Goff says axe 2025 taskforce
The Herald reports:
The 2025 Taskforce set up to find ways to catch up with Australia’s economic growth should be scrapped, Labour Leader Phil Goff says.
Mr Goff said today it had a budget of $447,000 over three years and had so far cost $150,000.
“The taskforce’s first report was a complete and utter waste of money,” he said.
“Why give your mates $447,000 to cook up something you say you’re not going to do … dump this soapbox for ACT and Dr Brash and save the taxpayer the unspent $330,000.”
This is a classic case of thinking tactically, not strategically. The last thing Labour should want is the taskforce wound up. Why?
It will exist for three years, issuing further reports and monitoring the Government’s progress.
If the Government does not act on any of the taskforce’s recommendations, then you are going to have this taskforce, headed up by National’s former leader, issuing damning reports about how the Government is failing to close the gap with Australia.
Goff shouldn’t be demanding the taskforce be closed down. If he was smart, he’d be offering to pay its bills himself. He really needs to start thinking strategically.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
(Gulp) I agree with you DPF.
The charade should be continued for the next couple of years so that Brash and co can continue to scare the bejeebers out of the country.
Good thought.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
No.
This way he gets to say told you so (as he knows he won’t be listened to) – 1/2 a million dollars for nothing… Good timing for the election…
Your strategy implies that the general public thinks Dr Brash and co. have credibility, when they quite clearly don’t. It also would need Goff to endorse the specifics of Brash’s criticisms for it to be a meaningful strategy – can’t see that being a vote winner either…
[DPF: Hardcore lefties think Don has no credibility. They forget he doubled National's vote from 21% to 39%, and almost toppled Helen Clark]
December 4th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I think he’s played this one right, politically. If the Government does wind it up, it will look like it’s caving in to Labour pressure. As a reflex, the Government is likely to do the opposite to what Goff says, ending up with the scenario you describe above. Either way, Goff comes out fine; either he gets to say “I told you so” or it looks like the Government has done what he said.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Phil Goff isn’t fit to lick Sir Don Brash’s boots.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Government isnt going to wind it up – its part of its coalition agreement with Act.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Goff hasn’t got enough time left as leader to think strategically.
I think there’s a Roy Morgan poll due out today. What’s half of four and a half percent?
December 4th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
[DPF: Hardcore lefties think Don has no credibility. They forget he doubled National's vote from 21% to 39%, and almost toppled Helen Clark]
I think Labour bled most of that themselves. You could as easily surmise that someone other than Brash would have achieved the toppling. I was certainly keen on him not winning. The 2025 report makes me think it I was right.
December 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
the problem with brash is that he is still in a state of total deniial over the fact that three decades + of his freemarket-bullshit..
..have got us/the planet where we are now..
even when his economic guru..the man brash was mini-me to..alan greenspan..
has admitted his economic worldview/policies..based on those same ideologies brash is still trying to peddle..
..is/was..in his word..’wrong’..
why has brash no yet grappled with that fact..?
and why is he still trying to flog that poisoned snake-oil..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
tho’ i do agree that he is a potent symbol for the rest of us ..
..of how ‘wrong’ the likes of brash/act are..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Well if they do axe it then Goff wins ( I told you so), if they dont and ignore the advice, Goff wins ( what about the broken matching Australia promise.)
As you would say win win for Labour.
Plus its an example of ‘Nationals ‘waste’ . Expect to see more of this !! ( ie learn from your critics success in 2008).
Nice try to push back onto Labour over something even you think has been a balls up.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Goff couldnt run a piss up in a brewery!
I am all for a report that puts forward a number of factual needed strategies, the odd strategy that needs some work, even if it is directed at passing Australia in 2025…
We need to take on board the vast majority of these strategies in the report to just survive as a country and not wind up bankrupt….
I mean we were handed a country that is more or less bankrupt from the decade of the Left in power, as soon as the Left have some acceptance of this, we are half way there………. It is so similar to many businesses working there way though this global recession, anyone could look good in a company in the last decade of boom times, looking at the idiots in companies now……. Hulun Clark and Clown Pants Cullen couldnt manage a job in a company…..
December 4th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
SAM says “Your strategy implies that the general public thinks Dr Brash and co. have credibility, when they quite clearly don’t. ”
I think the Investing Public at least will have considerable respect for Don BRASH Sam. The Kiwisaver Fund he leads together with John BANKS is far and away the most successful in New Zealand during the past recessionary year….I certainly think that gives him some credibility.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
“..I mean we were handed a country that is more or less bankrupt from the decade of the Left in power..”
no whafe…
we ‘were handed a country that is more or less bankrupt’..from the three + decades of the rightwing/freemarket experiment..
that is what needs to be undone/repaired..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Firstly, cant believe I am replying to philu….
Anyway, if I was to slightly agree with you on your thoughts philu, if your Leftie buddies couldnt fix up three + decades of experiment in the last decade of boom, they should be doubly ashamed of the last decade they have had….. Seriously wake up, can you take an honest word and say that the spending of the left in the few years prior to the election has been responsible?
December 4th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Aww cmon DPF.
Key has employed National’s ex leader to provide ‘damning reports’ on the Govt? And Goff could benefit from them?
…So transparent it’s patronizing.
As if the “Taskforce” was ever going to be telling the Govt things it didn’t already know. Key and English hardly need economics tutoring do they?
Why does the Govt want Brash whining publicly for years about National not being radical enough? To spin the debate toward the right?
Goff’s calling it for what it is.
December 4th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
backster – don’t be foolish enough to conflate the investing public with the (much less informed) general public… There are a range of ‘beltways’ that you have to take into account…
December 4th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
“..they should be doubly ashamed of the last decade they have had….. ”
i agree…which only compounds why goff must go..
“..Seriously wake up, can you take an honest word and say that the spending of the left in the few years prior to the election has been responsible?..”
as in families earning 70+ grand..getting ‘working for families’…?
while the poorest/worst-off are just left to rot..?
i agree..
totally ‘irresponsible’..
(and of course..during those decades…the incomes of mp’s etc..escalated expotentially..)
yes..!
they should all be fucken forced to wear sackcloth and ashes..
just..’more of the same’..
is light years from any ’solutions’..
(aside from that..your point..?..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I disagree. For once I actually think it’s is a pretty good move by Goff lately.
If Key may have been considering calling off the task force, he cannot do it now, as it would hand Goff too muc of a win. It only puts him into a position where he must continue with the task force, but doesn’t heed their recommendations and thus ensuring that it will be a thorn it the governments side.
And Goff can continue to criticize Brash and Key at the same time.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
DPF – Don’t be superficial enough to judge my observation as a statement of political values – we don’t all have to be so partisan in our commentary. After 340 or so comments you should realise that I am no hardcore lefty – I simply call it as I see it, and I see Don Brash as an easy target to scare the general public with. Your point belongs well in the past, and Brash’s legacy – in the public – is forever tainted with EB, his affair, and a general association with ‘big money’. Few will actually remember how he almost became our PM. Now that might be unjustified, and it may ignore the valid point you raise, but the ‘fact’ remains. It is more of a media construct (I think), than anything to do with any form of ‘truth’… if you say something is true enough times, it becomes the truth… and all that…
December 4th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Goff is probably thinking he’ll get a rise in the polls and he probably will.
He’s a poll-driven fruitcake, like Hulun.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
“If Key may have been considering calling off the task force, he cannot do it now…”
What makes you think he was considering it, eszett? He’s re-educating the public in a non-threatening way. How do you eat an elephant? Slice by slice.
Key knows what the right thing to do is. You don’t spend 20 years in banking without understanding what makes an economy hum and what doesn’t. He’s dealing however with an unbelievably stupid and biased media where but a very few and I can only think of Andrew Patterson from RadioLive and Fran Sullivan, actually understand business. The rest don’t. It’s unbelievable.
Secondly he’s dealing with an incredibly economically naive electorate. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough people here to have a robust national debate on economics like they do overseas, where they have well-resourced heavyweights prepared to come in and educate the great unwashed in a little thing called reality.
Thirdly, this naive electorate has just had nine years of incredibly clever socialist brainwashing, which didn’t come to disaster only because the execrable reign ended just when the shit hit the fan, so the naive masses now think that socialism wasn’t too bad.
That’s a fucking big road to hoe, and Key knows it. He’s not an idiot.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
The taskforce is useful. It provides one end of the spectrum and allows National to sit somewhere between them and the Labour Party the other end. I think the public will be happy with that. The Taskforce did not really really say why we are falling behind. We are trying to build our economy on Agriculture commodity based exports with a few other things flung in. WE have our major dairy exporter not able to raise capital because its current shareholders will not let it. We have our mineral wealth tied up under conservation land. We have a welfare system that rewards the lazy and the promiscuous.
December 4th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
reid..from the tone/tenor of yr words..
it is obvious you have not yet seen/digested the recant/mea/culpa from alan greenspan..eh..?
where he admits he was/is/got it all ‘wrong’..?
with his admission the economic crash being the irrefutable confirmation of that ‘wrong’..
you really should seek it out..eh..?
‘cos..y’know..!..if the architect is saying it’s a leaky building..
it’s looks a bit dodgy to be still trying to flog it/hawk it around..
..saying it is watertight..eh..?
(it cd effect yr ‘credibility’..eh..?..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
(oh..!..and far be it for me to be a linguistic-pedant..eh..?
but how many ‘roads’ have you seen ‘hoe’d..?..
and why would you..?
i think ‘row’ is the word you were grasping for..)
December 4th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Ahhh life is good with RIP, day three of no unreadable content-free full-stop abuse. Says 23 responses, I only see 18. Pretty soon the bludger will be wondering why no one responds to his meaningless shrieks . Just like his own blog…
December 4th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Remind me how much change there will be when Labour pays its $880,000 for the ledge cards?
December 4th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
phil, Greenspan was not the architect, he was the lackey.
He (IMO deliberately under instruction, for it was very forseeable to anyone let alone those with access to date not available on the web) drove the US economy into the ground. The fact he was able to do that, does not mean the vehicle wasn’t operating correctly at the time.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
fascinating..!..reid..!
do tell more..!
i’m on the edge of my seat..!
who exactly was ‘instructing’ him..?
and are you attempting a new benchmark in hindsight..?..with this:..
‘.for it was very forseeable to anyone let alone those with access to date not available on the web) drove the US economy into the ground..”
really..?
so you agree/d with the economic doom/gloom stories i have been linking to since early august 2006..?..then..?
but reid..who is/was ‘the architect’..?..if not greenspan..?
and what is brash..?
if not a mini-me of alan ‘i was wrong’ greenspan..?
and this one..?
“..The fact he was able to do that, does not mean the vehicle wasn’t operating correctly at the time…”
i mean..w.t.f..!
please explain..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
“the problem with brash is that he is still in a state of total deniial over the fact that three decades + of his freemarket-bullshit..”
If you repeat a lie enough times someone might believe you.
You could argue that Brash’s ideas were tried for maybe four years under Labour (‘84 – ‘88) and maybe three years under National (‘90 – ‘93).
The other 23 of the last 30 years were big government as usual.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
But I think the electorate is looking for something different to move forward with. Brash doesn’t represent new or fresh.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
bruce..
where is the lie.?
for three + decades we have had this freemarket-experiment..
started by douglas-labour..continued/expanded under national..
and brash has..both in and out of power-roles..
been one of the main architects/executors of those ‘wrong’ policies..
as i said..
where is the ‘lie’..?
(n.b..oz did not do that experiment..
they got rich..
we got poor..
duh..!..eh..?
‘more of the same..!’..eh..?
just to see if that hot element still burns..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
‘That’s a fucking big road to hoe, and Key knows it. He’s not an idiot.”
I’ll also grant you he’s a bloody good impersonator.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Phil, you weren’t actually the first canary in the mine. Sorry to say.
I saw this coming before you and was telling my work colleagues about it. I blogged here on it on the extremely rare occasion there were any threads on it. I don’t care if you believe me or not, but it’s true. I’ve never wanted to claim first dibs, I realise that’s important to you, but believe me phil, I saw it coming a long time before 2006.
You seem to imagine because I’m a Hayek fan that I’m therefore a fan of the way his theories are implemented. Please use your obvious intelligence to discern the difference.
Just because the theory is correct, doesn’t mean it will work in practice when poorly implemented. How long has it taken to improve the internal combustion engine? Does that mean that Benz was wrong when he invented it?
Re: Greenspans “instructions,” I can’t believe you’re so disingenuous. He was the Fed Governor. Who, phil, was he working for if not the private shareholders of the Fed? You know this. Don’t you? Don’t disappoint me by pleading ignorance of the Fed, FFS.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
“..Just because the theory is correct, doesn’t mean it will work in practice when poorly implemented…”
mm!!…ever heard of marxism..?
similar problems there..
and i am not claiming any ‘i said it first’ dibs..
i just saw/listened to others saying it..reasonably early on..
and btw..farrar did no stories on it..despite receiving those warnings since aug 2006..
he just followed the official national party pre-election line in bullshit/spin..
..’the recession will be over after xmas; (08)..
the point is..the freemarket/survival/prosperity of the fittest…
is so so ‘wrong’..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
so reid..
whio was/is brash ‘working for’..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
“whio was/is brash ‘working for’..?”
The thing that lefties don’t seem or admit to seeing phil, is that Don is an ‘old-school’ man of integrity.
Young lefties laugh at him for being geeky and old lefties give every impression they think he’s one of the people they’ve seen in the history books of the 20’s where the fat top-hatted banker greedily gathered wads of money.
Every single impression I’ve ever had of Don Brash has been of someone of faith, of integrity, of honour.
The media laughed at him for washing his socks in the hotel sink when he was RB governor. No-one in the media acknowledged the only possible truth behind that act which was he was simply saving we taxpayers money by avoiding expensive hotel cleaning bills.
No-one.
That to me speaks volumes of the misunderstanding of the public perception of this fine man.
It also speaks volumes of the man himself, for in that simple act which no doubt was repeated many unspoken unheard times, he made unseen contributions to the wealth of this country.
Now how phil can people like you who constantly deride him as a selfish hard-hearted racist arsehole, reconcile that. For what a man does in secret, so he truly is.
Fact is, to me, despite his marital issues and that’s private and says nothing about his political integrity, he would have been a great PM. To me, he has more integrity in one skin cell than the entire 5th Liarbore Cabinet did throughout its execrable reign of lies, deceipt and cynical manipulation of the useful idiots that infest this country.
“and btw..farrar did no stories on it..despite receiving those warnings since aug 2006..”
Yes, I know phil, that’s why I never posted on it. Out of courtesy.
December 4th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
“..he was simply saving we taxpayers money by avoiding expensive hotel cleaning bills..”
yes..i read that as old school thrift..
“..hard-hearted racist arsehole..”
well..yes..he does advocate the tearing away of social support from the poorest/weakest..
so that’s the ‘hardhearted’ confirmed..
and ‘iwi-kiwi’/orewa-speech..?..anyone..?
and that conforms the ‘racist’..
(or..if not racist..deeply cynical/manipulative in the playing of the race card..
which is preferable to you..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 4th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
no, he advocates removing support from those who are capable of supporting themselves, and why not?
phil, phil, phil, phil, phil.
How could you buy into the MSM/MP/Liarbore lefty spin that Brash was saying something other than all people are equal? I mean it’s like agreeing with the village yokel in the national idiot of the year competition.
Seriously.
I bet you haven’t even read the speech.
December 4th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
it’s always take away from the poorest..
and give more to the rich..
eh reid..?
and c’mon..!..
brash..at the behest of his advisors(mccully/w.h.y..or whatever..?
played the race card for all it’s worth..
it is what defines him/his time as national party leader..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
December 5th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Tell me this isn’t a problem…
If we were a state of a combined US, Canada, Australia and NZ, look where we’d come for average annual wages.
(2008 GDP per capita in $NZ, purchasing power parity).
1. District of Columbia – $254,985
2. Northwest Territories – $147,343
3. Delaware – $109,903
4. Alaska – $108,349
5. Wyoming – $102,883
6. Alberta – $102,201
7. Connecticut – $95,823
8. New York – $91,134
9. Massachusetts – $87,175
10. New Jersey – $84,893
11. Virginia – $79,313
12. Saskatchewan – $79,060
13. Nevada – $78,332
14. Louisiana – $78,190
15. Minnesota – $78,143
16. Colorado – $78,111
17. Texas – $78,056
18. California – $77,977
19. Newfoundland and Labrador – $77,932
20. Western Australia – $77,109
21. Hawaii – $76,920
22. Washington – $76,491
23. Illinois – $76,230
24. Northern Territory – $75,687
25. North Dakota – $75,503
26. Maryland – $75,301
27. Nebraska – $72,467
28. Yukon – $72,325
UNITED STATES – $72,308
29. ACT – $72,253
30. South Dakota – $71,327
31. New Hampshire – $70,777
32. Iowa – $70,143
33. Rhode Island – $69,956
34. Pennsylvania – $68,983
35. Kansas – $67,977
36. North Carolina – $67,346
37. Wisconsin – $66,302
38. Oregon – $66,162
39. Nunavut – $63,968
40. Georgia – $63,734
41. Ohio – $63,711
42. Vermont – $63,558
43. Florida – $63,010
44. Tennessee – $62,963
45. New Mexico – $62,493
46. Missouri – $62,430
47. Oklahoma – $62,401
48. Utah – $62,261
49. Indiana – $62,029
CANADA – $60,580
50. Arizona – $59,425
51. Michigan – $59,350
52. Maine – $58,603
53. Montana – $57,577
54. Ontario – $57,336
55. British Columbia – $56,971
56. Kentucky – $56,869
57. Alabama – $56,599
AUSTRALIA – $56,012
58. New South Wales – $54,292
59. South Carolina – $54,178
60. Idaho – $53,722
61. Victoria – $53,586
62. Arkansas – $53,447
63. Manitoba – $53,181
64. Queensland – $53,086
65. West Virginia – $52,734
66. Quebec – $49,183
67. Mississippi – $48,472
68. South Australia – $48,318
69. New Brunswick – $46,229
70. Nova Scotia – $46,058
71. Tasmania – $44,993
72. NEW ZEALAND – $42,019
73. Prince Edward Island – $41,825
Dear Nats: what is your ambitious strategy for keeping New Zealand ahead of Prince Edward Island?
(In fact, the 2009 figures may show they’ve already overtaken us.)
December 5th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Zombie economics indeed.
But hey, if you’ve been living under a rock aka Reid you wouldn’t have a clue.
http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2009/12/04/zombie-economics/#more-8102
December 5th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Brash is only talking about taking spending back to 2005 levels. Then we could afford a top tax rate of 20%.
Were you unhappy with the level of Labour’s spending in 2005?