Less smiling and more assassinating... please

@average white guy
I agree with all your points however New Zealand need only look to Iceland and its devalued currency that is the catalyst for its success. They have pulled out of the recession and are reaping the rewards of an export led recovery.

Our politicians know the same is needed for New Zealand. Allan Bollard has maintained the only way forward for New Zealand is an export led recovery.

But they are all acting to the contrary, every time Allan Bollard opens his mouth he drops another signal to fx traders to place their sure bets.

Even the most unsophisticated fx trader can make a killing buying up NZD's. Even when the forces of nature look set to stop the NZD in its tracks, Bollard does something to give it a helping hand.

We don't need to be Nostradamus to know what Bollard will be saying on Thursday, and its time this country starts to worry why its reserve bank Governor has become so predictable.

The NZD will march past 76 after Bollard's speech on Thursday - I shouldn't know that, because if I do, every fx trader in the world will too.

A high NZD is at the root of all our economic woes and Bollard's double talk is getting very, very old!

I am not sure I fully support the anti-property-investmnt crusade Bernard is fronting.
Reality is that how ever much we are investing in property as a nation we are still far from any significant surpluses on the property supply side. That tells me that if we are to de-incentivise property investments through tax system overhaul we will be in fact creating a debalance and ultimately push prices up.

One other thing that is overlooked-leaky building scandal has destroyed so much wealth accumulated in property that mum-and-dad property investors will have hard time keeping themselves afloat-hit them with another tax and all of the sudden finance company colapses of last year will look as a minor blip compared to the hardship this is going to create.

If we are to promote other types of investments (which I very much support), make them more appealing and mainstream. Talked to a finance adviser recently? I did to few of them and all I can say is no wonder people are staying away from the sharemarket.
I guess that is my whole point- if we are to diversify our investment portfolio as a nation we shouldn't punish people who already made investment decisions but attract those who haven't

Bernard, I largely agree with what you are saying. JK and friends are doing a bit of a slow play on tax reform etc. But we all need to be aware that National only just won over those centre voters 12 months ago. If he was to start ramming through right wing policies (i.e. flat tax etc.) then it's a great way to scare those centre voters back to Labour.

Bernard, I get the feeling it's mainly the slow pace of tax reform that is ticking you off. I agree that they could do it faster, for example the Tax Working Group could have knocked out their report in a couple of months. But doesn't National have to mirror what Australia is doing with their McLeod report, which is being tabled about the same time as the TWG.

Also, JK and Bill have given numerous speeches about taxing property. So it will definitely happen but it has to happen at a pace that is comfortable for those centre voters and aligned with Australia.

Keep the good articles coming Bernard!

Bernard,
you are using a blunderbuss in your argument. I'm sure you are aware that Malaysia is a Muslim country that has strict rules on the sale of alcohol. It should be no surprise that they have particular concern here, and we shouldn't impose our culture upon them.

At least this agreement is between two economies of similar scale. The problem with FTAs with USA or EU, is that the weak bargaining power of small economies results in unfairness. If countries such as NZ and Malaysia have fair agreements, these then raise the bar when dealing with EU and USA.

Perhaps they will eventually see the DOHA round as more acceptable instead of having all these small bilateral agreements. Let's encourage progress, however small the steps may be.

Quite right Bernard.

Does anyone know the real reason why John Key has done a complete flip flop on the global warming fraud and is supporting Nick Smith on his emissions trading scheme?

The rumour gaining momentum is that his advisors have told him to go along with the whole charade to pick up the female vote in Auckland and we might also get an FTA out of the US.

So there you have it, our prime minister Mr Smiley Face is prepared to prostitute this country's integrity and hide the facts from his citizens just to get an FTA with Obama.

Based on what I have been seeing of Obama and his communist style reforms our PM would do well to distance himself, not cosy up.