The Persistent Lies that Media refuse to challenge

On Wednesday 22 May 2024 the Reserve Bank will announce any changes to the OCR and this will determine what Banks do about interest rates not Christopher Luxon.

Yet over on Christopher Luxon's Facebook page a reel posted by his social media team on 1 May 2024 - features Luxon saying ... he wants to be straight up with you - " the next nine months will be challenging for the New Zealand economy and the reason is pretty simple, we have high inflation. Yes it is coming down, and that's really great and encouraging news and we have more work to do there."

The video goes onto say the Government has a plan to reduce wasteful Government spending ...but here is the rub...it's been since April 2022 that anybody in our media has seriously challenged this BS.

In April 2022 Jack Tame challenged Christopher Luxon to name what percentage Labour's projects would have on inflation - projects like the proposed RNZ/TVNZ merger, the "slow train to Hamilton", the $50 Million spent on the Harbour Bridge and a range of others.

When added up and summed together - the total was not much - perhaps a Billion or two and the consequent impacts on inflation were estimated to be much less than a percent of inflation, so this "government spending" being a major driver of inflation was all a load of BS.

The Reserve Bank Chief economist Paul Conway told us the affect from Government Spending was negligible and Adrian Orr called it small beer ...but as you know media at NZME demonised the messengers as Hosking clung to the reckons of Don Brash to navigate us back away from these salient facts.

Subsequently a media vacuum appeared and only on rare occasions did any media challenge Luxon's spin which was modified from "Wasteful Government spending is a major driver of domestic inflation" to "Labour are pouring fuel on the inflationary fire" in order to escape media attention.

The innuendo was the same from Luxon and today who is not heartily sick of the broke record that spins "I want to be straight up with you" when you are being lied to about "Rebuilding the economy, restoring law and order and better public services"?

The part that grinds my gears the most is the inference that Christopher Luxon has more work to do - to bring down inflation by reducing Government Spending because it's like taking credit for the work of the Reserve Bank and the OCR - which does 95% of the work - and Treasury says - Luxon may even be prolonging non tradable inflation - and that at first glance the "savings made by Willis" were fiscally neutral when it came to inflation.

Nearly every economist worth his salt has rubbished Willis and Luxon about the timing of these tax cuts - and yet here is Snow Luxon with his seven social media dwarves - offering us a poisoned apple - about how "we" have more work to do - and "we have a plan."

Instead of challenging this persistent lie - it feels like media organisations in New Zealand have given up and decided we'll just have to allow Luxon to keep on spinning and misleading everyone like a wind up parrot.

Audrey Young keeps offering Luxon bouquets and pouring acid on Labour, while Claire Trevett finds a method to the Shane Jones madness about coal on the West Coast ( votes for NZ First ) and Thomas Coughlan makes another chart and muddies the water ...but none of that lot address the elephant in the room.

This is the pom pom team who awarded Luxon "the week" for having Covid and saying nothing...and of course Shayne Currie was one of the few who thought Luxon won the last TV Debate - because of optics - "Luxon looked like a Prime Minister forget about his lack of substance".

So where are the fearless journalists who will stand up to the persistent lies about how Luxon has more work to do to bring down inflation - and who is "We"?

Who will call out the emperor's new clothes ( persistent lies ) and point out back to Luxon that - focusing the Reserve Bank on a single mandate has made zero difference to inflation outcomes?

Why are board members and media executives propping up such a charade and abandoning democracy in New Zealand?

It's a gaping wound bleeding all over the country.

Come on media do your job.

The Persistent Lies that Media refuse to challenge

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