Tuesday 31 July 2007

"The state is hoovering up resources..."

The Stuff and Herald political blogs have allowed more of what the Fairfax and Herald journalists really think to come through. This from Bernard Hickey for instance is excellent [hat tip GB]:
One of my favourite sections of the Dominion Post on a Wednesday and a Saturday is Job Market. It’s where I find out what the government is really doing with a good chunk of my money. The last week’s editions are fascinating and all the more topical because of this week’s hike in the official cash rate.

They show that both local and central governments are on a recruitment binge we have not seen in decades. The state is hoovering up resources and stretching the economy to breaking point, which has forced the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates to control inflation.
On the first five pages of executive recruitments alone in this week's Job Market there were at least 29 jobs for senior policy analysts, policy analysts or senior communications specialists in either Wellington or Auckland. The following give a good taste of the type of employees governments are trying to hire right now ... many in positions paying more than $80k per year.
Read on here. And read on here for Cactus Kate's more jaundiced view of the worth of journalist bloggers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does anyone care what they 'really think'?

The political blogosphere is a wasteland - and getting worse. It's a gossip column. Take DPF as a prime example - he writes gossip about politicians under the label of "political punditry", and is the most popular political blogger in the country. If a woman was writing about the doings and sayings of Britney,for example, it would be called what is is - gossip. Here the celebrity is the politician.

Hardly anyone pauses to look at the real issues in a serious way. And if they do it's all but ignored. It makes me gag.

Anonymous said...

I recently met an affable intelligent man. His business card told me he was employed by the gummint as an 'Information Broker'

What the...? was my next question.

He basically directs information enquiries to the correct source....for a fee.

He could be replaced by a telephonist or a staff directory.

A waste of a good mind.

Bureaucracy gone mad.

Greg said...

So roughly if the average income is about $30K gross, $20 nett, does that mean it takes the tax-take from about 8 people to pay a single policy analyst on $80k? That's depressing!
No wonder central Wellington is the richest electorate!