General Debate 3 February 2009

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PhilBest

Very nice of the NZ Herald to give Don Brash the opportunity to say THIS:

“Lack of Regulation NOT the Problem”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10554617

“…..Let’s first concede that many mistakes were made by many people in the years preceding the current crisis. Irrational exuberance extended well beyond the dot.com stocks in the 90s into the residential property market and the financial sector in this decade.

In retrospect, both monetary policy and fiscal policy were too loose, in the United States at least. And of course, in some cases there was criminal fraud (Bernard Madoff being the best-known example).

But Gould implies that the crisis was caused by “free” and unregulated markets, especially in the financial sector. This is quite simply nonsense…..

“……Government agencies have stipulated minimum capital levels that banks must maintain, and have enforced a wide range of rules and restrictions, including limits on concentration of credit risk, limits on net foreign exchange positions and much more. They have monitored those rules by regular on-site inspections.

In many ways, this intensive supervision by official agencies made matters worse by leading bank customers to assume that banks were effectively “guaranteed” by Government, thereby enabling banks to operate with levels of capital well below those regarded as prudent in earlier decades. Perhaps even more serious, intensive supervision led some bank directors to suspend their own judgment, and believe that they were behaving prudently provided they were observing all the rules.

Gould seems not to have noticed that the crisis emerged not in the essentially unregulated hedge fund industry, or even among private equity funds, but in the most highly regulated part of the financial sector, namely banking.

Gould argues that “Government involvement in the management of the economy is essential”, implying that that has not been the case in recent decades. Again, that could hardly be further from the truth.

Government taxation and spending make up some 40 per cent of total economic activity in most developed countries, and in all developed countries regulations of one kind or another tightly control what businesses can do.

Even in monetary policy – where Gould seems to imagine that central banks are a law unto themselves, operated by bankers primarily for the benefit of other banks – Governments ultimately hold the whip handle…..

“……..In the United States, the Federal Reserve Board operates under a statute dating back to early last century, and the chairman of the Fed gives a regular account of his activities to a congressional committee.

The current chairman of the Fed has never been a banker……

“…… The current Governor (of the RBNZ) has never been a banker…..

“…….The current Governor (of the Bank of England) has never been a banker.

Gould in any case asserts that fiscal policy is more important than monetary policy. I would not want to get into a debate about which is more important – both are important. At its most basic, monetary policy is essentially about preserving the purchasing power of money.

Unless that is achieved within some tolerable limits, money can’t fulfil its important roles as a unit of account, a basis for transactions, and a store of value – just ask the Zimbabweans!

With the benefit of hindsight, monetary policy was probably too loose in recent years, in some countries at least.

We also know that, in the nineties, the United States Government started putting pressure on American banks to lend to borrowers of quite marginal creditworthiness to prove that they were not discriminating on the basis of race.

And driving the housing bubble in many markets, in the English-speaking world at least, were the highly restrictive zoning policies of local governments – policies which sharply increased the price of residential land and led both borrowers and lenders to assume that the price of housing would increase forever.

They were clearly wrong, but they were hardly operating in “free and unregulated” markets…..”
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February 3, 2009 7:32am
Ford Nucleon

What sort of weed are journalists smoking these days? Yesterday Annette King became the Police Minister again and today in the Dompost Paula Bennett becomes Paula Collins.
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February 3, 2009 7:34am
PhilBest

I keep saying this, but of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: “what might have been”.

“What might have been”, if NZ had actually had a Don Brash government from 2005, instead of the bunch of economic illiterates that were running the ship. NZ might have TRULY had the good, responsible management that enabled it to escape the domestic crisis and recession, that the lying scum MSM have made out so much that we did have in the form of Michael Kullen. BARF. And we might have been in good shape to confront the global recession, rather than already stuffed regardless of it.
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February 3, 2009 7:37am
Lee C

http://monkeyswithtypewriter.blogspot.com/ to check out four Myths of the Global recession

Lee – MWT
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February 3, 2009 7:40am
PhilBest

What the world desperately needs, is some shining example of a country that has largely escaped the current mess, through truly good government; and/or gets itself quickly into good shape now by defying the frightfully wrong-headed trend sweeping the world. Tax cuts, small government, affordable housing, truly free markets. Does anyone know of a candidate? The Czech Republic?

Economic Growth Rates would be a good guide but are unfortunately old data by the time they are known:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(real)_growth_rate

It will be interesting to keep track of that in years to come.

THIS report is interesting:

“Poland, Czechs to escape recession -EU forecast”

Mon, Jan 19 2009

By Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS, Jan 19 (Reuters) – “Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania will escape recession among the European Union’s new member states from central and eastern Europe, the European Commission said on Monday…..”

http://www.fxstreet.com/news/forex-news/article.aspx?StoryId=674de849-5653-465d-9d02-5f52d81fa00e
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February 3, 2009 7:41am
PhilBest

THIS is also interesting:

http://praguemonitor.com/2008/11/07/financial-crisis-czech-republic-and-euro

“Financial crisis, the Czech Republic and the euro”
By Martin Jahn /
Hospodářské noviny /
30 October 2008

“…….Today, it is clear that what started as a US credit crisis will develop into a world-wide recession that will last at least one or two years. An economic depression was averted only thanks to a relatively speedy and well-coordinated response of central banks and governments. The (Czech) “Crown” ? Nothing special…For a long time it seemed as though the financial crisis had nothing to do with us. Czech banks had not bought big volumes of toxic shares and conservatively focused mainly on the development of the local market. An economy driven by the export industry maintained a healthy, rapid growth rate.

But the Czech Republic cannot avoid the impact of the crisis. Local exporters are already noticing a significant decrease in demand, particularly from western Europe. The majority of banks and important companies in the manufacturing industry, moreover, have foreign owners, and they are feeling the impact of the financial crisis more strongly than firms on the local market.

Fortunately, the crisis hit the Czech Republic in the upward arc of its economic cycle. This means that we should not see any significant decrease in production or any massive layoffs, but rather a decrease in economic growth, which, in my opinion, will not exceed 3% next year.

It would be a mistake to think that the impact of the crisis will be less drastic simply because our country has not introduced the euro yet. There are a number of countries that also still have their own currency but have been hit hard all the same. Hungary, Ukraine and Iceland are some of the examples. By contrast Austria and the Netherlands remain nearly unscathed. Germany also appears to be quite resilient…….”

That last sentence or two is interesting:

“…..Austria and the Netherlands remain nearly unscathed. Germany also appears to be quite resilient…….”; along with the position of the Czech Republic itself as covered in the article. We should be taking a good hard look at the reasons WHY some countries have not got themselves into such a mess, shouldn’t we?
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February 3, 2009 7:42am
PhilBest

While across the Tasman, another bunch of economically illiterate socialists stuff up an otherwise lucky country:

“PM’s Leftist Manifesto a Risky Business Pitch”

By Michael Stutchbury

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24999160-7583,00.html

“……..HERE in Davos, Kevin Rudd’s manifesto for turning Australia into a laboratory of “social democratic capitalism” would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous. There’s so many straw men in there, it’s a fire hazard.

Exploiting the global crisis to cast himself as a saviour of self-destructive capitalism and dastardly Malcolm Turnbull as the embodiment of neo-liberalism may be good politics.

But it’s not in the national interest for the Prime Minister to don some Kevinista persona and declare the dawn of a new era that will supplant the free market with more muscular government intervention.

Australia is a capital importer with high household debt amid a global credit squeeze and a flight from risk. We are vulnerable to being marked down by foreign investors as a risky bet. The Prime Minister shouldn’t go around shouting that Australia has been gripped by some crazy ideology that leaves us poorly prepared for the global crisis.

The national interest is best served by the PM asserting Australia is a well-regulated market economy that has delivered widespread prosperity with substantial social protection.

Julia Gillard spoke in this spirit at World Economic Forum’s Australia reception. Australia was meeting the crisis with our “many remarkable strengths”, including “open and competitive markets”, strong financial institutions, a “better than world class” regulatory regime, an independent central bank and a healthy fiscal position.

The deputy PM could have continued that Australia’s modern prosperity derives from the pro-market reforms of the past two decades, and mostly by Labor governments. They include some not from the textbook, such as HECS fees and compulsory superannuation. While there is much to be improved, we don’t need a wholesale reassertion of government control over the market economy, other than as an emergency response to the immediate crisis. Instead, we need more market reforms in areas such as infrastructure, water and health.

That’s unless the Kevinista manifesto is written as declaration of policy fact, not political fiction. That would mean the PM is serious in claiming the emergency measures – such as various bank lending and deposit guarantees – fall into the Labor tradition of “decisive state action” that is now part of Canberra’s new standard operating manual.

“The current crisis is a culmination of a 30-year domination of economic policy by a free-market ideology that has been variously called neo-liberalism, economic liberalism, economic fundamentalism, Thatcherism or the Washington consensus,” argues Rudd.

But outside Third World bookshops and anti-globalisation protests, what does neo-liberalism or the Washington consensus have to do with Moonee Ponds or Bankstown? If he’d have gone to Davos, Rudd could have attended a specific lunch on the Washington consensus, the term coined by US economist John Williams for the policy cure for the early 1980s Latin American debt crisis.

These were International Monetary Fund orthodoxy: stop running huge budget deficits; get rid of wasteful subsidies to instead fund basic health and education; fund tax rate cuts by broadening the tax base; remove controls over interest rates and foreign direct investment; get rid of import protection; and privatise state-owned businesses.

While painful, the new model was more effective than the old one of ill-disciplined economic management, intrusive state control and import-replacement industrialisation. South American success stories today, even Lulu’s Brazil, have not junked its essential measures.

The IMF was again called in during the 1997 East Asian financial crisis. While perhaps painful at the time, the adjustment has made some, such as South Korea, better placed to weather the current storm. If Rudd had talked to South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo at the Davos lunch, he’d have found the former Harvard economist does not criticise the Washington consensus…..

“…….America’s twin deficits were financed by ultra-low US interest rates maintained by the Greenspan Fed early this decade after the tech bubble burst and by the mountain of liquidity pouring in from China and other parts of East Asia.

Former Clinton administration Treasury official Roger Altman pins this macroeconomic imbalance as the “underlying cause” of the current crisis……”
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February 3, 2009 7:50am
dad4justice

“What sort of weed are journalists smoking these days? ”

Indeed F N, anybody would think the lickspittle media and the pc wimpish journo’s are still plugged into the Aunty Helen and Heather Simpson’s propaganda machine that promotes the sick sisterhood. The TV News on both channels is far too painful to watch.

I thought Ms King would be grazing on the moon by now?
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February 3, 2009 7:51am
PhilBest

More from “The Australian” on how the lucky country is having its crisis mismanaged by a bunch of socialists reverting to type:

“Rudd Rescue Plan is Unnecessary and Counterproductive”

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24992898-7583,00.html

“….There is no evidence foreign banks are withdrawing from the Australian market. Indeed they increased their loans to non financial corporations by more than 15 per cent over the past year.

But if they were tempted to reduce their exposures, nothing is more likely to help them do so than a Government offering to refinance the loans they abandon. After all, once the Ruddbank is in place, the taxpayer will fill the gap, so they can scale back their syndicated loans without fear the venture will collapse, which would have forced them to take a loss on any amount they are still owed.

Bad enough that Rudd once again shows himself incapable of understanding the law of unintended consequences. But the real scandal is that it is the taxpayer who will pick up the tab…..

“…..it follows a disturbing pattern of naive and impulsive policy by the Rudd Government.

After all, it is only a few months ago that Rudd gave an unlimited guarantee of all bank deposits. He did so without discussing the proposal with the Reserve Bank and within days governor Glenn Stevens was pointing out the growing dislocation in financial markets the rash decision had created and begging the Government to impose a cap “the lower the better”.

The dislocation was considerable and has not been reversed. Some 250,000 Australians saw their investments in mortgage funds and cash management trusts frozen. Finance companies were unable to raise short term finance with the consequence they could not continue to finance car dealers.

And so the Government moved to set up a finance company to provide finance to the vehicle retailers. Nearly two months later it is yet to start financing and car dealers around Australia are struggling to stay in business.

Rudd is keen to be seen to be doing something about the global financial crisis, but that is no excuse for doing anything.

Of course Rudd, who was an “economic conservative” in 2007 is now a reborn socialist, claiming the 11 1/2 years of Coalition government left Australia ill-prepared for the downturn.

Really?

Rudd inherited a Treasury with all Government debt repaid and billions of cash in the bank. The only reason Rudd has been able to splash cash around without having to go into debt is because of the (Howard) Coalition’s good economic management…..”
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February 3, 2009 7:56am
PhilBest

“Deficit Looms over Rescue Bid”

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24994015-601,00.html

“…..Wayne Swan confirmed yesterday for the first time that a $50 billion shortfall in tax revenue would push the budget into the red.

The Treasurer held weekend talks with Kevin Rudd and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner to discuss the details of a second stimulus package to rejuvenate the languishing economy.

It will centre around infrastructure spending, which the Government believes is most likely to kick-start the economy and create jobs.

The talks were held with the knowledge that this week is shaping as the most crucial in economic terms that the Rudd Government has faced. Parliament returns tomorrow and Malcolm Turnbull will be on the attack over the Prime Minister’s attempt to start an ideological battle over the global financial crisis….

“…..Mr Swan yesterday said he had a strong preference for direct investment in nation-building infrastructure and that incentives for business investment were always important. “But we must never forget that in this environment where there has been a collapse in global demand, the most important thing for the Government to do to stimulate the economy is to stimulate demand so that business actually has some customers,” he said.

The Government is considering raising the low-income tax offset to $1500 and lifting the threshold for the 30 per cent tax bracket to $37,000 from the current $34,000, at a cost of $2.75 billion.

Mr Swan wants targeted tax relief over generalised tax cuts suggested by the Opposition Leader. Mr Turnbull said Mr Swan’s comments amounted to a policy backflip, and argued broad-based tax relief should be a part of the next stimulus package.”

YEP. There’s nothing so certain as the reluctance of a socialist administration to give tax cuts, no matter how obvious the need is for them, as Kiwis could tell the Aussies.
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February 3, 2009 8:01am
Inventory2

Have the Aussie cricketers been caught bang-to-rights? Watch the video and draw your own conclusions

http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2009/02/hell-hath-no-fury.html
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February 3, 2009 8:45am
chfr

OMG 7 of the first 10 posts from Phil Best, time for your own blog methinks.
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February 3, 2009 8:48am
Hagues

I agree with you Inventory2, bloody cheats alright. That game also had two shocking bits of umpiring, the first was the LBW of McCullum off a big thick inside edge, and the second was allowing this “bowled” to stand. Given the commentators remarks that once the keepers gloves come in front of the stumps the batsman cannot be given out no matter what (even if the ball had hit the wickets) you must wonder what the square leg umpire is doing while this was going on cause he can’t have been watching the game.
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February 3, 2009 9:24am
Redbaiter

““What might have been”, if NZ had actually had a Don Brash government from 2005, instead of the bunch of economic illiterates that were running the ship. ”

Yep, and don’t forget it was the left/liberal mainstream media who effectively destroyed Brash’s bid with their promotion of the “Brash lied about the Brethren” falsity, making this pathetic beat up the primary election issue for a large number of dimbulbs.

Thanks for the Michael Stutchbury article Phil. A breath of fresh air. Even if only 10% of the journalists in NZ had a similar approach it might bring a modicum of respect to the profession.
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February 3, 2009 9:30am
dime

Rudd – one term PM. He won cause people were sick on johnny and pissed about iraq.. those barriers are gone. rudd will be too.
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February 3, 2009 9:50am
stephen

…you must wonder what the square leg umpire is doing while this was going on cause he can’t have been watching the game.

Keeping an eye out for bouncers from Michael Clarke, of course.

Darrell Hair thought it was no-ball too, because…he saw the video! Shocking what we can do with technology these days, someone should let Haddin know.
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February 3, 2009 9:59am
david c

I see it’s the Philbest cut and paste show again…
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February 3, 2009 10:03am
Frank

“As the United States suffers through perhaps its worst financial crisis ever – a crisis caused by the combination of rampant greed and some ill-conceived financial engineering – Wall Street’s reputation has been badly tarnished, perhaps forever.

Moving forward, two results will be a tightening of financial regulation and an increase in government control of the financial markets. We’ll also end up with a federal government that more closely controls – and in some cases owns stakes in – banks and other financial institutions, a move that some regard as de facto nationalization.

Like a super hero arriving to save the day, in steps Washington, “home to a popular president and a Congress whose mood matches that of a public angry at Wall Street
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February 3, 2009 10:08am
Inventory2

stephen – I’m picking that there will be a backdown from Haddin today, seeing as how he’s the only person in the universe who’s seen the video and still reckons that the ball hit the stumps 😉
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February 3, 2009 10:14am
stephen

I thought he lived in a different universe.
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February 3, 2009 10:20am
peterwn

How about temporary boy racer legislation – NOW! I would not mind it being rammed through under urgency as long as it has a 12 month ‘sunset’ so that it can be replaced by more durable legislation. IMO there should be rapid access to a judge if anyone feels aggrieved by police actions when relying on the temporary legislation. A judge can deal with anything that works out to be excessively harsh. The experience gained would help with conidering the ‘final’ legislation.

IMO it is more urgent than repealing EFA.
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February 3, 2009 10:26am
dime

Haddin is a cheating scumbag.

you could see the desperation in him.. im convinced he would cheat to get a win.

1 – as if he didnt know mccullum wasnt out..

2 – claims a run out where the batsmen was so far in.. his feet were accross the line

3 – knocks a fucking bail off!

disgusting. he should be dropped like Dyer was
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February 3, 2009 10:31am
Razork

Hmm, as a right winger admirer of Paula Bennett I am a little concerned about Key’s statement that “he would have fired her if he thought she had deliberately mislead him” over the son in law situation.

Don’t get me wrong; I agree with accountability and despised the last govt’s attitude to this kind of thing, but a month ago she was the best person for this job and he has taken a punt on her which i personally think is a breathe of fresh air.
Accountability is one thing, but sacking someone for a small mistake before they even have their feet under the desk is taking things a bit far.

Chill out John, she could be the best thing since sliced bread in your cabinet for the next 6 years, don’t let the herald muck raking get to you!
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February 3, 2009 10:37am
Razork

Oh, and hahahahahahaha
10cm of snow in London is apparently massive!
The rest of Europe must be pissing their pants over that.
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February 3, 2009 10:38am
big bruv

Raz

I know what you mean about 10cm of snow in London, when I lived in the NE of Scotland 10cm was considered as nothing more than a light dusting.

Basically southern Poms are soft.
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February 3, 2009 10:45am
Komata

What IS it about John Campbell?

Watched him on Campbell Live last night (2 Feb), when he was interviewing John Key. Very interesting and Key came across well, but as for Campbell!!

Is the guy so full of his own self-importance that he thinks he has to interupt for no good purpose (almost as if he needs to remind viewers the it is HIS show – shades of Paul Holmes). I don’t think the PM even got 2 minutes clear speaking time before ‘The Campbell’ interrupted or attempted to! (Thankfully Key at least kept speaking while Campbell retired baffled – though only for a few (sadly very few) seconds before returning to the fray!

And as for the questions that Campbell posed (or tried to) during his interuptions!

IMHO they were ludicrous, contributing nothing of substance to the interview except to make Campbell look more of a plonker and the PM more dignified.

I thought Campbell would have learned from the roasting he got after the election debates but evidently not.

Come back Bryan Edwards – all is forgiven!

Anyone else get the same reaction?
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February 3, 2009 10:50am
CraigM

Won’t watch Campbell, or anyone else that thinks they are more important than their guest and/or subject. Their role is as a facilitator, not as expert.

I tried Hoskings again this morning. I really want to believe I can still listen to ZB in the morning…sadly, I lasted until he finished with the PM, then I finished with him. His attitude towards Key was disgusting and his ego is momentus.

Key was there to discuss the kids can charity and was treated like he was personally responsible for all the hungry children. Hoskings is a rude arrogant little man and Campbell is cut from the same cloth.
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February 3, 2009 11:08am
Ross Miller

My Aussie b-i-l rang from Lake Macquarie at 2.30 am yesterday morning to tell me that the Aussie Cricket team were a bunch of plonkers and that Ponting was the biggest plonker of all.

Pete doesn’t do defeat well.

So I rang him back at 6.00 am (our time) this morning to tell him I agreed.
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February 3, 2009 11:59am
PhilBest

OK, apologies for the “cut and paste show”; I was trying to get at the one and same point throughout; these issues are important. We have a global economic crisis, it could be 1929 all over again, and we have horrific economic illiteracy both in the general population and the politicians they elect; AND the “experts” that those politicians appoint to powerful “management” positions.

If I was to start my own blog as some suggest, most likely no-one will look at it. An admirable blog like Peter Cresswell’s one, doesn’t get looked at by anywhere near enough people; neither does Bernard Hickey’s; and these are people who are talking good sound common sense rather than completely wrong-headed wishful tooth fairy politics where the State “creates” “wealth”.

This quote sums up how I feel:

“No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result.”

-Ludwig von Mises

But I will take on board the criticisms of those posters here whose opinions I respect.
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February 3, 2009 12:05pm
baxter

I appreciate your posts PHIL:……Don’t worry about the the moaning trolls.
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February 3, 2009 12:29pm
Inventory2

Phil – a word to the wise – don’t start a blog if you have an addictive personality – blog addiction is far worse than drug or alcohol addiction!
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February 3, 2009 12:34pm
jackp

Komata, I agree. I was discusted with Campbell. Especially when he tried to point out that John Key’s idea about rapid transit was not his but the Greens. Who cares who’s idea it is. The greens are not the originators of rapid transit. Look at Europe. Why is Campbell so obsessed with himself! One of the questions brought up by the emails was solar heating. I would have wanted John Key to answer that question specifically, but Campbell was too impressed with himself and kept the topic general. No, I don’t watch him that much anymore since the debates.
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February 3, 2009 12:39pm
MT_Tinman

Ross Miller. Fantastic!
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February 3, 2009 12:41pm
LUCY

Welcome back Bryan Edwards? Like hell. But I agree that Campbell is looking more and more desperate, the plonker. Quite sad really.
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February 3, 2009 12:42pm
jackp

Philbest, you might take a look at Ireland. They have a growth rate of 2.5 percent. Also the both countries, Czech and Ireland have a flat tax. I know Ireland business tax is down to 13 percent. This has attracted a lot of businesses. The government here takes too much and does unnecessary things costing taxpayers too much. The Herald wrote today about how the business tax changes John Key proposes will cost millions. There is always this word “cost.” My perception of cost is when the government increases the taxes. More comes out of our pockets… but when the government takes less, I look at that as saving money!!!! Not costing anything. This government needs to be downsized.
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February 3, 2009 12:49pm
Hagues

dime “2 – claims a run out where the batsmen was so far in.. his feet were accross the line”

Which brings me back to my rant on umpires… Why is it that they cannot make a decision themselves on such obvious run out appeals? FFS they refer every single run out appeal to the 3rd umpire even in cases like that where the batsman is past the bloody stumps before the ball hits them.
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February 3, 2009 12:55pm
greenfly

jackp – Campbell was on the button with his comment re the Greens ‘having proposed it first’, though that was over home insulation as I recall. And you are quite right, it doesn’t matter much who thought of it first, so I’d not expect you to care much either (or are you taking pain to ensure the Greens don’t get credit for anything?) Key, to his credit (despite a slight gag) did give that credit, though got a swipe in about their being no funds for it (wonder where he will ‘find’ it when he introduces a ‘similar’ programme 🙂
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February 3, 2009 1:00pm
Inventory2

Hagues – the umpires have become lazy – too reliant on technology – and now lack the edge in their decisionmaking. Watch the video below, and you will see the consequences

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=lxS83nO90wE
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February 3, 2009 1:35pm
philu

hands up all those who have never ever read one of phil bests’ copy & pastes..?

me..!..me..!

phil(whoar.co.nz)
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February 3, 2009 1:52pm
PhilBest

JackP; what has taken the gloss off Ireland’s situation, is that they had strict anti-development regulations that made their housing among the world’s most unaffordable, along with NZ, Spain, and Australia. That has of course come back to bite their mortgage equity and financial institution solvency situation; however if they stick to the “small government” thing now, they should come right quicker than otherwise.

But I am very interested in watching countries that truly have missed having any domestic crisis and are only affected by the international crisis insofar as their trade is affected. It looks like the Czech Republic falls into this category; they did not have a housing affordability problem or a bubble; their financial institutions remain unaffected by this or even by unwise investment in US securities; and their fiscal and monetary policy has been top-notch.

Nations in this situation will end up well up in the OECD stakes once the big shakedown is over.
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February 3, 2009 2:04pm
PhilBest

Ah, I see that Mr Farrar has kindly made a separate thread devoted to the Don Brash article that I posted as item no.1 on this thread. Right, let’s get over there and have a good argument.
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February 3, 2009 2:06pm
Patrick Starr

Phool – must be painful for you that his cut and pastes still get more readers than whoar.co
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February 3, 2009 2:07pm
llew

Raz

I know what you mean about 10cm of snow in London, when I lived in the NE of Scotland 10cm was considered as nothing more than a light dusting.

Basically southern Poms are soft.

Bwahaha – Big Bruv, you will like this

http://chasemeladies.blogspot.com/2009/02/snow-diary.html

The Guardian set up a live snow blog, which quickly got overrun with tiresome northerners saying that our snow is a poof, and congratulating themselves on living somewhere even more freezing and uninhabitable than London. Why does anyone stick it out up there? Do they enjoy all these gales and blizzards?

Take Scotland, for example. Everyone in Scotland has an EU passport. They don’t have to stay, which begs the question: why do they stay? Why does the entire population not re-locate to Tenerife?

-Some guy on The Guardian pulled rank on the northerners. Snow, you say? Well permit me, as a Canadian, to butt in here…
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February 3, 2009 2:22pm
grumpyoldhori

Razork , you do know that Bennett has a degree in bloody social work do you not ?
Now if I give you six months think you can come up for some reason to keep idle bloody social workers ?
Or what have idle bloody social workers done for this country ?
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February 3, 2009 4:27pm
jackp

Greenfly, you are right, it was about the home insulation and not rapid transit. I don’t think this was a political discussion Campbell was having with John key. It was more about what the Government had planned for this global recession something we are all concerned about. It was John Campbell injecting that the Greens came up with this idea first in a confrontational manner. I thought his tactics were immature. As John Key said some of the ideas brought up by the public were “practical” ones. To be honest with you, I can’t stand the greens because they are for social control. I was hoping they would be more for the environment and stay less out of the parents bedroom and families.
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February 3, 2009 4:31pm
greenfly

You are right jackp – Campbell did and does interject confrontationally. In this instance, I supported his ‘heads up’ re the Greens, given the ‘thumbs down’ they’ve received since the NActs came to power. I think it is worth giving credit where credit is due. As regards ‘social control’ this topic is grist to the rabid-right’s mill and there are plenty of spoutings-off on that topic in past Kiwiblog threads. Naturally, I’m fascinated to watch how this collection of governing parties manage to avoid (or not) similar issues. With that, the idea of ‘crushing’ the cars of ‘boy racers’ is a hot topic. Talk about intervention by the State!
Lastly (many would hope) your ‘stay less out of parents bedrooms’ (I sure you meant stay out of said bedrooms) is crap. You don’t really believe that shallow spin, do you???
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February 3, 2009 4:51pm
jackp

Perhaps I am wrong but weren’t the greens talking about population control just before the election. I think the Chinese have the same policy. Your example about state intervention is a bad one. Boy racers are breaking the law. You might want to bring up the anti smacking law. I think that is much better. Especially when the police go to primary schools and explain to the children that their parents (the parents are gods at this age remember) are breaking the law if they smack them taking the parents authority and children boundaries away from them. This is soooooo wrong, greenfly.
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February 3, 2009 5:39pm
dad4justice

Hopefully our dollar stabilizes on the international market?
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February 3, 2009 5:48pm
adc

I’m sure the idea to insulate homes came up long before the Green party was formed.

But anyone who saw any of JC’s leaders debates last year knows he really just wants us all to vote green. The plonker.

Now how about that power cut hey?

We were fine – we’ve a backup generator. But Vector Communications (yes, the same Vector as the power company) obviously doesn’t think it’s necessary to have backup power in their main fibre comms centre, so our fibre went down when their UPS battery ran out of juice. How sad is that.

This happened about a year ago as well, proving they are too stupid to even learn.

So, anyone thinking they’ll get a nice reliable fibre from Vector – think again. They are amateurs.
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February 3, 2009 6:30pm
greenfly

jackp – again, you are right – they were talking about the issue, but to extrapolate that worthwhile discussion out to ‘getting into your bedroom’ is where they crapola begins. (Feel free to quote anything the Greens proposed to back your theory btw)
Boy racers are breaking the law? Yes, some are, and the police can already ping them every time they do. Why do we (the police, the State) need an additional law to do what can already be done? Sounds like a ‘daddy state’ move to me. You’ve no need to worry yourself over the ‘smacking biz now, jack, as Key will put all that to rights now, won’t he? Puzzles me why he and all of his crew voted for it though.
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February 3, 2009 6:33pm
big bruv

How many lies will the Greens be allowed to get away with before our lazy and stupid media decide that they need to be exposed?

During the later part of the election campaign the Greens released a cleverly worded policy that was in essence their proposal to limit the number of children a couple could have, as soon as one or two bloggers picked up on it (the main stream media missed it entirely) the Green damage control unit went into overdrive reassuring all and sundry that this was not their intention to legislate for the number of kids a couple could produce.

Now we find out that was exactly what the bastards wanted to do and given the chance that is indeed what they would have introduced.

The public need to understand that the Greens are a very dangerous lot, it needs to be hammered home to them that they can take nothing the Greens say at face value and to always look for the hard left socialist/communist reason behind every policy and press release.
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February 3, 2009 7:08pm
joeAverage

Expanding foam in big bore exhaust systems, thats a novel way of shutting the boy racers down, or dorks who think noise equals speed,not
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February 3, 2009 7:46pm
joeAverage

I see BP that well known overseas owned petrolium (pommy winger company)ie total price gouging lackeys is leading the price rise charge again( 6c as usual) First to put up ,last to bring down. Im proud to say other than magnatec oil CASTROL,bp owned ,i have NEVER put any of their petrol into any of my cars, and my wife says their wild bean coffee is SHIT tasting
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February 3, 2009 8:23pm
big bruv

I heard on ZB news tonight that the Maori king is to make his first trip to Waitangi this year, bully for him I thought, Waitangi is the proper place for the man I thought.

Then I heard something that made my angry, for this “momentous” occasion the new Maori king is taking along….(wait for it)……………………………………..800 advisor’s and support staff!
The bulletin then went on to describe this new King arduous agenda and duties during the Waitangi day celebrations, it seems he (and his 800 advisor’s) are going along to LISTEN TO PEOPLES STORIES!!!

Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous than that?

As a tax payer I had better not be picking up the bill for this man and his 800 advisor’s.

[DPF: It is 200 not 800. And they are not advisors or support staff. They are paddling the six Tainui waka to Waitangi – a journey that may take up to ten hours. As far as I know there is no suggestion the taxpayer has any involvement. So what is the problem again?]
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February 3, 2009 8:38pm
wikiriwhis business

“As a tax payer I had better not be picking up the bill for this man and his 800 advisor’s.”

could single handedly spark the revoulution!
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February 3, 2009 8:41pm
Patrick Starr

I’m game to bet we are picking up the tab for these lumps of shit
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February 3, 2009 8:42pm
Patrick Starr

“and his 800 advisor’s” – so in an 8 hour day he can hake 30 seconds of advice from each one (if he doesn’t answer back or talk to anyone else)
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February 3, 2009 8:48pm
big bruv

If we are indeed paying for all 800 of the hangers on then I have zero faith in this or any government to get us out of the economic crisis.

This type of extravagance is the first thing any responsible gov’t should cut, failure to do anything about it just proves that the best way out of this crisis is to put the cheque book away and wait it out.
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February 3, 2009 8:49pm
greenfly

big bruv said: “During the later part of the election campaign the Greens released a cleverly worded policy …”
Give it up Bruv, you’re sounding paranoid and shrill. Your knee-jerk responses to any mention of the Green party is waaaaay beyond tiresome. If you had something actual or factual to say, then maybe… but as it is, you’re just harping.
Patrick Starr – can’t help but feel your comment about ‘lumps of shit’ reveals something significant about you and your feelings for your fellow man…just can’t quite put my finger on it 🙂
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February 3, 2009 9:18pm
Patrick Starr

if you put your finger on a lump of shit……..well — you know—you’re a greenfly
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February 3, 2009 10:01pm
jackp

Greenfly, what a coincidence, the article is in today’s Herald. Now the Greens, your party, are denying their approach to global warming. Looks like the old familiar Labour/Green coalition. What you are saying is the Greens wouldn’t want population control, but what the Greens are saying is that they would like it. They are certainly heading in that direction and as usual they want taxpayers to pay for the leaflets and commissions. Very expensive and wasteful of taxpayers money. The great thing is the greens are powerless now, voted by the people, otherwise they would certainly put population control in the ranks with lightbulbs and showerheads. The “informed decision”? Big Bruv is right, they would make it law if they could. I would find it insulting to use my money to preach this rediculous approach to global warming. Keys voted for the anti-smacking law, as you recall, because he didn’t want to make criminals out of honest parents. Sue Bradford wouldn’t budge to change her law but Helen Clark decided she had better so she met with John Key to water down the bill. Instead of going to criminal court the police will decide how far the legal (not justice) system will carry the parent’s “crime”.

The boy racers who speed down the street causing all sorts of noise and endangering innocent lives and have already killed people is not worth more than a ticket? That surprises me since you are willling to throw parents in jail for smacking their children from time to time to keep them in line. Big Bruv is right again, the Greens have a communistic/socialistic approach. The Greens should stop punishing the good guys for a change.
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February 4, 2009 8:46am
jackp

Greenfly, I think it is pretty obvious that the “bedroom” is symbolic of fornication. I know there are other places but I really don’t want to get into that. I don’t think you do either.
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February 4, 2009 9:01am
greenfly

jackp – your powerful and well researched arguments have me beat! Your support for Big Bruv means I’m totally out-gunned at every turn, such an astute thinker is he (and might I add, are you!). You close with an admonishment to the Greens – stop punishing the good guys! I couldn’t agree more! Naughty, bad Greens! Stop it!
As to your follow up comment (the fornification one) P r i c e l e s s !
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February 4, 2009 9:17am
big bruv

DPF

“[DPF: It is 200 not 800. And they are not advisor’s or support staff. They are paddling the six Tainui waka to Waitangi – a journey that may take up to ten hours. As far as I know there is no suggestion the taxpayer has any involvement. So what is the problem again?]”

I took my information from Newstalk ZB, as far as I am aware they have not retracted the report of adjusted the number, they were the ones who called the 800 people “advisor’s”.

My “problem” DPF is that I have a suspicion we (the tax payer) are funding this, if not then as far as I am concerned the King can take 8000 with him.

BTW DPF, “funding” can mean many things, for you to say ” there is no suggestion the taxpayer has any involvement” is a brave call indeed, are you willing to wager that none of the 200-800 advisor’s are on the dole or have not been to WINZ to receive free petrol vouchers so they can make the trip to Waitangi?
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February 4, 2009 9:26am
expat

The Govt GCN network gets the axe.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10555069

What happened with the assault that brought this to the light?
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February 4, 2009 9:26am
Redbaiter

“if you put your finger on a lump of shit……..well — you know—you’re a greenfly”

A greenblowfly?
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February 4, 2009 9:39am
greenfly

and the thing that attracts me to Kiwiblog is ….
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February 4, 2009 12:24pm
Patrick Starr

Greenfly I can’t help but feel your coming back to kiwiblog day after day and getting your arse kicked reveals something significant about you …just can’t quite put my finger on it
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February 4, 2009 4:41pm

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