- When National came to office net government debt was 1% of GDP. It’s now 20%.
- National has borrowed $36 billion in two and a half years. That’s $55 million per weekday.
- The government’s credit rating is now on negative outlook. It’s the first time since 1998 we’ve been on negative outlook.
- GDP per capita has fallen 2% since National came to power. Remember, the recession officially ended in March 2009 – the first quarter National was in power.
To those facts you could add the following:
- There are still quarter of a million jobless.
- Unemployment remains at 6.5%, whereas Labour kept it under 4%.
- There are 3 times as many people on the dole now as when National came to power.
- Emigration to Australia is at record levels.
- Inflation is running at 5.3% while wages are rising at 1.9%.
- Business credit has fallen by 10% while mortgage debt has risen 6%.
- the median household income has fallen 2%. For Maori,the fall is 8%, and Pacific Islanders 16%.
20 comments:
It's a wonder Southlanders keep voting for him
Standard post, Rg. You could do better - like an in depth analysis of why these figures are the way they are.
No finance minister can change in two and a half years the mess Bill inherited from The Doctor. And this mess created during a time of plenty the like of which we rarely see, and to have it compounded by a financial crisis the like of which we would rather not see. I understand the intentions of the good Doctor, but to fail to recognise the danger of not having in place an escape route when condition change suddenly - some say he did have an escape route - leave the ship! - is culpable.
To blame "bill" for this is dillusionment extreme.
What fredinthegrass said.
Typical of the Substandard not to note the reason why we are in this position with the huge amount of debt is due to National continuing Liabours disgraceful policies.
Paranormal
"When National came to office net government debt was 1% of GDP. It’s now 20%."
Is this claim not correct then Fred?
Paranormal - if the situation we are in now is, as you say, the result of National doing as Labour did, then are National not entirely responsible?
Thank you for the education about the economic situation, i was pretty ignorant about these matters, but the economic climate has put the pressure on me to understand what the heck is going on?
I used to know a guy we called "Brown Arm" it was because he was a real shit stirrer!
Absolutely Robert, National are wholly responsible for being stupid enough to follow Labour policy.
Similarly the Substandard have no reason to crow when we would be worse off if their lot were still running the show. Admittedly not much worse off but certainly deeper in debt.
Paranormal
The Standard (you do love to demean others with a mocking title paranormal!) oughtn't to 'crow' about the present situation, but they are right to describe it, especially in the face of claims to the contrary from National.
You are a Hypocrite Robert. You can hardly complain about use of the term 'Substandard' when you have been talking about "Mad Monckton"!
Farmer Baby Boomer - that's exactly right, I do use irritating titles when I want to irritate some people. I also listen when someone charges me with it. I'm wondering if paranormal is trying to irritate and whether he will do as I do when challenged for it, consider its value. Hypocrisy? I don't think so FBB.
Fred - your 'Doctor' may have created a 'mess' as you describe (many would argue that your claim is wrong but for the sake of argument) but English and Key have had a fair stretch to sort it out. The reverse seems to be the case. The examples given show that either they have entirely failed (see paranormals view) or that they are not effective at doing what they promised to do. This performance is very poor! Even the financial commentators seem most unimpressed. Key is widely held to be a financial whiz but these results look more like those from someone who doesn't 'get' it. A good manager would thrive in any circumstance, and that's not what's happening. You are relying on excuses to explain away poor performance here (it's the previous manager, it's the global situation) Key and English weren't favoured at the election on the grounds that they'd 'do okay', they were expected to do blazingly well. There performance is a dull ember by comparison with that expectation. The borrowing! The debt! Nothing but down-sliding and aspirational jabber.
Coincidence! I used to know a guy called Nicko and he had a brown arm!
I guess I will have to admit to being a little concerned at the govts results so far but I stand firm on challenging the degree you adhere to on the progress.
However I believe your day relieving must have been than expected for you seem quite relaxed!!
Of course the GDP figures you quote are retrospective and thus are of limited value in supporting your 'message'. Which then tends to weaken your whole argument - IMHO
That you are 'a little concerned' about National's record to date is encouraging Fred and I'll not push the point any further.
My day relieving was something of a revelation. It's been some time since I fronted a class daily and my new roles have given me an opportunity to think my liberally about a lot of things, especially authority, meaning I'm not the dictator I once was :-) Consequently, my teaching experiences are more buoyant and the responses more fun. Today, I took a year 9 class for their first 'Sexuality' lesson and while the topic was a safe 'how do you ask someone for a date', I had a very rewarding and engaging time hearing their views and helping them see the situations from both sides of the gender divide. Most interesting to me was the question of who suffers most from rejection, boys or girls. Both sides believed it was theirs that hurt most. The girls though, were astonished that the boys could suffer from rejection, so casual and off-hand they always appear (apparently). So I'm not exhausted by the day. At all.
Did maths too. And English. PE and duty. The air outside was very chilly!
How is Bill English doing? Depends who is asking. Maybe we should ask the lenders?
Who will pay Bill's bill?
In the classroom I suspect you are like Bruce Beetham. Several of our numerous daughters had the pleasure of Bruce in the classroom. Like him you would seem to provide an open, unbiased look at whatever the topic might be - refreshing says my retired teacher wife!
Isn't it rewarding to see the young respond to the challenge of 'learning' life lessons.
Makes a change from battling SE !!??
I was amazed to see how motivated they were in a subject that is real and immediate to them. I shouldn't have been surprised really, as I've long held that education/leaning/teaching works best at that point. Having laboured for years to teach boys from age 5 up, to read, I've seen those who made glacial progress suddenly master the art as soon as they realised they needed to be able to read the road code in order to get their license. The trick is identifying what material matches the student at any particular moment. Often, they'll tell you if you listen.
The slavish pattern of following international economic trends is disturbing and disappointing. English's claim - 'we didn't see it coming' (regarding economic downturn) was either a lie or vacuous ignorance. Either way, unacceptable.
The global trend of government financed, well, everything, is an elephant that is tipping the room on end. The left and the right (or call them the the new left) are fussing over the furniture as it slips about.
On the horizon is massive turmoil in the global markets and national economies as the ponzi scheme of fiat currencies, Keynesian economics and massive government intervention are exposed to the analysis of actual results - and real wealth has already started to flee.
The US (and many other countries) will continue to argue over the furniture - who should get what taken from from whom, who gets favour, and how the table should be laid. Rather they should realise that they are simply no good at any of the things they feel they ought to do, and hand responsibility - and the furniture - back to the people.
And then focus on their only real function, protection of that private property & property rights, and the the freedom and safety of its citizens.
The countries must either default, or pay their way by printing new money - neither of which are particularly palatable. The collapses should have been allowed to happen when they started, allowing a real rebuild to begin.
Printing money punishes anyone with savings as this devalues the currency and leads to real inflation.
Or there is the option to do the thing which takes real guts, and revert to a gold standard.
And we slavishly follow...
So what did li'l old NZ do?
What should we do next?
What will Bill do?
What would the Greens do?
lol - word verification is 'troter'.
I'm with Shane, so far as I understand his analysis. Your solution though Shane, is less clear, from what you've written there, however previous comments from you show the general direction you'd like the country/world to take. Any chance you'll ever get your wish?
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