Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: On Ideas

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  • Tom Semmens,

    The death blow to the British industry - once the workshop of the world - occured when they returned to the gold standard and created an over-valued currency that destroyed what competitiveness was left in the British economy.

    Quite why this lesson seems to elude New Zealand, where our economy has suffered a two decade long de-industrialisation to satisfy the whims of what is now a discredited and fraudelent financial - sector escapes me.

    In anther thread here on PA everyone ra-ra'd on about how we need fresh ideas and fresh thinking. But all the fresh enthusiasm and all the entrepreneurs with optimism and fresh thinking will simply be crushed - or bugger off to Aussie - if we continue with the moneterist policies of Don Brash.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    Will someone please tell me what increased productivity means? For Nurses, teachers, doctors, scientists, Members of Parliament?

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Dave Patrick,

    Increased productivity is just more output for the same input - for nurses and doctors it would be more patients//operations for the same money/drug spend/mortality rate. Teachers is a harder one. MPs would have to STFU at question time and in debates to get more productivity - might also serve to enhance their reputation somewhat it they did.

    Not a good step setting up a long term "productivity increase" panel when you've just scrapped tax breaks for research and development either.....

    Rangiora, Te Wai Pounamu • Since Nov 2006 • 261 posts Report Reply

  • James Liddell,

    Yes, Rod Oram. I'm saying it more in hope than expectation, but I'm saying it.

    Don't hold your breath too long in expectation of that, Russell. Messrs Key and English aren't exactly fans of Rod Oram, and I can't see them consenting to such an appointment. They even refused all contact with him in the run up to the election. (Yep, politicians refusing interviews during an election period.) I think that may be one bridge too far for John Key's "pragmatism".

    And that its findings will consequently amount to a version of Auckland City's "Birch Report" on a national stage.

    Plus ca change, and all that...

    Is it too much to ask that we should finally have a reasoned debate about encouraging investment in the productive sector and implementing a capital gains tax? 'Cos I certainly can't see that happening from this taskforce.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    Thanks Dave: "Increased productivity is just more output for the same input - for nurses and doctors it would be more patients//operations for the same money/drug spend/mortality rate."
    If I was a doctor how would I do that? Cut consultations from 15 minutes to 10 minutes or 5 minutes? Ration drugs? Get rid of the charge nurse?
    If it is hard to measure the "outputs" of MP's how would you measure their productivity? I don't get it.

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    Yes, Rod Oram. I'm saying it more in hope than expectation, but I'm saying it.

    Amen. Or someone of similar inclination. Gaynor would be another possibility, although possibly too market focussed than economic.

    The problem we'll face is that capital deepening as practiced by the Taskforce's "target" is compulsory employer superannuation at highly favourable tax rates. I think it's fair to say that is something the current Govt has moved away from rather than too.

    If the taskforce focusses solely on concepts around labour incentives, rather than total factor productivity, then it would be fair to say they have blindly ignored the reality in NZ. Plus, we have to remember that it's up to individual businesses to make the capital investments necessary to increase output off the existing labour base - and NZ has a terrible track record of that, regardless of Government policy

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Anyone who has spent time in a public hospital as I have recently and observed the workloads on nurses and doctors would find the sort of comments we've heard recently from Bill English on public sector productivity risable, comical and insulting all at once.

    That a man who himself is a public servant of such long experience can be so willfully ignorant of the facts on the ground is an indictment of him, personally.

    There is a close correlation between high industrial technology and productivity/competitiveness. The top five countries for robot density - as measured by the number of industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers - are:

    1. Japan
    2. Singapore
    3. South Korea
    4. Germany
    5. Sweden

    I doubt though that Dr Brash will suggest anything to improve our robot density, since his concept of increased productivity is the "flexibility" to work longer for less.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • James Liddell,

    The death blow to the British industry - once the workshop of the world - occured when they returned to the gold standard and created an over-valued currency that destroyed what competitiveness was left in the British economy.

    Quite why this lesson seems to elude New Zealand, where our economy has suffered a two decade long de-industrialisation to satisfy the whims of what is now a discredited and fraudelent financial - sector escapes me.

    We all know that it was actually the fault of teh laydeez inserting themselves into the policy debate:

    Wellington • Since Jul 2007 • 102 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    If I was a doctor how would I do that? Cut consultations from 15 minutes to 10 minutes or 5 minutes? Ration drugs? Get rid of the charge nurse?

    That's one (incredibly wrong for our situation) way. The other is too invest in technology, training, better hospital rooms etc to mean that with the same people and ongoing spend, you perform the operation more successfully/faster. Hence the need for capital deepening to give you access to the investment cash to do that.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Webber,

    In Australia, automatic superannuation enrolment was widespread from 1986 and increasing superannuation contributions have been essentially compulsory from 1992. Today most Aussies divert 9% of their income into superannuation investments.

    So for two decades (more or less), Australian superannuation fund managers have been looking for places to invest the great wads of cash that flow in from employees and employers each week. Much of that money has been invested in Australian businesses and some of it finds its way into tools, machinery and technology that improves productivity.

    By comparison, in NZ successive governments have allowed us to manage things for ourselves. We have elected to spend our money on buying each other’s houses and frequently upgrading to bigger and flatter Chinese televisions. Not much of that money is helping us produce more stuff with the same workforce.

    This is the only time you’ll here me say this: Winston was right.

    Also this is wrong.

    Since Nov 2006 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    About Sian Elias. Rex Widerstrom's response in the Kiwiblog comments (direct link so you don't have to wade through crap) has some good quotes from overseas chief judges about the boundaries of their role. The Western Australian one says:

    Although Judges are servants of the public, they are not public servants. The duty of a Judge is not to give effect to the policy of the government of the day, but to administer justice according to law, without fear or favour and without regard to the policies of the executive government

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Will someone please tell me what increased productivity means? For Nurses, teachers, doctors, scientists, Members of Parliament?

    Someone has already pointed out that it is output over input. In the manufacturing sector, this is primarily governed by technology - factories can produce more with better plant, construction workers can build more with a bigger digger etc. In the services sector, some of that can be achieved by training - people can learn to be a better techer or doctor. But the mathematics of the chosen measure mean that in practice it turns into a push to either do more work for the same amount of money, or do the same amount for less - i.e. an effective pay cut. In addition, it may mean an actual degradation in performance due to larger class sizes or less time per patient (something which isn't part of the headline stat, and so not taken into account).

    When in opposition, the present government made a lot of noise about how pay increases for doctors and nurses had led to decreased productivity (in their narrow mathematical sense) in the health sector. And its pretty obvious how they'll be trying to "increase" it - by freezing pay and speeding up the line. The result will be strikes across the health sector, and likely a further outflow of scarce medical professionals to Australia and Europe.

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    That a man who himself is a public servant of such long experience can be so willfully ignorant of the facts on the ground is an indictment of him, personally.

    Treasury probably do not see themselves as part of the public service, and their woeful engagement with either that or any other external reality is shown in their regular mindfarts and tragic forecasting errors.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    By the way, does anyone have a link to terms of reference yet? I'm interested to see how the Australian thing is couched - is it "recommend anything you want to get a productivity level same as Aus" or "recommend things Australia have done/are doing to help their productivity"?

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Webber,

    Sacha, The NZ Herald’s editorial on Saturday was excellent:

    The Act Party's Justice spokesman David Garrett's spluttering that it is "not judges' business to direct or even advise executive - that is a basic constitutional rule" was even more laughable. It is safe to say that if there were any gaps in the Chief Justice's understanding of the constitutional role of the judiciary, they would not be quickly plugged by advice from Garrett.

    Do they have a new editor?

    Since Nov 2006 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Isn't productivity at least partly about value? Increasing valued outputs - which hopefully would be deisgned to create better outcomes. What is "better" is a matter of political position - whether it's cheaper or more inclusive services, for example.

    In the doctor example, it might mean allocating more time to patient contact or diagnostic efforts, and corresponding investment in systems to handle administrative workload and communication of repetitive information. In that sense, could patient-oriented dvds and brochures be investments in increased productivity in general practice settings?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    By comparison, in NZ successive governments have allowed us to manage things for ourselves.

    You've ignored the billions of dollars that the last government put into the Super Fund, which is investing that back into the local and international economy.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    "recommend things Australia have done/are doing to help their productivity"

    Like discover more uranium.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Sacha - I suspect Treasuries woeful record on forcating anything is a direct result of their being little more than the last outpost of the Chicago School.

    Idiot/Savant - you CAN'T increase productivity in the health sector by getting to work harder or longer. I have seen with my own eyes the perpetual motion machines that are the modern health workers in our hospitals. There is no more they can give in terms of labour. All they can do is do whaat they do for less money, which seems to be Bill English's plan.

    But I think if Mr. English thinks he can impose his ideas of productivity by diktat onto our nurses on doctors, he is in for a very rude surprise. The very global market he is a slavish believer in will see them flocking offshore. Those that are left will simply go on strike. And I personally wouldn't want to be in a government that took on the Mother and apple pie sector that is nursing.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    And yet, I believe in the wider economy one of the few feasible ways of measuring productivity is by seeing how much people are paid.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Andrew Geddis reprises his position about pollies and judges sticking to their knitting in a Herald op-ed.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    Most lawyers appear to be quite comfortable with the CJ's comments. This includes the President of the Law Society.

    Garrett may be a former lawyer, but he was an employment lawyer. He clearly knows little about constitutional law matters. There has never been a perfect separation between the branches of government. Garrett also flouts the convention he claims exists on a regular basis, whevever he feels like attacking judges over their sentences.

    As for Farrar, clearly anyone who attacks his beloved Nats must be shot down. I'd have expected nothing less.

    Despite the efforts of these people, and of McVicar, the CJs speech has got a lot of people talking about criminal justice matters. PAS readers should definitely read the speech transcript if they haven't aready. It pulls together a lot of strands into a pretty compelling argument.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    He clearly knows little about constitutional law matters

    Or workplace harassment..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • John Morrison,

    If I was a doctor how would I do that? Cut consultations from 15 minutes to 10 minutes or 5 minutes? Ration drugs? Get rid of the charge nurse?

    I don't think you have to go that far, but even a 1 min improvement over a 15 min consultation would be worthwhile. That could be achieved by, for example, dictating notes directly into computer instead of typing, e-notes/results instead of paper and scanning.

    Thing that gets me though, many 'experts' have been advising us over many years, whom we have largely ignored. Also, I see Oram laying considerable blame at the feet of business directly and govt has a somewhat limited role beyond skills training, tax incentives. All of which of course, was established by the previous govt and gutted by this one.

    Now we can only wait for the privatization agenda to be spelt out by Brash & Co.

    Cromwell • Since Nov 2006 • 85 posts Report Reply

  • John Fouhy,

    Maybe we need more automation in parliament!

    We could start with a few tape recordings of people shouting "Hear hear!" and "Shame!".

    I'm sure a competant DJ could replace 80% of the house in the debating chamber..

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 87 posts Report Reply

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