The new Government in NZ need to stop seeing the slump in business confidence as some snarky micro-aggression sub-tweet by Employers

By
Martyn Bradbury
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8
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The Left & the new Government in NZ need to stop seeing the slump in business confidence as some snarky micro-aggression sub-tweet by Employers and start to understand it represents an industry wide canary in the coal mine pointing towards a huge economic meltdown.

Yes, there is an element of self sabotage and surprise the left won within the Business community, but there are also some very salient points that spell out an economic reckoning on the horizon.

The bosses will attempt to claim a living wage and slightly better Union protection for workers is what has spooked them, but that’s bullshit, the real reasons for a downturn in confidence however are worth looking at.

The madness of Trump’s trade war, the weakness of Italy and the Eurozone, the collapse in emerging markets, Iranian threats to oil and the shadow banking crisis in China join the domestic issues of maggots in kids scalps, the continuing homelessness epidemic, a looming ‘hunger crisis’ for the poorest in Auckland,  Treasury predicting a downturn and the construction industry on the verge of collapse.

The new Government was formed believing there would be an economic reckoning of the neoliberal free market, when that moment occurs, they had better be ready to implement solutions.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. Well the demand stimulis of $20 an hour minimum wage and a kiwi housing program and the work of Shane Billion should alleviate the lack of confidence with dollars. But yes is there really a plan?

  2. ‘The new Government was formed believing there would be an economic reckoning of the neoliberal free market, when that moment occurs, they had better be ready to implement solutions.’

    Ha! The voters were conned, yet again!

    Remember ‘Let’s do it’ ? Do what exactly?

    The fact is, governments are notoriously hopeless at planning for the future, and are notoriously hopeless at averting disasters.

    And once disaster does strike, governments are notoriously hopeless at dealing with them.

    So, what are governments good at?

    1. Making ‘promises’ they have no intention of keeping or are unable to keep.

    2. Collecting taxes and spending other people’s money unwisely.

    3. Ignoring fundamental factors that determine the future -especially factors relating to energy and the environment.

    4. Accommodating the short-term wants of international banks and corporations to keep business-as-usual going for as long as possible.

    5. Promoting the looting and polluting of the environment.

    In most respects the Adern government is no different from any that has preceded it, and it will keep promoting the politics of failure, which amounts to short-term materialism ahead of sustainability.

    The big difference between the present and the past is that everything is now ‘coming to a head’ -debts and deficits, peak oil, planetary overheating, overpopulation, overconsumption etc.- and there will be no recovery from the next major crash.

  3. “The new Government was formed believing there would be an economic reckoning of the neoliberal free market, when that moment occurs, they had better be ready to implement solutions.”

    With Grant Robertson as finance minister? He should hire Gareth Morgan while there’s still time.

  4. people in New Zealand suffer in the delusion that we are the arbiters of our own economic destiny when the fact of the matter is we are beholden to and utterly dependent on others buying our stuff and we are just fringe operators supplying the necessaries for the workers to carry out their particular part of the supply chain.

  5. Of course putting through the DV leave, adding an extra 10 days pay for employers to fund out of their pockets has encouraged them to really love and trust the government. They are also delighted with public sector wage rounds at a time that margins are slim.

  6. [ ‘ The new Government was formed believing there would be an economic reckoning of the neoliberal free market, when that moment occurs, they had better be ready to implement solutions ‘ ].

    ^^^

    Popular punchline it seems.

    However, a crunch will come and oh what a crunch it will be. Or even a series of crunches. Which is more likely. However it arrives , it will come. It will also precipitate the final world war.

    Care for a ginger-nut and a cup of tea, anyone?

    NZ , located as it is in the deep South Pacific, will not be immune to either fallout or famines,… but we will be better insulated than most. And the only method we will have is a type of socialism to conduct ourselves. Life may become very primitive.

    Long before you have to sprout gills due to rising sea levels , you will be contending with the effects a post Northern Hemisphere nuclear war that was centered around the middle east. In fact , global warming will be the least of your worry’s.

    Maintaining civil order , social cohesion and food production will be your biggest concerns. Later on, it will be dealing with refugees and coordinated efforts to reestablish relations with those nations involved .

    Shortly after that ,… the story starts to grow blurry and history seems to tail off…

    I believe there will be series of economic downturns, leading up to a monumental crash that will make the Great Depression look like a mild economic blip. This will cause the tensions and the global war I semi humorously posted…

    But its coming, – and all the pretensions , and all the pissing into the wind, all the preconceived notions we have about ourselves and the vainglory’s we hold by living in such a ridiculously artificially constructed society and economy will lay many bare…

    As for Jacinda’s govt,… they are just one small element in time… it would be unfair to try and demand colossal solutions to whats coming, but if I were you,… just quietly ?,… I’d put my money behind a govt like hers any-days for whats coming.

  8. With the low interest rate and dollar ‘others buying our stuff’ should be great for exporters and consequently business.

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