The economic situation facing us is serious. There’s no other way to phrase it without lying: the US (and New Zealand, for that matter) is flat broke and there is no way to "grow" out of it. Revenue must be obtained from somewhere. The old rules won't work anymore because the old rules created the problem.

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Nathan Smith is a former business journalist and columnist at the NBR. He also worked as the chief editor at the New Zealand Initiative policy think tank. He is now a freelance writer and copy editor.