13 Comments

This podcast is quite an important one as it is like an Economics 101 Course on the convulsions of the loosening and tightening of financial markets that helped economies through recent worldwide shocks (COVID and the Ukraine War) - ructions that could now herald the likelihood of a recession starting with USA. I would like to be able to share it with a friend who may well be inspired to become a subscriber. One thing you are doing, Bernard, is educating potential voters. We need a wider swathe of informed voters to bring about change in NZ.

Expand full comment

Thanks Beverley. I'll open it up now.

Expand full comment

That's done now and it can be shared publicly.

Expand full comment

Right on time stats Nz shows a shrinking economy for q1. Why are our agencies so bad at providing timely data?!! Can’t we sack some communication specialists and get some more analysts and forecasters so we don’t have to wait 3 months for data. U.K. does it in a fortnight?!

Maybe the demand destruction is happening quicker than forecast? The good news is we will find out in September if the economy is in recession in June 🙄

Expand full comment

Thanks Julian. Good point. The labour market stuff is also very late, along with inflation.

Expand full comment

People are just frogs in pots to these central bank players who really have far too much undemocratic power over our Governments and lives. The “truth” 😀 is the system is a failed one as it continues to take from and exploit people, take and abuse us and our children the environment and our labour and reproductive labour for less than nothing (at our cost usually attributed to the most vulnerable and hardest working without adequate support in a monetised time based system for the poor at least and not reciprocated except for the least taxed, most privileged usually men who have constructed a system to suit only themselves thinking they’re so clever and we all enable it by participating as we have no choice and certainly aren’t taught how the system is rigged and essentially imaginary as well as completely dysfunctional as it doesn’t support life (in real world terms) but taken as fact and desperate to obfuscate and distract from this reality. I’m glad you’ve picked up the “you can’t handle the truth” quote 😂. It’s a very big rat for humanity to swallow. We are all conditioned and kept in the dark about how the financial and monetary system is simply a construct that exploits everything and returns nothing productive socially or ethically whatsoever and presents women and children with a unique problem of neglect abuse violence injury and oppression to support non payment or support for male obligations and to ensure the system keeps working only for men at women’s unrepresented labour and costs ie slavery. Without consequence or even recognition thereof.

Expand full comment

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018845923/are-big-projects-doomed-to-be-late-and-over-budget

Discussion on why infrastructure projects like the Christchurch stadium end up costing more and taking longer. A colleague of mine describes it as the 'Little yellow digger' problem based on the children's story book.

Expand full comment

Hi Andrew

Rule 1) Understate the cost of the project because to give an accurate cost would put people off doing the project because it is too expensive.

Rule 2) Exclude parts of the project to help keep the initial cost down, then once the project is underway add them back in, usually under the reasoning of "Well, it makes sense to do B whilst doing A".

Rule 3) Overstate the benefits that will come, and include benefits that do not accrue directly to the project. Eg Christchurch stadium benefits include all the hospo income, none of which will be earned by the stadium.

Expand full comment

Bingo!

Expand full comment

Indeed. Tis always the way.

Expand full comment

Sketch staring Sir Patrick Stewart on Brexit loss of the European Convention Of Human Rights &

what they have ever done for the UK

https://twitter.com/BelfastAgmt/status/1536844343922896900

Expand full comment

& For those who haven't seen Life Of Brian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ

Expand full comment