Things are not looking good for the Ardern government. Not only is it sliding drastically in the polls, but its $55 million legacy media slush fund can clearly only buy so much loyalty. Especially when New Zealand’s economic situation is deteriorating to the point that even the bought-and-paid-for media can’t keep pretending otherwise.
We are in a world of trouble.
There isn’t a confidence survey out there at the moment that has numbers to be encouraged by.
Sectors are shrinking, the mood is dour, the outlook is even worse.
It’s a bad time to buy a large household item, it’s a bad time to buy a household, prices are rising and set to rise further, everyone who sells anything is forecasting their prices to continue to rise while their profits shrink.
Inflation is at dangerous levels, the Reserve Bank is pedalling frantically to get it under control, while at the same time telling us there is nothing really to see here.
The Government is playing the same game, everything you think is wrong is the war’s fault.
Even though it isn’t.
Grant Robertson might have conceded that the government can’t control prices, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t bear any responsibility for the nation’s economy. After all, as Mike Hosking points out, when Jacinda Ardern showed that she couldn’t grasp such economic fundamentals as the difference between GDP and the current account, it “actually saw the dollar move, such is the danger of the powerful being found wanting”.
What may be even worse is the possibility that the Ardern government isn’t deliberately trying to shift blame. Maybe they genuinely don’t know what they’re doing. Which may, in fact, explain a great deal of their disastrous policy-making over the last few years.
We are currently paying the price for our Covid over-reach.
The obsession with hospitals and deaths has in large part led us to where we sit this morning.
While it’s true that, as the government argues, economies around the world are in trouble, some are in a lot more trouble than others. Guess which ones?
The countries that fire-hosed their economies with more money than needed, with money that went to unproductive sectors, are now paying the price for the largesse.
Look at the United States, Britain and good old New Zealand.
Even if you don’t know the cash rate, you know your mortgage rate, you know the cost of your grocery shop, you know what your wages have gone up by, you know what going backwards feels like.
They told you a good economic response was a good health response, well enjoy it, this is your good economic response.
NZ Herald
Ouch.
But that’s far from the only slings and barbs that even the NZ Herald is starting to fire at their one-time golden idol. Another article notes how the first event on her “bang for your buck” trip to Singapore and Japan generated so much interest that the creaking of a door as someone snuck out was the only response when Ardern’s “digital disruption and sustainability” panel asked for questions from the audience. In the end, Ardern had to throw a Dorothy Dixer at her own panel.
Even then, her own answers were hardly the stuff of great inspiration.
Ardern urged Singaporean parents to send their kids to New Zealand for a gap year.
Just not too many if they want to be on working holiday visas.
Ardern’s subsequent announcement of expanding the number of such visas available to Singaporeans – from 200 to 300 – was hardly akin to rolling out the “New Zealand is open” red carpet.
But it’s not surprising, given that the previous maximum of 200 people had been more than sufficient to cater for Singaporean demand right up until just before the pandemic.
NZ Herald
No doubt, National will be revelling in Ardern’s discomfiture as much as in the latest opinion polls. They might want to exercise some caution, though.
Firstly, hubris will be your downfall; as several Australian oppositions have found, assuming the next election is yours for the winning can lead to nasty surprises. Especially when it’s a good 18 months til then.
Secondly, National might want to be cautious in seeing all this as an endorsement of Luxon’s leadership. Remember: voters rarely vote new governments in, they toss existing governments out. There’s a big and important difference there.
