“The worst display from a Prime Minister since the schnapps election” – that’s what a journo said about Key the other day. No, it wasn’t about him being a multi-millionaire who gave himself tens of thousands of tax cuts opposing a fair wage increase for the lowest paid workers. It was this disgraceful behaviour on Budget Day. Watch.
The latest Roy Morgan poll is not good reading for the political left. But it’s not quite time to despair yet!
Cartoonist Guy Body in The Herald, with one of those pictures that is worth a thousand words…
John Armstrong is highly critical of the sub-zero budget: “The Budget has displayed a degree of cynicism one would expect from a Government in its third term, not its first”…
If like me, you’re are in Auckland today and not at the Labour election year congress in Wellington* – here is something interesting […]
As I think you can tell from the budget speech, that Bill English is quite a funny guy…
John Key thinks National will lose some support because of the budget saying: “I wouldn’t be surprised if we ease back a bit. I mean that’s logical. Some of that sort of froth in there will come away”. Hear that, tens of thousands of swing voters who believed in the ‘brighter future that Key promised you and didn’t deliver? You’re just ‘froth’ to him.
I was listening to John Key on Parliament TV last night on the budget and he is bloody lazy when speaking. I had to watch his lips before I could figure out what he was saying. This morning there is a video of his remedial vocal work that illustrates this problem..
Not in John Key and Bill English’s third budget. The ‘good times’ they are promising would have looked pitiful under Labour. 4% wage growth will be below inflation once the Kiwisaver clawbacks get you. National have pinned their hopes on Christchurch rebuilding itself, and claiming the credit for themselves. Oh, and their projections assume asset sales.
In which we hear from the Treasury analyst behind the budget’s more than rosy growth predictions…
Unions and community groups don’t need to wait till after the Budget is read to know they’ve been screwed. They’re gathering today at […]
It’s only taken two and a half years of mismanagement and reckless tax cuts from to run the country into a mountain of debt. How bad have they let things get, who will they make pay for their mistakes, and how rosy will the forecasts their plans hang on be? Rolling coverage through the day.
Updates: Plans for privatisation are set out. Families hit harder than expected.
An anonymous Sunday Star Times editorial last weekend (not on line) reads like a postcard from the future…
So, today is Budget day. The big stuff has all been pretty well signposted, tinkering with KiwiSaver, Working for Families, and student loan eligibility. The devil will be in the details of all the cuts that get made to try and limit the damage in health and education.
Labour have been running a competition to crowd source their billboard design. Here is the winner, which (see Red Alert) will be going up around Wellington shortly. It’s going to provoke some controversy.
Bryan Gould writes: “The fact that this week’s Budget will do no more than mark time should come as no surprise. We now have getting on for three years’ experience of a government whose idea of managing the economy is simply to wait and see what turns up.” True that.
It has been great to see Labour’s statements on how they would approach Budget 2011. But, as is often the case at this stage of the electoral cycle, it is the Greens who are laying out their alternative budget ideas in the most detail.
Good speech here from David Cunliffe to the Manufacturers and Exporters Association last night. He and David Parker both spoke and I understand their message was very well received by the audience. He outlines the principles for a good budget, and then answers the question about what would Labour do. There is another one to Business New Zealand today.
Gee, a disaster can be a useful thing. You can blame it for your pathetic record on economic management and borrowing for tax cuts. Then, you can take the credit for the jobs, growth, and higher wages created by the rebuilding. Course, you have to be a certain type of person to exploit a city’s suffering so.
Apparently the budget will forecast strong growth in GDP and wages, and a return to surplus within a few years. Sounds good? Well yes, but it is all based on purely hypothetical “projected growth”. Wishful thinking from Treasury analysts with a three year record of being wrong wrong wrong.
John Key is fond of saying “there is a constituency for every dollar you spend”. So, having borrowed to the hilt for tax cuts for the rich, which he refuses to reverse, how can Key cut enough to satisfy the credit ratings agencies without pissing off too many voters? He can’t, but he’s gonna say he can and leave the hard choices to his successor.
Fabian lecture from Rick Boven of New Zealand Institute on “The Plan for the Productive Economy” St John’s Church Hall, Tuesday 17th, 6pm. All welcome. I heard Rick in Auckland, he was very good.
Reading Don Brash’s letter to John Key and watching Roger Douglas on Q+A, I wonder if the Nats behind the takeover of ACT realised what they were unleashing. I’ve heard some talk that ACT won’t vote for Key’s Budget. Where would that leave Rodney Hide? Where would that leave the Maori Party? Could we see a snap election?
The run up to the budget has all been about cuts. How many? How deep? Like lemmings we’re accepting National’s framing, and marching even faster to our economic doom. But, there is an alternative. Instead of slashing spending, we can raise government income. Here’s how.
The minor party debate on Q+A was very interesting. Rahui Katene was self-contradictory and vague, like the Maori Party always is. Peter Dunne was pathetic. Roger Douglas slammed the government’s borrowing as did Russel Norman, who pointed out the other three had all voted for National’s debt-increasing tax cuts for the rich.
Over the coming week Campbell Live will be highlighting the rising cost of living, falling wages, life on the pension, and so on. In short, exactly the sort of stuff which should be front and centre of any budget, and any election campaign.
John Key has announced National’s third reform of Kiwisaver in 3 years, saying the government’s contribution will be cut and made up with higher minimum contributions from members and their employers. It’s an embarrassing flip-flop from the government that cut default contribution rates and shows no plan for the future.
Key’s pre-budget speech was hugely uninspiring and mis-leading.
Cunliffe rips his claims apart.
The Nats have run this country into the ground and say there’s no option but to slash Kiwisaver. The actual cuts they announce will be less than foreshadowed, and we will then be expected to be grateful. It’s the Nats’ old trick. But the reality is there’s no need for Kiwisaver cuts at all. Not while the rich keep the tax cuts National gave them.
ACT on Campus is giving away KFC Double Downs today. I love that ACToids are always complaining that interest-free student loans are a bad idea because they encourage wasteful, inefficient spending but think that giving out free heart-attack makers is perfectly sensible.By the way, isn’t this treating?
It took National some weeks to get together a line on their multitudinous spending scandals. When they did, it was rather predictable: ‘Labour’s focused on the small things’. Pretty rich coming from corgi-boy Key. No defence of the actual excesses either. But, naturally, the Herald editorial has swallowed and regurgitated the line.
John Key has confirmed he intends to slash Kiwisaver to the bone by cutting the up to $1040 a year government contribution you get as a member. Of course, this is the savings budget according to National’s spin. They’re going to ‘encourage’ savings by taking that money from Kiwisaver and giving it to rich individual savers. It’s just more class war.
Apologies to non-Aucklanders, but this is an appeal for those in the Queen City to make sure they have their say on the future shape of our biggest city.
Len wants your input, fellow Aucklanders!
News this morning that (as predicted) the Maori Party will be standing a candidate against Hone Harawira if he forces a by election in Te Tai Tokerau.
