
..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
July 17th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Lol, philu, always good for a laugh.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:05 am
The crux of NZ’s problems is encapsulated in one simple phrase from the above story- “voters, rightly or wrongly, expect him (Kullen) to do something about it.”
Some voters do expect that NZ’s problems can be fixed by Mikhail Kullen. As Mr. Espiner suggests, they’re wrong. Problem is in NZ, these wrong thinking voters exist in over powering numbers. One witnesses it on Kiwiblog daily, where Labour supporters and National supporters clash over exactly what “government should do”. There’s really only one way that government can fix things. That’s to get the hell out of it.
But the gummint religionists won’t accept such an approach. One observes, especially amongst the left, the desperate need to keep the discussion confined to “what government has to do” or what “the government solution” should be. If you’ve got an argument that rests upon the idea that government should just go away, these statist zealots won’t give your ideas a skerrick of credibility.
This is NZ’s real future challenge. To wrest the economic debate from those who see government as the solution to every problem. We need to start talking about how we can get government to cease meddling, cease interfering, cease trying to “make things fair”, and cease trying to perpetuate its own existence.
That means getting people like Mikhail Kullen out of our lives, not turning to them as potential saviours. Almost everything that’s impacting so negatively on the living standards of NZers can be blamed on government interference. Either by the NZ government or similar governments overseas. If NZers want more pie on the table, they need to produce that apple pie. A real apple pie. With the big government worshiping Mikhail and his believers, all you’ll ever get is the illusion, an apple pie that looks great sitting on the dining room table, but fades into nothing just as you try to eat it.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:08 am
DPF, if the centrepiece of the National party’s economic strategy is going to be faster porn, then I think I’ll have to find another party to vote for. Surely there is something more coming than that? I can understand not releasing it yet, but the way you wrote that seemed to suggest that actually that was all we were going to get.
Oh, and Phil, you are once again showing how out of touch you are with what is going on. And dairy prices being “farmer gouging” – you’ve got to be kidding me. You think farmers should sell products on the NZ market for less than they can sell them for overseas? Didn’t the Soviet Union try something like that once?
July 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
I beleive there is more to come. I also reject your idiotic labelling of the fibre to the home policy. It is about communications infrastructure, videoconferencing, work from home, triple play services. If you think porn is all the Internet is about, that’s your problem.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:28 am
DPF: probably a bit tongue in cheek. I’ve never agreed with it as a silver bullet, I think it helps around the margins, but I have considerable doubt that bandwidth into the home is a real barrier at present v’s the exhorbitant cost of the download caps, which does genuinely impact people. Most of the applications for high bandwidth in the home are media applications – triple play services are consumer services not business productivity improvements. I’m not convinced that there are all that many businesses that will benefit from this policy, I think most working from home can be done with the services we have and they are improving on their own. But I absolutely agree it is a better infrastructure investment than the bloody trains are. If we’re going to spend some taxpayer money on an infrastructure play that may or may not add value to the national economy, then fibre is probably a reasonable place to start.
Having said that, I really don’t see this as being the step change in productivity that NZ needs. There must be something else coming – John Key has hinted at policies that integrate education with workforce skilling, at policies that remove disincentives to invest in productivity growth, at policies that give certainty to those who want to improve their skills / the skills of their workforce. Those are the kind of policies I would see as making a difference.
[DPF: I agree no silver bullet. A building block maybe towards developing more of an economy which isn't disadvantaged by our remoteness and size]
July 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am
just hand it all over to the robber-barons..eh ratty..?
and labrator..’you’re welcome’
and paull..so when our dollar falls..as it is widely presumed it will..
..dairy prices will rise by whatever..again..?
+ they are poisoning/pollutiing the country
+ despit an average income of $770,000+..they have their hands out for pollution-subsidies..until 2028..
paull..do you seriously think those of us who aren’t dairy farmers will ‘swallow’ that package for the forseeable future..?
(the backlash could be horrible to behold..)
(disclaimer:..i’m a vegan..i don’t eat the foul/health-destroying muck..
..and think that as a deterrent/sin-tax..cheese should 10 times the price..
..and even that would come nowhere near paying for the health costs of consuming that foul fat-ridden muck..
..(yet another way the dairy industry is subsidised by the rest of us..eh..?
..we pick up the health-bill..(think our world-beating rates of ‘thick-blood diseases/deaths..
the equation is simple:..dairy consumption thickens your blood..(think strokes/heart etc..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
July 17th, 2008 at 10:52 am
“just hand it all over to the robber-barons..eh ratty..?”
That’s rich coming from a scumbag coward who confronts unarmed chemist shop employees with a weapon and steals their products. That’s rich coming from one who represents a legion of “robber barons” who daily sit in their comfortable taxpayer provided chairs in a house provided by the taxpayer and spit venom and lies from a computer provided by the taxpayer, while they watch television provided by the taxpayer and send their children off to be educated at the expense of the taxpayer and all the time profess to care about the “little people” while they’re in fact looting the income of those little people and voting for politicians who will continue to rob those little people and keep those little people down. Go away Phil, you’re not amusing or challenging, you’re just a worthless loathsome parasite, and one day you’ll be brought to account for your abject narcissistic hypocrisy and your stealing from the very people whose welfare you profess to be concerned about. (..and when it come to inflation, welfare spending on worthless parasites like you accounts for more than a few percentage points)
July 17th, 2008 at 10:52 am
“Now whether you agree with Cullen or not depends, I guess, on whether you subscribe to the free trade market economy we operate in. ”
It is an empirical fact that oil prices have skyrocketed and there is a world food crisis. You can subscribe to any sort of nonsense you like, but that doesn’t change reality. It just demonstrates how removed from reality your mind is.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:56 am
“It is an empirical fact that oil prices have skyrocketed and there is a world food crisis.”
All predictable outcomes of backward thinking socialist government policies. Stop interfering Jafaboy. We don’t need misguided power obsessed zealots like you and Mikhail Kullen fucking things up for us.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am
the only thing that ‘thickens my blood’ is reading the rantings of bludging, tree-hugging doped-out socialists… advising on economic and health issues. takes all sorts I guess …
back on topic, can anyone suggest a formula for calculating the actual inflation rate experienced… rather than the published rate. there is simply no way anyone on the average wage would agree that their spending power is 4% lower than at this time last year.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Absolutely correct. So given that we participate in a global resource economy (oil, food, skills) that fact that these commodities appear expensive is evidence of our government failure to create an environment where NZ can remain internationally productive and competitive. Instead they have forced us to gaze into our increasingly socialist navels while productive nations move forward.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Redbaited: “Stop interfering Jafaboy. We don’t need misguided power obsessed zealots like you and Mikhail Kullen fucking things up for us.”
Yup, the market will do that even better! Cyclicly. I’d point out that Greenspan, Gramm and GWBush bear more responsibility for the current mess, but you’d probably just reply that they’re all socialists anyway.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Yep and Allan Bollard cutting rates would do nothing to lower home loan interest rates:
“I can’t see they’ll be lower (in a couple of months time) given global market conditions,” Hodges told interest.co.nz. Hodges was speaking after ANZ National successfully raised US$2 billion via a 5 year bond sale to international investors last week at a relatively high interest rate.
I see “The Standard” were running the party line blaming non-tradeable inflation ignoring the inconvenient truth that tradeable inflation is running at 3.4%.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Jafa
Do you really think that politicians can change “the market”?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:12 am
PaulL:”is going to be faster porn,” there is a lot of money to be made out of porn. Even the very mainstream OReilly’s “Google Advertising Tools” has an entire chapter devoted to making money out of porn.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:20 am
“Cyclicly. I’d point out that Greenspan, Gramm and GWBush bear more responsibility for the current mess, but you’d probably just reply that they’re all socialists anyway.”
Well just look at Bush’s government spending and administrative record. Of course they’re socialist. You lot have been so successful at propagandizing the concept that you’ve made it difficult for anyone who doesn’t worship at the same alter to even have a voice let alone get elected. Such totalitarian strategies are why almost every politician is a socialist, from Helen Klark to John Key and from George Bush to Barack Hussein Obama.
I’m a voice crying out for a turn away from socialism. I’m not alone and even with those who cry out with me we’re definitely a minority, but there are more joining our cause every day as the realities of socialism begin to overtake the propaganda, and people awaken to how they have been lied to and exploited and manipulated. We will win Jafaboy. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not by electing John Key or John McCain. Not perhaps even while you and I are still alive. But in the end we will win, for eventually, truth and right always prevail.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:26 am
aww..!!..ratty..!
‘a man alone’..’crying out’..eh..?
and..a dairy farmer/making money from dairy..are you ratty..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
July 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
can anyone suggest a formula for calculating the actual inflation rate experienced… rather than the published rate.
Simple. Take the headline rate for the prior month and multiply it by 12. That, as specified by Don Brash, will tell you how last month actually felt, and give you a good measuring stick for this month.
On the third hand – inflation can be good for the family! Back in the days when I was running a business, the head of the Brazil office asked if it was OK to move the monthloy pay date to the middle rather than the end of the month. I saw no reason not to, as cash flow was good, so OKs the deal. As a result 29 young people gained employment as maids! It seems that the inflation adjusted interest the guys could make on their salaries in 2 weeks was enough to pay for a maid. I guess if you live in Zim the same deal would get you a rolls royce!
July 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am
“and..a dairy farmer/making money from dairy..are you ratty..?”
Phil, your childlike crusade against dairy farming is not prompted by an real concerns about the “environment”. Its a self induced psychological ploy. You’re attempting to portray yourself as something you are not. Not so much to readers of this blog, but to yourself. This is the only way you find your life bearable. Anything to avoid having to face up to to the fact that you’re a worthless bludger. You attempt to fool yourself that your some white knight crusading against injustice, but you’re not Phil. You’re just a weak selfish and ineffectual low IQ loser who steals from working NZ so that he can live comfortably. That’s reality. You’ll never be able to deal with it Phil, and that is why your posts here will never amount to more than dog shit on the pavement.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:56 am
If you let your dog shit on the pavement then you get fined for it. There’s money in it for someone.
Tramp’s vomit, that’s a better analogy.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I was reading Bob Jone’s “Prosperity denied” the other day. He is very anti the reserve bank act as he claims it is purely a price stability control foisted on us by governments scared of a true free market. He states that it is proven that true free markets are inherently deflationary due to competitive pricing and the demand for more productive technology as a result. All in all I found it very interesting and would love to know his opinion now with regards to the oil price forced inflation of most consumer goods (the book was written in 1996).
July 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
““and..a dairy farmer/making money from dairy..are you ratty..?”
(mm..!!..domestic purposes benefit..luxury..!!
didyaknow they come around and give us backrubs..?)
(yeah..i like ‘tramps’ vomit’ better too..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
July 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Jafa: “Do you really think that politicians can change “the market”?”
Umm, I thought we were all agreed that taxes, institutional structures and other governmental measures can *distort* the operation of the markets. But I’m not sure what the point of your question is, so I’ll leave it there.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
DPF:
“especially by focusing on increasing productivity and havign sensible fiscal and monetrary policy.”
So you advocate a return to Bash’s 1990s monetarism then DPF? i.e. High interest rates, and therefore unemployment, all in the name of low inflation? Is this National’s plan should it come to power?
July 17th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
“But I’m not sure what the point of your question is, so I’ll leave it there.”
Jafaboy, what I think he’s trying to say is that in the end the market will prevail, and all that politicians do when they work to defeat this end is defeat themselves.
Look at the dilemma that the voters find themselves in today after decades of voting for socialism. In the US we have voters wanting to replace George Bush with Barack Obama. in the UK we have the voters wanting to replace Barack Obama with George Bush. In Australia we had George Bush replaced by Barack Obama. In NZ, we see Barack Obama about to be replaced by George Bush. Whats driving all of this political confusion??
I’ll tell you. Voters want change. The problem is they don’t understand what it is they want change from. They merely seek relief. They don’t perceive how slowly and stealthily their culture has been intermingled with the politics of socialism. They think that one socialist will bring them relief from another socialist only because they cannot see through the smoke and mirrors, the illusions that such as you have planted in their minds, and that binds them to delusion and keeps them from reality.
Your problem Jafaboy is an old problem. One that conjurers and mystics and charlatans face have faced over the ages. You can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Eventually, the voters are going to wake up. When Kevin Rudd fails to deliver that change, when John Key fails to deliver that change, when Barack Obama (or John McCain) fails to deliver that change, when David Cameron fails to deliver that change, when all of those who follow on fail to deliver that change, more and more people will come to understand that the change they need is to ditch socialism.
Thats when you and your gangs of power obsessed soviet socialist charlatans and delusionists will finally get the point. It will be the point of the voter’s boot, right up your commie arseholes.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
roger nome: high interest rates, and therefore unemployment, all in the name of low inflation?
Ah yes, the tired old communist drone. If I had a choice I’d take that over what we have now.
High Interest rates. High inflation. And unemployment heading for record levels thanks to the Labour Party’s mismanagement.
Oh, and Redbaiter? Well said. But you won’t convince a socialist of that.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
“Jafaboy, what I think he’s trying to say is that in the end the market will prevail, and all that politicians do when they work to defeat this end is defeat themselves”
Spot on.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Phil’s position on dairy farmers is one of psychotic paranoia which is heightened every time Fonterra’s payout goes up.
However as a self proclaimed vegan this illustrates some internal inconsistency, high dairy prices should stifle demand thereby indirectly helping the poor ignorant masses who know no better than to consume “the foul fat-ridden muck”.
What Phil really wants is for dairy farming to be banned because they make far too much money and cows shit a bit too much for his liking. This is consistent with the inner workings of your typical armchair socialist.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Yeah, well said all through, Redbaiter, score ten nil to you so far………
I hope you’re right about the voters boot up the commie arseholes – eventually. I am still a pessimist on that subject, I think that George Orwell’s analogy of “A boot heel stamping on a human face – for ever” was a frighteningly appropriate description of the way the world is heading. Trouble is, the Socialists have GOT the media and the education institutions, so we are in a cycle of continual scapegoating (“big business”/Christian fundamentalist bigotry”) and “solutions to solutions”, all of which the thick, thick, thick people continue to swallow and no politician with the balls to run counter to it is going to go over Rodney’s 1.5% in the polls. I think that cycle “from bondage to bondage” by Lord Woodehouselee that you posted the other day was correct.
I think that the last remaining hope is the preservation of bastions of freedom SOMEWHERE in the world; say, Texas, the Czech Republic, South Korea; who by sheer superiority of results and outcomes and consequences, can give the lie to the great socialist re-engineering projects that are going on everywhere else……….provided that people get to hear the facts SOMEHOW (obviously NOT from our media and educational institutions).
If there is a lesson in all this, I would say it is that people who “just want to get on with their lives” have remained aloof and uninterested in politics for the last few generations only at the peril of society itself. (While, as John Tamihere pointed out, Leftists spend ALL THEIR TIME and dedicate their whole lives to plotting…….)
July 17th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
And back to the thread topic of inflation, it takes a bunch of died-in-the-wool socialists at the levers of power to turn around the gains of years of sacrifice and prudent economic policy, and give us outright stagflation in its place……….But 25 years ago, there were enough people able to grasp this or be persuaded of it, to give people like Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson a serious crack at doing what needs to be done. The only Party that represents that kind of thinking today is at 1.5% in the polls.
THAT, my friends, is the measure of NZ’s “stuffed-ness”.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
But the Labour Government has contributed significantly to inflation and the price we are paying for that is a doubling in interest rates because Cullen expects monetary policy to do all the heavy lifting on inflation. I refer to the vast increase in red tape adding to costs, the many many increases in taxes costs chargesand levies by the Government, the various add ons to employee costs which have been very very significant and the high levels of low quality spending by the Government.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Ahh the pollies Once upon a time so powerful inside their own fifedom Now mere puppets in the global market place.
And still the bulk of them dont get it. That they are mere pawns in the big game. And they ponce and prattle on whilst the real players just get on with the business.
Face it folks thats the reality No good bleating best to figure out how to make the system work best for you.
If you are a good budgeter fiscally independent and you can control the amount of tax you pay the Gumint and invest in businesses that you purchase goods and services from thereby deriving dividends and capital gains to offset the price increases lifes good.. This was the best bit of advice I got from my dear old now departed Dad Followed it and it works a treat.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Take Cullen’s prepared lines yesterday: “It is important to remember that our economic challenges are not of New Zealand’s making. The global increase in the prices of petrol and food are outside New Zealand’s control.”
That statement is not really accurate. The price of oil is a large contributor to the increasing inflation, but half of the inflation effect of oil is due to the excise tax inflating at the same rate…This feeds through to the cost of producing the food.The fuel component increase of the cost of food production being fifty percent due to escalating excise taxes and GST on fuel.
The tragedy of the recession into which New Zealand is leading the world is not because we have one, that was to be expected, but that we were denied the benefit of the boom times which preceded it through excessive taxation. Taxation which denied us the ability to prepare for or shelter from the effects of recession. CULLEN states that we are well prepared for the recession because the Goverment has got our tax surpluses. His spending as this recession has approached has been reckless and wasteful.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
The real problem after 9 years,
So how much better of would NZ be if we had retained our hard working Aus bound Kiwi families and had ½ the burgeoning Public Service.
In 9 years how many extra hard earning families would be still here, still paying tax and still making NZ a better place.
All the increases in Govt spending has delivered
everythingnothing promised or neededWhen all bleating about Global effects is finished the Govt. still has not delivered back to the taxpayer:
No waiting list Health Care,
Safer Communities
Lower taxation
July 17th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
So how much can the increase in inflation be blamed directly at the government, quite a bit I would say. How many of you townies have had your rates drop over the pass year, sweet stuff all of you I would be picking. Of course these useless gravy suckers would blame their fucking woes on every one else but their own sorry arses. How much has that thieving bastard Sullen stolen over the last nine years, billions. I have heard this prick saying the government is saving for that “rainy day”, news flash arsehole, that rainy day is here. As for the four percent figure, oh fucking please, where do they get these figures from, someone needs new batteries in their calculator, whats the bet it’s a Limbo calculator and doesn’t take into account the funds the thieving bastards take out in taxes and those much loved levies.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
were you above or below the average dairy farmer payout of $770,000+..bloody hands bob..
you extort those poor addicted dairy-fat addicts…
..and you have your hand out for pollution welfare..?
i’d just shut the fuck up..if i were you..eh bloody hands bob..?
you are just another whinging farmer..money spilling out of your range-rover..and your hand out/mouth open..mewling for ‘more gummint money..
and you have the fucken nerve to come here and rail against sole parents..and the like..
..you..bloody hands bob..are thethieving/exploitice/cruel bastard..
..pushing your poisonous muck..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
July 17th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
philu: ..and you have your hand out for pollution welfare..?
Says the man who stands in the queue for his welfare check, pot/P/whatever it is in hand. Nice Phil. Nice.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Some Questions? What has the ruling Parties actually achieved in 9 years of Power?
and I don’t mean silly little pet themes like anti-smacking etc I mean real benefits that the voter can recognise.
What has the Labour party done for the voter to justify its re-election?
What has the Green party done for the voter to justify its re-election?
What has the Winston First party done for the voter to justify its re-election?
What has the United Future party done for the voter to justify its re-election?
Ahem !! What is the Progressive party to justify its re-election?
July 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Some real supernatural ‘faith-based’ commenting on this one (even for KB). Ideologues of all stripes should probably take some time to look here:
http://www.stats.govt.nz/default.htm
July 17th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Its stupid to take the inflation number in isolation from everything else. When petrol prices and food export prices are skyrocketing around the world, if the NZ government of any party wanted to keep inflation within the artificial target they would have to undertake a deflationary policy such as Ruth Richardson did.
There simply wouldnt be any point, it would be inflicting hardship on thousands of people and rather than helping long tem economic development would harm it significantly.
Inflation targets are great servants but very poor masters. When underlying fundamentals relating to global economics point to short term higher inflation, it is stupid to deflate the economy to meet a useful but in the end arbitrary target.
Inflation in March quarter in Australia 1.3% for an annual rate of 4.2%
Inflation in UK in June on annual basis 3.8%
Inflation in US in June on annual basis 5%
Why is it so hard for Mr Espiner to do a minimum of research before spouting doom and disaster. Why do we tolerate such laziness and ignorance from our supposedly top political journalists?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Cullen said: “It is important to remember that our economic challenges are not of New Zealand’s making.
Where New Zealand finds itself today is entirely of its own making. It’s the “she’ll be right”, what’s the government going to provide for me, equality BS that has lead to New Zealand’s economic decline. Time and again voters have put into power governments that lack a vision to move New Zealand forward. Labour’s venal lust for power and complete lack of vision and achievement over the last nine years has been staggering. If voters show no desire to take the necessary action to move the country forward they can hardly be surprised that the country fell from 19 to 22 out of 30 in the OECD during the last nine years of Labour government rule. What a legacy. A gift to the next generation of New Zealanders yet to be born but who will suffer the consequences of this dismal failure of leadership by Clark and the current Labour government.
New Zealander’s really do deserve the economic pain they are suffering right now and will continue to suffer as a result of their willful ignorance.
Suffer the children.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
LOL, the last refuge of the political stooge when defeated on the substantive issues
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? WHY DOES NOONE CARE ABOUT THE CHILDREN?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Labour certainly couldn’t care less about the children otherwise they wouldn’t have created such a poor enfeebled economy for the next generation to make a living from.
The rest of the world marches forward to prosperity while New Zealand is left behind.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
“The rest of the world marches forward to prosperity while New Zealand is left behind.”
Has One Network News stopped showing international news entirely now then? Sports news swallowing it all up?
July 18th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Wait until the RB moves rates down and the $ devalues pushing up gas and oil prices and milkfat etc.
Thats should be around the start of the election campaign in august.
Hehe, reminds me of an old PC game Interstate 76, with its great commentary if you fail to “save the school bus from the baddies” – ‘oh my god, the children are burning!’ Only in this case it will be ‘oh my god, the voters are burning us’ (labour).
July 18th, 2008 at 10:05 am
# natural party of govt (391) Add karma Subtract karma –3 Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
“LOL, the last refuge of the political stooge when defeated on the substantive issues
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? WHY DOES NOONE CARE ABOUT THE CHILDREN?”
Yeah, what about some minimum standards for people who bring children into the world, like, having a father who will be there, having a source of income and the dignity of self-support, having a home free of crime and sleaze, etc, etc, etc……..
Oh, silly me, mustn’t “beat up on” solo mums or the poor and disadvantaged, mustn’t spread medieval fundamentalist bigotry and hate speech, sorry! sorry! sorry! pleeeze call off your human rights kommissars, I promise to be a good little PC brainwashee in future…..
July 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Philu, normanlly I wouldn’t bother to reply as you usually have your eyes clouded over in a red haze of anger. I believe you have me confused with some other poster. Your comment “and you have the fucking nerve to come on here and rail against sole parents…and the like….” Please post a time and date of any post I have put on Kiwiblog in which I have picked on solo parents, yourself included. You are losing the plot man!!!! and I have never said anything about you being a solo parent. I think you lost the plot a few weeks ago when someone posted after my post giving you a hard time about being a solo beneficiary and having no problem taking the benefit off the taxpayers ( farmers were mentioned ), you of course were calling me a polluting arsehole or something of that nature.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
bloody-hands-bob..
i used the words..’sole parents..and the like.’
..’and the like’..being the ‘key’ words in that sentence..
..i accept you have not said ‘sole parents..
..but there’s beenahell of a lot of ..’and the like’..
..hasn’t there..
btw..how about answering the ‘pollution-welfare’/price extortion questions.?
no..?
no answers then..?
we’ll just wait for your next outburst of ‘and the like’..
shall we..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)