Campbell Live has been doing a series of programmes on the cost of living this year, and they are focusing on it even more as the Budget looms. Tonight’s episode was a doozy, with an additional piece on asset sales, focusing on the workers on the Clyde Dam.
On cost of living, the story of the Alexander family will be familiar to many families. Single income, with a baby, really struggling to make ends meet. Just groceries alone have gone up by 20% over the last eight months. Let alone petrol and other costs. As they note in the story, it will be even harder for others with more children or lower incomes. The story also notes John Key saying “no one will be worse off” after the GST increase. Well, the Alexanders would beg to differ.
On the assets sales the anger of the former Clyde Dam workers says it all. One of them called National’s plan to sell off assets ” a betrayal.” They know, because the Clyde Dam is in the control of Australian company Origin. Supposedly an opportunity for those Mum and Dad investors National like to talk about, the truth is the profits from the end result of these workers toil heads offshore.
Whole programme is worth a watch, as will the run-up to the Budget as various people try to make do on the pension and the average wage.
Are Labour paying for the party political broadcasts Grant?
What needs to be remembered is they would be a lot worse off without the tax cuts. Something Labour & their friendly host of Labour Live seem to forget.
The cost of food is a global issue and not in any way driven by tax cuts – the only impact of the cuts is the average Kiwi is better positioned to cope with the price increases.
You guys will have more chance if you stop treating the average voter as stupid – we aren’t!
Grant, what are you talking about?
http://www.nzx.com/markets/NZSX/CEN
The opportunity is there for these mum and dad investors you speak of…
@darrenw. It might be a good idea to watch the clips first. Quite some bump in the family costs after GST increase.
That is pretty DAMn bad Grant!
!
Not party political broadcasts, the truth dude!
At Bed Rater – well no, it will be Mum and Dad (pukey bleepin term
) rich investors who will hock them off to offshore people and that sucks! 
I look forward to Campbell interviewing an old guy eating his dog food!
!
Spud, the old guy eating dog food will be doing so due to mental issues, not for reasons of thrift, there are cheaper foods available designed for human consumption.
Power reform would be good.
Can some one PLEASE ask National why Kiwi “Moms & Pops” would want to ‘buy’ assets they ALREADY own? You’re right. The Multi-National Crony Party wants to sell these assets for the best price….. and that will be overseas buyers. I don’t see National selling only to Kiwis and barring onward sale to non-residents.
I cannot see how an increase in GST from 12.5% to 15% could be blamed for a 20% increase in food costs … I’d really appreciate a detailed explanation, as blaming the government for this is missing the affect of the global recession and market forces, which are not to be interferred with by government, otherwise we end up back in the dark ages of subsidies. What would the Labour Party have done (specifics please) to have changed this situation?
Trick is make the country and its people wealthier, and not necessarily to legislate to make things cheaper.
Grant
In 1999 my wife and I each bought 806 shares in Contact Energy (the maximum we were allowed to buy) at $3.10 each. The first few years we received dividends, but once Contact brought in a share-buy option, we purchased new shares instead of dividends. We now own 1095 shares worth $6.05.
So we have taken some dividends in the early days, but now our $2,500 investment is worth $6,600 and after the recently announced share offer (which will cost us $611), we will have $7,350 worth of shares.
What’s not to like about that!
Once a Labour voter, but no longer
@Grant there have been global increases in food prices It has nothing to do with GST which was covered by tax cuts or benefit increases. Of more concern is the millions who will literally starve as these global increases impact in countries that actually have a real poverty problem.
Brilliant Campbell program tonight.
1. It looks at what it is really like for NZ Mums and Dads
2. Campbell looks at issues that really matter.
3. John Key was invited to address the hard questions but of course he was unavailable – again.
@Crusader Col – if you had put your $2500 in a high interest term deposit for 12 years what would it be worth?
Slightly off topic – Hickey in the Herald was going on about taxation; about 70% of those responding were against tax cuts and wanted investment by the Govt; on those that were obviously to the right were supporting of tax cuts and GST hikes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bernard-hickey/news/article.cfm?a_id=625&objectid=10724090
Great program. Interesting that John Key wasn’t available to back-up his “no New Zealanders worse off” claim.
Screw this mum and dad investors bullsh*t. I have a state internet, electricity and banking provider and I’m proud of it. Not because I or my mum owns shares in the assets. Because they help cover the states costs, and that involved paying my mums benefit when she had me as a baby when she was a single mother, and what involves paying my income through my public sector job and my student allowance which has made life for my mum alot easier this past year. She’s a damn hard worker herself, not just from being a single mother but from going from being a cleaner to owning her own business and her own house in a rich Auckland suburb. There have been financial ups and downs, but the state has really been there for us. That is just one reason amongst many why I wish for the state assets to stay.
Dylan, who do you think pays for all the infrastructure, your wages, student allowance etc…? Public sector or private? No point aruging for socialism mate. I completely agree though, I work for an SOE and I would hate to see it sold off, there is no benefit whatsoever, even as an employee. I’ve said on this blog before, these businesses have been sold off in other countries and the benefits have been very short lived and actually made things worse, i.e. lack of investment, price rises, lack of regulation etc… If it aint broke….
However, Grant, rather than printing about cost of living rises and blaming the government, should really be talking about what him and his ilk would do to reduce this burden, otherwise his posts are redundant.
Campbell Live was excelllent, and immediately afterwards I bashed out a comment with my aging fingers on my aging keyboard, begging Labour MPs to pay attention. But I deleted it because I had more or less given up hope of getting through, and there’s a limit to how much frustration I can vent on this blog, to deaf ears. But I’m glad Grant Robertson noticed, at least.
Let me spell it out one last time: Asset Sales, Cost of Living, GST, Kiwisaver, Jobs, Wages, ECE, ACC, Doctor’s Visits, etc, etc … things that matter to the VOTERS.
Paint and carpets and DPS and helicopters … things that matter to the MPs.
So who are you there for?
Labour just have to work out what to talk about, what to focus on, all day, every day. The answer isn’t hard. It’s staring you in the face. Or on your TV.
Walk down the street, and just ask people about paint versus prices. See what they really care about. Then listen.
Please.
@Bed Rater – that’s not what the oldies say!
@Darrenw – the price hikes are not covered by the stingy benefit increases nor the piddly lower income tax cuts!
!
@Ianmac – agreed!
Yer Ma sounds great Dylan
CrusaderCol, $2500 over 12 years at 8.5% will give you a total of $6,600. Not subject to fluctuations in share price. Return to Labour!
As much as I hate feeding trolls like Mac1 and Ian, it’s probably worth pointing out that the two rates of return (investing in a private company directly, or by essentially proxy in a term deposit) are not completely independent of each other.
“Trick is make the country and its people wealthier, and not necessarily to legislate to make things cheaper.” That’s some trick, hasn’t been happening over the last 2.5 years, actually the opposite.
I would find it unusual if someone was eating dog food because it was cheaper than say, baked beans or whatever? I suspect mental deficiency also.
If I understand correctly, apart from asset sales (fr next time) and the attention to law and order and twiddling with the employment laws under urgency, basically the current government strategy, accepted by many here is to just wait til all the global stuff gets better? But, it’s also Labour’s fault?
This is not a trick question. I confess that maths and figures are not my strong point so please bear that in mind.
“”However, when unforecast gains are included, the operating balance deficit was $3.8 billion lower than expected at $3.3 billion. These unforecast gains primarily related to equity investments in the NZS Fund and ACC and actuarial gains on ACC and GSF liabilities,” Treasury said.”
Is this stating that ACC and NZS made significant unforecast gains of up to 3.8bn? In otherwords they are doing well, not badly?
@oldsammy. I know how frusrated you are and that we want the same things and I am always open to critiques of Labour’s approach. But its a bit odd to ask us to “pay attention” to Campbell Live when Phil featured prominently in the piece on asset sales? (speaking to camera, talking to the old workers etc). The Asset Sales issue is up and about in part because of our work.
Labour has and is talking about all of the things in your list. We are also talking about how the PMs spending goes against the message being given to NZers about tightening their belts and is a sign that the government has its priorities wrong. It is possible to do both at once. I am going to write a full post on this, so happy to discuss there.
@oldsammy – give Labour some credit – they did manage to get a prime time party political broadcast with some dear old union hack ring in’s to comment on something they know nothing about. However no surprise that you missed Phil – poor chap can’t seem to get noticed even on prime time TV. I am actually starting to feel a bit sorry for him – he is trying!
CrusaderCol, $2500 over 12 years at 8.5% will give you a total of $6,600. Not subject to fluctuations in share price. Return to Labour!
But subject to tax.
@softstarter
The empirical evidence is contrary to what you assert. On net privatised firms do not only perform better than public firms, but contrary to what you asserted increase investment. More importantly again on net privatisation increases economic welfare. See for instance, The Changing Balance between public and private sectors and Empirical Evidence on Privatisation.
This is so disparate from official figures one has to question the methodological soundness. Campbell’s method of looking at just one family isn’t one that would stand up to any statistical scrutiny. The Reserve Bank has an inflation calculator with which you can separate out food so you can see for yourself how different the figures are.
No doubt food prices have increased but thankfully not as quickly as we were used to. Campbell should be embarrassed, sure the income has dropped in half because she has a had a baby and stopped work, most of us have been through that unfortunately there wasnt huge amounts of taxpayers support through WFF when we did it.
Now we are empty nesters we still adjust our grocery list to reflect the changes in seasonal prices and specials. Its not very representative to anyone who shops regularly.
“Campbell’s method of looking at just one family isn’t one that would stand up to any statistical scrutiny. ” True but then Key spent time with one girl in Owairaka before the election and it achieved great things. For him, not her.
The Treasury has said that state owned assets are within foreign ownership within ten years of the sale off, suggesting that the performance and windfall of the increased investment travels across the seas from NZ.