On Friday, three parties finally signed agreements to gain a slim majority in parliament. What this means is that some time on Monday Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro will be able to swear in the new ministers of the Executive Council. On Monday Labour and the Greens will have their constitutional muzzle removed. On December 5th parliament will lumber back into work. Then the fun begins for this political blogger.
Pundits, most residing in the National Party, just three years ago predicted the economy would surf high on “rivers of white oil” flowing from the dairy industry, but they now have cow pats splattered on their faces as Fonterra today announced another payout downgrade and signalled liquidity pressures.
Is Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler so concerned about the bogey of Auckland’s housing bubble that he is underestimating an equally nasty bogey – deflation? Deflation will certainly cure the problem of the property bubble, but that cure will be at a terrible cost.
