Posts by Angus Robertson
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: The Mega Conspiracy, in reply to merc,
At least we're not paying for it.
-
I'm sure it's true, but here we are, at the point where our biggest news organisations run stories without spending 10 seconds on a Google search, or asking if something makes any goddamn sense.
This is something Google News could exploit to its advantage. Providing background on the stories authors as well as related stories.
-
Where the hell was he - the Finance Spokesperson - when Goff was getting grilled over Labour's fiscals? It was his job to have the answer to those questions. I'm not sure if it was by design, or whether he was simply too busy campaigning for the leadership, but he wasn't there.
Labour's fiscal position wasn't justifiable. Goff/Mallard were running a bribe everyone, tax nobody, foot to the floor campaign. Splash baubles around, get Winston back in, get the vote out and rely on the late swing away from the Government that occurs at every election.
Under such a strategy the Finance Spokespersons job is to STFU, until the fiscal position can be released at an appropriate time (generally late on a Friday preceding a major sporting event). The leaders job is to make the promises, attack the unpopular positions of the governing party and not answer questions about the fiscal position.
If Goff had been halfway competent in avoiding giving a straight answer in that electoral debate (he was a politician with 30 years experience!) and the turnout drive had been a bit more successful Labour would be be forming a Lab/Grn/NZF/Mana/Maori coalition right now.
It is unjustifiable to criticise Cunliffe's figures, when the figures came out, they were artfully near to being acceptable whilst still being quasi-believable. If they could have been publicised without too much publicity...
-
New word learnt by Aucklanders in 2011:
graupel
-
Haircut
-
rebuild phase
-
munted
wellywood
-
Liquifaction
87
-
Seismic shift.
Sara/Cera.
Sir Stephen Donald.
-
OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia, in reply to Keir Leslie,
Seriously angus, how is a stimulus like a gamble? Where is the risk? As far as I can tell you don't actually understand how counter cyclic spending works.
The risk is in the tax-cuts, pork and feather-bedding for party political interests transforming it into an anchor. The risk is in the external enviroment delivering a price shock into a weak economy awash in government provided stimulus cash leading to stagflation.
If we are at the beginnings of growth phase a [new] stimulus isn't actually counter cyclic.
[edit]