Its good to know politicians read this Blog, so much so they're now copying whole chunks of it into their State of the Nation addresses. At least you know, should you wish to learn about the State of the Nation, you can get it here before it appears in Parliament, the Main Stream Media & politicians pronouncements. You may even be able to make a buck trading on it since you will be the first to hear. Where's the evidence? After lambasting protestors outside his venue in Christchurch, Winston Peters began his speech on Sunday 23 March with:
"So lets reflect on our economy and what we inherited as we came into government after October 2023. In September of that year, one month before the election, Chris Hipkins was the Prime Minister and Grant Roberston was the Minister of Finance. The following is what they reported on the New Zealand Economy - to you the New Zealand people:
Their September 2023 pre-election economic and fiscal update (commonly referred to as the PREFU) claimed this: That the economy shows no recession, a growing economy, more jobs, and wages ahead of inflation. They said, and we quote “the PREFU released today shows New Zealand’s economy is turning the corner”.
They said that the economy was to grow by 2.6% on average over the forecast period. They claimed further that fiscal rules had been met. That there was a return to surplus. And then this most extraordinary of all boasts - “our economic plan to support New Zealanders dealing with the cost of living while investing in a stronger, more resilient and inclusive economy, is working”.
.. Within six months of that litany of lies, our country was suffering from the deepest and longest economic downturn and recessionary retraction for over three decades. There were fewer jobs, none of the previous government’s claims of abiding by its fiscal rules were true, and as we all know we were experiencing a worsening cost of living crisis.
.. six months after the last election, nearly every economic outcome was the responsibility of the previous government. That’s a fact. Because the new current government had no time for its policies to even bed-in or change either the numbers or outcomes.
In short, almost all of the slump - and the pain - is directly the result of the work of Hipkins and Robertson. They cannot deny that. .. That the very person [Hipkins] whose actions were so unforgiveable, and the economic and social damage so widespread, now expects you all to believe, that if given the chance, you could trust him to do something different".
Meanwhile last Friday 20 March, before Winston's Speech DownToEarth.Kiwi Blogged:
"Before the election toward the end of 2023, in September of that year, when Hipkins was PM & Mr Grant Robertson (BA) - now VC of Otago - were running the show, this is how they reported on the NZ economy.
"The Pre-election Economic & Fiscal Update (PREFU) shows no recession, a growing economy, more jobs & wages ahead of inflation. The PREFU released today shows NZ’s economy is turning the corner
.. Economy to grow 2.6 percent on average over forecast period .. Fiscal Rules met - return to surplus .. Our economic plan to support NZ'ers dealing with the cost of living while investing in building a stronger, more resilient & inclusive economy is working".
Just over six months later, NZ was experiencing a combination of its deepest & longest economic downturn and recessionary contraction for over 30 years, with less jobs, with none of its fiscal rules having been met and a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
.. Given it takes over six months to a year for nearly every economic policy change to work its way into the numbers and outcomes, the vast majority of the slump this past year is directly attributable to those two men
.. My reading of the situation is that what Labour's Hipkins did was so unforgiveable, the economic and social carnage he wrought so long-lasting, that he should not even be in contention, whatever National's faults".
Now I know what its like to feel like Eminem, who successfully sued The National Party in 2017 for using one of his tracks. It was later reported that, "The National Party has been found guilty of breaching copyright by using Eminem's track Lose Yourself for a 2014 election ad and must pay $600,000". Shouldn't we receive some royalties? I promise to forgive Winston provided he buys me a drink & hires me as his part-time speech writer.
Their September 2023 pre-election economic and fiscal update (commonly referred to as the PREFU) claimed this: That the economy shows no recession, a growing economy, more jobs, and wages ahead of inflation. They said, and we quote “the PREFU released today shows New Zealand’s economy is turning the corner”.
They said that the economy was to grow by 2.6% on average over the forecast period. They claimed further that fiscal rules had been met. That there was a return to surplus. And then this most extraordinary of all boasts - “our economic plan to support New Zealanders dealing with the cost of living while investing in a stronger, more resilient and inclusive economy, is working”.
.. Within six months of that litany of lies, our country was suffering from the deepest and longest economic downturn and recessionary retraction for over three decades. There were fewer jobs, none of the previous government’s claims of abiding by its fiscal rules were true, and as we all know we were experiencing a worsening cost of living crisis.
.. six months after the last election, nearly every economic outcome was the responsibility of the previous government. That’s a fact. Because the new current government had no time for its policies to even bed-in or change either the numbers or outcomes.
In short, almost all of the slump - and the pain - is directly the result of the work of Hipkins and Robertson. They cannot deny that. .. That the very person [Hipkins] whose actions were so unforgiveable, and the economic and social damage so widespread, now expects you all to believe, that if given the chance, you could trust him to do something different".
Meanwhile last Friday 20 March, before Winston's Speech DownToEarth.Kiwi Blogged:
"Before the election toward the end of 2023, in September of that year, when Hipkins was PM & Mr Grant Robertson (BA) - now VC of Otago - were running the show, this is how they reported on the NZ economy.
"The Pre-election Economic & Fiscal Update (PREFU) shows no recession, a growing economy, more jobs & wages ahead of inflation. The PREFU released today shows NZ’s economy is turning the corner
.. Economy to grow 2.6 percent on average over forecast period .. Fiscal Rules met - return to surplus .. Our economic plan to support NZ'ers dealing with the cost of living while investing in building a stronger, more resilient & inclusive economy is working".
Just over six months later, NZ was experiencing a combination of its deepest & longest economic downturn and recessionary contraction for over 30 years, with less jobs, with none of its fiscal rules having been met and a worsening cost-of-living crisis.
.. Given it takes over six months to a year for nearly every economic policy change to work its way into the numbers and outcomes, the vast majority of the slump this past year is directly attributable to those two men
.. My reading of the situation is that what Labour's Hipkins did was so unforgiveable, the economic and social carnage he wrought so long-lasting, that he should not even be in contention, whatever National's faults".
Now I know what its like to feel like Eminem, who successfully sued The National Party in 2017 for using one of his tracks. It was later reported that, "The National Party has been found guilty of breaching copyright by using Eminem's track Lose Yourself for a 2014 election ad and must pay $600,000". Shouldn't we receive some royalties? I promise to forgive Winston provided he buys me a drink & hires me as his part-time speech writer.
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
Winston hasn't had anything original to say for as long as I can remember!
You and Winston could be good together. You are both wonderful in different ways. I'm glad you didn't go too hard on him. MC
Email Winston and ask him if he wants you to email him with a txt copy of your future blog posts. Would save him the cut and paste bother. No question whatsoever that your blog was used. Would have been nice if there was a simple acknowledgment
Just worried that next he'll be plagiarising Trump....
Negotiate - you can be the next Min of Finance due to being quoted so often. It may well happen -and well deserved.
WP - clearly weary - can still fight the good fight. He is telling people this is the home stretch before total madness takes over NZ.
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