Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over & over that he saved "lives and livelihoods". As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently.
NZ now ranks as one of the slowest growing economies in the world, unemployment is rising and inflation has been galloping away for years now, over half of which is home-grown - not from external factors. The country is bogged down in a debt spiral due to on-going structural deficits which have led the new Coalition to cut back on spending, threatening the development of infrastructure, as well as the strength of our health and education systems.
As for NZ's long-run health record, let's update the graphs we first posted nearly two years ago. Economists like to control for factors like geography when working out the true effect of different policies, like New Zealand's one toward the Covid. Maybe much of our claimed "success" was simply due to being an island far away from the rest of the world. Below is the cumulative number of Covid deaths per million for all countries in Oceania, which includes Australia, NZ, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuata, Papa New Guinea, Nauru, American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Pitcairn, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna, and the "United States Outlying Islands":
Click to view
The lines crossed a few months ago - not that it was ever reported in the Main Stream Media - so that now we have more deaths per million than the average of those 26 Oceania countries. As for the total number of cases, which if you believe in Long Covid, is a statistic we should be very concerned about, it looks like the following:
Click to view
Gosh, we're off the charts worse. What do these graphs tell me? That the line folks like Hipkins & Robertson used that they saved "lives and livelihoods" is political rhetoric. It's not at all clear where the truth lies - in the fullness of time, it may well turn out that our Covid response was an unmitigated disaster for the country, in terms on both health and economic outcomes. What concerns me the most is that somehow out of that response NZ lost its mojo to the extent that a galaxy of the most talented young Kiwis now want to flee abroad.
As for NZ's long-run health record, let's update the graphs we first posted nearly two years ago. Economists like to control for factors like geography when working out the true effect of different policies, like New Zealand's one toward the Covid. Maybe much of our claimed "success" was simply due to being an island far away from the rest of the world. Below is the cumulative number of Covid deaths per million for all countries in Oceania, which includes Australia, NZ, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuata, Papa New Guinea, Nauru, American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Pitcairn, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna, and the "United States Outlying Islands":
Click to view
The lines crossed a few months ago - not that it was ever reported in the Main Stream Media - so that now we have more deaths per million than the average of those 26 Oceania countries. As for the total number of cases, which if you believe in Long Covid, is a statistic we should be very concerned about, it looks like the following:
Click to view
Gosh, we're off the charts worse. What do these graphs tell me? That the line folks like Hipkins & Robertson used that they saved "lives and livelihoods" is political rhetoric. It's not at all clear where the truth lies - in the fullness of time, it may well turn out that our Covid response was an unmitigated disaster for the country, in terms on both health and economic outcomes. What concerns me the most is that somehow out of that response NZ lost its mojo to the extent that a galaxy of the most talented young Kiwis now want to flee abroad.
6 comments:
No surprise.
Yet despite this evidence, a dangerously high number of the sheeple will continue to believe the lies spun by Labour .....
Will people ever wake up?
When Germany surrendered to the allies in 1945 was the head of broadcasting, Joseph Goebbels, given permission to continue poisoning the masses with propaganda and fiction? We know the answer to that, so why do we allow the last destructive Govt’s bribed cheerleaders to continue attacking our democratically elected coalition with their own twisted version of the truth?
The definition of democracy – two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for dinner.
“Inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds expression in the anonymity of the Corporate State. It purports to cherish democracy, patriotism, and the Constitution while manipulating internal levers.” ― Chris Hedges , Empire of Illusion:
' A lie can circle the globe before the truth has put on its boots.'
I think the other factor is that politicians managed to use the god image people have of their friendly doctor to their advantage.
Surely these most trusted, caring and intelligent members of society, family doctors, who have previously saved them from all sorts of frightening diseases and injuries wouldn't align themselves with nasty globalists through politicians who are focused on power,control and money. It isn't possible. Is it ?
There is also the belief that' Medicine 'is a solid science totally founded in evidence based research.
Certainly confronting, but such does have to be considered in the light of relative recording/reporting measures. Our Govt's actions certainly deserve scrutiny and that inquiry absolutely needs to look at a lot more than was originally proposed. Economically speaking it was a disaster. Hopefully, in regards its health efficacy, the truth will out.
Certainly confronting, but such does have to be considered in the light of the possible comparative differences in the recording/reporting measures. Our actions certainly deserve more scrutiny and the Covid inquiry absolutely needs to look at a lot more than was originally proposed.
Economically speaking it was a disaster. Hopefully, in regards its health efficacy, the truth will also out?
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