Ryan Bridge: The waiting game continues for the economy

Has Nicola Willis failed on growth in her year of growth? 

So far, yes.

We’ve gone nowhere in six months - Q2 basically wiped out Q1. 

Should she resign?

No.

Why? Trump’s tariffs. Nobody saw them coming. Markets thought he was bluffing, a negotiation tactic. Until he wasn’t.

Businesses and Mums and Dads sat on their cash to wait it out - a reasonable response to an uncertain future. 

Should she borrow and spend more? She can’t. It’d be political sacrilege for a party elected to do the opposite. 

Besides, she’s already borrowing Robertson-level cash. The interest tab’s nearing $10 billion and ratings agencies are watching closely. 

The RBNZ printed money like it was going out of fashion, governments here and abroad overcooked the Covid response with border controls. The world ground to a halt. We artificially concocted an inflationary wildfire so hot the ambers burn close to central limits to this day. 

As for those the calls from Douglas and Co. for Willis’ head on a stake, you’ve got to ask what exactly it is they want and what impact it would have had.

Had she gone full Ruth Richardson in Budgets 1 and 2, getting the books in line sooner, that growth number we saw yesterday, the one that prompted the press release calling for a scalp, would have been a hell of a lot worse than 0.9%.

So, the waiting game continues, which is cold comfort to many. 

But the medicine for such a nasty illness was always going to be hard to swallow.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Has Nikola Willis failed on growth in her year of
growth so far. Yes, we've gone nowhere in six months.
Quarter two basically wiped out quarter one. Should she resign? No?
Why Trump's tarrifs? She didn't see them coming, Sure, but
nobody saw them coming. Markets thought he was bluffing a
negotiation tactic until he wasn't. Businesses and mums and dads

(00:23):
sat on the cash to wait it out, which is
a reasonable response to an uncertain future. Should she borrow
and spend more, she can't. It'd be political sacrilege for
a party elected to do the opposite. Besides, she's already
borrowing Robertson level cash. The interest tabs nearing ten billion bucks,
and rating agencies are watching closely. The RBNZ printed money

(00:44):
like it was going out of fashion. Governments here and
abroad overcook the COVID response with border controls. The world
ground to a halt. We artificially concocted in the inflationary
wildfire so hot that the ambers burned close to the
central limits to this day. As for those calls from
Douglas and co. For Willis to her head on a steak,

(01:07):
that's what they're asking for. You've got to ask what
exactly is it they want and what impact would it
have had had she gone full Ruth Richardson in Budgets
one and two, getting the books in line sooner, that
growth number we saw yesterday, the one that prompted the
press release calling for her scalp, would have been a

(01:28):
hell of a lot worse than zero point nine negative.
So the waiting game continues, which is cold comfort to many,
but the medicine for such a nasty illness was always
going to be hard to swallow. For more from early
edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news talks. It'd
be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on

(01:49):
iHeartRadio