Poorer on purpose, so they spend less

they can spend less.

What’s even harder to stomach is the bare-faced lack of accountability.

There is a strong argument to be made that the Reserve Bank hugely overstimulated the economy by slashing the OCR and then being too sluggish in raising it, and with its quantitative easing (bondbuying through the Large-Scale Asset Purchase programme).

The central bank is at least party responsible for causing the housing price bubble, and consumer price inflation and now aggressively tackling it with higher interest rates.

And then there are the politicians. The Labour-NZ FirstGreens government pumped billions into the economy that created a generational wealth imbalance and created eyewatering profits for Australiaowned banks.

Last year, we had the secondfastest house price growth in the world, fuelled by rock-bottom mortgage rates, a shortage and that government stimulus.

The red warning light was flashing on the economic engine – but the Government wasn’t doing much to convince homebuyers that property wouldn’t always be a safe bet.

Now those who were already stretching to buy property are finally reaching their limits. About half of New Zealand’s mortgages are up for refinancing in the next year, and owners are now facing substantial rises in their repayments.

To some extent, the voting public will have their chance to hold the Government to account in a year’s time. But by the time the election rolls around we’ll be climbing out of the recession – and its cold comfort to those who have already lost their home or job.

And what do we replace them with? A National government whose own complacency caused the housing supply problems which part-fuelled the boom? A party who promises to cure the economy by reining in government spending – a coded way of signalling austerity 2.0.

Anyone who lives in Wellington can see there is a case to be made for more fiscal discipline in the public service. But National took a razor gang to essential services to fend off the Global Financial Crisis and earthquakes crisis – cuts we are still feeling the effects of today, especially in health and social services.

It will look to cut public services during an economic crisis – at exactly the time the unemployed and vulnerable are turning to their Government to ensure they can feed their families and get back into the workforce.

We made it through the pandemic – but how many of us will make it through the recession?

Yet again the team of 5 million is being asked to make sacrifices for the greater good. Noone can say we weren’t warned.