Roger J Kerr at the Rates Blog uses the following graph to state that GDP growth will recover sharply over the coming year.
Source (Rates Blog)
Although it is a pretty picture – it only tells us part of the story. And it does not imply that we will see a sharp rise in economic activity.
Big ups to our Prime Minister for recognising that there are limits to government (ht Anti-Dismal and Kiwiblog):
There is actually a limit to what governments can do
And on intergenerational equity:
You’ve saddled future generations with an enormous amount of debt that then they have to repay
Another quality quote is:
Good regulatory reform can be an important catalyst toward driving economic growth and coming out of the recession faster
I agree – I do think there is scope for government as well. There are limits on government and there is a role for government – I am glad to see that we have a PM that recognises this.
However, my main question has to be – what defines his “limit” on government involvement? This is an important question – as one can recognise there is limitations, but then they can just keep “pushing out” where these constraints hold.
John Key’s statements are a lot better quality than the tripe Aussie is getting with Kevin Rudd (I get the feeling that Key is more “economically literate”) – and I feel that our policy response is relatively more appropriate as well.
There has been talk of the US performing a “stocktake” of free trade agreements – a stocktake that will likely end with New Zealand still being stung by quotas and tariffs when American citizens and New Zealand citizens want to trade.
This does not seem consistent with the platform of change that President Obama promised, not just the US, but the entire world. Please President – now is the time to show that you are a world leader that believes in freedom, that believes in a brighter day for all men, irrespective of their race or creed.
Please Mr President – show the world that you have the power to strike down the lobby groups, and fight for the liberties of both your own people and the people of the world. Give the citizens of our nations the freedom to trade for mutual benefit – and for the betterment of all.
Kiwiblog, Homepaddock, and the Standard express similarish sentiments.
A couple of NZ city councils have recently considered changing the way they run recycling. Wellington and Christchurch currently fund their kerbside recycling scheme through rates. They proposed to switch to a system whereby recycling bags would have to be bought by residents, much like council rubbish bags.
There are a few benefits to switching to bags. First, the people who use the recycling service would pay for it, rather than it being funded by all ratepayers equally. Secondly, there would be a marginal cost to using the service, which would decrease usage. Continue Reading →
Fishermen on the Waikato are apparently going to be subjected to an environmental levy on their earnings by the iwi who own the river. The newspaper article seems a bit negative about the scheme and I can’t see why. To me this is a great idea on a number of levels. I just hope that the levy is a tax, rather than a one off charge. Continue Reading →
Offsetting behaviour by Eric Crampton (ht Anti-Dismal).
Already there is a set of post on policy ignorance up. Here is a quote from here:
Political ignorance then is ignorance about how the political system works in general rather than necessarily ignorance about any specific policy issue
I can tell you’re interested, go give it a look already 
