Grant Robertson Im out of here.

[mistaTea]

Don't get me started on the incompetence of Adrian Orr. He was concerned about a 10% downward correction to the housing market prior to the lock downs and also wanted to create a "wealth effect". Mission accomplished a 51% increase in house prices in less than two years during the most extreme response to a bad cold we have ever seen.

The article I quoted above describes how complicit Grant was in the RBNZs actions. To quote.

Robertson said the conversation involved what the tools would be, giving the tools to the bank, and then asking, “how are you then, Adrian Orr and your team going to use those tools?”
One of those tools, printing more than $50 billion of digital money and buying injecting it into the economy by buying Government debt from banks and financial institutions. The tool worked. The economy bounced back and employment stayed low. But it had massive consequences, particularly in the housing market.

Looking back, does he think he made the right call when the Reserve Bank asked Robertson for the Crown to indemnify the purchase of up to $30 billion worth of bonds in March 2020?
Robertson said the conversations around the indemnity were “iterative”.

Iterative? I had to look it up but it means he just looked at the numbers not the consequences of his actions.

To keep up appearances the money printing to buy govt bonds had to go through the banks (banks no doubt clipping the ticket at the taxpayers expense) and with Funding For Lending the banks made record profits.

So a massive overreaction to a bad cold resulted in exacerbating the wealth divide and asset owners making out like bandits as well as record bank profits and a now heavily indebted NZ taxpayer via our govt debt rising from (to quote from Ithaka article) just over $80b in 2017 to over $130b; or 42% of GDP to nearly 70%.

The young and the poor saw any dreams of homeownership crushed and they are now paying the regressive inflation tax.

So who was Grant Robertson working for? or was he just in over his head and money printing and borrowing was his solution to everything and what has the nation got to show for all his excesses?

Just insane that these guys slashed interest rates and pumped money into the economy and then were shocked that asset prices spiked.

Isn’t that Economics 101.

[Aaron]

Just insane that these guys slashed interest rates and pumped money into the economy and then were shocked that asset prices spiked.

Isn’t that Economics 101.

Maybe like the rest of us they were whipped up into a covid frenzy of fear, so perhaps they thought the monetary policy would offset the deflation caused by half the country dying from covid.

Also if you shut the economy down you need to do something to offset it. They probably had the best of intentions saving us from covid and the horrors of deflation (cost of living relief) but what a massive waste of time and money it turned into.

[Daytr]

Look I don't have much time for Grant Robertson bit I hate inaccuracies.
Robertson did not slash interest rates full stop. Adrian Orr did.

Re the issuance of bonds, much of that was to cover the cost of the Covid response.

The QE was similar to what most banks did at the time.

It's very easy in hindsight to judge the actions of someone facing a world wide crisis.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize Robertson for other over spends etc, but blaming him for slashing rates isn't one of them.

[Balance]

Just insane that these guys slashed interest rates and pumped money into the economy and then were shocked that asset prices spiked.

Isn’t that Economics 101.

Robertson and Orr were in cohorts and what a shambles these two ignoramus clowns made of the NZ economy :

"Speaking of the Reserve Bank. New Zealand once led the world in the integrity and independence of our central bank. It was understood that the Reserve Bank governor was above the political pressures of the day and would focus only on monetary stability.

Between them, Tweedledee and his mate managed to destroy public confidence in this arrangement. Watching the Finance Minister and the governor of the Reserve Bank giving joint press conferences made it clear that the goal of monetary stability would be subordinated to the political economic needs of the moment.

The inability of either man to comprehend the damage this did to the market’s perception of our monetary settings is remarkable. They either did not care, or did not know; so caught up in the moment that the wider significance of their actions escaped them.

Not since Sir Robert Muldoon have we endured a finance minister whose decisions would leave such a toxic legacy; yet the failings are obscured by his charm and political acumen.

History will judge him with more sympathy than it did Sir Robert, who ended his days as a character of himself in the Rocky Horror Show. Perhaps this is as it should be. We live in an age where intentions matter, and performance does not.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350...ons-ascendancy

Who has the bigger hole?

[Aaron]

Look I don't have much time for Grant Robertson bit I hate inaccuracies.
Robertson did not slash interest rates full stop. Adrian Orr did.

Re the issuance of bonds, much of that was to cover the cost of the Covid response.

The QE was similar to what most banks did at the time.

It's very easy in hindsight to judge the actions of someone facing a world wide crisis.

There are plenty of reasons to criticize Robertson for other over spends etc, but blaming him for slashing rates isn't one of them.

Fair call Robertson did not decide the OCR or how long it should stay at 1%.

And regarding the covid response it is easy to criticise in hindsight, I remain fully supportive of the first lockdown giving everyone a chance to get vaccinated if they wanted, the media and govt had painted a pretty frightening picture re covid. The other lockdowns we can now see were a total waste of time and money as we are now back to where we were before covid existed with or without the lockdowns, masking etc etc.

It also means I will be more sceptical of govt responses to future crisis's such as climate change which appears to be undeniable but will it really mean the end of humanity? Do I really have to go vegan and ride a bike everywhere to save the planet?

It seems silly worrying about climate change when our economy is based on more people consuming more stuff and it is all about growth, growth, growth. But I digress.

[mistaTea]

Robertson and Orr were in cohorts and what a shambles these two ignoramus clowns made of the NZ economy :

"Speaking of the Reserve Bank. New Zealand once led the world in the integrity and independence of our central bank. It was understood that the Reserve Bank governor was above the political pressures of the day and would focus only on monetary stability.

Between them, Tweedledee and his mate managed to destroy public confidence in this arrangement. Watching the Finance Minister and the governor of the Reserve Bank giving joint press conferences made it clear that the goal of monetary stability would be subordinated to the political economic needs of the moment.

The inability of either man to comprehend the damage this did to the market’s perception of our monetary settings is remarkable. They either did not care, or did not know; so caught up in the moment that the wider significance of their actions escaped them.

Not since Sir Robert Muldoon have we endured a finance minister whose decisions would leave such a toxic legacy; yet the failings are obscured by his charm and political acumen.

History will judge him with more sympathy than it did Sir Robert, who ended his days as a character of himself in the Rocky Horror Show. Perhaps this is as it should be. We live in an age where intentions matter, and performance does not.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350...ons-ascendancy

Who has the bigger hole?

You’d almost think Grant wanted it to be a big…balls up…

[Balance]

Your almost think Grant wanted it to be a big…balls up…

With the Filipinos cute boys?

[mistaTea]

With the Filipinos cute boys?

Between wrecking the economy and the Filipino cuties I think it is fair to say that Grant’s head was absolutely throbbing.

[Balance]

Between wrecking the economy and the Filipino cuties I think it is fair to say that Grant’s head was absolutely throbbing.

Which head?

[mistaTea]

Which head?

Well, the one he thinks with most of the time of course… 🤭