Friday, March 18, 2016



National makes us poorer

Yesterday, National was wanking about economic growth. Today, the truth emerges: we're actually getting poorer:

Incomes in New Zealand are dropping on a per-person basis, Finance Minister Bill English has admitted.

Although figures out yesterday showed strong economic growth - at 2.5 percent overall - much of that had been driven by strong immigration flows, with a net gain of about 65,000 people in the past year.

The real national disposable income per capita fell 0.4 percent for the year.


Its pretty much National in a nutshell: focus on headline statistics, ignore what they actually mean for people. But if National's growth doesn't make us any better off, what's the point in pursuing it?