..but have yet to see much good spoken of PPPs anywhere they have been tried. Just a complex way of transferring public money into private pockets.

Sacha, there's mixed experience with toll road PPPs in Sydney – some ok, some terrible... tolled roads are part of (I think) pretty much…

Obviously a communist. Maybe even an Italian one.

If Gio had anything to do with it.He may be imagining
firemen
over at Huffington.:)

Probly waving his arms around and all.

lol

Still, just goes to show,it's who you are

I'd love to get a copy of that -then maybe even I could understand it. Slightly longer version on the Guardian website.

Love the ending:

Professor Luis Garicano, to whom the Queen directed her question when she visited the LSE in November…

But even Fletcher Construction don't want them here because they're not that…

is right scathing

No wonder I am in bed feeling right sick today :( Still Sacha, Didn't I suggest to you that's where we are going? "Damm Auckland, let's screw the whole country" I recall you saying ppp's can have their benefits.Will be waiting to see what gets sold off…

The constitutional implications of Whitehead's intervention seem to have gone unnoticed. That is because everyone is hardened to the…

It's moaners like Spohie and Steve, always stopping to rearrange the deckchairs,

If I'm not mistaken, Veolia only operate the trains, and aren't in much of a position to under-invest as MAXX/ARTA owns all of the assets and rolling stock? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Your understanding is the same as mine. The contract for operation is precisely that, operation only. Rolling…

the Frogs running the trains

If I'm not mistaken, Veolia only operate the trains, and aren't in much of a position to under-invest as MAXX/ARTA owns all of the assets and rolling stock? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Having had many, how shall I put this, 'sub-optimal customer experiences' with Connex South-Eastern in London, I'd prefer it if they stayed well away from Auckland trains.

I'm more concerned that by relying on Auckland ferries as a primary mode of…

Did I hear Len Brown say on Morning Report that they don't want to sell their Auckland airport investments because they provide a 24% return?

Well, I'd take that with a grain of salt and a whole case of tequila but what's your point? What I find rather amusing about…

So Bill, what does your bank account look like? – do share...

Well, according to the Pecuniary Interests Register, he's got interests in a farming company, a farm and a family home in Dipton, and is a member of the Parliamentary Superannuation Scheme. No shadow trusts for holding shares or…

Domestic investment is, prima facie, beneficial to the country. It's supporting NZ business, it's not increasing our balance of payments problem, and it's not leading a repatriation of profit to an offshore shareholder. Even…

Here's a Brash idea.- Sell it all

I love these guys, "Cocky" Brash and "Broken" English, et al – sell, sell, sell and damn the consequences

I love how Bill English always says foreign investment rather than the more accurate, and ultimately destructive, ownership...…

Brendon Burns recently wrote about Synlait, a partially Japanese owned dairying company keen to buy up water resources in Canterbury, and the company just happened…

was chatting to a mate last night about R&D tax relief. He pointed out that the likes of Fonterra would claim the relief based on stuff like researching new logos and packaging. I had to concur.

Maybe so. But if they get higher turnover as a result, who bloody cares?
Plus,…

It's moaners like Spohie and Steve

What's this Focus Group doing in my Ball Park ?
;-)
I was chatting to a mate last night about R&D tax relief. He pointed out that the likes of Fonterra would claim the relief based on stuff like researching new logos and packaging. I had…

So it's a win-win for all parties going forward?

Only if we can work out a way to align all our ducks to cherry-pick the low-hanging fruit.

It's moaners like Spohie and Steve, always stopping to rearrange the deckchairs, who don't realise we have to be client focussed in these…

But it's for our own good!

Snap! Now I get it. So it's a win-win for all parties going forward.

I can see the need for investments, but not if it's just a euphemism for selling off assets. If anything we need investments in R&D. I know it's easy for me…

How does it benefit our economy in the long term if all (or most) assets are sold? Isn't that just a one-off cash injection?

It's worse than that.
A countries internal economy can be illustrated as being similar to a "family". You do the washing up and Mum makes your bed,…

Here's a Brash idea.
Sell it all

I don't claim to understand economy on a national/international level, but how is this different from a shop putting up signs saying "Everything must go!! Make us an offer! No honest offer refused!"

How does it benefit our economy in the long term…

But then the chances of Brash darkening the doorstep of this 'socialist paradise' in search of answers are very slim.

Here's a Brash idea.
Sell it all

this looks like a typical example of what's wrong with NZ productivity: a couple around 60 with 3 rentals and a lifestyle block but not enough liquid assets to get them through even the next 5 years

Amen to that.

Kong is correct that there are way too many differences…

Temporary support at below subsistence living levels for persons who have assets and are under 65 = BAD

Permanent support at levels 4 times higher, to those over 65, having both assets and incomes = GOOD

To be honest, this looks like a typical…

What I don't know from a glance at today's story is whether the Herald or a parliamentary research unit figured out that there were three properties.…

I'd prefer he set out a vision for an alternative Government.

We're not actually disagreeing on anything. :) But just because The Herald didn't do due diligence (and quite rightly got stung by ETH and other), doesn't mean they're not entitled to be pissed off either. On one level, you have to trust your sources — just not that much.…

Perhaps a Productivity Commission, which is to workplace productivity as EECA is to energy efficiency. I'm sure a lot of people would like their businesses to be more efficient, they just don't have the knowledge or expertise to improve their practices. A locus of that…

It's preventing type 2 diabetes through nutritional and lifestyle education, and helping little old ladies understand how to minimise the risks associated with their osteoporosis so that they don't end up occupying orthopaedic beds for weeks when they break their arm stopping themselves from falling over.

These are very sensible…

My things that must be done list for this coming summer now includes – batch up some blackcurrant liquer.

No, Goff just left out a pretty damn pertinent piece of information and while I feel kind of icky about defending The Herald, they're perfectly entitled to be hellishly pissed off about being punked.

Hold on a sec, Craig. If the original article had actually made any sort of attribution…

And while I'm here.
Happy Birthday Russell.
From all us here @ 202.74.207.16
;-)

Thanks Steve. If I could have been arsed having a party this year, I'd definitely have invited you ;-)

Except they didn't admit they got the story wrong at all. They claimed they were misled by Goff, as if one of his powers as Leader of the Opposition were to put stories in the country's newspapers without the approval of editors.

No, Goff just left out a pretty damn…

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund is to put up to $100 million into a public-private partnership fund investing in infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and housing.

No wonder APN hate that site!

That little bit of revelation alone should qualify the site for a nomination for a Qantas Media Award, or failing that a mention in dispatches on Media Watch this…

Once again, Editing the Herald is essential to understanding the story.

Heh. What school of journalism is re-writing your old articles from? Bizarre.

I know the media have never applied the same scrutiny to John Key, and nor are they likely to for a while.

Oh, feh...

I am really angry about the Government scrapping the Training Incentive Allowance. People on benefits have for years been able to access tertiary education because of the TIA, including the current Minister of Social Development, Paula Bennett, who used it to get her BA while on the DPB,

What's the…

But, to mix my martial metaphors for a moment, its a little rich to cry "Tory spin" when Goff handed Key a half-cocked rife and a clear shot at his own foot.

Yeah. Occasionally we used to have leaders of the two big parties who used to make considered, thought…

Jesus H. Christ in a chicken basket! People working the night shift at Foodtown on $12 an hour are supposed to subsidise this guy because he overextended himself, in order to avoid him losing his third property?!

Yeah, and when an acquaintance of of mine has lost her ONE HOUSE…

Mr Burgess's situation would not be different to that of other middle-income earners who had bought property in the hope…

The unemployment benefit is conceived as exactly that. It's just that it was deliberately lowered to the poverty level in the early 1990s (see Alastair Barry's still relevant In a land of plenty ) and never raised since, so we don't think of it in that way.

High unemployment benefit…

Denmark was far from unique in restricting citizens of the latest tranche of new entrant countries to the EU. Here in the UK we were one of the few that did not and prior to the crunch much of the economic boost was young Poles and Czechs coming…

No, I said its regressive. But that policy affects only a small proportion of overall Danish immigration, and is not any sort of check on the ability of citizens of other Schengen countries to move and work there.

Found something interesting, up until May 2009 Denmark required the citizens of…

I'm sure it wouldn't make stimulus or political sense, but I'd be quite happy with a bit of benefit cut reversal in these tough times (five years ago would have been good, now will also be OK).

Kyle: As Russell said, there's an argument that the income thresholds are too…

Productivity in healthcare should be measured on health output per dollar input.

Increasing operations per dollar is one aspect, but the big gains should be made by improving nutrition, lifestyle, attitudes and picking up problems early when the solutions are cheaper.

Precisely. When you're running around flat-tack at the bottom…

Increasing operations per dollar is one aspect, but the big gains should be made by improving nutrition, lifestyle, attitudes and picking up problems early when the solutions are cheaper.

That's my "if I had a billion dollars" plan! Careful, some people will find it a bit controversial.

We had…

Firstly the immigration effect on unemployment. Yes Denmark has very strict immigration laws but these do not apply to most of Europe – I dont think a country of 5…

Increasing operations per dollar is one aspect, but the big gains should be made by improving nutrition, lifestyle, attitudes and picking up problems early when the solutions are cheaper.

That's my "if I had a billion dollars" plan! Careful, some people will find it a bit controversial.

Which is why I was rather surprised nobody asked Goff why, if he thinks the status quo is so damn unfair, he didn't do something about it during the nine years he was a very senior Cabinet minister. :)

I've also got to admit I'm rather creeped out by the…

Increasing operations per dollar is one aspect, but the big gains should be made by improving nutrition, lifestyle, attitudes and picking up problems early when the solutions are cheaper.

This is the equivalent of improving productivity by redesigning…

(so, has our dirty dairy industry led nz into a biotech nirvana yet? because the japanese company to which i refer started out pretty low-tech. sake brewing and spirits…

The benefit cut in the early '90s was 7%. This is engraved on my mind. When I was a married with children PhD student and my stipend ended before I was quite finished we took a pay rise when we went on the dole (very helpful staff in the…

So, you not only issue the press release before you've done the policy work, but you go out and try to sell it with a human interest story that's a little economical on the veritas?…

Seriously, you think the Danish People Party have not produced a regressive immigration policy? They have made what NZFirst could only dream of.

No, I said its regressive. But that policy affects only a small proportion of overall Danish immigration, and is not any sort of check on the ability…

In other words, you're still talking bullshit.

Seriously, you think the Danish People Party have not produced a regressive immigration policy? They have made what NZFirst could only dream of.

The EU recently ruled against their immigration laws and the commissioner is trying to get them ammended, but you say…

(Labour, of course – the "party that cares" – then kept benefits at that sub-starvation level. Every so often someone makes noises about fixing it, but the Phil Goff wing of the party believes heartily in Treasury's policy of starvation as an incentive, and so it continues...)

Which is why…

"there's no point coming up with policies unless they're implementable".

And that, I think, is the crux of the matter, as Russell has identified. There are plenty of things that are implementable, in the technical sense. But whether they're implementable for people sitting round the Cabinet table…

The unemployment benefit is conceived as exactly that. It's just that it was deliberately lowered to the poverty level in the early 1990s (see Alastair Barry's still relevant In a land of plenty )

It wasn't lowered to the poverty level – it was lowered below it. Treasury worked out…

I'm sick of constantly being told I have to compare myself to Australians.

I'm not.

I am. I can't see any sense in picking some nation to beat. Surely our aim should be to 'improve', rather than cherry-pick some nation on the quite arbitrary ground of being culturally similar and…

just fire this off before i exit for several hours – what about the income protection insurance idea?

The unemployment benefit is conceived as exactly that. It's just that it was deliberately lowered to the poverty level in the early 1990s (see Alastair Barry's still relevant __In a land of…

Not sure I follow the bit about employers being afraid – why would they care what conditions their ex-employees are subject to? Not saying they don't care, but surely it varies too much to generalise about...

Its called a sense of social responsibility – somethign sadly lacking among our business…

The Danes are unique amoung the Schengen Area, in that they can accept or decline to adopt measures at their own behest.

You forgot a very important word there: "new". Because they came in late, they can refuse new measures. But they're in for the fundamentals, which includes free movement…

Might be tricky to sell politically

That's an understatement. Still, if we're going to think creatively, and look at what might work here....

George, that was bloody interesting. Thanks.

I've had a lot of years to refine these ideas. I'll have a few more, by the looks of things.

However, there are a good proportion of employers who do care enough to not want to put their employees out into the colld. There are also those for…

But since they're eligible for 80% of their former income for up to a year, up to particularly high income levels, it's not something employers are afraid to do.

Might be tricky to sell politically ('more money for bludgers' and all that – you don't have to be a nat/act…

I call bullshit.

Denmark is part of the Schengen Agreement. Anyone in the Schengen Area

The Danes are unique amoung the Schengen Area, in that they can accept or decline to adopt measures at their own behest. (Think of it this way, Denmark supports the Schengen Agreement like Peter Garrett…

What do you mean by liberal hiring policies? Liberal for employers? Employees? Both?

It's relatively easy to hire some, but it's also very easy to fire them. But since they're eligible for 80% of their former income for up to a year, up to particularly high income levels, it's not…

multi-factor productivity – that is, growth in output holding labour and capital constant. Now increasing this kind of productivity is fairly unambiguously desirable – a free lunch of sorts.

That's kinda misrepresenting MFP though – it's considering the best combination of inputs to get a growth in output. As opposed…

As an "Educator" I can teach more students to pass more tests – Does that make me more productive ?

Typically, adding capital will mechanically raise your output (real GDP), and therefore, since you're holding labour constant, raise labour productivity.

However,…

Can some one remind me how many times privatising or outsourcing to private consultants has saved money and helped "move things forward" productively...

I'm sick of constantly being told I have to compare myself to Australians.

I'm not.

Looking at the things which actually matter – freedom, democracy, toleance, a lack of racism or corruption – we come out rather well. its only businessmen who feelemasculated by the comparison.

Denmark also has regressive immigration law which assists a low unemployment rate by restricting the flow of new entrants to the job market.

I call bullshit.

Denmark is part of the Schengen Agreement. Anyone in the Schengen Area (which is most of the EU, with the exception of the UK,…

On the one hand, you have the argument that decreasing the minimum wage has a negligable impact on labour participation rates since so few are…

Denmark has some of the highest unemployment benefits in the world, but it also liberal hiring policies.

What do you mean by liberal hiring policies? Liberal for employers? Employees? Both?

George, that was bloody interesting. Thanks.

Seconded.
And there has been regular reference to a "liquid" labour market at the edges. The type of shift you're talking about there directly addresses that

Denmark has some of the highest unemployment benefits in the world, but it also liberal hiring policies. As a result, it has one of the highest productivity levels in the world, while maintaining very low unemployment.

Denmark also has regressive immigration law which assists a low unemployment rate by restricting…

Not one of them seemed to realise that to qualify for the dole, you needed to be both excuciatingly poor and have exhausted all of your liquid assets. Having illiquid assets of any kind…

They have always had ample mineral resources, but only in the last couple of decades have they pulled away from us in terms of per capita income.

...possibly coincides with increased investment in the mining industry, which has seen its export returns creep up to 40% of total returns? But…

Rusell: ORLY? :) To be fair, you really think that a year ago we wouldn't have had a blaring lead about National's latest "flip-flop" and how could you trust these people to run a country when they can't manage a policy release...

But ... but ... he did announce it.…

To be fair Craig, Key largely escaped unscathed after his monumentally empty promise late last year to provide a "rescue package" for people who lost their jobs because of the recession.

Rusell: ORLY? :) To be fair, you really think that a year ago we wouldn't have had a blaring…

And the equivalent for NZ would be an oil strike in the Great South Basin.

There are thought to be fairly large reserves of oil in the Great Southern Basin. The problem is that they're deep below a lot of ocean, and further amounts of rock, making extraction expensive. They're…

Then again, why should he if the rather embarrasing hand job he received on Morning Report is going to be the kind of scrutiny received? Key would deservedly have been flayed for issuing the press release before the policy...

To be fair Craig, Key largely escaped unscathed after [[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-2008/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501799&objectid=10540032|his monumentally empty…

John Key seems already to be trying to head off that possibility by declaring that "there's no point coming up with policies unless they're implementable". Declaring that your economic doctor will be ignored if he insists on acting crazy seems an odd way to start.

Not so much when you…

They have always had ample mineral resources, but only in the last couple of decades have they pulled away from us in terms of per capita income.

We also have many resources. One of our…

Peter Conway at NZCTU has produced numbers to confirm that Aussie wages headed off into the distance in the ECA years-1991-99.

Privatise Treasury first indeed!

I thought that noise emanated from Nick Smith and Tony Ryall.

No, its definitely Hutchison or Auchinvole – that toffy voice is quite distinctive.

Well, they could certainly replace Paul Hutchison (or is it Chris Auchinvole), with his pre-hersed plummy "ohhhhh..." whenever English digs up the "latest" from 20 years ago.

I thought that noise emanated from Nick Smith and Tony Ryall.

The government forced the junior doctors into strike action mid-2008.

That's a bit simplistic, Angus. A lot (and I'd argue most) of the blame for strike action should be laid directly at the feet of Deborah Powell, head of Contact Negotiation Services, and acting on behalf of the junior doctors.…

Why would anyone believe that Brash is the man that could make this happen. With his stewardship of the Reserve Bank, isn't he one of the drivers that got us in this mess?

party, but the real culprit is Bill Birch.

Give a kiwi a spade, and he'll return 10 hours later bathed in sweat with a few sacks of spuds worth US$200.

Give an Aussie a spade , and he'll spend the morning reading the paper and arguing about the footy over smoko, then after…

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

Well, they could certainly replace Paul Hutchison (or is it Chris Auchinvole), with his pre-hersed plummy "ohhhhh..." whenever English digs up the "latest" from 20 years ago.

Alternatively, we could just have a tape of…

"Increased productivity is just more output for the same input"

So this is like saying the car will go farther and…

And I personally wouldn't want to be in a government that took on the Mother and apple pie sector that is nursing.

The government forced the junior doctors into strike action mid-2008.

you CAN'T increase productivity in the health sector by getting to work harder or longer.

I understand that. The problem is that Bill English doesn't, and thinks you can keep squeezing blood out of that stone.

All i can say is that he better get used to wiping his own…

– nobody has the political courage in this country to wean the masses from their love of real estate investment and consumer credit. We'll never have strong investment in plant and technology until that happens. In the…

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.

"Flexibility" in this case is a euphemism for union-crushing.

An interesting story by Brian Fallow in the Herald today notes that Treasury…

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..

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…

He clearly knows little about constitutional law matters

Or workplace harassment..

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…

Idiot/Savant – you CAN'T increase productivity in the health sector by getting to work harder or longer. I have seen with my own…

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

Like discover more uranium.

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.

In the doctor example, it might mean allocating more time to…

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…

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…

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…

Although Judges are servants of the public, they are not public…

So for two decades (more or less), Australian superannuation fund managers have been looking for places to invest the great…

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…

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…

That a man who himself is…

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…

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…

Quite why this lesson seems to elude New Zealand, where our economy…