Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Mike Moore: A pretty ordinary rooster

Katharine Moody

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 11:56:52 +1200

I’m finding it hard to care about their change of heart.

Yeah, I suspect with MM it's really all about there being no money anymore in speaking engagements about the success of 'New Zealand experiment' ... and hence the change of tack.

Here's Jane Kelsey in 1999 on the bandwagon…

Kumara Republic

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 21:39:01 +1200

I dont know if I care when the 'turning point' was. These interviewee's arent suffering from their fucked ideas and decisions, but a lot of people still are and probably will for a long time to come.

I'm finding it hard to care about their change of heart. To me…

andin

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 07:03:00 +1200

I dont know if I care when the 'turning point' was. These interviewee's arent suffering from their fucked ideas and decisions, but a lot of people still are and probably will for a long time to come.

I'm finding it hard to care about their change of heart. To me…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 22 Apr 2017 03:20:42 +1200

If Espiner's going for a theme in his interviews maybe it would be looking back with regret. Has he done three? It's all very nice for the interviewee to talk freely
Whatever constrained them before now?

But we are living still with the consequences of these interviewee's , now regretted,…

andin

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 23:17:42 +1200

But we are living still with the consequences of these interviewee's , now regretted,…

WH

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 19:43:32 +1200

The best way of helping ordinary people avoid debt is to allow them to earn a good income while keeping their expenses low. The housing and rental shortage – a product of many years of governmental inaction – has forced many to take on additional debt and has lowered discretionary…

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 17:27:09 +1200

That's an interesting discussion about Japan. I'd just add that Japan suffered one of the biggest asset price and property busts in history in 1990. It's not easy to recover from economic trauma of that magnitude and I'd be slow to accept that its experience is evidence against orthodox monetary…

WH

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:42:20 +1200

I've really enjoyed the RNZ series and I'm looking forward to the rest of the interviews.

I took Palmer to be saying that while many of the '80s reforms were worthwhile (the floating of the dollar, the abolition of import licensing, the Public Finance Act, the Reserve Bank Act, Palmer's…

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:39:21 +1200

Spending and debt are not the same.

No they are not the same, but govt spending ultimately leads to public debt. You will not find any economist finding fault with that assertion the Japan's public debt is the result of post-bubble Keynesian policies.

when they have the opportunity; but several…

Bruce Ward

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:19:19 +1200

The data clearly shows Japan’s debt to GDP as the highest among OECD countries.
Now you are changing the basis of your argument. Your initial assertion was
Case in point: Japan, which has seen more public spending relative to GDP than any other nation ...
Spending and debt are not…

linger

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:12:47 +1200

renowned for being saverswhen they have the opportunity; but several factors have been removing that opportunity. The Japanese bank interest rate effectively went to zero more than 20 years ago and some inter-bank rates went negative this year. So on the one hand, it’s likely Japanese who can save are…

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 01:01:42 +1200

Japan’s economic system has been perverted by “roads to nowhere” pork-barrel politics – much like the US military-industrial complex – which isn’t the same thing as well-managed Keynesianism.

Oh, so you are saying that that the central planning can be better? Do you have any particular examples that you would…

Jim Cathcart

Wed, 19 Apr 2017 00:50:55 +1200

It would be good if you could give a source for your assertion about spending relative to GDP, because it did not take me long to find, in the OECD data, some countries which appear to spend more than Japan.

The data clearly shows Japan’s debt to GDP as the…

James Littlewood*

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:58:12 +1200

has a tendency to leap from part thought to part thought without an effective segue.

Got as far as when he bemoans the "Marxist detour", and claims there are no blue collar workers any more, and that unions make up only 10% of the workforce.

That's not just a lousy…

Kumara Republic

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:47:33 +1200

Well after time, we know that is nonsense. Case in point: Japan, which has seen more public spending relative to GDP than any other nation in history while h’hold incomes and h’hold savings continue to shrink. Perhaps Moore was envisaging a future of perpetual current account deficits and the wonders…

Kumara Republic

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:38:43 +1200

Since Rogernomics, about which Moore is both blase and defensive, the steady increase in power given to employers over workers has resulted in the ever growing increase in wealth inequality. Or, as he puts it, adding to Kirk's dictum: more people with nothing to lose.

When such people face barriers…

James Littlewood*

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:13:16 +1200

Seems nice, candid, thoughtful, insightful even.

But being Labour Party policy doesn't make the TPP any more attractive.

I don't care that this puts me onside with the great orange man baby. It stank.

Since Rogernomics, about which Moore is both blase and defensive, the steady increase in power given…

Joe Wylie

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 21:50:10 +1200

After around a decade of full-on coverage of Mike Moore's media-friendly personality, a bit of barrel-scraping was needed to dredge up further material once he became PM. A childhood friend of the guy who beat cancer and went on to appoint marching girls and footy players as 'cultural ambassadors' while…

Bruce Ward

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 20:57:28 +1200

Well after time, we know that is nonsense. Case in point: Japan, which has seen more public spending relative to GDP than any other nation in history while h’hold incomes and h’hold savings continue to shrink.
It would be good if you could give a source for your assertion about…

Ben Austin

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 20:04:10 +1200

I used to love Frontline! I hope it gets a showing on Netflix or the like at some point.

Back to Mike Moore, I remember hearing in the late 90s from journos that he had retained a high profile if just because he was always ready and able to supply…

Jim Cathcart

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 19:47:32 +1200

Well, Keynesianism is still valid. Not totally valid, we have a global market, but if it does work, it works for people on modest incomes. If you give them a break, put more money in their pockets, they’re going to buy local, they’re going to buy couches, not piss off…

Hugh Wilson

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 17:37:33 +1200

Many moons ago when I was a graduate we had an event at which the then Treasurer Peter Costello was the star guest, and at the last minute MIke Moore – then head of the WTO – was added to the invite list. I was the hack doing name tags,…

Russell Brown

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 15:30:22 +1200

After a Moore press conference in his office – when he was leader of the Opposition, – John Campbell said that it was like listening to a reading from Finnegan’s Wake.

That's brilliant.

Tinakori

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 13:56:15 +1200

After a Moore press conference in his office – when he was leader of the Opposition, – John Campbell said that it was like listening to a reading from Finnegan's Wake.

This also caused difficulties for radio journalists. An RNZ reporter complained after another press conference that it was very,…

Rich of Observationz

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 13:09:48 +1200

...there is an ideological fashion that came out of Chicago and other places in the 80s. You just do not find economists or economic writers who challenge this basic theory.

Stiglitz? – he was doing much of his work in the 90's. I think the actual state of affairs was…

Russell Brown

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:35:31 +1200

He was also very socially conservative and no supporter of feminism.

In a later interview I did with him on 95bFM, he spouted a lot of hogwash about the impact of weed decriminalisation in the Netherlands. I corrected him pretty firmly live on air – and he actually backed down…

Kumara Republic

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 19:28:40 +1200

Mike Moore was famous for long rambling speeches without any full stops. I heard one in the1990 election campaign. There was a full half hour which didn't seem to have any completed sentences. Lots of useful stuff I'm sure, perhaps even visionary, but I couldn't understand a lot of it.…

mark taslov

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 17:01:25 +1200

This is fascinating stuff Russell, it feels unusual to encounter a political leader so unabashedly discursive.

Have a look at the prophecies … the prophecies will come true. The labour movement, we’ll go back to Rātana and do it ….

An historical feature of ANZ that I find incredibly difficult…

Hilary Stace

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:59:40 +1200

Public Address

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:59:40 +1200

Discussion from blog post.