No offence to the French, but they're screaming out for lesson in basic economics.
Their debt-to-GDP ratio is 118%. Their debt is 60% above the EU limit.
You're used to hearing about the Italians and the Greeks, but the French are up there with them in the top three most indebted nations in the bloc.
The country nearly fell over trying to cut back pension spending. They spend billions on stuff we'd consider 'nice-to-haves'.
The OECD is a multi-nation group; it just happens to be based in Paris. It's been around since 1961.
But they've come up with a bunch of stuff they think we need to do, including linking pensions to life expectancy. This is the same group that wanted us, a few years back, to tax property and shares!
They're also saying we should have quotas for women on company boards, which even Helen Clark doesn't think is a good idea.
So, a lot of this should be taken with a grain of salt and is probably better shouted out the window of their offices in Paris.
Ryan Bridge is a New Zealand broadcaster who has worked on many current affairs television and radio shows. He currently hosts Newstalk ZB's Early Edition - where this article was sourced.
2 comments:
They are fully captured and have an agenda involving the destabilization of the right of center governing groups.
Look at The UN for a group of fools and they all drink together.
You'd call me a "boffin" economist also, Ryan. Thanks. Is that what journos do now in NZ? Publicly insult folks they don't like? The OECD report was damn good. But you've never studied a day of economics in your life, so what would you know? The good thing is you've hit the nail on the head. NZ is run now by a group of anti boffin anti intellectual dummies in both the public & private sectors who dont have one clue how to fix things. Meanwhile the world's most influential, richest and powerful folks are "boffins" like Elon Musk, Peter Beck and Larry Page. Our own nerdy "boffin" who I met once, Shane Legg, is in charge of Artificial General Intelligence at Google now, having founded the world's first proper AI start up, Deep Mind.The sooner NZ's dummy MPs and journos figure out its not comms, marketing, PR and media folks who drive progress the better.
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