Despite the heroic efforts of National’s spinsters the economic “recovery” remains anemic. We’re still behind 2007, and what recovery there is seems to be largely driven by another property bubble, and captured by a few. All National have managed is to hold us back for four years.
The whole austerity driven focus of the budget and National’s economic policy is based on a premise which is in turn based on a spreadsheet error.
We’re in yet another round of talk of “green shoots” of economic recovery, complete with the hype of an optimistic budget. Maybe they’re right this time, but the recovery, when it does happen, will be in spite of the National government, not because of them. All National have done is hold us back for four years.
Which is really the party of “economic sabotage”?
The ideological loonies advising the government want us to go even further down the stupid and damaging path of income tax cuts. Surely even the Nats have too much sense to listen this time.
All sorts of bad polling news for the British Conservative government, as the Brits lose faith in the politics of economic austerity.
As one writer sums it up – “no austerity has helped any economy”. So why do we carry on with this failed ideology? Perhaps because, while it does nothing for the vast majority of people, it helps make the super-rich even richer…
The UK and USA make for interesting case studies in their differing responses to the global recession. A pity that NZ followed the wrong leader.
Gosh, isn’t government austerity working well in Britain. Thank goodness we’re following in their footsteps.
Austerity has failed in both the UK and NZ. But at least Cameron’s Conservatives have the wit to realise it, and the courage to act.
Tax revenue is down, blowing a big hole in all the government’s financial projections. The Nats are in trouble and instead of looking for solutions, they’re looking for excuses.
In response to tough economic times, Government austerity programmes do more harm than good. It’s a pretty simple equation based on the debt / GDP ratio. With an election coming up soon, NZ needs to look for economic competence and a willingness to try new ideas, rather than muddling along deeper into the austerity death trap.
Looks like the RWC isn’t going to be the economic stimulus that we hoped. We’re stuck in the doldrums, and (just like in England) the government’s austerity programme is exactly the wrong response.
Are we “roaring out of recession”? No. Is there an “aggressive recovery”? No. What’s going wrong? The problem is that the Nats are squeezing the life out of the economy.
Expansionary austerity is the idea that cutbacks in government spending can stimulate economic growth. Empirical evidence shows that it doesn’t work. Current experience shows that it’s not working in Britain, and it isn’t working here. Like “trickle down economics” this favourite of the political Right is not so much a theory as a deluded fantasy.
