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......
> Labour seem quiet (although they’ll stick with centre left I suspect
Despite the news media narrative that "centre-left" is defined by whatever Labour is doing that day, political scientists will tell you Labour haven't been left-of-centre since the early 1980s (eg check the Political Compass charts for the last 20 years).
In 2017 they almost swung as far as the centre, at which point even Winston First were far to their left on economic policy (no longer). But Hipkins wasted no time in pulling them back towards the right. Which is why most of the people who voted Labour in 2020 switched to Greens or TPM in 2023, or didn't turn out at all. Other than Winston First, all the governing parties had to do was stand still, and let Labour's self-sabotage hand them the reigns.
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.
PS. If there's only 1 thing NZ needs to revisit from the early 1990s, it's house prices.
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?
> Labour seem quiet (although they’ll stick with centre left I suspect
Despite the news media narrative that "centre-left" is defined by whatever Labour is doing that day, political scientists will tell you Labour haven't been left-of-centre since the early 1980s (eg check the Political Compass charts for the last 20 years).
In 2017 they almost swung as far as the centre, at which point even Winston First were far to their left on economic policy (no longer). But Hipkins wasted no time in pulling them back towards the right. Which is why most of the people who voted Labour in 2020 switched to Greens or TPM in 2023, or didn't turn out at all. Other than Winston First, all the governing parties had to do was stand still, and let Labour's self-sabotage hand them the reigns.
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.