ROB MacCULLOCH: For Goodness Sakes, Some People You Just Can't Help
- Administrator
- Oct 13, 2023
- 2 min read
For an entire week, this Blog has been focused on one issue - the false claim made by the PM that NZ's GDP growth rate is better "than every country, other than Japan" which he made to Hosking on Newstalk ZB. I saw it as crucial to the election campaign, which centers on economic credibility and in particular cost-of-living issues. The latest IMF figures, released two days ago, put NZ close to bottom on GDP growth - we're on track to be 180th out of 189 countries next year (and way down this year as well). I've checked the OECD Quarterly Growth Figures - since the PM inferred at one stage it maybe these numbers he's talking about - and NZ is certainly not 2nd after Japan there either. So my point is that I've tried like a dog to put the truth out there - and I know many MPs receive this Blog - and thousands of folks have been reading it the past week and re-posting. But then in the Leaders Debate last night, the PM repeated his claim that NZ is beating every country other than Japan on the GDP numbers... and Luxon let it go. How could he? His opponent was stating that Labour is a superior economic manager to National based on our GDP performance and it is not true. How on earth could Luxon not challenge him on the most crucial issue of economic competence? Luxon could've won the debate hands-down and the election in that one moment - by showing off a command of economic matters, like the OECD & IMF numbers, and calling Hipkins' out as deceptive. Once the PM knew he could get away with that, he knew could get away with anything. My political analyst friends in the US say folks expected John Kerry to lose the Presidential Election in 2004 when he got labelled a coward by George Bush & the Republican Party for not helping his fellow soldiers more in Vietnam when they came under enemy attack, even though Kerry had received three Purple Heart military medals when George Bush had been serving in the National Guard in Texas and dodging the draft. They said that for Bush to win the debate & label Kerry a coward when Bush had not served proved Kerry could not win a debate even when he held all the cards. It seems to me that National has held all the cards on the economy and should have easily won these debates on the GDP growth numbers & cost-of-living since they're so clearly in tatters. To not win easily winnable debates with all the numbers on your side, and when Bloggers like me have handed them the evidence on a plate, beggars belief. Sources: https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?QueryName=350
Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. Rob blogs at Down To Earth Kiwi
Ask any average New Zealander what the total govt debt is - barely anyone would give you the correct answer. Our apathy is very costly
"....PM repeated his claim that NZ is beating every country other than Japan on the GDP numbers... and Luxon let it go...."
Another clear reason as to why I refuse to vote for National. Exacerbated even more by his acceptance of "co governance at a local level."
What is wrong with these people? Luxon and Seymour also do not challenge Hipkins when he says that we have saved lives with our covid response. Anyone can go onto the OECD stats website (https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=104676), pick out NZ, and see with their own eyes that, despite low mortality in 2020, excess mortality since then has been utterly staggering. I believe that over this period we have lost the equivalent in excess deaths (ie over and above all the expected deaths) to our loses in WWII. How was this not a gift to Luxon and Seymour? Surely, along with the economy, it is one of the greatest of all proofs of Labour's failures? I desperately want Labour out, but my faith in their successors…
You better have a look at last night's N8WUNZ zoom on Rumble to understand what's going on here. Its spiritual not physical
Pray for Israel and pray for New Zealand to wake up !
I honestly don’t think Luxon has what it takes to be prome minister. He sort of gives the impression he might be in control but appears to be almost goofy, waiting for his puppeteers to say something in his earpiece to help him out. Does he really want to win the election or is he going through the motions? There are a number of very good people in the Nats and also ACT and NZF. Maybe they could sit him in the corner somewhere feeding him peanuts and get on with sorting out the country without him.