Muddling through question time

Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, September 29th, 2011 - 23 comments
Categories: debt / deficit, Economy, jobs, unemployment - Tags:

Hon Phil Goff: When he also said yesterday: “Unemployment is starting to fall—not too bad.” had he read the latest National Employment Indicator for July, which shows that nearly 5,000 jobs were lost in New Zealand in that month alone?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No. Can I tell the member, because I will assume he does not know this and that is why he is giving the wrong information, that the National Economic Indicator is not a full indicator of all jobs in the economy.

Hon Phil Goff: Oh, it never is.

Rt Hon JOHN KEY: No. So—

Hon Annette King: Always changing the goalposts.

Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Actually, we are not changing. The consistent position we have always taken, and which the member took when he was in Government, is the household labour force survey.

Hmm, is this the same John Key who rejected the household labour force survey when it showed unemployment rising? It seems no statistics are valid if they reveal the real world doesn’t match Key’s wannabe fantasy.

Hon Phil Goff: Why does the Prime Minister not just acknowledge that in the real world people are struggling to find jobs? When we read today that when a New World supermarket was opened in Kaiapoi, 870 people applied for 45 full-time and 45 part-time jobs, does that not show the Prime Minister that people are struggling to find work under his economic mismanagement?

Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Of course people are looking for jobs. The good news, as the Minister just demonstrated, is that an increasing number of jobs are coming online.

The best question though was Jim Anderton: “Has the Prime Minister received, as Prime Minister, any reports of billboards appearing around New Zealand claiming that he, as Prime Minister, is “Building a brighter future”; and will he be replacing that slogan with the words “We may just muddle through”?”

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) to the Minister of Finance: By what percentage did GDP per capita fall between the June 2008 year and the June 2011 year?

Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) : If the member will bear with me on just a bit of detail, I have interpreted this question to mean a real production-based measure of GDP, which is the one most commonly quoted. On this basis, the 2011 year was 3.6 percent below that of 2008

Man, Bill English really didn’t like that list of negative economic stats under his watch.

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Meanwhile, Imperatorfish reveals National’s new economic strategy –

National’s Election Strategy: The Power Of Prayer

Finance minister Bill English today released the National Party’s plan to grow the economy and stimulate economic growth.

Opponents of National have criticised the party for failing the address the problems of sluggish economic growth, rising unemployment and a volatile dollar.

But Mr English today answered his critics with a bold series of initiatives to get the country moving again.

The cornerstone of the new growth policy is an initiative called Pray For Our Salvation.

The initiative involves downsizing a number of government departments, including Treasury and the Ministry of Economic Development.

They will be replaced by a range of community organisations, whose activities will involve economic forecasting and planning.

Mr English addressed concerns that devolving these activities to community groups would lead to inconsistencies in how forecasting and planning were undertaken.

“We recognise the need to balance the desire for local autonomy with the maintenance of minimum standards,” said Mr English.

“We will allow organisation to have considerable independence in how they run their own affairs. But they will also be expected to follow certain minimum guidelines that we will prescribe for them.”

Mr English said that the difference between National and Labour was that only one party wanted to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on risky economic plans.

“Our policy is much simpler. If you want to get ahead under National, then the power is in your hands. Get on your knees and pray for a miracle.

“But if you’re not religious don’t worry, because we’ve a plan worked out for you too: buy yourself a lotto ticket.”

23 comments on “Muddling through question time ”

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  1. DJL 1
    29 September 2011 at 7:53 am

    My plan is to have a little catfood for dinner each night, so that when its time for me to retire, I”l have an aquired taste for it.

  2. Peter 2
    29 September 2011 at 9:36 am

    Key is on record as saying that Government spending must be decreased because the public sector is crowding out the private sector. In other words public sector funding requirements make it difficult for the private sector to obtain finance. How can this be when private sector borrowing is already over 6 times that of the public sector, the banks have plenty to lend business at low interest rates.

    This private v’s public ideology appears to be the center of his failed growth/employment strategy. While he is loading everything in the private sectors favour they have not given him the outcomes he wants. Instead they have often come cap-in-hand looking for bailouts!

    He must be voted out as he does not have any answers!

    • Lanthanide 2.1
      29 September 2011 at 10:25 am

      Actually I think he’s promulgating a corollary to the Lump of Labour fallacy – the Lump of Productivity fallacy.

      That is that there’s a certain fixed amount of goods and services that need to be provided into the economy, and if the government is doing it (eg state housing, health insurance via ACC) then the private sector cannot be doing it. For some reason it’s a virtue that the private sector does everything, so therefore the government should do nothing.

      • Peter 2.1.1
        29 September 2011 at 10:40 am

        Good comment. The problem they face is that the private sector only want the good bits.

        • D.Morris 2.1.1.1
          29 September 2011 at 12:59 pm

          That is a philosophical problem that no one in power has the skill to tackle. Even the Left talk about “getting ahead”. The easiest way to get ahead is discard the not so good bits from your sphere of concern. The catch is there is a subtle point of balance. If you continue to get rid of the not so good bits, the good bits get smaller and smaller. Once society makes a virtue of easy things, influencing a change to understand right things is difficult, if not impossible.

  3. Afewknowthetruth 3
    29 September 2011 at 9:50 am

    The implosion of the northern hemisphere continues.

    The NZ parliament has become soooo boring and soooo irrelevant. And it’s not even amusing anymore.

    • Lanthanide 3.1
      29 September 2011 at 10:22 am

      Your general outlook seems to be that because you already know what the destination is going to be, the journey and how we get there is irrelevant.

      No, it’s really not.

  4. ianmac 4
    29 September 2011 at 10:02 am

    My impression is that Bill is warning of pretty high risks with dire effects on NZ.
    My impression of John is that we are doing very well and our prospects are right on track.

    A Bill and John muddle or just a double comedy act?

  5. Muzza 5
    29 September 2011 at 10:55 am

    It’s a fucken disgrace that these people are paid to do what they do. Worse than that people will actually vote for them , thus given them some sort of validation of their positions. These clowns are excel accelerating the decline , that for sure. Parliament is not fit for purpose , nor are any of it’s inhabitants !

    • D.Morris 5.1
      29 September 2011 at 1:02 pm

      I agree. I plan to not vote. If not voting returns the same results as voting, but without the chance of validation, then it is the preferred option. Send a message.

      • Blighty 5.1.1
        29 September 2011 at 1:09 pm

        if you don’t vote, you’re giving more power to those who think the opposite of the way you do. Where does that capitulation get you or the country?

        Yes, no party is perfect but vote for the least imperfect one.

      • The Voice of Reason 5.1.2
        29 September 2011 at 1:26 pm

        D.Morris; the only message you send when you don’t vote is that you are Ok with the status quo.
         
        Parliament has the ability to make our lives better or to make them worse. I’m going to vote because I want more of the former and less of the latter, but you appear to be willing to happily go along with Nationals plan b; if they won’t vote for us, hope they don’t vote at all. It’s non voters that elected Key in 2008, after all, and if the peeps can’t be arsed going down to the polling booth this time, we are likely to get exactly the same result.

  6. AAMC 6
    29 September 2011 at 11:18 am

    #occupyparliament

  7. randal 7
    29 September 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Key and co have the idea that their money instantaneously transforms them into upper class English gentlemen. Reality says they are merely a gang of thicko colonial hucksters who got lucky and dont really know what they are doing. They are sort of like a collection of Warren Hardings but too prissy to tella dirty joke.

  8. AAMC 8
    29 September 2011 at 7:17 pm

    I haven’t watched all of the clips, I’m a little way into the second. The one thing Goff keeps refusing to ask is, does the Government still stand by it’s adherence to Free Market Laissez-Faire Capitalism in light of it’s very visual failure throughout the world.

    The narrative should be his, my feeling is he’s too invested in the ideology to see it either!

    • Draco T Bastard 8.1
      29 September 2011 at 11:27 pm

      Goff is still trying to protect the Free Market Laissez-Faire Capitalism despite it’s failure. Governments and their oppositions around the world are moving the deck chairs on the Titanic in their efforts to prop up the failed economics that we’ve been slaving under and that are taking us to an Extinction Level Event.

  9. HC 9
    1 October 2011 at 12:19 am

    Muddling Thru is my motto, I am the Prime Minister after all! So do not argue, talk NZ bad, crap on us being the best rugby nation on the planet, with an economic policy made for the next millenium. We are the greatest, the best, the shiny, the glorious, the leading, the successful, the nation down under that tricks all the rest out, the winners, the dominant, the totally right and successful nation on this small planet earth that deserves more space for US to grow and rule. NZ, NZ, NZ, “One term Johnny” is the man, he is the man, he is there for US, “one term Johnny” is the call to win the election and bring in enabling acts to enforce the constructive, essential emergency rule to advance NZ for the next millenium. “One Term Johnny” has Austrian heritage, he looks a bit like that, he comes from a country that had another Great Leader born in Braunau on the INN river. He has also similar aspirations, Austria is a country of geniuses, inspired for having the Anschluss with other parts of the globe. We are the unifiers, the rulers, the absolute best on EARTH, give us your vote, because we will put your NATIONAL interest ahead of the rest! Hail thee, your leader “Johnny one Term”