Bernard

The ministers you mention and their associated areas of concern they will address are trivial when one considers the developing macro debacle of trade finance. Read more: http://londonbanker.blogspot.com/2008/11/systemic-risk-contagion-and-tra...

Bernard

Ummm..how long will it take reverse the effects of 9 years of Helens Rule, Certainly not a single term and JK wants to be elected again. If NZers show any maturity then they will not toss out National in three years, My concern is mad dog Hide, he has to adapt a long term view and not let his new found influence give the looney left ammunition. Currently Gough has been whining and even Mata McCarten sounds like he admires Key

Neven

Stephen

I quite often skip read the articles on this site just to get to your comments. Thanks for your perspective and links. This link was especially interesting as I have been trying to find updates about the trade finance issue which I feel is a ticking time bomb.

Stephen

I get a bit tired of the "JK was a money trader for ML and therefore will always behave like a ML money trader", You have to ask yourself if that was the case and he is so wedded to the mighty $ why did he give it up to go into politics? I can think of more appropriate apocrypha to describe that sort of character.

Maybe Helen could surprise us all and when she resigns from parliament get a real job.

Neven

Neven911

I could care less about which position or function Mr Key had in his previous life. Money and money dealing is not the point.

I was trying to highlight the culture of the particular organisation he was immersed in and apparently happy to be so, up until his retirement. .

Perhaps there are some tings even the Govt cannot fix. I look at the G20 summit and it always surprises me that so many in the Media look at it as the solution to all our problems. The Govt's of the day couldn't even decide to drive on the same side of the road. Nothing much has changed self interest both at a local and national and international levels will always wreck chances of some new deal. Bretton woods was signed at a time of US dominance and a Communist enemy that had at is core a desire to defeat the west. Now we no longer have the dominance financially of the US or a clear cut enemy seeking world dominance and the chance of changing the status quo without the existence of major breakdown looks bleak. I dont believe the threat of major disruption in itself will be enough to get Global agreement.
As to the New National Govt coalition, its an interesting mix and time will tell. It looks very centralist as you would expect from someone with keys background and wealth. In reality the choices they have to make will be severely limited by both the poor decisions of the Labour administration and the major disruptions on world markets.
We have come a long way from the Old National party and I think now its Labours turn to change. Change is always inevitable the problem today is we have a lot of people very comfortable with the Govt support they receive, changing that is going to be a major challenge, falling taxes and poor trade imbalances may force key to be less popular than he would like to be. The choices are, do we drift on as long as we can until change is forced on us by the IMF or by collapsing currency and financial stress a evolutionary type response, or grab the bull by the horns and force change along with the pain it brings for a brighter future. Id prefer the later solution Im expecting the former.

jill wellington

I totally agree.

I think Bernard would do well to leave politics out of the discussion.

But if the obvious bias continues , which by the way is the editor's privilege, a dissenting view has to be expected.

This crisis is way beyond political considerations.

Having said that I think John Key's experience will help in handling what is coming down the pipes.

And strange as it may sound, i believe that ACT and the Maori party will provide good balancing support.

But we need to focus on the continued breakdown of financial systems and their impacts into the real economy. Yesterday's British Chamber of Commerce 1/4 report was very negative for the UK.

The consumer is well and truly buried under an avalanche of debt and with the P45 in the post the news isn't going to get much better.

Perhap JK is going to have the last laugh? Rodney and Paula probably have not had the time to watch the world economic and financial news in detail . It is likely they will be heading NZ's only growth Industry as the economy crumbles (it will go against Rodney's principles). Tania and Peter will be close at hand elbowing for handouts for the sector of the population who will be hit hardest. The public will be pushing and shoving and jostling in the increasingly long queues. Perhaps Japan's hastily errected handout apparatus might be worth looking at. ( Raf did you notice my posts regarding what I now can only suspect is being set up as a contingency plan in Japan?) .

It would help if all the money going towards Treaty claims was directed into schools and hospitals etc instead of into the pockets of a few elite Maori. None of the Treaty money benefits mainstream Maori. Perhaps National could do a deal with Maori to settle all the claims provided the money is redirected to essential services, after all Maori is a big user of these services.

valentina

Please explain?

Hey down under instead of squabbling politics look up at the Northern Hemisphere as your guide. Nissan (JPs 3rd largest vehicle manufacturer) has just announced its second review of production since October 31st!!!!!!!!! domestic car production is to be cut by 72,000 units for the rest of the fiscal year(March 09) ... global production down by 200,000 units . Things are turning from bad to worse.......Yes.... the NZ Herald reported Japan was in recession but the outlook is getting worse by the week or is it day ... Perhaps all is well down under????

"And of course Helen Clarke has a "real job" as a member of parliment".

How many jobs in NZ do the workers vote on their own pay rise.
Also for all the fraud and police "reviews" - has a NZ politician ever been found guilty of anything or gone before an independent judge - you can just punch a workmate or not declare $100K ?
When was the last time Redundancies were handed out, or a performance review, or any sort of salary/job loss reduction during hard times due to lack of company income ?

Yes they do real work, but the job environment is not subject to real market forces, except for the brief voting period every 3 years.

NZ needs Rodney, as only he can be the opposite of Politically Correct - we need him to be blunt, honest and upsetting to some- not more of the same bland "lets make NZ great" sort of dribble you get from the Vampire Peter Dunn- yet no idea of how in detail.

Regardless of what Politicians we have in power, most families need to stop buying what we don't need with money we don't have- its that simple - how about increasing tax on cigarettes by %5 each week until they are priced out of the market- use the money for bikeways so people can save money and become more fit

Japan is stuffed like everyone else. At some point yen will be repatriated to shore up the domestic situation.

It's time to stop worrying about "saving" the banks and other large corporates.

We have to start thinking ahead to what a leaner economy might look like. Less consumption and more human interaction.

Less work and more play.

Unfortunately the financial cancer will leave a destructive wake.

A huge amount of wealth is going to be destroyed.

In the long run we may be better off for it.

HI ALAN At least we should be glad there is some weight to carry, rather than the has beens or never was parties that worked so hard for their own interests.The great thing for us all in the superb country of NZ for our well being, and for the nations future' BETTER LATE THAN NEVER'.

of course the minor party leaders have just garnered themselves an extra 70 grand per year as ministers outside cabinet, plus perks. Key knows all about manipulating fear and greed.

Most Kiwis do not make 70K TOTAL let alone bonus... and thats a lot of hard workers like Police, Teachers, Nurses etc.

This is a 70K PAY RISE- not too shabby. No doubt some politicians do work very hard. It is the same in almost any area of life. But so you should for 200 grand PLUS perks as a minister outside cabinet s. No wonder they were keen to do the deal. I hope the investment is worth it,