‘Let’s wait & see’ – do-nothing PM

27 comments on “‘Let’s wait & see’ – do-nothing PM ”

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1. ConorJoe 1

   8 November 2009 at 9:29 pm

   convincible
2. Galeandra 2

   8 November 2009 at 9:34 pm

   Guilty.
3. Outofbed 3

   8 November 2009 at 9:55 pm

   i think the media have a little competition going to see if they can get him above 85% in the polls just leaving the dia hard lefties and the Greens holding out
   I wonder if positive coverages is all part of the agreement with the media mentioned in “the hollow man” ?
4. Draco T Bastard 4

   8 November 2009 at 9:59 pm

   The plan has six parts to it, or perhaps seven, says Key. It does not consist of a single silver bullet. Or take another number, such as 40. “You need to do a lot of things at one time. It’s a little bit like being a juggler, but you can’t just have two balls in the air, we actually need about 40 of them.”

   The six “drivers” Key is as prone to cliches as any other politician are already in motion. One is infrastructure, and the government is spending billions. Transpower, for instance, will spend $3b over the next four years on the national grid, including money on the Cook Strait cable so the North Island won’t run out of power. There’s the ultra-fast broadband. And roads, and …

   Key skips the other drivers for the moment and mentions a possible seventh:

   He’s just not telling us what the plan is. I suspect it’s the same as John Banks in that if he told people they’d want to get rid of him ASAP and that he, nor his party, are electable if people knew what it was. There really can be no doubt though that it’s back to the 1980s/90s with Brash et al heading up the working group. Be ready, our economy is about to buckle the same way it did then.
   • mickysavage 4.1

     8 November 2009 at 10:05 pm

     We have had 9 years of intensive investment in infrastructure and the nats are just finishing what Labour planned for.

     The most worrying thing for me about Key is his lack of a medium term view. The big calls that he has made are really regressive the further out you go. Just think about:

     1. Kneecapping the Cullen fund
     2. Destroying the ETS
     3. Undermining ACC’s long term future
     4. Undermining Kiwisaver and our hope to have a long term change in saving habits.

     And do not get me started on lightbulbs or the reversal of the ban on thermal stations.

     There is no long term view. God knows what we will be doing after the next election.
5. Tigger 5

   8 November 2009 at 10:09 pm

   The emperor has no clothes. I know some of us have been shouting that for years but clearly the rest of the crowd are going to take a little more time to catch on…
6. George.com 6

   8 November 2009 at 10:15 pm

   Anyone with the SST today, should have a read of the Rod Oram column. He poses much the same questions about Key. He has not done much and will need to lift his game in the next 2 years. The chances of that happening, it seems, Oram said are still up for debate.
7. Deus ex Machina 7

   8 November 2009 at 10:30 pm

   John Key made his reputation – and fortune – as a currency trader. Apart from being utterly parasitic – you produce nothing but simply ride on the backs of those who do – currency trading is totally reactive in that you can’t control events but merely hope to read them and react to them, and has a time horizon of about a month at best.

   So what’s changed?
8. gingercrush 8

   8 November 2009 at 11:00 pm

   It really must suck to be a leftie and realise for the next six years or so you’ll be doing the screaming and shouting the right did for the last nine years.
9. Cal 9

   8 November 2009 at 11:05 pm

   I can’t even begin to say how frustrating the constant media suck-up to Key routine is getting. If it was Helen Clark, they’d be all over her for every teeny-tiny thing, but when JK stuffs up the media has the same reaction as parents do when their baby knock their sippy cup on to the floor.
10. Jasper 10

    8 November 2009 at 11:12 pm

    It’s because Helen was a woman. New Zealand is still, for all the advances in equality in the last 9 years, a relatively chauvinistic male paradise. Just ask Bob “my left testicle” Clarkson.
11. jarbury 11

    8 November 2009 at 11:21 pm

    The problem for John Key is that he effectively has two options to choose from for his “plan”:

    1) 1980s/1990s neoliberalism
    2) Continue what Labour was doing

    To be honest, there really isn’t a third option there (other than going further to the left of what Labour was doing). Every time Key thrashes around for some ideas on an issue he gets someone proposing one of the two above options. He knows that he got elected on being, well neither of those options, so he doesn’t really know where to go.

    This is particularly evident when it comes to the 2025 productivity taskforce, or whatever the heck they’re called. Key’s whole argument is supposedly that in order to catch up to Australia we need to change a lot of things from “what Labour was doing”. The problem is that the other option is 1980s/1990s neoliberalism, which was EXACTLY WHAT CREATED THE WAGE GAP.

    So he’s pretty screwed, and therefore does nothing. And he’s wildly popular for doing so…..
12. Jim McDonald 12

    8 November 2009 at 11:23 pm

    The Guyon-Key interview appears to be quite revealing with regard to the cause for the PM’s lack of vision … he can’t see beyond the tip of his own nose which seems to be growing longer as he attempts to reply
13. BLiP 13

    8 November 2009 at 11:38 pm

    Classic McDonalds government – put a clown out front to keep the kiddies amused while the “crew” heat up corporate bullshit carefully disguised under a special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

    Thanks National Ltd® – I’m lovin’ it.
14. felix 14

    9 November 2009 at 7:02 am

    So John Key thinks the company tax rate is 33%

    WTF?
    • Pascal's bookie 14.1

      9 November 2009 at 8:06 am

      Kohn Key said Q&A, Sunday, that he had an ambition to raise Company taxes, hopefully by only 3 percent, but we’ll see.
      • gitmo 14.1.1

        9 November 2009 at 8:13 am

        Kohn Key ? is he embracing his jewish background ?
        • Pascal's bookie 14.1.1.1

          9 November 2009 at 8:17 am

          Nah, just a typo git. Don’t get too excited.
          • Adders 14.1.1.1.1

            9 November 2009 at 12:52 pm

            Con Key. That sounds about right, though.
      • felix 14.1.2

        9 November 2009 at 8:22 am

        Oh good. After all, he was elected to raise taxes and create more red tape for business.
        • ghostwhowalksnz 14.1.2.1

          9 November 2009 at 9:24 am

          Where there any specifics with that,
          • felix 14.1.2.1.1

            9 November 2009 at 9:31 am

            I can haz english vershun?
15. gobsmacked 15

    9 November 2009 at 10:11 am

    Imagine if the public talked like John Key:

    “Will you marry me?”

    “Yeah, in terms of marriage, couple of things, gotta have a look, not gonna rule it out, take a step back, we’ll see where we are, taking a balanced approach, ooh, can I tell a joke now?”

    The man is a verbal marshmallow.

    And if you think that’s exaggerating, here’s Key commenting on Harawira this morning:

    “I definitely think he owes a bit of an apology”

    What the hell does that mean? Saying Sor?
    • Walter 15.1

      9 November 2009 at 1:54 pm

      I like this game.

      – John, are you doing anything in government?

      “Yeah, well, in terms of doing things…..we’re considering a number of options, it’s too soon to say really, but at this point in time, I’m relaxed about the course of action and comfortable with our achievements and vision for New Zealand.”

      – And what about fixing that leaking washer at home, I understand your wife has been complaining about it for months now?

      “Yeah, well in terms of action, I’m keeping a close eye on things as they unfold, taking a considered approach and will revisit the whole thing once all the facts are in. We don’t want to rush to a decision. Rodney Hide has some useful suggestions on water management that might be worth looking into so we’ll need to wait until that work has been done.”
      • Zaphod Beeblebrox 15.1.1

        9 November 2009 at 3:58 pm

        Might want to add-

        “Yeah, we’ll kick into touch for a while. A working party is due to report back in 2025. I’m sure it will come up for consideration then”.
16. JD 16

    9 November 2009 at 3:43 pm

    “Apart from being utterly parasitic you produce nothing but simply ride on the backs of those who do ”

    That sounds a lot like a large part of the public service bureaucracy in Wellington.
    • blacksand 16.1

      9 November 2009 at 10:36 pm

      ooh! king hit there! So remind us how much fat those specially hired, highly paid razor gang specialists found to trim?

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