KiwiBuild - Labour's latest spectacularly stupid idea.

[Wayne]

national deserves praise for its response to the 4? disasters on its watch

1. 2008 GFC

2. 2010 chch quake 1

3. 2010 pike river

4. 2011 chch quake 2

and labour deserves condemnation for over-promising + under-delivering

Should add Nat praise for getting growth by importing people and raising our debt heaps.
Labour only left the country in the best financial position it had been in for a long time - lots of money for Nat to spend.

[eri]

seems like only yesterday

grant roberson was saying how lucky we were

to have such a low national debt

actually i think it was yesterday


Apr 12, 2018 - One of the world's biggest credit rating agencies says as Government debt is already so low, increasing it by a few percentage points would be ..

May 3, 2018 - Given the likelihood of an increase in Government debt, it is important to note the current low levels of Government debt in New Zealand.

currently nz 22%

which would put us about #17 in the G20, if we were in the G20

https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/government-debt-to-gdp

and this is why

labour are thinking of maybe doubling our national debt out to about 50%

...

nz's problem

is the high level of household debt

[eri]

yesterday stuff

today the herald

Bridges' policy is such obvious common sense that it deserves almost no credit.

But the politics behind it are first-class.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12199377

[Davo36]

yesterday stuff

today the herald

Bridges' policy is such obvious common sense that it deserves almost no credit.

But the politics behind it are first-class.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...ectid=12199377

Didn't they bring in a petrol tax whilst in office? Pretty sure they did.

How many times have we heard "No new taxes" only to be told it's a levy, fee, blah blah blah.

No new taxes my ar*e.

And you have to know Mathew Hooten is a right wing commentator. I usually like his stuff actually, but you can't take it as unbiased.

[eri]

the benefit of fuzzy logic

is that it can mean whatever you want it to

the problem

it can be challenged from every angle

if the 2 1/2 headed coalition don't want to be laughed off as disconnected muppets

they need to build our, and their, confidence with solid baby steps, leading to a confident stride

not the disconnected, aspiration dreams of flying

that stoners have lying under a tree

[Perry]

After Davos, a reality check for Jacinda Ardern
2 Feb 2019

Ardern arrived back from Davos to a KiwiBuild shambles, an unsettled back office, cancer waiting times, cost of living gripes, state sector strikes, (another) employer backlash over industrial relations reforms, fresh NZ First rumblings, tensions with China, and a bunch of political headaches that are about to land on her desk. As a New York Times headline on Friday showed, even domestic issues can follow you around on the international stage. It noted that, after promising 100,000 houses, Ardern had delivered just 47. Welcome home, prime minister.

Fixing KiwiBuild, meanwhile, is going to require more than tweaking. It should have been obvious to all that the policy is too big to fail – yet on the evidence so far, that is the road it is headed down. Twyford, like some of Ardern's other underperforming ministers, is on notice. By delaying her Cabinet reshuffle till after the May Budget, she has signalled that it will be more substantive than if she had moved now, as previously signalled. Her back office is in a state of flux, with a number of key staff leaving and others forced to reapply for their jobs as a result of restructuring.

Wonder how the feelings of wellbeing are, among the PM's office staff?

That probably contributed to the sense of crisis when a bumbling Twyford filled the political vacuum at the start of the political year by admitting the Government wasn't going to meet its first-year targets for KiwiBuild.

An after-the-fact admission. That must've been a really difficult thing for Dhil Twitford to figure out!

Labour's Nation state:

Broken-down and generally chaotic, inside and out, no valid rego or WoF, and the towing vehicle at the wrong end and facing the wrong way.

Seems about right.

[Perry]

Optimism?r Fanciful? Delusional?

But Ardern is surely fuming that minister Phil Twyford made the admission when he did, that the Government didn't have a hope in hell of reaching its first target – now abandoned.

Having missed its first-year target, the Government has scrapped targets for this election cycle but says it still aims to build 100,000 affordable homes - half of them in Auckland - during the next decade.

Do Labour really imagine voters will give them extra terms in which to break more BS pre-election promises?

I wonder how much eager anticipation Dhil Twitford has, as he ponders the Cabinet review, in a few months? Maybe he'll be shuffled off where he can do less damage?

[Davo36]

Who would take it on though Perry? Bit of a hospital pass right?

[Don't believe the Hype]

Not really. No one expects it to be a success so it is the perfect portfolio to take on. If it fails you’ve met expectation, if you do better you get the glory.

In my years in large corporations people would find ways to move into a underperforming business unit knowing that if they turn it around they’re a hero... knowing that the bar has been set low enough you can step over it...it makes careers.

[Sportsvee]

Do Labour really imagine voters will give them extra terms in which to break more BS pre-election promises?

They probably do.
Scary thing is, people will vote for them again.

But now the PMs CV is padded, expect her to see me on the move by next election with a "so long suckers" bumper sticker.

[eri]

this week Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr put it in simple terms as he explained what it meant for KiwiBuild to "crowd out" the private sector.

"If they [KiwiBuild] were going to build 100 houses, that means that between 50 and 75 houses elsewhere aren't built."

Because of the slow start, the Reserve Bank warned that so far, KiwiBuild may have sucked up so much resource that the programme may have caused as many houses not to be built as it had completed.

KiwiBuild was conceived to help those who were pushed out of the housing market, but to a large considerable extent, KiwiBuild is pushing developers out of the market.

For all that Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford has said about the housing market not delivering the houses New Zealanders need, the scheme is just adding demand in a market where the constraints are more regulatory than free market failure

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110...ix-the-problem

[Perry]

Ground control to Major Dhil: do you copy?

Oh, that's right.

Major Dhil: Ahhh just assumes that's not goin' to happen.

Now, (says Dhil) remind me, where was that sand spit located?

[Perry]

16 May 2019

High-profile house builder Mike Greer wants the Government to broaden the criteria for KiwiBuild homes to bring in more buyers. Mike Greer Homes has so far built seven KiwiBuild houses in Canterbury. None of have yet sold, while five have been on the market for more than 80 days.

[artemis]

Ha, drelly called it perfectly back in 2012, see the very first post in this thread.

[Bob Kane]

Labour is struggling to build 50-odd houses.
This Bunnings - Clever Living outfit is building that many without too many problems:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/112811124/couple-stoked-with-their-bunnings-diy-house-but-theres-competition

And is seems there's other companies able to perform as well.
Phil Twyford and friends should step aside and encourage private enterprises to go for it if they want to increase the housing stock.
Instead he's discouraging developers and investors which is increasing the housing shortage.
None so blind as those who will not see (Stupid people can't see the consequences of their actions).