Monday 9 March 2009

“You Can't Spend Your Way Out of the Crisis,” but look who’s talking! [update]

The Wall Street Journal has been one of the few to consistently point out that you can’t spend your way out of crisis.  Unfortunately, in a major profile, they’ve bought the notion that John Key agrees with them.  See  You Can't Spend Your Way Out of the Crisis: New Zealand's prime minister wants to give his country a competitive advantage instead.

Fortunately, Paul Walker at Anti Dismal doesn’t buy the hype.  "There is actually a limit to what governments can do," Key is quoted as saying.  “Fine words,” responds Paul, “I just wish his actions backed them up.”

UPDATE: Dinther reckons you should check out the comments to that interview too.  See how others, rightly or (mostly) wrongly, perceive us down here.

2 comments:

Dinther said...

Give the guy a chance Peter.

What a wonderful interview. I just emailed Mr Key to congratulate him on his progress so far and referred to this interview.

I am prepared to give Mr. Key a chance. So far he has made some pretty decent decisions while taking care not to upset the strike prone socialist majority of this country.

I actually lost a juicy healthcare IT contract last week due to his cuts but I still support cuts to government spending.

Those dissenting libertarians who supported Nationals campaign may have achieved more than I thought.

Dinther said...

Oh and secondly, I like that interview because it adds to the pressure to stay on the straight and narrow.

Just like the perception of "Greaan and clean" also the perception "Pragmatic, captitalist and sensible" will benefit NEw Zealand.

Have a read on the comments to that interview. They are very cool too.

http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=5405