If National wins ...

[craic]

Not nearly as much pollution as the folks who drive to motor racing. Money back on one horse and down the tubes on the other two - never mind - still Lotto to go.

Actually - there is a separate thread on climate change ... might make sense to move the relevant bits of the discussion over there: http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthr...l-Warming-quot

Not sure about Craig's horse races, though - I guess the people coming to the races (and using vehicles with combustion engines to get there) would contribute to global warming - wouldn't they?

[Daytr]

Loved Winston Peters first word in parliament post the by-election. "Boo" ! LOL
National went on the attack blaming everyone else for their shellacking at the polls.
Seems they learnt nothing from the result.
If this carries on, the Northland by-election will be remembered as the start of John Key's demise.
I will be very happy to know I played a very small part in that.

[craic]

If Labour throw in the towel in a few more electorates, they might get National out - but then they will have to cope with the Greens to form a government. And after a few more years of mismanagement, National will return and sort out the mess - it's a cycle that is repeated - just like climste change.

[Daytr]

Maybe, or Labor under Little get their act together & start being a credible opposition, which at the moment they aren't.
Not sure what mess you are referring to but what will Key's legacy be if he gets turfed out at the next election?
An Auckland property bubble that at some stage will burst & create havoc & triple the government debt we had before he came to office.
Who is going to sort out that mess?
The NZ economy is about to plunge on the back of the dairy prices. Tax take will dive meaning National will just borrow more.

[elZorro]

EZ, its a long weekend so here's something to read
http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2015/0...r-the-insiders

The gist. It's not about left or right. It's about the self interests (preservation) of those with influence.

To whet your appetite a little bit

Now that is all conveniently forgotten, and the entire European mainstream is lining up to destroy Syriza and say to their own electorates: “Look, if you vote for non-conventional parties, see what will happen to you.”

Because we are now in an electoral cycle, the conventional parties need to crush Syriza to crush the other nonconformist parties and show their own electorates what voting in a nonconformist way leads to.

W69, I don't think NZFirst's direction is that far different from Labour's, on paper. Hopefully none of the top five or six parties have anything too radical for NZ to do any damage.

Labour does need to do a lot of work to show that it does represent small business, families and workers in NZ.

I agree with Daytr too, in the last few years it has been National who have presided over making a mess of the country's books. We have the data there in the stats, it'll make a great set of graphs, and soon we'll see the provisional tax payments (listed as spreadsheet data) coming through, but weaker than expected. You can't concentrate on big business in the cities and neglect pretty much everything else for six years, and hope that the regions will bring it through. Instead, manufacturers in the regions have closed down. Then jobs, then retailers have been affected. The lower dairy cheque might be here to stay for another year or more, that will really start to have a big negative effect.

[craic]

I suggest that you read the article in todays Herald about Australians who have moved here to live and their reasons and then tell me why the NZ dollar is worth 99 Australian cents at the moment. The great Labour story is as much of a myth as the tale of Cinderella but not as entertaining and certainly not suitable for children. You don't know how lucky you are.

[Daytr]

Craic, as someone who lived in Australia for 15 years I have a bit of an idea. They have a fool for a prime minister which certainly isn't helping, a commodity boom that busted & an over heated property market. See any similarities ? Take a look at Aussie now & its exactly where we are heading in the coming 12 months. How many dairy farmers do you think are appreciating that high NZD you mentioned? One of the reasons the Aussie economy fell in a heap was their currency remained stubbornly high even though commodities & other currencies were tumbling. See another similarity ? The RBNZ cannot drop interest rates because the government is unwilling to reign in the Auckland property bubble & in fact just threw fuel on the fire last week with their ridiculous first home buyers grant which is a policy borrowed from John Howard & used to flog state housing. Completely irresponsible behavior by Key.

[Major von Tempsky]

The more mistaken Daytr is the more overbearing he becomes and the more the hubris flows from him totally out of control. Just the right conditions for a big fall in Daytr.

The RBNZ (which incidentally is totally independent of the Government) can't drop interest rates because they are already historically very low and the lower they get the less effect any further lowering of them actually has as the Japanese, Americans and others have found. John Key is actually a very intelligent guy, have a look at his record. A fool who calls an intelligent man a fool risks further enlarging his own reputation as a fool.

[Major von Tempsky]

Because Daytr, and no doubt EZ and 1 or 2 others, refuse to read the aforesaid Weekend Australian article, here are a few extracts from it....

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11428259

"Australians are admitting that New Zealand is now the place to be as its residents cross the Tasman to find a home here.

The increase in Australians shifting to New Zealand permanently, as well as a rise in expat Kiwis returning home, is reversing the one-way tide of migration of the past 20 years.

And according to a report in the Weekend Australian Magazine, New Zealand's growing economy and superior work-life culture are attracting thousands of Australians put off by their own unstable Government and falling economic fortunes.

"What has happened is that somewhere, somehow, perhaps in the dead of night when no one was looking, Australia and New Zealand have swapped sides," the magazine said.

"Cocky, confident Australia is now home to dysfunctional politics, yawning budget deficits, rising unemployment and an electorate unwilling to accept tough reforms."



Australian winemaker Anna Flowerday moved to Marlborough in 2003 with her husband, Jason, because of the more "vibrant" viticulture industry. "It's definitely home now," the mother of four told the Herald. "I love the culture of the place, I love that it's a safe little place at the end of the world ... where your kids can still walk to school and you can go down the street and you don't have to lock your house.

"It's all that kind of stuff. The ship's on a pretty good course whether you're family-oriented or business-oriented, and both of those are a consideration for us."

In contrast with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the magazine said, New Zealand's John Key was running the most successful and stable centre-right Government in the world.

"Key presides over a country that is no longer a dead-end backwater but one that enjoys plentiful jobs, strong economic growth and is on the cusp of a budget surplus."

New Zealand is leading Australia in GDP growth and unemployment figures and the Kiwi dollar is nearing parity with the Australian dollar - a record 99.42c at present.

"Forget rugby. New Zealand is winning a bigger game," the magazine said.

[elZorro]

Because Daytr, and no doubt EZ and 1 or 2 others, refuse to read the aforesaid Weekend Australian article, here are a few extracts from it....

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11428259

"Australians are admitting that New Zealand is now the place to be as its residents cross the Tasman to find a home here.

The increase in Australians shifting to New Zealand permanently, as well as a rise in expat Kiwis returning home, is reversing the one-way tide of migration of the past 20 years.

And according to a report in the Weekend Australian Magazine, New Zealand's growing economy and superior work-life culture are attracting thousands of Australians put off by their own unstable Government and falling economic fortunes.

"What has happened is that somewhere, somehow, perhaps in the dead of night when no one was looking, Australia and New Zealand have swapped sides," the magazine said.

"Cocky, confident Australia is now home to dysfunctional politics, yawning budget deficits, rising unemployment and an electorate unwilling to accept tough reforms."



Australian winemaker Anna Flowerday moved to Marlborough in 2003 with her husband, Jason, because of the more "vibrant" viticulture industry. "It's definitely home now," the mother of four told the Herald. "I love the culture of the place, I love that it's a safe little place at the end of the world ... where your kids can still walk to school and you can go down the street and you don't have to lock your house.

"It's all that kind of stuff. The ship's on a pretty good course whether you're family-oriented or business-oriented, and both of those are a consideration for us."

In contrast with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the magazine said, New Zealand's John Key was running the most successful and stable centre-right Government in the world.

"Key presides over a country that is no longer a dead-end backwater but one that enjoys plentiful jobs, strong economic growth and is on the cusp of a budget surplus."

New Zealand is leading Australia in GDP growth and unemployment figures and the Kiwi dollar is nearing parity with the Australian dollar - a record 99.42c at present.

"Forget rugby. New Zealand is winning a bigger game," the magazine said.

There are a few points to take from that article. We'd hope that not many people really believe it and move here, because we are short of jobs and houses for too many more. We don't have a fabulous suburban rail system to cope with commutes to work from too far outside the cities, and so our main city highways are often just as clogged as you'd expect to see overseas.

Maybe the National government is doing better than other centre-right governments around the world, but that is surely arguable. And they had a most excellent start in 2008. That was not their doing, it was a Labour government that set it up, over nine stellar years. National is now "on the cusp" of a budget surplus! Hoorah! They have also presided over record budget deficits.

If this is as good as it gets, then I suggest the bar has been set very low.