Kerre Woodham: This is a Budget that should've already been delivered

Guess what? New Zealand's in economic trouble. I know, I know, who would have thought it? Well, we did. You know it, I know it. We've known it for a very, very long time, right from the very start when Labour began throwing money around. There were the Cassandras coming on the radio saying, “Oh, you're going to have to pay it back. All very well and good now, probably the right thing to do, but at some point we're going to have to pay it back."

“The outlook is negative, so it indicates that there is a chance of a downgrade.”

John MacDonald: Kneejerk reactions won't fix the fiscals

If New Zealand was a company staring down the barrel of running at a loss for at least the next five years and finding itself needing to borrow $20 billion more than it thought it did just six months ago, it would be lights out, wouldn’t it?

And no amount of creative accounting could change that picture.

Andrew Dickens: We need to put perspective on the current state of our economy

It is fair to say the country is not in a good place right now.

Job cuts dominate the headlines. A double-dip recession came true. Inflation is robbing us of our purchasing power.

Last week an IPSOS poll found that 60 percent of us think that New Zealand is in decline and 65 percent believe that the economy is rigged to benefit the rich and the powerful.

JC: ‘Hole’ and ‘Sausage’ Fit the Bill

Nicola Willis and her use of the words hole and sausage could be deemed lewd on the one hand but entirely appropriate on the other. This lady is someone I am growing to very much like as a finance minister as she is growing into the role. It is easy to say anyone would be better than her predecessor but that would be an insult. She is showing the economic nous that has been sorely missing for the last six years. I believe her to be resonating with the public: the noises she is making will be welcomed by many.

Francesca Rudkin: New revelations set up a sombre political tone for 2024

On our first Sunday back at the beginning of this year, the Labour Government confirmed who our new Prime Minister would be.

So much has happened since then.

Mike Hosking: Labour's shocking economic decisions have come home to roost

I'm sorry, but if you listened to this programme for any period of time the headline you saw in the NZ Herald would make you scratch your head.

The headline read "shock as GDP falls 0.3%".

What shock? Just yesterday we had Westpac who saw a fall of 0.1%, we have said consistently this country is in recession, and by that I mean the Q3 number confirmed yesterday and the state we are currently in, in Q4.