The brains deficit

Written By: - Date published: 10:57 am, May 11th, 2010 - 4 comments
Categories: ACC, national, superannuation - Tags:

A headline on Newsroom caught my eye a couple of days back (see also Treasury):

Deficit Falls Further – The Government’s deficit has decreased further, with the Crown’s operating balance for the nine months to March 31 coming in $2,006 million smaller than forecast at $1,327 million…

Nice to read some good news in these difficult times I thought. How did the Nats manage it? Are we seeing signs of creative thinking and competent management from Government at last? Reading on, the quote continues:

…mainly due to gains on the Crown’s investment portfolios held by the NZS Fund, ACC and EQC. TREASURY

Well that explains it. Creative thinking and competent management indeed, from Labour governments (2001, 1974, 1947). Still working for the good of the country, and helping to make the current crowd look a little less dismal.

So remind me again, what’s National’s position on NZ Super (the Cullen fund)? What’s National’s position on ACC? How long before they decide to flog off another Labour founded state institution, the EQC?

The operating balance deficit may be decreasing, but the Nats’ brains deficit is growing fast.

4 comments on “The brains deficit ”

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  1. Adrian 1
    11 May 2010 at 12:22 pm

    Talking about dodgy claims, does anyone believe the 25,000 drop in jobless? In the top of the South Island ( Marlborough/ Nelson ) which under Labour had the lowest unemployment rate in the world, the numbers are growing week by week , I’ve been in Auckland recently and anecdotally no-one I spoke to , including business owners could explain it, they are not replacing staff that leave and competing companies are still going out of business and landfill tonnages in Ak are 40% down on 2 years ago and staying there. In Blenheim it was reported last month that 39% of people turning up were being turned away without a benefit or support. Something stinks and I think we are being bullshitted.

  2. ghostwhowalksnz 2
    11 May 2010 at 1:21 pm

    This is one way of looking at it. Its a survey, which is then run through a spreadsheet to gives the numbers for the whole country , which is then adjusted seasonally based on a magic number and is then adjusted again in 3 months time when they do it all again for the next 3 months which shows up the errors last time. ( when Bennett will be out of the country )
    Essentially the students go back to study which makes it all meaningless in the big scheme of things

    • Lanthanide 2.1
      11 May 2010 at 3:13 pm

      Although I believe this time the numbers showed an actual decrease in unemployment, eg people actually getting jobs, with the seasonal adjustment added on top (students going back to study) to give a big drop from 7.1% to 6%.

      It’s possible that the survey was simply a freak and doesn’t represent the real figures – no survey is ever 100% predictive, even censuses are never 100% accurate.

      There was a guy on National radio the morning after it was announced saying that there was too much hype around the number and that he thought it didn’t represent reality and talked about seasonal adjustments, although as I mention above I believe that there was an actual drop in unemployment, not just a seasonal adjustment that created the drop.

      • Bright Red 2.1.1
        11 May 2010 at 4:53 pm

        I think what you have to remember is that the 25,000 is a seasonally-adjusted drop. What actually happened was the number of employed increased as normal during December and then didn’t fall as much as normal in March.

        that could explain why the anacedotal evidence about no new jobs doesn’t match the stats.

        It is an actual improvement though.

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