Reserve Bank Meltdown: Orr resigns as Government’s Budget Butcher rolls on
Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr resignation: No reason given for departure
- Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is stepping down at the end of the month.
- He made the announcement today, three years before the end of his second five-year term.
- Orr didn’t provide a reason for his departure.
The rumour mill has been working overtime for the last 24 hours.
Here is what I can glean.
Far Right NZ Initiative Free Market fanatic and current Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, has behind the scenes been putting out a draft to her next budget and the cuts are so extreme they will cause deep damage to public services.
These warnings to the Government have been getting made by Treasury for sometime…
Treasury warns ‘significant reforms’ will be needed if the Government sticks to current track
Treasury has warned the Government that ‘significant reforms’ or ‘reductions to public services’ will be needed in the not-too-distant future if it sticks to its current, restricted spending track.
…this message was rammed home again just 3 days ago…
‘Hard-head’ Treasury Secretary Iain Rennie issues debt and shocks warning
Treasury Secretary Iain Rennie has issued a stark warning: New Zealand needs to get its public finances in order and plan for a shock worth 10% of gross domestic product every decade.
In an exclusive interview with The Post Rennie, who returned to Treasury in November after a 17-year hiatus, said he wants the Treasury he leads to be the hard-headed, sceptic of Government policies which ministers expect it to be – but with an eye to the future.
Building on a speech given at the New Zealand Economics Forum at the University of Waikato two weeks ago, Rennie said the key thing for the country was moving two curves: New Zealand’s productivity curve upwards, and its debt curve downwards.
…these have been flashing red warning signs of an enormous behind the scenes fight between an extreme ideologically driven Government who wants to stave the State of the revenue it needs to function and those tasked with overseeing the economy as a whole.
The rumour is that the deep cuts Willis will be looking at in the budget are so extreme that Orr refused point blank to carry them out, which led to a showdown between the Finance Minister and the Reserve Bank Governor.
The Reserve Bank Governor has now suddenly resigned.
Other rumours suggest Winston Peters now has an idea of how extreme the next budget cuts are as well and that has sparked suggestions of a snap election because what he will be demanding in Government spending on the Ferry deal will start immediate conflict with Willis and Seymour.
This is all occurring as the numbers are being quietly run on Luxon as National’s polling continues to tank. The word is that if the Investment Summit is a flop, Luxon will face a challenge before June which may temper Willis if there is a new leader.
Things are far more brittle economically and politically than most realise right now.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If it’s true that GDP’s connection with things like resources, labor or value have always been tenuous. In this example the idea is GDP remains stagnant or shrinks but we still achieve conservation, sustainability and quality of life.
The entire point of a Green New Deal is that climate change is an existential threat comparable to a WW2 megadeath style conflict, and that consequentially civilization should be willing to commit to a comparable degree of deficit spending to fight it, which would necessarily increase GDP, at least for the duration of the program.
Except that unlike an actual WW2 style conflict you aren’t just spending money on military hardware to blow up the other guy’s military hardware, you are investing in job-creating industries that serve useful purposes like energy production, while also serving the higher purpose of adapting to the damages of climate change.
Seeing as the pain being felt is largely economic, surely the tenure of the finance minister will also be in question?
Luxon will take the job and leave Goldsmith in charge .He would never let a woman lead the country .As you will have noticed he is quietly removing women from high positions in government just look at the slaughter of women in health in the last couple of months .
I agree; not a great RB governor.
Lets hope it will soon be good bye to the worst government in history
Don Brash gave us interest rates of 18% on mortgages as Reserve Bank Governor …. think about that,,, and what would happen to our economy if some stupid zealot RB Governor like Brash did the same shit today.
Don Brash who gave us 18% mortage rates became leader of the National party and tried to win an election by telling racist lies (he lost) ,,, he didn’t try to win the election by citing his record as reserve bank governor as he was that fucking bad that he and the Nats would have lost by a much larger margin than they did.
Don Brash gave NZ 18% interest rates ,,,, and afterwards National selected him to lead their party….
These simple facts show how stupid and wrong both septic frank and Xenophobe are ,,,, and why the NActs bugger the economy while breaking our society.
The only things they are good at growing are corruption and inequality.
Hear hear hear hear well said
Both septic frank and Xenophobe lack critical thinking because their frontal lobe bleeds blue.
You however are correct, Brash was the worst Bank Governor in our history which is why he aligned with the right and the racist Hobsons Pledge.
Robertson had the economy in great order until this coc was elected. And this CoC had no issue in keeping the RB governor on. It is this CoC with its policies that has tanked the economy.
We don’t know what’s happened.
The most likely thing is that he’s decided he can’t work with Willis and it’s come to a head in some way that makes his job untenable. In which case, good on him for going dramatically in a way that points directly to what a menace Willis is. She’s a far-right ‘Market Leninist’ whose solution to the problems caused by the last 40 years of neoliberal economics (small State, low taxes. decreased regulation, wage suppression, loose immigration, speculation replacing productive investment, tolerance of monopolies, cartels, ticket clippers and rentiers, etc.) is to do the same thing all over again, but this time with more intense fervour and conviction. And a ‘Leninist’ because she sees herself as a vanguardist, one of an elite who knows the truth and has a holy mission to break stuff and remake it in her own image. She is Liz Truss, but instead of the laughable goofiness we see a steely conviction that black is white and up is down.
Extremely well said AB
Whatever the reason, it’s positive he’s gone. Robo should never have reappointed him.
Yes yes yes yes bloody well said AB
Imagine what the economy would be like if he and the bank were not there .You think things are bad imagine if the current government had control of the economy without the RB there to regulate .
So someone in The Politbureau has figured out how to fire the independent Governor of the Reserve Bank. All aboard for the gravy train!
Yes Henry and blillenglosh daughters social investment company is about to board the gravy train courtesy of tamiheres whanau ora provider.
Fancy blaming the Governor for all the stuff out of the Reserve Bank.
a) there is a board many of who were appointed by Bill English
b) there is a committee of I believe 7 that decide the interest rate.
So Adrian Orr is just the figure head.
He has obviously decided he’s had enough of being the whipping boy.
I wonder will Quigley who has his snout in many troughs will fall on his sword as one would expect the Chairman of a public company would do.
And how about the Secretary of Treasury, their estimates and forecasting is always wrong. Today we see the latest report out that reported a $1b discrepancy from the estimate.
As well the Government is continually ignoring their advice so they are like most ministries completely surplus to the requirements of the Coalition.
Mehdi Hasan explains the Trump phenomenon well. Americans voted for him because he says he will blow shit up in Washington. Unfortunately, he will blow shit up in favour of dictators, kleptocrats and Lord Baron wannabes, and not Americans. Luxon and Willis are doing the same to us in Wellington. Their meek peasant enablers just love the taste of leather and the smell of horse shit because it gives them comfort, protection and a few crumbs from the table. It’s only going to get worse as stupid cucks give up their freedom and labour for a comforter (up the arse) and a pacifier (down the throat). Vive la révolution.
Please bring DOGE to the NZ Government spending.
Senior civil servants are meant to be apolitical. Clearly not all are. Brash when RB Governer for example. But many are guarded and keep their opinions to themselves – although those close to them may know the difference between the public and the private. If you’re correct @ MB, Orr may have just nailed his colors to the mast. But he’s keeping quiet about it. Perhaps that’s the way it’ll stay. Look forward to the interview but not holding out on any ideological outburst.
Good points.
Such spending cuts would be poorly timed, could lead to a significantly worse economic downturn. This would make the Reserve Bank’s job harder by requiring them to use monetary policy tools to counteract this.
Yes Henry and blillenglosh daughters social investment company is about to board the gravy train courtesy of tamiheres whanau ora provider.
Yes Henry and blillenglosh daughters social investment company is about to board the gravy train courtesy of tamiheres whanau ora provider.
Yes Henry and blillenglosh daughters social investment company is about to board the gravy train courtesy of tamiheres whanau ora provider.