Now I’m closer to sixty than fifty and approaching the mid point in my Parliamentary career seventy doesn’t seem that old.
But Don Brash should probably stop using Ronald Reagan as an example of an older role model.
Reagan was paralysed by Alzheimers through much of his second term.
Or maybe Don has just forgotten that.
Sadly as one gets older one does not recognise the gradual deterioration of ones faculties. But others do.
And on a brighter note the older you get the further recedes your hope that middle age is still a few decades away.
Trev, I do agree wth you. Don is as smart as he has ever been. I doubt he has received the necessary media training that would no doubt be very useful, but those of us who do support him, understand that he has one of the best economic minds this country has ever known. I am sure there are better examples for Don to use, but Reagan is probably one of the best known. (and with a similar economic ambition)
And while he was paralysed by Alzheimers he won Cold War, brought down the Berlin Wall and was negotiating with Gorbachov…a few more achievements than you Trevor?
Probably the prime example of no government Whale. I know you like that system.
But cutting taxes for the rich, feigning surprise when the deficit skyrockets and cutting the services to those who need it the most is not the approach most Kiwis want.
Also the us had one of it’s highest increases in debt versus GDP under Reagan. Function of the cold war buildup but it’s actually difficult to describe Reagan as a fiscal conservative. Tax cutter yes, but that’s not the same thing.
Interestingly debt versus GDP actuall reduced under Clinton reversing the Reagan-bush run up.
Whale, pretty sure the Secretary of State would have been the impetus and genuine force behind those changes.
“understand that he has one of the best economic minds this country has ever know” – you keep saying this as though it’s a given. It’s an opinion Monty, not a fact.This is the kind of meme rhetoric where if something is repeated often enough people start to adopt it and believe it as fact
So, trickle down economics is still the answer aye???
It looks like this, for those who cant recall
“The bosses of New Zealand’s biggest listed firms and state-owned enterprises received an average pay rise of 14 per cent in the 2010 financial year, the Business Herald’s executive pay survey shows.
For all New Zealanders, the average wage increase was just 1.7 per cent in the year to the December 2010 quarter, according to Statistics New Zealand figures.
The Business Herald survey shows the mean remuneration of the 47 chief executives investigated was $1.6 million in the 2010 financial year, up from $1.4 million in 2009.”
NZ Herald 30 April 2011
Unlike Roger, and his side-kick Don, Ronnie knew when to abandon extremism.
“But cutting taxes for the rich, feigning surprise when the deficit skyrockets and cutting the services to those who need it the most is not the approach most Kiwis want”.
the polls are a reasonable indication on the approach “most Kiwis want”.
Both Don and Phil are too old and have been around too long. They should read the writing on the wall and shuffle off for a younger generation. You too Trevor. Give way to Clare and let her take control, she’s just the kind of woman you need to give it up for Trevor. On a completely different note maybe Labour should look to its next generation, somebody like Andrew or Grant to be leader.
Don and Phil are a wee bit apart in age, Don is 71
is labour against people working because of their age tracey?
Yes tracey but they both tried to enter parliament 30 years ago, Phil succeeded in 1981 if I remember right but Don missed out. They’ve both been on the scene too long although it really depends on public support finally, I’m not ageist. If Don can get more than 5% support good on him. That means he’s growing his support base. But Phil hasn’t managed to do that sadly, which says whatever he’s doing just isn’t working and he needs to make way for a new broom.
I get what you mean Jamaal, are you really talking about parliamentary staleness rather than age? “Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment”
Jabba, I have no idea and would doubt it. I dont speak for Labour, am not a party member, and as with a post you made the other day *I* didnt bring up age, Jamaal did, so why direct your comment to me? As for the polls, your statement means you accept that most kiwis wanted everything the last Labour Government did or didnt do for 9 years. I seriously doubt that reflects reality. “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so”.Which is why PR, advertising, medial personnel and marketing budgets are so high in political parties.
@Monty
He doesn’t have an economic mind at all – he has a monetarist mind. He whole “economic theory” is based upon a monetary theory that’s divorced from reality. Even as a monetary theory it doesn’t work as the GFC (and the Great Depression for that matter) proves.
@jabba
You mean like this one where the “confidence rating” is taking a dive?
Wrong Trev, Regan rode the race card to the Whitehouse, his 1976 Welfare Queen speech has an Orewa stench about it. Followed by his infamous 1980 States rights speech. Regan gave this speech a few miles from a town associated with the 1964 murders of civil rights workers. It is widely accepted that content and location was aimed at disenfranchised white voters. Sounds like Brash has been polishing his Reganisque credentials for a while…
tracy .. I voted Labour in 99 and 02 because the Nats were rubbish. I went off Labour from Clarks race through the Cant Plains which was the last straw. Labour got the 3rd term through appalling, but successful politics. WFF, interest free student loans after telling the country we were skint (they found a Treasury error), red herrings like the exclusive brethren rubbish, the hollow men spy thriller and doing a deal with the devil .. remember any of those things?
I will repeat what I have told this blog before. I am your target audience as I was a life time Labour voter. I am about to pay this years sub for the Nats again. Labour need to sort themselves out and quickly