Spin update
Just as a quick update on my pre-budget Spin v reality about a Government that has the worst growth record of any since before Michael Joseph Savage, and has a 52% increase in unemployment despite more than 1,000 NZers leaving for Australia each week:
- John Key had promised 4 per cent growth for the year to last quarter – he delivered 1.6% (which is great by his standards).
- Bill English has been promising 170,000 jobs each budget – and not delivering them. This time he cut his unfulfilled hopes by 16,000, and probably won’t make that either.
- John Key told us in the budget that exports were rising – by the end of the week the stats showed they fell almost $800 million (17 per cent) in the last year.
- John Key promised growth in real wages – this year we find it has been negative the past two years, will peak at just 1.6 per cent in the 2013 March year, and will then decline.