I loved the time when Sir Robert Jones said, "When Don Brash was reserve bank governor, what ever he said, I would go out and do the exact opposite".

What is this obsession the extreme right has with this dinosaur. What has this guy actually done besides being a well paid glorified public servant with a PhD in economics. Things in theory are great in theory. Why don't we get advice from those who are self made?

10 things Don Brash and his economic theory sycophants fail to understand.

1. The swinging voter votes with their wallet.

2. The housing market has made a lot of ordinary mums and dads well off, unlike his 2005 ideas of investment.

3. We produce a huge amount of food for a growing world population.

4. The rest of the world wants to live here, which puts external pressure on housing.

5. We will never have the same mineral wealth as Australia.

6. Australia has very strong unions.

7. We will never have the same strategic location of Singapore.

8. We will never have the same demographic make up of Scandinavia.

9. We will never again be the little England we once were 50 years ago.

10. The trickle down philosophy requires the greedy to be generous, the same way that socialism requires the lazy and stupid to be hard working and clever.

Some of these so called economic geniuses were in charge of the banks and finance companies which were responsible for the current recession. Most people think these people know what they are doing because they have a suit, a tie and a posh accent. A bit like to be a builder only requires a ute, a cell phone and a dog.

John, as I have said before ,NZers in AUS have the highest education levels-why?-because NZ does not have the jobs.Tourism---we are satisfied selling packet noodles and drugs to backpackers,get rid of backpackers and bring in the capitalist travellers.That will bring up the wages for the lower paid in that industry and it will also entice those who have no skills into a broad range of jobs that they can progress with.Not to do so will keep a lot of unemployed draining the Taxtake which could be better spent elsewhere ie health/education.The wages that these people will spend will drive more internal demand-keeping the qualified in NZ.If you think that qualifing those at the bottom with low standard university training-think again-they will then be put in the position of having to go to AUS.If those at the bottom have high standard trade qualifications or experiance-they will stay---BUT---if their pay rates are 20% more than the minimum wage earners-they also will go to AUS-I did- and more than doubled my income with the same hours-40- and I am not in a Union-just supply/demand-experiance counts.I do not agree with no minimum wage-but their has to be a vast differance between qualified/non qualified , in any field.-----You over the years have helped yourself and others----but their is a lot of people out their,who choose not to help themselves ----at all---and some even think ,that 40 hours effort in total is enough.Ask any student,that has done an education/health/justice/social degree if they only helped themselves for 40 hours a week.John, you know they helped themselves more than that-and still do.----It is called social/personal responsability-something one is entitled to voice.--Why don,t you?-those at the bottom do listen to you.

I don't think the content of the Brash report was as predictable as your response.

Ok then John, lets do nothing eh? Lets not bite the bullet and reform anything? Lets go the whole hog and have a total socialist welfare based paradise, where everyone is on a handout, taxes are close to 100% and the nanny-state runs everything. Great! The problem is that our kids and grandkids have to pay for all the borrowing and spending? HAVE YOU EVER HEARD of self-resonsibility, self-reliance, hard-work...no, but I bet you like words like 'entitlement' where no-one takes responsibilty for their own actions, its easier to sit on the couch with my hand out and expect someone to pay for it! We have had generations of just writing out welfare cheques and throwing money at people, yet it hasn't worked John. We are being blitzed by the western world, plummeting in the oecd rankings, yet you and the other socialist apologists support it and want no changes? PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW YOU WOULD CHANGE THINGS JOHN!

What exactly is wrong with a wage gap?

Sure, complete rip offs where SOE CEOs are earning millions per year might be a bit over the top, but I fail to see problems where professionals are earning $100-200k per year or maybe more. We have to pay those wages to keep those professionals here. The flip side is of course that we, as a nation, can't afford to pay people more and more when they don't contribute to the economy. Thus, low-productivity people will get paid less and there is a wage gap.

A lot of our failure to increase productivity, and thus increase earnings as a country, comes from the fact that there is insufficient motivation for people to improve their education, productivity and outcomes.

New Zealand is rich with opportunity, but so few seem to be keen to do anything for themselves. It amazes me when I see bright kids choosing to wash cabbages at Countdown rather than get a trade or degree. They're doing that because it is far too easy to kick back and spend time with their under-achieving mates. It is far more effort to study for a trade/degree.

It is also very broken to use GDP for any measurement. GDP has very little relationship to the way the citizens experience the economy. GDP measures consumption more than it measures productivity. For example consider the following scenarios:

* A and B each have their own chickens that lay 6 eggs and bake their own bread. Output: 12 eggs + 2 loaves of bread. They consume their own products so GDP is zero.

* A has 12 chickens and gets 12 eggs a day. He gives 6 eggs to B. B bakes two loaves of bread a day and gives one to A. Output 12 eggs, 2 loaves. GDP zero.

* A sells 6 eggs to B for $2. B sells a loaf to A. Output same, GDP $4.

* A and B do marketing degrees... A calls his eggs "Free Range Eco Eggs" and sells 6 eggs to B for $5. B does something similar and sells the loaf for $5. Same output. GDP $10

It is worse with retail. GDP can be maximised by selling more goods at a higher margin. That is most easily achieved by importing low-cost goods.

Yay - John got something right again - that's at least twice this year! :)

The report was a sop to ACT to get them in Govt as a foil to the Maori Party (and vice versa). Just like various otehr agreements done by Labour & National Govts over teh last 15 years.

However John will like what has to be done to get NZ up to Aus levels even less than he likes this report - strip mining for resources, destroying the water table across millions of acres of arable land, and global warming to raise the temperature!

Brash and Hide are longtime friends. Brash moves in the world of International banking - still goes to the conferences - and is a director of ANZ bank. Hide is an up and comer in those circles - recently spoke at an English Round Table meeting ( with new partner - care of taxpayer ). Round Tables ( and R I I A ) are well connected and can apparently get anyone a knighthood ( Sir Rodney ?? ). Such as the businessmen and their political operators who got knighthoods after the systematic rape and plunder ( what knights usually do ? ) of NZ economy under the Neo-Liberal programs, 1984 - 90's. We called it Rogernomics but it's not Douglas's idea. He's just the willing front man who believes in Privitisation like a religion. It's an economic program designed to enslave a country to a foreign currency , debt dependence and interdependence....as High Finance takes control of a Globalised world....creating their NWO. Preparatory program of Neo-Liberalism is called ' Shock Therapy ' ... implemented in full shocking glory from 1984, after Muldoon's gov got us hopelessly in debt with the IMF. The IMF is a front for the merchant banks everyone worldwide now owes fortunes to . But NZ seems to be a favoured guinea pig. Whatever Key glibly says now, reality is we're being prepped for mass asset sales and privatisation. That'll be forced onto us as America is crashed out.... world depression, and we're told to sell off the country to pay unsustainable current debt.... Again. So there's the right wing agenda ( privatise, free trade, no financial boundaries ) - eg Brash/ACT , versus UN oriented social control agenda which the left wing parties favour ( social/workers revolution, big bureaucracy etc ). But they're both heading into the same thing - world government of a globalised and interdependent planet. And the Money Men who created the UN in 1944, with the IMF, still pull the strings. Brash's shock statement is to condition us, so National's actions will look more centered, just as selling off ACC won't look as bad after the huge hike on motor bikes. The new ACC owners can then raise other rates. Cynical stuff.

Once again John Minto compalins about issues he has no understanding of.

John, you assume that the policies won't work without backing up any evidence.

Does this plan sound any better JM? http://www.interest.co.nz/ratesblog/index.php/2009/12/01/gareth-morgan-proposes-comprehensive-capital-tax-25-flat-tax-replacement-of-all-benefits/

"There were no surprises in the Brash recipe. He proposes slashing $9 billion from government spending; ..."

"We've seen it all before. This recipe is precisely the policy direction followed by Labour and National which has created the problem we are now trying to solve."

Eer, how does Labour increasing goverment spending over the last 9 years equate to slashing government spending? Fail.