Our PM Jacinda Ardern (and the government)

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#2857909 28-Jan-2022 18:03

Handle9:

A number of people being Luxon and Bridges. They could point to 0.1% of the NZ government budget.

Did NZ spending raise inflation across the whole OECD? NZ has OECD average inflation.

I guess what happens in the OECD would matter more if I lived in the twenty something other countries that make it up, but I live in this one.

And it was already a pretty hard place to get by before this.

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#2857910 28-Jan-2022 18:15

Handle9:

networkn:
I see a number of people are critical of the Governments wasteful spending which has been a contributor to our inflation numbers, which are wildly under estimated. I can't think of a single thing that is only 6% more expensive than a year ago.

We just raised our rates 16%

A number of people being Luxon and Bridges. They could point to 0.1% of the NZ government budget.

Did NZ spending raise inflation across the whole OECD? NZ has OECD average inflation.

I've seen and heard quite few people who are critical of the government's spending. It's not just Luxon and Bridges.

Justifying our inflation based on comparison to other countries is a tad simplistic and in my opinion a cop out.

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#2857957 28-Jan-2022 20:15

Technofreak:

Handle9:

A number of people being Luxon and Bridges. They could point to 0.1% of the NZ government budget.

Did NZ spending raise inflation across the whole OECD? NZ has OECD average inflation.

I've seen and heard quite few people who are critical of the government's spending. It's not just Luxon and Bridges.

Justifying our inflation based on comparison to other countries is a tad simplistic and in my opinion a cop out.

You don't think that $59 billion of imports have an impact on inflation?

Technofreak

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#2858006 28-Jan-2022 22:55

Handle9:

Technofreak:

I've seen and heard quite few people who are critical of the government's spending. It's not just Luxon and Bridges.

Justifying our inflation based on comparison to other countries is a tad simplistic and in my opinion a cop out.

You don't think that $59 billion of imports have an impact on inflation?

Of course some inflation is imported but imports are only 1/6th to 1/7th of GDP so at a rough guess contributes the same proportion to inflation. The other 5/6 or 6/7 of the inflation pie is internally generated. I say my statement about comparing with other countries still stands.

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#2858053 29-Jan-2022 08:07

Technofreak:
Handle9:

You don't think that $59 billion of imports have an impact on inflation?

Of course some inflation is imported but imports are only 1/6th to 1/7th of GDP so at a rough guess contributes the same proportion to inflation. The other 5/6 or 6/7 of the inflation pie is internally generated. I say my statement about comparing with other countries still stands.

What do you consider the cause of high inflation? What would you have done to stop it happening?

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#2858062 29-Jan-2022 08:47

Handle9:
Technofreak:

Of course some inflation is imported but imports are only 1/6th to 1/7th of GDP so at a rough guess contributes the same proportion to inflation. The other 5/6 or 6/7 of the inflation pie is internally generated. I say my statement about comparing with other countries still stands.

What do you consider the cause of high inflation? What would you have done to stop it happening?

Poorly targeted government spending. We've borrowed the second highest amount of money per capita for our Covid response.

There have been too many failed projects that have cost a lot of money. Think housing, the bike lane on the harbour bridge for starters. RNZ are reporting this today, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/460450/disability-ministry-s-ongoing-costs-and-funding-kept-secret

Government spending needs to be better focussed and less wasteful. We should have a much better health system at this stage of the pandemic but we don't. Our ICU capacity is probably less than when the pandemic started yet I read the other day that NSW has doubled their ICU capacity.

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marmel

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#2858082 29-Jan-2022 09:09

Had it not been for COVID and the other tragic events that happened over the last few years I’ve got no doubt this government and PM would be under much more scrutiny for their lack of progress on just about anything, especially their promises when coming into power.

In saying that, I’m generally supportive of the COVID response with regards to lockdowns etc but not so much on the spending, some of which has been farcical, bike bridge to name one, thank goodness common sense prevailed there.

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#2858146 29-Jan-2022 14:04

Technofreak:
Handle9: [

What do you consider the cause of high inflation? What would you have done to stop it happening?

Poorly targeted government spending. We've borrowed the second highest amount of money per capita for our Covid response.

There have been too many failed projects that have cost a lot of money. Think housing, the bike lane on the harbour bridge for starters. RNZ are reporting this today, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/460450/disability-ministry-s-ongoing-costs-and-funding-kept-secret

Government spending needs to be better focussed and less wasteful. We should have a much better health system at this stage of the pandemic but we don't. Our ICU capacity is probably less than when the pandemic started yet I read the other day that NSW has doubled their ICU capacity.

Be specific. How much spending are you talking about and what is the nett impact?

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#2858927 30-Jan-2022 23:40

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/jacinda-arderns-personal-approval-rating-plummets-in-new-1news-poll-but-christopher-luxon-wont-be-getting-too-excited/VDDVM7A2KSBJ7Z6REEH7SU5ICE/

I think some people are unhappy with how the pandemic is being handled by the Government, but really - would you rather have the hundreds of thousands of deaths as seen elsewhere, or the 50-odd we've had here in the last 2 years? Okay, one is one too many, but (my opinion) we could have done a lot worse, if that makes sense.

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#2858953 31-Jan-2022 07:16

quickymart:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/jacinda-arderns-personal-approval-rating-plummets-in-new-1news-poll-but-christopher-luxon-wont-be-getting-too-excited/VDDVM7A2KSBJ7Z6REEH7SU5ICE/

I think some people are unhappy with how the pandemic is being handled by the Government, but really - would you rather have the hundreds of thousands of deaths as seen elsewhere, or the 50-odd we've had here in the last 2 years? Okay, one is one too many, but (my opinion) we could have done a lot worse, if that makes sense.

It’s about more that just COVID. Polls have generally shown most kiwis are ok with the COVID response. I think it’s about everything else, housing prices, increasing crime rates, silly spending which has been mentioned previously in this thread. The government simply aren’t doing a very good job nor have they made any progress on what they campaigned on in 2017. Now that National have sorted out some of there issues the swing voters are starting to see them as a viable option again, including Luxon as PM.

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#2858959 31-Jan-2022 07:29

It's early days for him yet though, I think he's going through the "honeymoon period" of the first few months of leadership that even Judith Collins also went through. Let's see what happens after their conference (which I mentioned in the other thread) and see how he handles some difficult issues - the ongoing saga of Harete Hipango comes immediately to mind.

I agree with you re the housing prices comment though (although this isn't 100% the Government's fault), as well as some (but not all) of the spending they've done.

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#2858968 31-Jan-2022 08:07

If you are worried about the lowest ranked mp in either caucus you’re looking in the wrong place.

To paraphrase The War Room, in 2022, it’s Covid and the economy, stupid. If people feel prosperous and safe the government wins. If they don’t there’s a good chance of a change of government if the opposition isn’t a train smash.

Technofreak

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#2859308 31-Jan-2022 14:13

marmel:
quickymart:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/jacinda-arderns-personal-approval-rating-plummets-in-new-1news-poll-but-christopher-luxon-wont-be-getting-too-excited/VDDVM7A2KSBJ7Z6REEH7SU5ICE/

I think some people are unhappy with how the pandemic is being handled by the Government, but really - would you rather have the hundreds of thousands of deaths as seen elsewhere, or the 50-odd we've had here in the last 2 years? Okay, one is one too many, but (my opinion) we could have done a lot worse, if that makes sense.

It’s about more that just COVID. Polls have generally shown most kiwis are ok with the COVID response. I think it’s about everything else, housing prices, increasing crime rates, silly spending which has been mentioned previously in this thread. The government simply aren’t doing a very good job nor have they made any progress on what they campaigned on in 2017. Now that National have sorted out some of there issues the swing voters are starting to see them as a viable option again, including Luxon as PM.

Correct it is more than just Covid but the government's Covid handling as been pretty flakey/incompetent. Their Covid efforts mirror that of their major policy programmes.

To give just a few examples. They were slow to lock down right at the start, they were like rabbits in the headlights about what to do until some business leaders (Rob Fyfe et el) got things rolling, they didn't do what they said they would do about shutting down trans Tasman travel last year and we ended up with Delta unnecessarily, no increase in ICU capacity, too slow on saliva testing, way way too slow with approving Rapid Antigen Testing, slow to order RAT kits, so much so they commandeered private orders and the same has basically happened with N95 masks impacting those businesses that had been prudently trying to do the best for their staff and customers.

Our relative lack of infections/deaths has more to do with our isolation from the world, our relatively sparse population and a climate that allows us to spend a lot of time outdoors than it does any government actions. As time goes on more and more people are becoming unhappy with how this government is handling the Covid pandemic.

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#2859317 31-Jan-2022 14:45

Technofreak:

Correct it is more than just Covid but the government's Covid handling as been pretty flakey/incompetent. Their Covid efforts mirror that of their major policy programmes.

To give just a few examples. They were slow to lock down right at the start, they were like rabbits in the headlights about what to do until some business leaders (Rob Fyfe et el) got things rolling, they didn't do what they said they would do about shutting down trans Tasman travel last year and we ended up with Delta unnecessarily, no increase in ICU capacity, too slow on saliva testing, way way too slow with approving Rapid Antigen Testing, slow to order RAT kits, so much so they commandeered private orders and the same has basically happened with N95 masks impacting those businesses that had been prudently trying to do the best for their staff and customers.

Our relative lack of infections/deaths has more to do with our isolation from the world, our relatively sparse population and a climate that allows us to spend a lot of time outdoors than it does any government actions. As time goes on more and more people are becoming unhappy with how this government is handling the Covid pandemic.

If Covid had decimated us the government and especially Jacinda Ardern would rightly have been burned at the stake over it. That did not happen. Not because we were all having BBQs, or there aren't enough of us to go around, or nobody can find us on a map. It did not happen because the decisions that were taken turned out to be the right ones. By all means blame them for the things they got wrong. But give them some credit for the things they have got right. Saying the things they got wrong were due to incompetence but the things they got right were just dumb luck comes across as a bit mean-spirited.

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#2859338 31-Jan-2022 15:19

Rikkitic:

Technofreak:

Correct it is more than just Covid but the government's Covid handling as been pretty flakey/incompetent. Their Covid efforts mirror that of their major policy programmes.

To give just a few examples. They were slow to lock down right at the start, they were like rabbits in the headlights about what to do until some business leaders (Rob Fyfe et el) got things rolling, they didn't do what they said they would do about shutting down trans Tasman travel last year and we ended up with Delta unnecessarily, no increase in ICU capacity, too slow on saliva testing, way way too slow with approving Rapid Antigen Testing, slow to order RAT kits, so much so they commandeered private orders and the same has basically happened with N95 masks impacting those businesses that had been prudently trying to do the best for their staff and customers.

Our relative lack of infections/deaths has more to do with our isolation from the world, our relatively sparse population and a climate that allows us to spend a lot of time outdoors than it does any government actions. As time goes on more and more people are becoming unhappy with how this government is handling the Covid pandemic.

If Covid had decimated us the government and especially Jacinda Ardern would rightly have been burned at the stake over it. That did not happen. Not because we were all having BBQs, or there aren't enough of us to go around, or nobody can find us on a map. It did not happen because the decisions that were taken turned out to be the right ones. By all means blame them for the things they got wrong. But give them some credit for the things they have got right. Saying the things they got wrong were due to incompetence but the things they got right were just dumb luck comes across as a bit mean-spirited.

I agree they got somethings right even if slower than ideal but that doesn't explain why we fared so much better than many countries.

They basically did what a lot of other governments had done, having the benefit of time to see how things were developing and being able to pick and choose options. They did nothing out of the ordinary and no more than many other governments yet we fared much better than most places. Our better performance isn't just explained by what our government has done.

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