In an otherwise dull piece in The Herald recently, Bob Jones finished up with a typically blunt assessment of the impact of Labour and National governments on the economy:
It’s no secret the commercial property industry, numbering over 100,000 people in all of its ramifications, favour Labour governments simply because they like vibrant economies. As the past 40 years show, these always accompany Labour’s periods in office.
But, the stultification corresponding with National governments is welcomed by bigger players as it throws up acquisition opportunities, aside from which there’s more to voting than economic issues and dull governments never last forever.
It seems that Jones can acknowledge the truth that most right-wingers try and deny. Turns out David Cunliffe made similar points in Parliament just recently:
Government members do not like it. They do not like it, because they know they are up an economic backwater without a paddle. They are staring at their fourth deficit Budget in a row, and their fifth next year. It will be their fifth straight deficit in a row, but Labour had nine straight surpluses—nine straight fiscal surpluses—and a higher growth rate. Here is an enduring politics of New Zealand economics. If you take a 30-year history of data and compare economic growth under Labour Governments with economic growth under National Governments, guess which comes out higher? Labour, by over 0.5 percent per annum, has a higher economic growth rate record than occurred under National Governments. As if that were not rich enough, there is another lovely statistic that goes with it that despite that, sometimes business confidence is higher under National. That is because it is purely tribal and because certain wealthy members of the community are able to rip off the system under National and feather their own nests. New Zealanders have had enough of it.
It’s the economy stupid? Then vote Labour.
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