IMF issues grim 2020 forecasts; Wall Street retreats; China the only growing economy but has its own problems; UST 10yr yield at 0.68%; oil down and gold unchanged; NZ$1 = 64.1 USc; TWI-5 = 69.1

The global elite spreading fear and shock doctrine.

It just reflects the percentage of cases detected. Iceland had only about 0.5% of known infections die, Hong Kong 0.5%, Singapore 0.06%, Qatar 0.11%, Saudi Arabia 0.7%, UAE .07%, Kuwait 0.7%, Oman 0.5%, Bahrain 0.3%, Maldives 0.4%. Infection fatality rate for western populations (average age dependent) is somewhere in range 0.5-1%. Lower for younger populations (Africa, middle east) Multiply deaths by 100-200 to get something closer to true number of infections. UK = 4-8million, USA =12-24million.

Yes quite right.
But the scientists try to get round this problem by looking at an average death rate of 1.4% and the looking at how much a country deviates from that to show what % of pop is likely infected but not shown due to bad testing record. NZ death rate is 22 over 1510 = exactly 1.45%. To me, this indicates NZ has done exceedingly well. However, we now have job of all those wanting to come "back", who really should have come back when world infections, esp outside EU were a lot lower than now. How long are they to be given??

Bobbles it is completely possible that the new death rate is lower. The health authorities have learnt more about the disease so there is better treatment. Now there are new drugs that reduce the number of deaths. And apart from that fact there are other factors that reduce the number and rate of deaths ... I cite the very low 1 percent death rates in nz and australia

Perhaps this works too.
Have a listen to this German doctor.
36 mins, but it's worth your time.

Andreas Kalcker Interview - CDS, the Pandemic and a Solution?
https://youtu.be/6V9Kyc2wUOs

Hi Yvil I just checked back in. In the last 3 and a half hours I have two upticks thanks, I feel much better about it. You are so right Yvil perhaps it represents the change in attitudes and the lack of backbone in our country.

On the 7th of December 1991, the Soviet Union was just 20 days short of the 69th anniversary of its creation. By the 8th of December 1991, it was gone forever. Age doesn't necessarily guarantee stability.

This bit stands out;

"Instrumentalizing the Chinese diaspora: The party identifies valuable diaspora members and groups in an effort to penetrate and co-opt Chinese diaspora communities."

So the Chinese Government (CCP) encourages a diaspora of Chinese migration to foreign countries to spread their influence. Sort of puts many of Xingmowang's comments in this forum into perspective doesn't it?

The young chap at UQ was a victim of this;

"Asserting narrative dominance: In the global conversation on China, the party manipulates and controls information to downplay and crowd out adversarial narratives and advance those that serve its interests."

John Key, Simon Bridges, Judith Collins and likely many more captured by this;

"Relying on elite intermediaries: The party relies on intermediaries abroad to shape foreign perceptions of China, often adopting many of the same ambiguous, opaque, and misleading methods that it utilizes to co-opt elites at home."

And we are becoming increasingly concerned about this:

"Embedding authoritarian control: The party’s way of doing business, and its efforts to demonstrate a viable alternative to liberal democracy, both strengthen authoritarian norms beyond China’s borders."

Should be an eye opener for many experts to realize the damage done in guise of Rock Star Economy for personal vested and biased interest.

Many examples can be seen in NZ particularly under National government.

"most media are National supporters"

I just read another comment on here which said a Massey Uni study in 2014 showed that 5x more journalists were left leaning than right leaning.

I tend to agree with the Massey study instead of your statement.

I’ve been a journalist. In the main, media owners/executives are right wing, their staff much less so, with hierarchical implications of course. Radio shock jocks are a breed apart though.

I see complaints on both sides about the media, so the mix must be about right!

Interestingly - i do wonder though how many of the people who complain about the media actually pay for its content?

Wash that Beluga out of your mouth with some more Dom!
It takes 3-4 years to train someone to put a rope on a bridge-jumper, and they can't be lost to the employment market. Crucial to the long term economic survival of bank balances of the major shareholders who've made millions and millions out of the operation over several decades our Country.
(NB: Priorities. At a time like this, we need to support our farmers, road layers, ditch-diggers and manufacturers more than discretionary- spending- reliant workers. The latter CAN be replaced at any time. The former? Without them we are a dead country walking)

As well it has lifted the curtain and revealed starkly, the divide between MOH Wellington hierarchy and the health sector functioning at the actual coal face. NZ was about 39th on the world list as far as pandemic preparation. The MOH sent out contradictory and confusing guidelines such as PPE and the rest homes. It is in a crisis like this that the highly paid fat cats in our bureaucracy should earn their spurs. Instead the military were required to intervene and try and sort it out. I think we can all now see what DHB’s, clinical staff and associates have been up against for a long long time.

'Recreate companies' and all the massive supply chains that go with them? Manufacturers here today don't have the protectionist racket the old guard did, and wages here aren't high enough to sell consumer goods at a premium to recover higher costs. Even if you were making exportable products, plenty of other states will give far more generous incentives to set up facilities in the regions that have the markets you'd be exporting to.

It's not the 1970s anymore. It would be a better use of our time to imagine a future with no work at all and how to fund that than spend hundreds billions of dollars on a manufacturing throwback trip.

In a world where the Wuflu is increasing, transport costs are tripling, food supply issues etc. NZ could provide freeze dried meal packs. Cheap to trasport and no refrigeration needed.
The world is going to need this kind of thing increasingly over the next year or so as the numbers explode.
Not a time to reinvent the wheel, stick with what you know, innovate and fill a gap in the market. We have all the ingredients ready to go. If only Governments were that agile to act at speed.... hopefully private enterprise is out there working at speed on this.

So full socialism then? No thanks, that has never worked anywhere.

Better to reduce tax, red-tape and make New Zealand a better place to do business.

I suggest that NZ's recent manufacturing history has only been for items to export, and this includes the biggest part of our agriculture industry. There seems to be very little produced for the local market. I have heard, repeatedly, that the local market is "too small", but in my view that still provides a good beginning for getting products out there, tested and finalised and to make them competitive for export. But this does not seem to happen. Successive Governments have not seen local resilience as a priority, or even a preference. Political slogans about jobs, especially from the right turn into gibberish, and the jobs equate more to slavery than real work. Parts of the Left just ignore the 'jobs' issue while others talk but don't seem to know how to translate the talk into action

By making stuff, I meant our country, not just factories make stuff. This covers all primary produce, logs, etc. Possibly includes nature making all our pretty stuff, and selling the experience of hanging out in it to foreigners. Some people made some Bungies and sell the experience of it. Same goes for gondolas, steamships. The point is that we seem to be able to get quite a bit of money in any given year off foreigners, so as a country, I feel that we will be far better off in the next few years than most. With our borders closed, we are all visiting each other instead of the Gold Coast and Pacific Island resorts, so we don't lose that money either. In spite of a lot of differing opinions on the Covid-19 topic, I did notice that the whole country was totally united in being mean to the Health Ministry border staff and the 2 girls who Tiki Toured from Auckland to Wellington, and a few points in between. Hilariously entertaining.

Audaxes what is really going on here? You and others have provided multiple links to opinion pieces and research articles that prove that reducing interest rates do not stimulate economies. But Central Banks continue to persist in doing so, why? Surely small increases in interest rates do not have the adverse impacts you suggest they are afraid of? Is there something else underneath it all?

Don't be absurd.

Yes there have been testing demand issues in the past week as everyone freaked out about the border cases and rushed to get tested. And these need to be addressed. But equating it with intentional reduction is just silly.

They are surprisingly good, worth the dollars?? All depends on what you are doing. If you are doing some serious miles in the bush and traveling light, yes they are. If you come back to camp cold and wet and can eat in 5 minutes, you can not beat them. I dont know where they get there serving quantities are light in my opinion. A 2 serve pack is still on the light side for me. A t'bone steak, caramelized onions, mashed spuds with a couple of eggs on followed by a Aunty Betty self sausing pudding and a couple of beers under the stars will never be beat by freeze dry.

Problem being, many NZ business models couldn't afford to pay higher wages and would lead to even further closures. We've really painted ourselves into a corner on immigrant labour

Happy to make the up date
Nothing yet from the easter bunny.

rate of infection will drop naturally over time as people with the most at-risk lifestyles get infected. And less dangerous asymptomatic variants of the virus are evolutionarily favored - they get more opportunity to spread. Expect IFR and new cases to drop off over time, even if nothing is done to make that happen.