Deception, Division and Denial – The Ugly Truth

Why won’t National relate GDP to population growth?

We’ve learned over the years never to take anything at face value in politics.

If you’ve watched proceedings over the past few days you will have noticed the Government ramming through Budget legislation very quickly under urgency.

According to National and its allies this Budget is a masterstroke of genius.

This Budget has cemented in place National’s acceptance and reinforcement of the reality of a designated, permanent underclass in New Zealand.

While the payment of an extra $25 a week through the benefit system for families is welcome it is neither adequate nor a substitute for education, training, or a job.

We face a serious shortage of skilled tradespeople the result of this government slashing apprenticeships and training?

We now have the ludicrous situation of a shortage of skilled labour and an oversupply of unemployed.

In former times wise New Zealand governments set out to train and equip our own people to get them a start in work. Today we are not doing that but rather engaging in mass immigration where most go to Auckland.

At the same time, in the fifth year of the Christchurch Rebuild, we have so unprepared our potential workforce that Christchurch is rolling over the work permits of thousands of foreign workers.

The National Party actually cares little about the plight of those at the bottom of the heap.

The reason why the national Party gave an extra $25 through the benefit system is because its polling and focus groups found increasing alarm about so-called child poverty, so National did the minimum to pretend it actually cares.

And here’s the deception – the money has been stolen from the $1,000 KiwiSaver start up.

That is a very shortsighted move, but then let’s face it this government governs without any thought of tomorrow.

Once again, no money is being set aside for the Cullen superannuation fund. New Zealand First supported this because this fund was designed to smooth out the costs of the peak demand for superannuation in the future.

Over the next four years these fiscal geniuses will withhold $9.5 billion from this well performing fund.
On the face of it there is reason to be concerned, but New Zealand First has a big part of the answer.

In recent years some political parties and an army of lobbyists have tried to convince New Zealanders that superannuation is unaffordable in its present form.

Their integrity can be called into question by a simple examination of the facts.

First, our Super costs 4.1 per cent net of our GDP. Or about half of what it is in some countries.

Second, about 70,000 immigrants have accessed our Super having lived here for only 10 years with no requirement to have paid taxes.

So, if the cost is a concern why have other political parties refused to address this issue of gross unfairness where some get Super after only 10 years - the same amount of Super as paid to others who have worked here for 45 years before getting Super.

As well, as soon as they get residence they are entitled to all our health and welfare benefits.

New Zealanders who’ve been here all their lives struggle to get treatment and they should not have to join a queue because of the hordes of immigrants pouring over our borders.

We keep a weather eye open for shifts and changes to the entitlements earned by our senior citizens.

We will not let up in our attempts to get some free GP visits and we are most concerned about the latest developments over SuperGold free travel around Auckland.

Free travel after 3pm may be cancelled by Auckland Transport as part of a review of the Auckland Regional Public Transport Plan.

Grey Power is making representations over this and we will certainly be putting heat on the government over this.

Some senior citizens have to travel long distances across Auckland and let’s face it – this can take hours some days.

What do these experts want? More cars on the road?

The travel concession should be extended – not reduced.

And that brings us to a deliberate omission in the Budget.

You will recall that over the last 30 years Treasury and certain politicians have been at pains to tell you about the need for Budget transparency. Except they have deliberately left out the connection between gross domestic product growth and population growth. And that is a glaring omission when transparency has been their catch cry.

Why?

Because if you knew how much of our GDP growth has been eaten up by population growth then you would see that, rather than progressing, when it comes to income per person, we are actually standing still.

To use an analogy. If a five-member family is on a hundred thousand dollars a year and the family grows to eight members on one hundred and twenty thousand a year, that family is going backwards on income per person.

The government’s own Gross Domestic Product figures – known as GDP – are not accurate. No serious economist is arguing now that our economy is growing at 3.4 per cent.
GDP is meaningless without reference to the number of people it applies to.

If GDP increases, but the population producing it increases by the same percentage, there is no basis to claim that individuals are better off.

Bill English’s Budget hid the impact of population growth and such an omission is sinister in its desire to keep New Zealanders in the dark.

New Zealand’s rapid population growth (1.5% increase in the year ended June 2014 and a similar increase to June 2015) means that spending on key areas such as health and education is actually shrinking on a per capita basis.

New Zealand’s rate of natural population increase is now being massively exceeded by net migration running at almost twice that rate of around 56,000 annually.

Thanks to National’s open door immigration policy New Zealand has one of the fastest growing populations in the OECD. Over 114,000 arrived her in the last 12 months which is a net gain of 56,000, over a thousand a week. Most are going to Auckland.

More alarmingly this mass migration to New Zealand is forecast to go on for the next few years.

Population growth has a major impact on the quality of life of ordinary New Zealanders.

This is because of the pressure it puts on housing, health and education services, transport and other infrastructure. Just have a look around Auckland and you can see how services are stretched like a shanghai everywhere. And unless the government stops this mass immigration Auckland is never going to be anything other than a dog’s breakfast of inadequate services, not least of which is transport.

Notice how National never discusses the real consequences of population growth.

Because using the Budget to tell people what is actually going on
would mean revealing what the real level of spending was on a per capita basis for main expenditure items.

Then factor in the Christchurch Rebuild being about one per cent of that and you start to see that real GDP is way less than the 3.4 per cent boast.
Any country can artificially boost its GDP growth by consumption using an open door immigration policy – but only a National Government is irresponsible enough to actually keep on doing this.
New Zealand First is calling for the Budget to include GDP and other economic data on a per capita basis. Other First World countries do that so it begs the question why has Treasury never asked for that?

Why are the free marketeers so opposed to transparency when it comes to GDP per person?

Per capita information will allow the public to make a genuine comparison across time so people can judge the real performance of the Government against former governments and governments overseas.

Let’s face it New Zealand’s rock star status is pixie dust.
It’s fiction not fact.

Any economic growth is based on the Christchurch earthquake rebuild and the flood of immigrants arriving in Auckland.

Behind the scenes there are problems.

Global dairy prices have declined and there is increasing farm debt.

The Auckland housing market bubble is so overcooked it will soon burst.

Auckland is spreading like a rash without any thought to transport systems, housing, or social services.

There are daily scenes of chaos on our housing market.

There are daily scenes of chaos on the motorways.

And meanwhile the government has increased its borrowing from $10 billion to now near $70 billion.

In the House yesterday Minister Joyce said the government was going to start paying debt down, when, about 2020, which means we will have had 12 years of record debt growth under National when they could still be in power.

The Auckland obsession is dominating political discussion.

The regions that produce our wealth are being ignored – except to cut public services.

We are splitting into two states – Auckland and the downtrodden heartland.

We cannot let this madness continue.

We have only survived because of the foresight and hard work of previous generations.

The writing is on the wall. Unless we hold governments to account and make them see the folly of mass immigration and the consequents of their failure to foster our export industries then New Zealand is seriously in trouble.

If New Zealand was a listed company on the stock exchange we would see that it was set up for a takeover – and that takeover was silently under way.

Just look at the houses, land and New Zealand companies ending up in the hands of foreign buyers.

Look at industries falling under a foreign spell.

Usually at these events one is expected to make an uplifting speech of positive aspirations. To do that in the present circumstances would simply be to lie to you.

We can get out of our present economic and social malaise but it won’t happen under the policies of this government or a continuation of the unproven economic experiment started back in 1984. After 31 years it is surely time to admit the facts that this economic experiment may be working for a lot of offshore owners and investors but it is not working for New Zealanders.

We suggest it’s time to start thinking – before it’s too late!

ENDS

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