Michael Cullen was a parliamentarian for nearly 3 decades. I wonder why, during the 1999- 2008 spend up, it never occurred to him that the party will stop one day. As he burdened us, the tax-payers, with the most massive expansion of government ever seen in this country, did he really believe that the unprecedented commodity boom would last for-ever ? Prior to 1999 we had many recessions, they are a repeating pattern of capital markets. Had the man lost his memory ? The adage save for a rainy day can be flipped over to " don't over-committ yourself, in case of a rainy day". Sure, he pared down government debt, but he countered that with creating a ravenous beast, the new socialist government, with its myriad of bureaucracies, it's pathetic unproductive sucking of the productive sector's life-blood ! Will Cullen ever be held accountable for leaving us so vulnerable to the vagarities of world's markets ?

one has the feeling that the NZ economy is in bigger crap than we are being told

Sore Loser : We at Fairfax do not admit to the existence of "the Herald" ( those of whom we do not speak ). But I suspect those divergent opinions may mirror those of the editorial of our resplendent CHCH Press ( May 1 ). I believe that Cullen and Queen Helen formed their politically correct/ we know best/ socialist views in the 1960's and 1970's. And held onto them as a rigid dogma. Whereas the rest of us matured and honed our views, and took on board new ideas, Clark and Cullen were fixed in an idealistic time-warp. Notwithstanding the crashing of the Berlin Wall and the decimation of the Union of Soviets Socialist Republic, Helen and Michael persisted in believing that disempowering the masses, and building bureaucracies to micro-manage every aspect of their lives, from cradle to grave, was the only route for NZ......And now, truely, we are rooted !

"The noticeable increase in the level of fx and basis swaps after netting and adjusting for the cash as at end of month on line 8 roughly suggests the Crown has lent the banks this liquidity until required at the later date."

"...until required at a later date.."

Looks like later has come sooner than expected for the Govt - and the banks have indicated they can't repay in the foreseeable future?

Now this is interesting. The IMF made the following comment overnight:
"Counter-cyclical monetary policy is largely ineffective in tackling a financial crisis"
I think I know what they mean.

Well said Roger. Don't let those secret cliques know that you know.... they are everywhere....and nowhere.

Heres what I suspect Trev & Roger, you gave it a cursory glance. I suspect you vote for your political parties more out of some sort of tribal allegiance than updated analysis.
This link Trev http://socialcreditorbust.blog.co.nz/just%20who%20controls%20hiring%20an... quite clearly gives anyone with half an open mind and insight into the levels of influence in the hiring and firing of our core state service sector. You might not find the fact that the Minister of State Services Annette King stated clearly that global corporate executive recruitment agency Hudson Global Resources was not used by the government, only to have it be one of a number of global corporate recruitment agencies on the list of external consultants I requested under OIA. That is the 4 years worth they would supply me without charge. The total cost spent on external consultants out side of the 36,000+ core State Service Sector for those 4 yrs was in excess of 26 million dollars.
After we pay 10s of thousands to global corporate recruitment agencies to recommend senior bureaucrats, we pay further 10s of thousands to a mop called Cerno, a bunch of psychologists with links to major accountancy houses, to analyze the candidates to ensure they are proponents of the unfettered free market and Debt Based Monetary System.
Heres a sample of content below. If this does not spark an ounce of investigative interest to the possibility that the corporate sector has had the opportunity to appoint their own to our advisory agencies and then run this nation at a strategic deficit from behind the diplomatic curtain to force debt stressed asset sales down the track, we are in serious trouble;

On 30 June 2007 I received in the mail a reply from Annette king, Minister of State Services,

dated 27 June;

Dear Mr Parker

Official Information Act Request re Hiring Of Public Servants

You have asked fro information about the time in which the Prime Minister or any elected Minister gets involved in the hiring of public servants, economic and social policy advisors etc to the treasury or advisory institutes of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Specifically the roles of Hudsons Global Resources etc, Leadership Development Centre and CERNO. Specifically at what stage of state sector employment vetting does an elected member of the New Zealand House of Representatives become involved.

Public servants are employed in the departments of the Public Service and the State Sector Act 1988 gives the responsibility of appointing them to the Chief Executives of each department. Therefore, for example, the Secretary for the Treasury and the Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet appoint employees of their respective departments. The State Sector Act 1988, in section 33, specifically states that the "Chief Executive of a department shall not be responsible to the appropriate Minister but shall act independently" when making decisions about individual employees, including on matters relating to appointments.........As for the involvement of the organisations you mention, Cerno Ltd is an organisation that the State Services Commissioner uses in the Chief Executive appointment process but neither Hudson nor the Leadership Development Centre are involved. (Enclosed, for your information, is a printout from the Leadership Development Centre website that sets out the Centre's functions.)

Yours sincerely

Hon Annette King

Minister of State Services
==========
Ref: SSC2007/08-008

30 January 2008

Mr Iain Parker

mite4@xtra.co.nz

Dear Mr Parker

Official Information Act request for Government Expenditure on external Consultants and Contractors

Please find attached a list of contractors, being individuals with whom we have contracted consultancy firms and companies together with information about the type of service and actual cost of the service. The list begins from 2003/04. We changed our finance system in 2003 and we are unable to readily access similar information prior to 2003/04. To provide such information back to 1984 as requested would require substantial collation or research incurring significant cost which you would be liable to meet.

Yours sincerely

John Ombler

Deputy Commissioner, Corporate Services
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10065 - Hudson Global Resources
CE Appointment
28,431
40593 - Hudson Global Resources Ltd
HR Services
161,963