Have you considered instead of unemployment rate, looking at labour participation rate? One thing we have now that we didn't have in 1990 is a lot more people retiring (aging population in all), which, with universal super, is just as much of a problem for the governments budget as having a higher percentage on unemployment benefit I would think?
A big difference between then and now is that in the 1990s there was a strong and dominant TINA narrative, that There Is No Alternative to neoliberalism. It was almost blasphemous to challenge it in the media or elsewhere.
Has it really changed? I get the impression that there is no significant change in that message getting out. Labour seem quiet (although they’ll stick with centre left I suspect), the mainstream media have no appetite for in depth analysis. And I’m not convinced the majority of the electorate have any appetite to get involved either. Therefore a strong breeding ground for populists. You can probably guess I’m a “glass half empty” type of guy.
In the 1990s Simon Upton was the neo-liberal minister trying to turn hospitals into 'Crown Health Enterprises'. The same Simon Upton just made a rather scathing submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill......
Although I think the new government is doing a pretty awful job generally abd many metrics are going in the wrong direction, the vibe on a day to day basis here is actually pretty good. The only time I feel bad about the state of the country is when I read the media. In article after article we seem to have an obsession with talking ourselves into a depression.
Have you considered instead of unemployment rate, looking at labour participation rate? One thing we have now that we didn't have in 1990 is a lot more people retiring (aging population in all), which, with universal super, is just as much of a problem for the governments budget as having a higher percentage on unemployment benefit I would think?
A big difference between then and now is that in the 1990s there was a strong and dominant TINA narrative, that There Is No Alternative to neoliberalism. It was almost blasphemous to challenge it in the media or elsewhere.
Has it really changed? I get the impression that there is no significant change in that message getting out. Labour seem quiet (although they’ll stick with centre left I suspect), the mainstream media have no appetite for in depth analysis. And I’m not convinced the majority of the electorate have any appetite to get involved either. Therefore a strong breeding ground for populists. You can probably guess I’m a “glass half empty” type of guy.
In the 1990s Simon Upton was the neo-liberal minister trying to turn hospitals into 'Crown Health Enterprises'. The same Simon Upton just made a rather scathing submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill......
Maybe his time in France mellowed him a bit?
PS. If there's only 1 thing NZ needs to revisit from the early 1990s, it's house prices.
It's said that history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme.
Although I think the new government is doing a pretty awful job generally abd many metrics are going in the wrong direction, the vibe on a day to day basis here is actually pretty good. The only time I feel bad about the state of the country is when I read the media. In article after article we seem to have an obsession with talking ourselves into a depression.