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A curious myth sprang up ‘back in the day’, whereby politicians thought they could buy votes and emerge as a permanent government. They believed the man in the street was that stupid; believed people were so feckless and devoid of aspiration and self-reliance that a handout in return for a vote was a possibility.
If you look at the chart below it shows the M3 money supply in New Zealand over the last forty-five years or so. You can see the relatively stable 1990s – for which Don Brash must be given grudging credit. You can also see that the printing of money took off at the turn of the century: undertaken by the Clark, Key, and Ardern Governments – all with great enthusiasm.
According to a Google search, the New Zealand population was 4.1 million in 2005; another search says the population today is 5.2 million. But look at the money supply; it goes from around 120,000 ($million) in 2005 to 400,000 today. It is because of this printing of money that everything from groceries to housing is so expensive today compared with, say, 2005, and also why economies of scale – selling more products to more people – hasn’t resulted in lower or stable prices as you would expect.
I picked 2005 because it was just before ‘lift-off’. In short folks; Helen Clark and Michael Cullen felt they could ‘buy’ a 4th term.
John Key and Bill English didn’t want to be seen as a Ruth Richardson-style rapscallion by engaging in fiscal responsibility in the aftermath of the GFC, so they printed money to throw at welfare beneficiaries. Later, when things recovered, they also tried to purchase a 4th term as the money supply increased from around 26,000 in mid-2016 to around 29,000 by election day 2017. And there is no need to recount the economic disaster of Robertson and Ardern getting their hands on the Treasury and buying votes with abandon.
There is just one small problem with both the myth and the actuality – it didn’t work. The man in the street couldn’t be bought (the rogues!); people are never grateful when receiving handouts, and handouts are always subtle, tending to be a minuscule increase in this or that: usually, not enough money to fill the tank of the car.
What doesn’t happen is someone from the government political party knocking on the door with a cheque saying, “Here’s some readies – now vote for us.” Or, even more cynically: after an election, the ballot papers are impounded, and every ballot for the government party has the sticker peeled back to identify the voter, they are put in a database, and get their cheque shortly before the following election. So most people don’t realise they’ve been bought.
Anyway, my point in mentioning all this, dear reader, is to implore Mr Luxon and Mrs Willis to realise that three governments over twenty-four years have gone mad, printed money to try and beat history, and all came a cropper. It simply doesn’t work as a political tactic. Yet we are all experiencing difficulties making ends meet due to money supply increasing inflation, the seeds for which were sown a couple of decades ago.
Take a leaf out of the 1990s book, keep the money supply in check and trust the common sense of the man in the street; not the fantasies of political strategists trying to fight the 2032 election a bit early. National should win the election in 2032 simply due to the Labour Party no longer existing, so there’s no need to try and buy it.
