There's a meme going around where Columbo says to Rishi Sunak,
"Just one more thing Mr Sunak, something is bothering me. When inflation was up you blamed the Central Bank of England, saying it was entirely their responsibility, but now inflation is down, you are taking all the credit. Both things can't be true can they Mr Sunak?" - Columbo
Yes in October 2022 the UK experienced double digit inflation, peaking at 11.2% way higher than New Zealand's peak of 7.3% a few months earlier in July 2022.
While Atlas Network Tories in the UK blamed the Central Bank of England - the equivalent Altas Network Neoliberals / Conservatives - in New Zealand developed a slightly different narrative because - unlike Rishi Sunak - Christopher Luxon was in Opposition.
The narrative in New Zealand blamed wasteful Government Spending and dismissed the part of CPI Inflation that was driven by international factors - and it also blamed the Reserve Bank for printing too much money during Covid and accused it of not being focused - because it had a dual mandate.
The RBNZ like many Central Banks had a dual focus ( some have a triple mandate ) - to focus on both inflation and to consider maximum sustainable employment unlike the Central Bank of England - who had a single focus - just to control inflation.
National Party strategists calculated that New Zealand media would not expose the fact in any headlines - that despite the Central Bank of England's single focus on inflation and peak of 11.2% ( 3.9% higher than NZ ) - Christopher Luxon could get away with pretending that this dual mandate was to blame along with Grant Robertson...and we needed to copy the Central Bank of England and get back to a single focus.
Sharon Zollner - Chief economist at the ANZ told media many times that - the RBNZ's dual mandate - was not really the issue - while Christopher Luxon spread his false rhetoric around and media barely bothered to challenge it for months.
The persistent lie that "Government Spending" was a major driver of non-tradable inflation became embedded as "the truth" across New Zealand - no matter how much the RBNZ corrected that myth and said it's a small factor not a major one - the megaphones of NZME and Discovery Inc were too loud and Mike Hosking and the former ManBun ruled the opinions of small brained men as empty vessels made the most noise.
Government Spending was to blame whether you liked it or not and in every pub and every club, "know it all" National Party voters muttered about Government Spending and the destruction of the New Zealand economy by Taxinda and Grant Robertson.
Soon after the election Christopher Luxon told the nation he had been working incredibly hard, at incredible speed to change the focus of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand back to a single mandate ( like the Central Bank of England ) - focused - so we could make progress and "get back on track".
National voters clapped like performing seals - as Luxon waved on stage and clapped himself for good measure - the morons had swallowed the lie and it was "ShowTime".
Since then - we have heard Christopher Luxon talk about how "We" - are making good progress as inflation comes down - but there is still work to do ...as if it was the National Party who should be credited for slashing departmental jobs - and right sizing the public service.
NZME NZ Herald chief political editor Claire Trevett now uses public opinion as a justification and reaches back to the last Atlas Network TPU Curia poll - citing a slight majority thought the jobs cuts were the right thing to do.
Public opinion is more of a measure of how many people National have managed to hoodwink by peddling misinformation - with maximum reach and frequency - while nobody can say - what is the optimal size of the Public Service with any certainty - taking into account some areas have grown faster than others and that's because business cases justify the need and benefits.
There's very little public discourse about the need and optimal size to address it - as we hear Luxon and Willis divorce themselves at a distance and say - that's the CE's responsibility having throttled their options and forced them to compromise based on a wild assumption that - there must be waste to cut.
We hear about jobs at Customs that patrol meth coming into NZ being slashed, we hear about disability programmes being taken away during school hours, we hear about road safety jobs going, while the Police are leaving over pay, Doctors are striking, sexual abuse funds stripped, Suicide Prevention Offices gutted of full time staff, and dear Mike King's attacking Labour defending his Chair who is a National Party donor grabbing the cash with both hands.
Now Taxicola Willis ( new taxes and privatisations lol ) is treating us like four year olds - tucking us in with "five more sleeps" to go - before she reveals how her $15 Billion of Tax cuts are fully funded ( and fiscally neutral ) by job cuts and new sources of revenue - either new taxes or asset stripping privatisations.
"So if there wasn't tax cuts we would not have to borrow, but the borrowed money is not for tax cuts!!"
The point is with no tax cuts - we would not need these new taxes or privatisations and we would address the structural deficit faster - meaning borrowings to cover that rising cost - would be less as well.
The tax relief is a joke and economic credibility is a stage show where actors try to deceive the audience and Mike Hosking says it's brilliant and NZ Herald Cheerleaders do high kicks for DumbTown seals.
Bang your flippers together.
Remember all of this is predicated on the lie and assumption that inflation was driven by evil Government Spending and the RBNZ was to blame for not being focused like the Central Bank of England who had a single mandate.
Christopher Luxon is the fake hero - restoring order and fixing the economy - while way up North - John Campbell discovers that water infrastructure is not going to be fixed anytime soon...and those school lunches are likely to be less than sufficient...cos they take the spare ones home up North - to feed the whanau.
Meanwhile Luxon says Willis is doing an incredible job in her lucky pantsuit - clapping as the seals say "back on track" and Luxon throws them a fish, and gives the thumbs up !!!
It won't be long before Luxon is taking credit with Willis for falling inflation - just like Rishi Sunak did in the UK...and they will fool some of the people using their propaganda machine.
"Ah well thank goodness we have reduced Government Spending and inflation is down", barked a nat seal - unaware how it had been hoodwinked.
The story told about Nicola's "economic credibility" will be all based on BS ...and the inability of NZ media to really get to the bottom of this deceit.
Meanwhile the damage being done to the environment, breaches of Te Tiriti, harm to mokopuna, pressure on the bottom feeders, delays for first home buyers, enabling of rampant property speculators, increased evictions and insecurity, poverty and homelessness, rising crime, cronyism, corrupt practices, privatisation by stealth - all carries on - with bogus justifications and blame narratives - from the same old group.
That's enough.
It's all too obvious the calculated narrative about "tough choices" is a calculated house of cards - and we can only hope the population will make this Government pay a heavy price for its harm and deceit at the polls.
Taxicola Willis and Bullshit 24
Morena
G