this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
1 points (100.0% liked)

Aotearoa / New Zealand

1641 readers
3 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general

Rules:

FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom

 

Banner image by Bernard Spragg

Got an idea for next month's banner?

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Anybody who thinks the best way out of a recession is austerity measures needs to have their heads examined.

top 17 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That seems like a deflection to me. It's the standard measure every country uses and it's the metric we have used for decades so it's useful nevertheless.

If you want to argue that it doesn't measure the right things post the metric you are using and let's compare it to other countries and past governments.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Deflection is needed in this case. Nothing good comes from focusing on goods created while ignoring all the societal costs.

Cut down the remaining bush in NZ and selling it off would juice up the GDP, for example.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Deflection is needed in this case. Nothing good comes from focusing on goods created while ignoring all the societal costs.

Something comes out of it which is comparison with other countries and the past.

Again. If you have an alternative metric that is being used elsewhere and has been used in the past you should state it and we can use it to compare.

Cut down the remaining bush in NZ and selling it off would juice up the GDP, for example.

That's what we do in this country. We cut down trees and sell them, we plow wild lands and turn them into paddocks, we sell milk and fruit. Most of our economy is based on extractive industries.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

From Simon Kuznets, who invented GDP as a concept:

Economic welfare cannot be adequately measured unless the personal distribution of income is known. And no income measurement undertakes to estimate the reverse side of income, that is, the intensity and unpleasantness of effort going into the earning of income. The welfare of a nation can, therefore, scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income as defined above.

If he can question it, then we certainly should instead of just accepting it because “we’ve always done it this way”.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

If he can question it, then we certainly should instead of just accepting it because “we’ve always done it this way”.

It's like you didn't read anything I wrote at all.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm planning to move to NZ if the terrible man gets reelected. It'd be a shame if everything went to hell before that happened, but it would stop me.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

They are setting up for our version of the terrible man which is David Seymour.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

For once it's not a fucking youtube link, bit god that website is awful!

Heres something humane: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/512295/economy-slips-into-recession-as-gdp-falls-0-point-1-percent

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Interestingly when austerity was being pushed in the early 2010’s one driver was the claim that having more than 90% debt / gdp ratio would cause a country to go into recession.

Turns out though the report this claim was based on had an Excel error in its formula which when corrected would have shown an ~2% growth. Amazing how such a small error can have a such huge implications.

Hannah Fry had an episode about it on the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001r1s4

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Fucking morons.

It's almost like when you vote conservative & you get what you deserve for voting conservative.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Which is fine - the problem is that everyone else has to live with the consequences of others' stupidity.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

"I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative" - John Stuart Mill

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

the conservative position is that government doesn't work so when they get into power they try to prove that position correct.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Literally just finished reading the RNZ take on this. Very interesting to compare vs this Newshub one - a lot less doom and gloom; a lot more 'does it really matter'?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Time will tell if and how much it matters. The fact is that the economy is slowing down and one reason for that is that the new government is imposing austerity measures on the country in order to give tax cuts to the rich. Historically austerity measures will result in deepening of recessions because a significant portion of the population are going to lose well paying government jobs. The ones that don't lose their jobs are afraid that they are going to lose their jobs so they cut back on spending. The rest of the country is also going to feel the pain when they try to get medical care or access any kind of government service. They are not going to be in the mood to buy a new pair of sneakers or that nice necklace in the window.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

That's the kicker - we're in a technical recession now, before the weight of Nactional Fist's cuts actually take effect.