By Brian Dingwall

Have we ever before had political leaders who think traffic lights can be red and green at the same time?

So many mutually exclusive beliefs are being held simultaneously by this government. I’ll list a few, and I’m sure others can find many more:

  • The RBNZ has found it necessary to stimulate the economy by reducing the OCR to a level lower now than during the 2008 GFC, while our finance minister simultaneously believes the economy is outperforming all the relevant comparative economies, and the outlook is merely “bumpy”.
  • Increase taxes on the private sector for “fairness”, and simultaneously expect it to deliver more jobs.
  • Close down high wage industries for virtue signalling reasons, and simultaneously expect the economy to provide more high-value jobs.
  • Effectively marginalise landlords and simultaneously expect the supply of rental property to increase.
  • Increase the costs of food production and simultaneously expect farm production, productivity, and environmental outcomes to improve.
  • Take some pride that wages are increasing faster than GDP (both are poor), and simultaneously believe there is no need to address productivity (which is even worse).
  • Believe that innovative artificial intelligence is a threat to jobs, and believe simultaneously that investment in other research, development and innovation is not.
  • Understand that we can make absolutely no difference whatsoever to human-caused global warming, yet simultaneously believe that $1.4B per annum now, rising to $16B per annum in 2050, that will make no difference at all is money well spent.

Can we please have some leaders who are nothing if not intellectually consistent?

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