Full Show Podcast: 28 January 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
New Zealand's home for trusted news and views.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The Mic Hosking Breakfast with Vida, Retirement, Communities, Life Your Way, News,
togs Head, be.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Morning and welcome. It is the perfect day to tune in.
Because we talked tariffs and Trump. We have good news
from the dairy industry. The Prime Minister reassures us that
he's actually going to get some things moving this year.
We're going to chatter with a bloke who knows Elon
really well and thinks he's a genius. Catherine Fields in
from France and Rodin Little. He's pitched up this tenth
in the UK asking reminds move of a rubbish fan.

(00:31):
Now welcome to the seventeenth year of the Mike Hosking Breakfast.
Seventeenth year. I suppose the first thing is I could
apologize for my long holiday. Eight weeks in the end
is said a bit long, Katie tells me from social
media feedback, many of you think so, so I'm sorry
about that. Upside is I don't take a lot of
leave during the year, so there's a lot of me
from here on in. If that's a good thing. Our

(00:51):
long holidays for me are also in exercise as I've
told you before, Do I want to retire? Can I
get used to not getting up through two thirty in
the morning, is lazing away day after day with an
odd sure tossed in the future. No, As it turns out,
I remain here simply because I love it. So some
of the stories we will talk about this week. I
started collecting, if you can believe it, before Christmas, so

(01:12):
kind of on holiday but still a bit tragic. Really
can't let go of the work. There's something wrong with that,
isn't there? Anyway? I didn't like the moaning over the weather.
Holidays aren't about the weather entirely. They're about rest and
rejuvenation and thinking and contemplation. Having said that I had
perfect weather, I thought I had sunshine and I had
some rain. What more do you want? I didn't like
Chris Hipkins turning up in Jendles last week. I'm not
here this morning in Jendles. I take my job seriously.

(01:33):
I did like Enigma. It's on Netflix. It's about Aaron Rodgers.
Is an insight into a complex but highly successful person.
I like complex and highly successful people. Our oldest turned eighteen,
which I surmised was more important than me turning sixty
eighteen has legal consequences. Nothing happens when you're sixty Our sun.
One of them spent the summer out here from the UK,

(01:54):
reveling in the warmth and sun and wandering down in
New Zealand Memory Lane. He's back to the ice and
storms this Friday, so shape will form. All the kids
rolled through our place to drink or go to a
festival or crash or catch up. And given two of
them are offshore these days, you get more grateful for
those trips. I can tell you. I reveled in Trump.
I mean, what a force of nature. I mean, of
course he's insane, but he's a symbol of a new

(02:15):
age and age of doing stuff and getting stuff done,
which is where poor old Chris Luxon, who also put
on proper clothes, failed to fire. He's a talker, he
loves an idea and speech. But the problem they have
clearly finally worked out that they have is that they
tend to yack, not do. Trump does stuff, And I
think a lot of people are pleasantly surprised over the
last week or so. Luxon might want to take some notes.
I have things to say about tourism and hospital and

(02:36):
service ideas around here in New Zealand, which we got
stuck on twice and we only flew twice, and on
road cones that despite the promises, have gone nowhere. I
saw Luke Holmes. I like the idea that Eden Park
has no limits, not that that will come to pass.
I like the idea of this country actually getting its
act together. Let's hope, so a lot to do, a
lot to talk about. It's going to be awesome.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Why news of the world.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Eighty years since Aschwitz.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
The responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders
and on those of generations are yet unborn. The act
of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
One of the survivors ongoing somewhere there.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
To a very distant place to the Yema, a station
that is unknown, for it is not in any map.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Another event hitting for the history of books, the Middle
East deal that's currently holding summer. Hitting back to the strip.

Speaker 5 (03:39):
God is great, she cries, harmas the resistance.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
We salute you.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
I want to go back and see my mum and dad.
He smiles. I've not seen them for fifteen months.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
But for the Israelis the news to die not so good.

Speaker 6 (03:53):
Yeah israedy.

Speaker 7 (03:54):
Government have confirmed that twenty five out of thirty three
hostages on Harmassa's list are alive, but eat hostages due
to be released in the coming weeks are dead.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
The Trump Show rolls on, growing sense of confidence around
the confirmations.

Speaker 8 (04:08):
I expect most, if not all of them to be confirmed.

Speaker 9 (04:14):
Why number one, the presidents dug in like a chick.

Speaker 5 (04:17):
He wants these people.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
And then the market's getting shaken up this morning by
a Chinese invention called deep Seek.

Speaker 10 (04:22):
Deepsey's a model has raised serious questions about American company's
dominance in this space, which up until this we were
miles ahead in. It has really rattled chip stocks.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, more than that. In the moment, finally got a boiler.
They've got a boil over at the Pastry World Cup.
Teams of three who are specialists in chocolate and ice
and sugar icing. I think there must be chocolate icing
and sugar three desserts. They had to make a frozen
dessert or restaurant dessert, flash dessert, and a chocolate dessert.
You had to do that in five hours and shock horror.
The Japanese week, the French Their lemon pear, marigold and

(04:56):
chocolate grinita in the shape of a hemp leaf put
them over the top front, second, Malaysia, third usual the
world in nineteen By the way, the Japanese Central Bank
went half a point. They're at half a point for
their cash rate. They're going up. The whole world's going down,
but the Japanese are going up. It was Nate once
slit on the vote. But more importantly, this morning is

(05:16):
deep sick this thing that's seemingly come from nowhere out
of China. It's an AI machine and in videos crashed.
In videos down seventeen percent this morning, as everyone goes, oh,
hang on, isn' video not that call after all? More
Shortly twelve past six.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
The Mike Asking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered
by News Talks.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
EPY announced overnight and a another sign of a changing world.
They're rolling back, Target are rolling back the DEI. The
big change is coming, not a moment too soon, Walmart, Meta, McDonald's.
They've all acquiesced. What we thought was brilliant is no
longer brilliant because there's a new guy in charge. Fifteen
past six now from j M I well right and

(06:00):
shiny for twenty five Andrew kellaher good morning and happy
new year.

Speaker 8 (06:03):
Good morning, Mike, welcome back, and.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Welcome back to you. What do you make of Trump?
What do we make of the dollar? Where's the markets going?
What's what's this Chinese aa? What the hell's going on? Andrew?

Speaker 8 (06:12):
So so much to talk about, Mike, and so much
little time. Yeah, I thought we'd kick off with a
bit of a summing up of how markets reacted to
the first week of sort of Trump point zero post
the inauguration on January twentieth. So, look, we now have
to deal with the day to day reality of the
Trump factor, and share markets did cheer that election outcome.

(06:33):
Initially you've got a business friend administration, but we're quickly
realizing that the lie of the land is now more complex,
it's more nuance. And but just to strip it back,
there are some key concerns at a macro level, and
they are the inflationary impact of the Trump policies, but
also the uncertainty of the implications of the tariff policies

(06:53):
because we don't actually know what they are.

Speaker 11 (06:55):
We've seen evidence of this in.

Speaker 8 (06:56):
The last twenty four hours with this whole whole sort
of art argument with Columbia that you've got this indefinable
gap between the intent of what he says and the
actual deployment that got things like the labor market policy,
the implications of the immigration policy. So what we've seen
so far, if you've seen sort of the first release
valve of these sorts of pressures is on the currency. Now,

(07:18):
the US dollar had been on a bit of a
run from Whichtobrohm was that's reversed a little bit. It's
come back. That's affected the New Zealand doll as well.
So New Zealand dollar go up. Interest rates Trump wants
rates lower. The first salvos have been fired across the
bow of Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell, Trump contending he
knows interest rates better than Powell does. Look for this

(07:40):
dynamic to provide plenty of headlines of the air progressives,
and we'll get the first bit of that this week, Mike,
because we've got Federal Federal Reserve meeting this week. But
the share market fascinating. Look, it's been very positive in
anticipation of Trump two point zero, a bit of a
slump around Christmas New Year last week, the positive momentum reappeared.
I think it's been the best start of them it's

(08:00):
had at the start of a presidential term since Reagan.
Now we're in the middle of the fourth quarter earning
season that was going well. But as you say, Mike,
we've got a spanner in the works over the weekend.
Have you heard of deep Sea? I mean no, no
one's heard of this. This thing has come out of nowhere.
So we're going to hear a lot more of this
over the next few days. So deep Sea smack the
Nastic down three point two percent, as you've said, in

(08:23):
Vidio down fifteen percent. It's an AI competitor out of China.
The thing is it's cheaper. It's been developed apparently for
a pittance of what the other AI chad apps have spent.
And the real issue here, Mike, now is it brings
into question what return are the big sort of US
European companies going to get out of the investment that

(08:45):
they've put the billions of dollars that they've sung into
a Apparently this guy has done this for an Absolutely,
he's done it for like six million US dollars and
he's he's used the in vidio chips, but he's paired
them up with cheaper chips as well.

Speaker 11 (08:59):
Now we don't know.

Speaker 8 (09:00):
A lot about this yet, so it's the deep seats
available on the Apple App Store. Questions around valuations. Now, look,
we'll just have to see how this pans out and
see actual what the proper story is. But Jesus a
fascino when it's.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
The most downloaded app, it's BEDSPPT, it's free. Anyway. Give
us a quick word on jobs this year, because I
read yesterday it's it may be firepoint fight. How bad
is it going to get?

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Do you reckon?

Speaker 8 (09:24):
Well, we're not sure. So one of the unknowns for
twenty twenty five is just how weak the employment market
is going to get. The unemployment rate is lifting. The
good news is it's not going up as quickly as
had been feared. Seek Job Outs came out yesterday, declined
a further two point one percent in December. But this
is kind of indicative of the mixed nature of data
that we saw going to the end of twenty twenty four.
Something's looked a little bit better, something's looked a little

(09:47):
bit worse. Job has teased us a bit with a
lift in November, but the deterioration of the labor markets
returned to trend in December against the year earlier. My
job adds are down about twenty two percent. I don't
think inflict. I don't think unemployment is going to up
as high as we thought it did. But it is
one of those unknowns we've got leading into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Lay some numbers on me.

Speaker 8 (10:07):
I will here's the weird thing, Mike, the Dow Jones,
this is really this, this this sheer market vollity, the
march just hitting the tech names. The Dow Jones is
actually up ten basis points forty four thousand, four hundred
and sixty six. The S and P five hundred is
down one and three quarter percent, down one hundred and
six point just under six thousand. The Nasdaq is currently
sitting down three point two percent, six hundred and forty

(10:28):
seven points nineteen thousand, three hundred and six. The forty
one hundred eighty five oh three barely changed overnight. The
nick A down just under one percent three nine five
six five. Shanghai Composite down two three two five oh. Yesterday,
the Ossie's gained point three six percent eight four eight
that was up thirty points enzidex fifty twelve thousand, nine
hundred and ninety nine, the NZ dollar point five six

(10:52):
eighty two against the US, against the ossie point nine
oh four nine point five four one five against the
Euro point four five five four pounds, the yen eighty
seven points sixty four gold twenty seven hundred and thirty
four dollars. Just off a little bit and break crud.
Some better news there because it had gone up a
bit over the holidays. Is now seventy six dollars and
eighty seven cents.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
We'll take it. Good to catch up your rockstar. Andrew
Keller had jmiwealtha dot co, dot m Z, pascor Curan
Minister Louise Upston after this this digital nomad thing. But
United Airlines, for example first quarter adjusted ramping up the
competition with Delta. This is an America, of course, they're
after the high spending travelers. There's a pile of high
spending travelers. The stock is up more than one hundred

(11:32):
and eighty percent for the past twelve months, over fourteen
billion dollars worth of revenue. Their full twenty twenty five
year expects to grow adjusted innings how come here New
Zealand's not doing the same thing. How come our tourism
sector isn't where everybody else's is. Some questions to be
answered later six twenty one, Period News Talks.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
FB, The Vike Asking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio
powered by News Talks FB.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Review user in morning, Mike, welcome back. Probably a week
or two too long, but well deserved. Regards retirement from
day one, Save Save, Save Safe, some more work hard,
stop whining, Thank you, Jill. We're talking about retirement. New
numbers out this morning. You need about half a million
or less, but we'll do that after seven o'clock. I
don't begrudt your eight weeks, Mike. You seem to be
in great form and recharge, which can only benefit the
listeners in Happy sixtieth Very kind. Isn't Chris Lux and

(12:23):
hamstrung Mike, but the partners that he's in government with
only to a degree.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
How the hell do.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
You think Lux and Mike can do anything when he's
got two festering pimples squeezing as every move. That's an excuse? Well,
he Mike, thank god you're back talking retirement. I was
promoted before Christmas at the ripe old age of sixty four.
Well done. When I doubt myself, your positivity gives me
the courage to carry on. Age means nothing. Passion, energy
and talent are everything.

Speaker 12 (12:47):
Well see, it's a dial it back of people.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Come on six twenty five.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Now, Chemist Wells keeping Kiwi's healthy all.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
Year Rount The White Lotus is back season three. Eight
we go. In the past hour and a half, have
either released I can't wag this out, have either released
an updated trailer, or re released the one that you've
probably already seen. Either way, it's sit in Thailand. If
you don't know, the wealthy is starting to lose their
fortunes as crime rises.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
I hope you enjoy Thailand.

Speaker 13 (13:14):
We usually go to the Caribbean.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
What happens in thilst stays in Thailand? Or what does
that mean?

Speaker 14 (13:22):
It means it will not dead yet everyone.

Speaker 11 (13:26):
Tells me what a great man you are?

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Or if we lost every day?

Speaker 15 (13:30):
Honestly, I don't know if I'd want to live.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
I just don't have it in me.

Speaker 11 (13:36):
Someone likes to say.

Speaker 16 (13:39):
Secret play.

Speaker 6 (13:42):
Does no one want to start?

Speaker 17 (13:46):
How big?

Speaker 12 (13:47):
I go home?

Speaker 13 (13:47):
Right?

Speaker 1 (13:49):
And a goddamn bodybird?

Speaker 3 (13:55):
Now one of the cast members survives. It's Natasha Rothwell,
she was in season one as Belo And to lindsay,
if that means anything to you, there is a very
big cast this time around, as there always is. Parker
Posey was the only name that I could find that
I knew. A couple of faces. I thought, have I
seen them before? Probably have? Anyway, it's not about the
stars Neon. Is that the only good show they've gone?
I think it's the only good show they've gone. It's

(14:16):
out on the seventeenth of February. But you won't be
able to get it if you.

Speaker 12 (14:18):
Watch it from all the HBO ones and.

Speaker 13 (14:21):
No you have.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
If you're watching it through Sky, you won't be able
to get it, of course, because that satellite's gone wonky.
I was watching the football yesterday, the NFL and Fox.
If you ever watched the Fox feed on the NFL,
the sound is no good and I thought, is that Fox?
Or is that Sky? Is my satellite moving? What am
I going to do here? There's panic of foot in
the various households of the nation that deal with satellite

(14:42):
television and Sky. Anyway, that's for another day. Simley over
the holidays have done something remarkable. When we left they
were in trouble. It appears not so much anymore. More
on that for the news, which is next on the
Mike Hosking.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Breakfast, setting the agenda and talking the big issues. The
Mic Hosking Breakfast with the range Rover Villa designed to
intrigue and use Togsdad.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Be Willie, Mike, welcome back. Just a bit perplexed about
this morning six o'clock headline which said schools reported kids
turning up without shoes. How it's Tuesday, Yesterday was a
public holiday, today's the first day? Ah, yes, and no,
today was a public Yesterday was a public holiday only
in parts of the country. And also schools roll out
at different times of the year. Not all schools open
at the same time each year. Morning Mate. But you
make a good point, mortiing, Mike, why doesn't your newsroom

(15:31):
go find a teacher who thinks the rollout of structured
learning is a good thing, and they've had plenty of
time to do it. They're out there. We need to
turn the attitude around, look at the positive, not the negative.
I couldn't agree more. And my great hope were one
of my great hopes for this year is we spend
less time. The media spends less time with the tide boring,
myopic old press release stories that get rolled out the
same time each and every year. Twenty three minutes away

(15:54):
from seven now, Captaine Field. As in France, the Germans
got an interesting elect so Schultz is going to be out.
There's nothing sure as the world turns to the right,
of course, and then there's the Trump factor. So we'll
look at that from a European perspective with Captain Shorty. Meantime,
back here, if I got good news for you from
the land, sin Lay tells us the bounce back is
on you remember last year there was the debt, the boat,

(16:14):
the battle for survival. Now profitability is forecast for the
first half result in March its share prices up thirty
five percent since Friday. The sin Lay's acting CEO, Tim
Carter's with us.

Speaker 18 (16:24):
Tim, very good morning to you, Yeah, welcome, good have
for here, mikeel and.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
It is for you clearly a happy new year.

Speaker 18 (16:31):
Yeah, yeah, it is good news. It was good news
and in particular really good news to be able to
go and talk to our farmers that you know, I
turn around is on track and yeah, half your guidance
is positive, but I think the big message your se Michael,
is they still work too. We're not jumping from the
rooftop you think.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Are something specific or are you're riding dairy in the
auction prices.

Speaker 11 (16:52):
Generally, No, we look very much.

Speaker 18 (16:55):
We're very targeted on what we're doing. We've used data,
I guess they're really tell us where opportunities lie in
the business, and you can see that through through the release.
You know, new business development is starting to show the
return that the work that's gone in so in advanced nutrition,
we've brought on new multinational customers ceiling in the infant
base powder sector, Mike, which has been really pleasing, and

(17:17):
that's for demand up into Southeast Asia and China in particular.
You're right in terms of our strong performance in our
ingredients business. You know, we've been really up to focus
on that optimized product mix. The demand that's been out
there globally, coupled with that exchange rate.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
You need to sorry carry out and so you need.

Speaker 18 (17:36):
To manage that daily. That's been very specific, and then
the good old cost control. Like you know, we've really
been ruthless going through the business and making sure we're right,
sizing the business in the right areas, you know, consulting
spin has been reduced, and then optimizing ceiling in our
asset manufacturing footprint.

Speaker 15 (17:52):
Good.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
What role does China play and are you bullish on them?

Speaker 18 (17:57):
Look, China's China. There are significant marks. They always play
an important role. I think we're still uncertainly in China.
You know, are they and are they are just seeing
birth rates come back, but you know, interesting enough, birth
rates weren't quite in the lows that was predicted, so
I guess that's a that's a promising point. You'll see
GDT for the last quarter, sorry GDTs. GDP for the

(18:20):
last quarter was better than expected, So it's there. I
think everyone's sitting and watching and hopefully that comes back
in and they will continue to drive some grow fantastic.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
I'm stoke for you, Tim, Well done. Tim Carter, who's
the sin Lay acting CEO, twenty minutes away from sevens
and important, was there last week and didn't even snow
that much as far as I could work out. But
risk specialists have identified this is for all of us,
for the armed conflict, extreme weather disinformation as top global risks.
Twenty three percent of the Global Risks report Armed conflict

(18:55):
most pressing, followed by environmental concerns. Well, it's in a
dire state. But Milay, who was there, I think all
beamed in, said a global hedge Mini, which is a
brilliant word, hedge Mini of left wing ideology is starting
to crumble, and I think on that he's probably right.
Nineteen away from seven, the.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News talksp.

Speaker 3 (19:22):
To mention the consultant costs a couple of moments ago
for Sinlay, I've got consultant cost news for you that
we're all paying for. In a moment, Mike, you mentioned
earlier Naru and China wrong, it's Kirabas and China. John,
You're wrong, but we're tied up. So Naru is a
problem and Kirabas is a problem. Kirabas is specifically a
problem because Peter's was going to as in Winston meet
the President. President's no longer available. There's a tie up

(19:44):
with China there. We're a little bit worried about that.
We'll ask the Prime Minister about that. So we've suspended
or look at suspending our aid. In a very trumpesque
sort of mood. Naru is in play as well, because yesterday,
and this is what I was referring to, the Foreign
Minister said, Naru and China have taken their bilateral ties
to new heights. This was marking the one year anniversary
of the resumption of diplomatic relations. So if you don't

(20:05):
think China is alive end well in operating big time
in the Pacific, you're asleep at the wheel. So that's
going to be one of the issues of the year
as well.

Speaker 17 (20:12):
Sixteen two International Correspondence with ends and eye insurance, Peace
of mind for New Zealand business.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
In two pounds ago, Catherine, very good morning to you,
Good morning Mike, Welcome back, and a happy new Year
to you. Now Germany, I'm assuming Schultz has gone Musk
is in play, the afdre in play. Is he broadly
every time he talks about it publicly having an effect
or not, It would.

Speaker 19 (20:35):
Seem there are concerns that he has have had an effect.
I mean, just over the weekend, even though we saw
those huge rallies thirty five thousand people in Berlin rallying
against Musk getting involved in the elections. Also rallies and Cologne.
At the same time, we then saw Musk being live
streamed into an AfD far right rally campaign headquarters opening

(21:01):
in the eastern German city of Halla. So it looks
as though he could be having an effect, and I
think that effect comes from the fact that a lot
of what he's doing gets rebroadcast on his social media network,
which of course has a far greater reach than any
of the German TV and radio stations, and of course
the newspapers. So when we look at the sort of

(21:23):
effect he might be having, I think what it could
be like Over the weekend, the leader of the center
right CDU in Germany, which has looks as it will
get the major share or the largest share of the
vote next month's elections, he actually said that he was
prepared to accept far right support as part of a

(21:44):
campaign that he wants to put in place to correct
down our migrants. Now this has really got if I'm
worried because there had been the sort of firewall accord
on Sanitaire. If you like that, there'll be no acceptance
of any far right votes to pass legislation and parliament. Matt's,
head of the CDU says, look the electric electorate really

(22:04):
wants some sort of new policy, new laws on migration,
and he said that the electric would be happy if
he did this.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
You know, that's that's sort of answered my next question
because you look at the Lapeine scenario in your country,
and you know, it's all very well to do well
in an election, but if no one wants to work
with you, Ben Holland was another example, of course, so
it's possible that the IFD are going to have some
real influence.

Speaker 19 (22:27):
You're suggested, well, let's see you again. Germany is one
of these countries where coalitions are all built and discussed,
and we might not have a government in Germany until May,
but certainly they do seem to be doing well at
the moment. There is scheduled to get what twenty percent
of the vote. Even if they don't get the numbers
in parliament right, they will be a force that has

(22:49):
to be listened to because they just seem to have
tapped into that stream of consciousness about mixing up the economy,
the economic downturn and the cost of the country of
looking after all these migrants that have been coming into
the country.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Now, I was mentioning Darbos a moment ago, so Trump
speaking and watching Trump last week speak to the people
of Darabos, he's talking about NATO as well, two percent
versus five percent, and people paying their way and come
and building America. And if you want to build, will
give you the lawest Texas. If you don't, will terrif
you to death, what are you makable?

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Well, there's two.

Speaker 19 (23:22):
Obviously very different strands of thought going on in Europe.
On the one sign age, you've got that chart and
stick approach, Mike, You've got people like the French Prime
Minister Planswa Bayu saying watch out, the US is now
going for sort of power and domination along the lines
that Russia and China have been going on talking about

(23:43):
how America is using this monetary offensive to really take
over parts of European economy and to force changes in
the way that Europe does business. So we're also seeing
at the same time the sort of the good cop
where we've seen the EU Vandali and saying that the
EUS should be ready to engage with Trumps, should seek

(24:04):
common interest, be ready to negotiate, but protect Europe's interests.

Speaker 13 (24:10):
So I think at the.

Speaker 19 (24:10):
Moment they're all feeling around trying to play a good
cop bad cop and not sure where it's all going
to end up.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
All right, quick word on Nie. So there are another
one after Venus, of course. So we've got the cruise ships.
Is there a general what's the vibe on cruise ships?
You know, one hand, we in this country love them
because there are half billion dollar industry, but then we
hate them because they're environmental problems. And of course you've
got places like Venison. Now nice, Well, what the mayor.

Speaker 19 (24:33):
Of News has said is from this year on, only
these smaller ships will be allowed, and that's any of
those under one hundred and ninety meters long and those
less than nine hundred passengers. What he really wants, Mike,
are these smaller ultra luxury ships, the ones that come
in and really spend money. When you look at the
figures cruise ship passengers say, for example, when they come

(24:54):
ashore in Marseille, they spend around one hundred and five
New Zealand dollars a day. Non cruise ship passengers spend
around two hundred and forty New Zealand dollars a day.
So what they're saying is, listen, the people who are
on cruise ships, they go back to the ship to
have dinner, to have their drinks because they're in an
all inclusive packet, whereas if you don't come on a
cruise ship, if you rock harp, you stay at a hotel,

(25:17):
you go to a local restaurant, then you're actually going
to be putting money into the local economy.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Good stuff. I've missed the sound of you boys, Catherine
will catch up again the next Tuesday. Appreciate very much.
Captor in the field in France each and every Tuesday morning,
just by the way in that part of the world,
if you missed it. Lukashenko got up. Not surprisingly, there
were four people in Belorussia that were running against them,
which was surprising because I thought most of them were
in jail because last time people took the street and

(25:42):
he doesn't like taking to the streets. So there was
an election of sorts, but he managed to collect eighty
eight percent of the vote. So Europe's last dictator is
going to see I think it's a seventh term's up
to now. Turn away from seven.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
The my Casking breakfast with Bailey's real estate news togs.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
They'd be speaking of elections as I was in my
moming to get so Africa. This year's a big year
for elections. Not as big as last year, but this
year's big. They've got some presidentials in Cameroon later on
this year. The guy who runs cameraon the Only reason
I mentioned that is he's been running the place ince
eighty two, so he's ninety two years old and he's
going for another term. The Chamber half the Chamber of
Deputies in Argentina, which is an interesting place these days,

(26:19):
a third of the Senate given Malay. Of course they're
up for re election this year. Trudeau's gone, so he's
got some federal elections coming up in October, so their toast.
The Philippine House of Reps. The Senate elections are scheduled
for May. In Europe, we mentioned the Germans. They'll get
rolled badly. Angela Merkley kept out, how many times have

(26:39):
I said alow of the last couple of years, Remember
that several years ago, Severil summers ago, European summers ago.
She goes, we were all immigrants once. Then she let
a million people into the country and everyone went, are
you mental? And that was the end of it. And
then of course they all went left and Schulzoner's clowns
started running the place until they didn't and they were
about to be booted out. Poland presidential election in May.

(27:00):
Ones of course, Australia, which I'm particularly excited about because
it's there is a very very realistic prospect that Albanizi
is going to be the first prime minister in one
hundred years not to get two terms. Generally speaking in
Australia and indeed this country. It hasn't happened for fifty
years in this country, but since one hundred years in Australia.
If you get one term, you get two before they

(27:22):
decide they don't like you and boot you out. But
if you looked at yesterday's poll, two party preferred and
head to head, the coalition lead and by an increasing amount.
And Albanizi, as our old friend Murray Olds says, is
a bit on the nose. So we'll watch that with
a great deal of entry. Five minutes away from seven.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
The ins and the Ouse.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's the fizz with business fiber take your business productivity
to the next level.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
I mentioned consultants a moment ago, so here we are.
This is Health New Zealand. The Consultants' Bill is up
by twenty percent in the year to June twenty twenty four,
so we probably can't blame Levy, Yet we could probably
blame Marjori Appa. Why is she still in a job?
You asked that question over the holidays. I was reading
something the other day Levy said he doesn't have any

(28:08):
confidence in Marjorie Appa. Why is she still in the job.
Why hasn't he got rid of her? Why hasn't the
executive ordered her out? For goodness sake, one hundred and
twenty million dollars on consultants in the Health Department. Government promise,
of course, to drop health agencies contract to spin, but
Deloitte pw C, e Y KPMG eighty million dollars in contracts,

(28:29):
up from seventy million, so they're creaming at ey biggest
of the movers, more than doubling their previous billing. Health
New Zealand defend it by saying there's been a sixty
nine percent drop in operational spend on consultants for Q
one of twenty four to twenty five compared with Q
one last year. Deloitte thirty eight million, down from forty
three e y eighteen, up from seven PwC fourteen up

(28:49):
from nine and KPMG nine up a little bit from
eight point seven. So let's give them to the calendar year,
because as I say, mid twenty twenty four is just
the rival at Leeby and he's got a nightmare on
his hands. But it's hard work, which is why, of
course Retty got rolled the other day. Because the thing
about health, it's never any better. I don't know if

(29:10):
you remember this, so you remember Tony Ryle. Tony Ryle
was a very good health minister because he got health
out of the headlines. Nothing changed. You still had the
cues and the accident of emergency, but he got it
out of the headlines. And that's critical government in this year,
this year of decision I think twenty twenty five broadly speaking,
is a rough build up to year of decision making
as we head into election year in twenty twenty six.

(29:32):
In other words, do we think these guys know what
they're doing? And my assessment at this particular point in
time as they don't. They speak a good game, but
we need some runs on the board and that's what
I'll be talking to Christopher Luxan about anyway. So Tony
Ryle gets the Health out of the headlines. Retty couldn't
do it, and so now we've got a new boom
in to our mind. You're singing Brown, the new health minister.

(29:52):
He said he was getting rid of the road cones
and my road north was going to be one hundred
and twenty k's as that happened, No, it hasn't. More
from Christopher Luxon after seven.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Thirty The Breakfast Show, Kiwi's Trust to Stay in the Know,
The Mike Hosking Breakfast with Bailey's Real Estate Finding the buyers,
others cards use togs V.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Morning seven past seven. More changes to our visa settings.
We're now after the digital nomad. There's going to be
a relaxation of requirements which means you can visit and
work more easily to as a minister. Louise Upstoon with
us morning.

Speaker 15 (30:22):
Good morning, Mike ky going very.

Speaker 3 (30:24):
Well, Thank you great ideas. Should have done it a
year ago. Why didn't we Well.

Speaker 15 (30:28):
There are a few other priorities that had to be
done in immigration, but look, I'm really excited. This is
a very clear signal to those considering coming to New
Zealand that New Zealand's open for business and we welcome
them with open arms. Digital nomads can come and work
in New Zealand and travel around on a staycation for
up to nine months.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
Fantastic. Lots of other countries have already done it. Are
we a bit late to the you know, to the
fund later they're coming here?

Speaker 15 (30:55):
Well, yeah, later than other countries. But look, the main
thing is we are very clear we are open for business.
We've got more work to do. We absolutely need to
attract more visitors back. We are a long way away
from where we were in twenty nineteen and we've got
more to do.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Was Matt Ducie asleep at the wheel in his portfolio?

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Not at all.

Speaker 15 (31:16):
Look, you know the Prime ministers started the year really clearly.
Economic growth is the name of the gay. I'm really
excited about the opportunity to promote New Zealand to international visitors.
If you think about any cafe, restaurant, hotel, there's capacity,
they want customers and it's our job to go and
get them.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
And I've been binging on about this for two years
and no one seems to be listening. So I read
just yesterday Fiji record year, Raratonga record year. New Zealand
stuck at eighty five percent.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
Why yep.

Speaker 15 (31:49):
So, as I said, we've got work to do. We
could go over all of the reasons. Why my focus
is on what we do next. Some countries are saying
that the visa process is still too difficult, and so
one of the first actions is to look at what
can we do around the visa system. The time frames

(32:09):
have improved, but people want certainty. They want to know
if they apply to come to visit New Zealand, here's
a reasonable chance that we'll say yes to them, and
that's of course going to be balanced by risk. But
if you look at Australia for example, it's really easy
for Australians to jump on a plane and hop across
the ditch. So an immediate focus for me and I've

(32:32):
been talking to the industry when I met with many
other leaders on Friday. Job number one is get more
Australians to visit.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
Good stuff. Well, I wish you nothing but the best
with us, and we'll check in on a regular basis.
Arounte the year. Appreciate your time as always, Louise Upston,
who's the tourist minister? Namen it's past seven pask if
you ever doubted Trump and his tar of tactics have
a word with Columbia. They wouldn't let a plane land yesterday.
So tariffs twenty five percent and they were going to
fifty percent in a week. There were finance crackdowns, blockades
all over the place on travel whether now is the

(32:59):
president of Columbia of course buckled. So the future of
tariff's under Trump with the New Zealand International Business Forum
Executive Director Stephen Jacoby, Stephen, good morning.

Speaker 16 (33:08):
Good morning, make nice to talk to you.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
And Columbia was a weird one because of course, you know,
the border and all of that sort of stuff, and
we won't have to deal with it. Do we should
we be worried about what he's doing and what he
looks like he's going to do.

Speaker 13 (33:20):
Well.

Speaker 16 (33:20):
I do think that, you know, Trump's sort of bo
tariff policy does cause you know, considerable anxiety for New Zealand,
as it does with people around the world. But he's
taking it bit of time actually to get really moving
on the substandard part of his agenda.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Yeah, I noticed the other day didn't have a number
for Canada, So is this negotiating Let's say twenty five
start there and end up at ten or something like that.

Speaker 16 (33:44):
Well, you know, who knows what the numbers it will
be at the end of the day. But what he's
doing at the moment, he has commissioned that. He did
that on his th this day in office. He commissioned
a quite a wide ranging review of US trade policy
across a number of different areas. And that review has
to come back to them first of April. Kind of
a significant date when you think about it, and what

(34:04):
he's wanting to do in that process is set up
the machinery and the legal groundwork for his terrle policy.
It's not it's not quite as simple as it sometimes then. Yes,
in emergencies or guy situations or national security or something,
you can do all sorts of things. But for a
more sustained policy, you need to get you know, you
need to dot the eyes across the piece. And that's

(34:25):
what he is doing now. So I you know, we'll
have to see what happens with that, but I think
he's setting out processes to move forward with his agenda.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
I was watching Jamie Diamond and Davos last week and
he said, get used to it. They're a tool. They're real.
It's happening. Do we have to adjust the world of
free trades either.

Speaker 16 (34:45):
Boy, that's a big question now, first thing in the year.
But look, I think we have to adjust to a
new reality certainly, you know, is we train over completely?
I don't think so. And his globalization open or I
certainly hope not. But we certainly, I have to adjust
to a new reality in the United States and to
a different sort of leadership, not one that is trying
to make the world a fear and more open, but

(35:07):
one that's trying to close things up. And I've got
lots of their lays with us around the world, and
that what's New Zealand and a rather precarious position being
in mind the sorts of things we've come to rely
on in recent years and the need we have to
make sure there are rules in place to protect us
from these sorts of actions from our trading partners.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Always a pleasure, Stephen, go well, Stephenjacoby, New Zealand International
Business Forum, executive Director, twelve minutes past seven. Welcome back, Mike.
Could you please bring up the wasteful spending on the
Cowry dieback lunacy. More than happy to and was going
to after seven thirty anyway, The fact this hasn't been
front and center for the last week. Just shows you
how asleep at the wheel the media is in this country.

(35:46):
What about the big payout to Walkland three Waters? Very
good piece of reporting in the herall this morning on that.
But I'll ask you a question around that. This bloke
I raised it, Remember I raised it at the time.
I said three Waters is dead when the new government
gets in. So we knew there was a new government
coming in the election. When that new governor ride, they
were going to kill three Waters. So why earlier on

(36:06):
in that very same year would you take a job
knowing your job is going to come to an end
within a year, and knowing you get a very large check,
unless you were one of those people who really was
only there for a very large check. Anyway, the details
this morning on that shortly Mike house Prices. You being
an eternal bull on House Prices, I'm assuming you're back
with well bulled up. What's your prize score for twenty

(36:27):
five I think less than five percent. Unless Adrian surprised
us by taking the cash rate below neutral. I don't
think he's going to do that. He'll definitely go fifty
next month and I go with the B and Z.
The B and Z was the last one I read
there saying seven this year, and I think they might
be on it. Thirteen past the.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Mike Asking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talks.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
At be Prime Minister in about twenty minutes in A
mate of Elon Musks, who thinks he's a sheer genius.
Dennis Neil, who you may know the name of X, FOX, XCNBC,
X Forbes is with us after eight o'clock this morning. Meantime,
sixteen past seven, new insight into how much we need
to save for retirement. Massive university research is suggesting this
morning we can get by on less than half a
million dollars? Can this be true? Report author and associate

(37:14):
prophessically and Matthews is back. Well, it's clear, very good
morning to you.

Speaker 6 (37:17):
Good morning, Mike.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Do we we do this each year? As far as
I know? Is the number change much over the years?

Speaker 6 (37:23):
Oh yeah, that's change as it reflects levels of spending
and other economic conditions, but now not hugely different. And
we do consistently show that we don't need to save
as much as other people would suggest is required.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Okay, so the criteria you don't you can't have a mortgage, right.

Speaker 6 (37:43):
Well, it's not so much that you can't have a mortgage,
it's that the current retirees whose expenditure we're reporting on
don't generally have a home loan and are not generally renting.
So we're talking to baby boomers who've retired, well, not
personally talking to them, but that's who data we're reporting on.
So and the reality is that that generation is likely

(38:06):
to have gone into retirement in their own home without
a home loan, and therefore that is reflected in their spending. Yes,
if you go into retirement we're still with a home
loan and or in rental accommodation, then it is likely
to require you have.

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Lightny more crystal ball when I talked to you in
twenty years time, thirty years time, and know when young
today has been able to buy a house. Is all
this going to change dramatically?

Speaker 6 (38:32):
There's potentially going to change, but it we'll start to
see the changes probably in about ten years, by which
stage will be having when I had about five years
worth of the next generation Generation X having retired, because
we've still got Baby boomers retiring for another five years
and even some of the early generation XES. So it's

(38:54):
still quite possible. And that's why you start early, because
if you start early, then the amount that you need
to say, isn't it daunting because you're saving for a
much longer time frame.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
Big still a big gap between the city and the
rural parts. That gap changed much over the yet, No.

Speaker 6 (39:11):
It hasn't changed that much. And it just reflects that
there are different costs of living depending on where you live.
And it also reflects that potentially people live in those
different locations because of the different lifestyles that they want.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
And it's to be fair, it's still a very individual thing,
isn't it. I mean, it depends on what sort of
life you want. Half a million can be plenty, half
a million can barely scrape the sides.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
Absolutely, And this is not saying this is what you
should definitely aim for. What it's saying is that this
is what retirees are doing, and that you know they
are living quite comfortably and these are the amounts that
they are using to do that. But it's your users
to provide information and talk to a financial advisor about
what you specifically are looking to do in your retirement

(39:57):
and therefore, how much you need to achieve.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
That nice stuff. Claire, good to talk to you again,
Claire Matthews out of Massi University this morning. Mike Wellington
trains a mess again this morning. They'll spend all summer
replacing trains with buses so they could fix the signals.
Now we end up sitting on tracks inbound waiting for
ages for the signals to work. Brendan stop money to
come to Aukland some time. Try and find a train
at all. I mean, yours may be dysfunctional. Auckland just

(40:20):
doesn't have any at all. Seven twenty.

Speaker 2 (40:24):
The Mic Asking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio, how
It By News Talks EVY.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
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Grizzly AI paskar rid O seven twenty four. We've got

(41:35):
to talk about Trump. Of course, isn't he fantastic? I
think he is fantastic. What I like about what he's
done so far is none of it's a surprise he
actually does what he said he would do. Mainstream media
still can't get their head around it. I watched see
an n last week twisting themselves into a knot over
the pardons and the fact a lot of what he
says isn't true. It's as though they still think by
winging and moaning about it all something's going to change.

(41:58):
The Trump era is the most legitimate democratic thing you
will see at the moment anywhere in the world. He
won the presidency by way of the College vote and
the popular vote. He won the House, he won the Senate.
He's also won the Supreme Court. That was more by luck,
not tied to an election. So what he has is
a mandate. You can't argue with that. He said he
would deport he is. He said he'd get out of Paris.

(42:20):
He has. Not All of what he said he will
do will happen because while some of it birthright citizenship,
for example, that's one is constitutional and changing that takes
a lot of court time in more than four years.
A Milannia, you might have noticed as clearly had some
sort of come to Jesus moment, given she seems front
and center these days. I watch them in Carolina and
Los Angeles on Saturday, then Las Vegas on Sunday. Checker's

(42:41):
work ethic apart from anything else, By the way, she
said nothing, but she seems sort of keen this time around.
She got a camera following her, as far as I
can work out, so there's a documentary coming. I watched
the inauguration. Carmela couldn't hide a misery. Baron couldn't hide
a sense of humor.

Speaker 11 (42:54):
Who knew.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
Much is being made of the fact he doesn't have
to face the vote as ever again, headlines all over
the place. Trump, I never have to face the voters
ever again, as though that doesn't apply. Think about it,
although that doesn't apply to every single president who gets
a second term, for God's sake, their inference being because
he doesn't have to face the miginni or go nuts.
He won't go nuts, He's already nuts. But a lot
of people like that kind of nuts, clearly, And he

(43:17):
comes off the back as the Wall Street Journal so
decisively portrayed one of the great crime families of modern America,
the Bidens, the Sinility read it. It wasn't reported here,
of course, because we're asleep at the wheel, but the
Sinility hidden from day one. All the family pardoned, and
Hunter singled out, despite Joe saying he wouldn't. I mean,
what a liar, what a crook? As I said last year,

(43:40):
Trump first time came and went worll didn't end. It
won't end this time either, But so far it's going
to be a hoot watching and I for one and
loving it. Scare the Wall Street Journal. Tell me where
in New Zealand you saw the coverage of the Wall
Street Journal expose over the holiday period Apart from nowhere,
one of the biggest stories, I would argue politically of
the year in the world, dug deep into what is

(44:04):
one of the great crime families of modern America and
yet nothing to be hurt. Cricket's chirping in this part
of the world. Right brings me to John Lamont, boss
at three Waters. Good coverage from Kate McNamara this morning
and the Herald highest chief executive pay out five hundred
and thirty two thousand, five hundred dollars. So he was
in charge of the Auckland Northland Water Services Entity. Now

(44:26):
did he have a right to take the job, Yes
he did. He took up the job on fair bait
and he left on December fifteenth, so just ten months
in the job. Now in fair bait, could you have
argued that in election year when you national were going
to win the election, Yes you could. Should that prevent
you from taking a job because of what you think
may or may not happen? Maybe? Maybe not. A lot

(44:46):
of people probably argue not so. In other words, take
the job, But did you take the job knowing that
your job was going to come to an end by
the end of the year, therefore indicating that you really
didn't want to be in the job all that long anyway?
And if you weren't in the job all that long anyway,
there might be a nice check at the end of it.
And turns out over half a million dollars because when
the new government came and first thing that did was
well that three waters is off. Who do we need

(45:07):
to get rid of and write a check to five
hundred and thirty two thousand, five hundred. What are you
reckon about that? She'll ask the Prime Minister about that?
Or do we have more important things to deal with?
Bigger fish to fry? Christopher Luxen is but moments away
after the news which is next, you're still.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Secretly your source of freaking news, challenging opinion and honored facts.
The Mike Hosking Breakfast with a Vita Retirement, Communities, Life
your Way News togs heead b n Us.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
Neil as X, Fox, TV, CNBC and is made to
be long Musks, and we'll be with us up to
write a quocke. He thinks Musk is a genius. So
we'll see where all that goes, of course, but that's
still become meantime at twenty three minutes away from it,
Christopher Luxime, Prime Minister, is with us. Good morning and
happy New Year.

Speaker 9 (45:57):
Well likewise, Mike, I have you had a good break
and we had a lovely, lovely break, Thank you very much.
Louise Upon, who's on the program a little bit earlier on,
she didn't have a very good answer.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
Why are we so slow on the digital nomads given
the whole world's already done it.

Speaker 9 (46:09):
Oh look, I mean it's something that we talked about
in in opposition. We want to do and we're doing
it now. I mean, we just had a lot of
other things on the plate, as you know, through the
course of last year. But there's a lot more I
think that we need to do in terms of continuing
to tweak that tourism proposition. We haven't bounced back at all.
I think we're at eighty six percent of pre COVID levels,
there's a heap of space to go for and when

(46:30):
you've got people across the country saying, oh no, we
don't want the tourist back where we're actually turning off
growth and that's just not acceptable.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
So Fiji Raratonga reported just this last week they had
record years, so people are prepared to come to this
particular part of.

Speaker 9 (46:40):
The world, specifically about us that the world no longer likes. Well,
i'll tell you what I reckon happened. We ended up
staying COVID for way too long. You have all these
tourism operators in New Zealand that deal with wholesale operators
up in Asia and around the world, and though those
relationships went cold while we shut down and weren't traveling,
and as a result, other countries stepped in. It's a
competitive market and American will have on their list the

(47:03):
top twenty countries they want to visit before they die,
and our job is we've got to make sure at
the top of that list so they choose to come
for their next trip. So yeah, really it's a function
of I think, you know, the industry went to sleep
by virtue of where we were and too slow coming
out of COVID extended lockdowns, aren't able to travel and
as a result others jumped in and filled that space.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
The proposition from.

Speaker 9 (47:23):
Your zone is still really good, but we've got to
get our a MG and actually get out and about
in the world and actually sell the proposition.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
So one hundred percent back by when what's your target.

Speaker 9 (47:32):
Well as fast as possible. I don't have a target on.
I want to see tourists coming into the country.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
We needly as possible. What we need we need KPIs
don't we we need to live on the capole.

Speaker 9 (47:39):
We do, we do, but we need people actioning stuff
and actually doing things. And that's why I was pleased
having made that say to the nation speech said, tourism
something you can power up really fast as you can
also international education. To see the team then respond within
a week to say, right O, we can do this
digital nomads thing and get that done well and out
the door and have the system focus on getting that
dot job done. I thought was very good.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Naru I'm reading yesterday has never been closer to China
as they mark the first anniversary of their particular association.
Winston Stuck is he still in Kirabas, the president won't
meet him, the aids on hold. How worried should we be?

Speaker 9 (48:12):
Well, I mean, I mean, we're just being really clear
to say, look, we're putting taxpayers money into Kerebas, about
one hundred and one hundred and two million from memory
over the last three years or four years, and the
reality has got to be been effectively. Winston's done a
great job. He's met with I think fifty different counterparts
across the world that he's visited them at forty five
countries or something in the first year. And Carabas we

(48:33):
just had radio silence. So he's doing the right thing
actually by saying I'm sorry, but actually we actually want
the courtesy of some engagement with the government of Carabas.
And equally, we can't send New Zealand taxpayers money and
there if we don't have a relationship or a dialogue happening.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
And so I tell you, I think about our relationship
with the Pacific. When the president of Carabas doesn't want
to meet our foreign minister.

Speaker 9 (48:55):
Well, I just say to you, I think it's peculiar
to Carabas because our relationship across the Pacific is our
standing and I've met with most of the leaders Winstance,
done the same with the foreign ministers. Our influence and
our partnership in the Pacific, I think is very very strong.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
So you're still bullish, Oh.

Speaker 9 (49:11):
Yeah, absolutely. I think if you look at how we
stepped up the relationships with Fiji and samoh and tongl
just in the last twelve months, a couple with the
other countries throughout the region, as well, our contributions in
the Pacific Island Forum, all that stuff is really very strong,
and I think the Pacific partners have played that back
to us very strongly that they've appreciated. You know, We've
hosted them here in New Zealand, I've met with them

(49:32):
personally when they're traveling through with dinners and I'm getting
to know each other and so that's been very very positive.
And I think in general, you know, we had literally
years where we just didn't get out of New Zealand
to go do foreign affairs work and it wasn't a
priority for the last lot. Well, gee, it's mission critical
for us because it's about defense and it's also about growth.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
You're sick. I watched you last week and your stayed
at the Nation speech. Sick of the comp Are you
sick of the ComCom or you're sick of the lack
of action or.

Speaker 9 (49:58):
Both sick of just actually the lack of competition that's
in our big sectors. And when you're so far away
from the rest of the world, you don't get other
big operators wanting to operate in there. So it means
that your domestic sectors have to even be more competitive.
And when you go across the piece, whether it's frankly
banking as we've started to talk about last year, whether
it's energy, retailers, groceries, we actually have to seriously have

(50:21):
a proper converse, not a conversation. We have to do
something about competition. This is my criticism of you, is
that you too much yack, not enough do. If you
don't like what Commerce Commissioner is doing, you just all
fight up because of Trump's executive orders.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
But that's what you know, exactly what you need to
executive orders. You need to get a bloody market pen
and start scratching out a few signatures.

Speaker 9 (50:43):
And and the difference between a presidential system and a
parliamentary system that's quite profound in that regard.

Speaker 18 (50:48):
But if you look.

Speaker 9 (50:51):
Most governments.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
You and I are sick of the same things. But
what I'm watching here is a commerce commission that's been
looking at petrol and supermarkets and building products and everything
else for study that nothing's happening.

Speaker 9 (51:02):
Yeah, so we know what the problem is, but no
one ever pulls the trigger to say that's the action
that needs to take place off the back of that study. Right,
So that's what we've got to do this year. Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
So when you talk about competition in retail, who specifically
you're worried about.

Speaker 9 (51:14):
Well, I think we look at the grocery supermarket outlets.
We've obviously spoken before about the energy pieces, and there's
some work going on around that right now. I'm also
very fixated on the banks. If I'm really honest with you,
I think.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Banks this year specifically, well, again.

Speaker 9 (51:30):
We're going to make sure, as we said, get k
QY our banks sort of fired up and capitalized in
a way that actually can take on those banks. When
you're going to do there's a whole bunch of laws
rate we can change around what's called open banking, because
actually the banks have been running that, whereas other countries
that's run by others. So the banks don't unincentivized to
innovate or do anything very different.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
So you're a big thing.

Speaker 9 (51:51):
Well, it's it's one of the things we can do
to make sure that we get banking more competitive. We're
going to do that though, well, we're working. As I said,
we talked about that the end of last year. We've
got to go through a process of just making sure
we can look up with the best way to raise
that five hundred million dollars in capital that we want
to put in there. That five hundred million dollars will
lead to billions of dollars of extra investment to loans

(52:12):
lending to businesses, but also to consumers as well, and
so it's just working our way through that. We're going
to do that as quickly as we possibly can. But
I think there's other things Mark like that we can
do around sort of some of the regulations around banks
and making sure that they are you know, as competitive
and as that we make it as easy as possible.
If you talk about the margins that exist in banking
in New Zealand relative to other parts.

Speaker 3 (52:32):
Of the world, that's kind of sense we'll talk about
this is this is my frustration, my frustration with you is.
I think you're You're well intentioned, but you're running out
of time. It's twenty twenty five now, and you've spent
all of last year talking about this and thinking about
that and passing a bit of legislation. All that's fantastic.
Just agree, Well, you can disagree all you want, but

(52:53):
you're the one facing the voters in twenty six, not me.
That's right, and you're going to run out a runway
if you don't actually start kicking some and getting this
country moving well.

Speaker 9 (53:02):
I would just say to you, I think the way
we actually dealt with government's been need to get inflation down,
to get interest rates down, to get business confidence and
consumer confidence at good levels, is fantastic. I'm just signaling,
as I did in my State of the Nation speech
last year, was break the back of cost of living.
This year is all about growth, growth, growth. So I
think when you look at what we did on fast Track,
you think about RMA reform, where we've bleated on about

(53:22):
it for eighteen years.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
It was supposed to be a horse.

Speaker 9 (53:25):
Turned into a camera with endless amendments and a whole
industry around it. To go introduce fast Track in the
way that we are to talk about changing the whole
of the RMA system and getting that moving. This year
is actually a major, major there's a lot of focus
going on. So just I hear what you're saying, and
I know the frustration. If you're frustrated, just meagine how
frustrated I am about the speed of things that happen
here in Wellington. But I'm doing everything we can with

(53:46):
the team. As you saw even yesterday on digital nomad
visas within a week.

Speaker 3 (53:49):
But you were late a year. You were a year
of not two years later on that. That's a stroke
of a pen decision. That's like, think of it Monday,
do it Tuesday, not come back a year after you've
been as onners and go oh what we've thought off?
Oh you've come back from holiday fired up my cost?

Speaker 16 (54:04):
Gag.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
Well, someone's going to point a few things out, don't
they Look my road, the road north of Auckland right
here's your new health minister. So one of the best
pieces of road in this country is State Highway one,
as commissioned by Stephen Joyce. That was going to one
hundred and twenty k's how fast was I traveling over
the holiday? Is one hundred He announced it last year.
Why hasn't it changed the road cones around Auckland. Have

(54:25):
a look at the road cones around Auckland at the moment,
there's only millions of them. Why hasn't it changed? Simmey
and Brown announced that would change. Hasn't changed? Why not?

Speaker 9 (54:33):
Well, I will get onto it the sweet month to
get onto it, because I asked it.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
I mean, when you announce something.

Speaker 13 (54:40):
Actually do it.

Speaker 11 (54:41):
Yep.

Speaker 9 (54:42):
But Vike, there's a whole bunch of pilava that goes
with as you know, around speed limits, for example. We
have worked as quickly as we can. But you have
regional you have local government, you have regional government, you
have central government. There's a whole bunch of pilava and
all that. We're trying to strip all of that out.
I think we're over governed. We've got way too many
people in the mix of everything, and so we're working
our way through that. And I think you'll see that

(55:02):
very shortly. So hang fire, I know, okay, did you
I'm here all year, so you're going to get this
all year?

Speaker 18 (55:07):
Did you see?

Speaker 3 (55:08):
And Joyce's peace in the Herald, I haven't actually you
get onto when you're arranging the deck chairs. He's not
a fan of what you did with the science thing
last week. He thinks that's a mistake. You would disagree
with them, presumably, Yeah, yeah, do.

Speaker 9 (55:20):
Because Callahan was set up years ago to do the
innovation work in commercialization work it didn't deliver for a
number of reasons. We've got four now very focused Crown
Research institutes which needed to happen, and they need to
be powered up to be commercialized. If you go to Israel,
if you go to Ireland, you go to Denmark, academics
get to actually participate and become multimillionaires because of their

(55:41):
innovations that they then end up turning into great companies.
And so we want to make sure the money that
we spend in the R and D system, frankly, it's
been going all over the place, it needs to go
just purely into things that make the economy go quicker
out and those fourth focused institutes. The removal of Callahan
will actually give us the beginnings of what we need
to do.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Good stuff catch up next Tuesday. Appreciate of cron Christopher Luxen.
That article, by the way out of Saturday's Herald Government
science plan is like rearranging the deck chairs. Good read,
because he was heavily involved in the process, of course
when he was in government. Thirteen two good The.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Mike Asking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
Talks at Me turn Away from I didn't have time to,
but just before Christmas, Nikola Willison that heyfu update, What
a disgrace that was as well. So the numbers were
way worse than anybody thought for the economy. So there
is no surplus there. Four car surplus isn't happening. It's
a deficit forever. But then she, in her best Grant
Robertson impersonation I've ever seen, comes out and goes, well,

(56:42):
first of all, what we can do is take the
three or four hundred million dollars the ACC's in the
whole for and we'll ignore that. That's not real, so
we won't count that. And nobody sitting there goes, what
are you serious? So she takes three or four hundred
million dollars out going, we're not counting that, and then
that will leave us with just a tiny, tiny, tiny deficit.
But I don't actually believe those numbers are real. I'm

(57:03):
more positive for New Zealand than that so I think
it'll be a surplus. So she takes three or four
hundred million dollars out, takes then the deficit and pretends
that doesn't exist either and invents the surplus. And you
call that being a finance minister. Give me a break.
New Zealand University's headline need to up their game on
teaching entrepreneurship. This is Rod mc norton. There's a piece
of reading you might want to look up as well,

(57:24):
and that goes back to the aforementioned state of the
nation and the science and the science bodies. New Zealand
universities are failing to prepare students for their entrepreneurial Realities
of the modern economy highlights major gaps and entrepreneurship and
industry focused training. PhD programs remain too academically focused. Entrepreneurship
is also poorly integrated into STEM degrees, leaving students ill

(57:46):
equipped to innovate or commercialized research. So hopefully something comes
out of that. And the other one you want to
read is John Ryan, who's the Auditor General. Came out
last week. He wants a law change which compels government
departments to improve performance reporting. Difficult to track what comes
out of various government policies or programs, and once the
issue investigator by Parliament's Finance and Expendity Committees talking about waste,

(58:08):
they make announcements in the budget and then you don't
know where the money goes. Speaking of money, I need
to get to the whale and the cowry die back
and the four million dollars, but that's for later.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Right away from it, the my Hosking breakfast with a
Vida Retirement Communities News Togsdad been.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Like the best thing going for luction. As Hipkins probably true.
I read somewhere over the holidays that Labour's big task
this year is to assuage us all, to remind us
that it's not the end of the world if you
vote for labor. But I thought to myself, as he
stood there in his jendles, not taking himself clearly, very seriously,
was that as long as it's not labor you vote
for or don't vote for, it's the people in charge.

(58:46):
So as long as Hipkins is there, and Sepalone's there,
and Toinetti's there and Verull's there, these are the same people.
One short will be three by the time we vote.
Three short years ago were wrecking in the economy, and
as we found out from the HSB, see was it
last week? Late last week, no one got worse hit
than we said it all last year, no one got
worse hit than we did. So those are the very

(59:07):
same people. So it's not about labor or national it's
about the individuals concerned. And you can have a Roger
Douglas Labor Party or a David Longe Labour Party, or
a Helen Clark Labour Party or Chrissipicin's Labor Party. The
very same people who dug us into the hole we're
currently in want to come back and pretend it's all
gone different or better, or you've got amnesia or something.
I don't know how it works. What an absolute load
of hot air babble, Mike. I've been a national voter

(59:28):
all my life, and who the hell else is there
to vote for. It's not a bad sort of question, Mike.
I keep hearing our current objective is economic growth, which
is excellent. But can I suggest that the biggest hurdle
to achieving this is the reserve bank tardiness. I think
you make a very good point. Let's talk about Elon
Musk after the break and we meet somebody who knows
them particularly well.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
The news and the news makers.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
The Mic Hosking breakfast with the range Rover, the last
designed to intrigue can use togs head.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
Best state well, who has expensive time over the whole?
Well those following the headline, that is the new person Buddy.
Elon Musky is an office in the Whist Wing, seemingly
has the president's ere Dinnis Neil knows him very well.
He's a former host at CNBC and Fox Business. His
new book is called The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk,
and Dennis Needles with us from New York.

Speaker 13 (01:00:15):
Good morning, It's great to see you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
So you are, you know, an expert on Elon. We
can't talk about Elon without talking about Donald just generally.
What have you made of the last week or so?

Speaker 13 (01:00:26):
Oh my gosh, it is unbelievable, you know, a founding belief.
My new book, The Leadership Genius Elon Musk offers eleven
lessons of Elon, like how does he succeed? How does
he live? And what can we borrow from that? Well,
one founding belief of Elon's is that we very well
be made, maybe living inside a huge computer simulation operated

(01:00:47):
by somebody somewhere far off in the future. Now this
frees him up to take huge risk to do things
no one else will do, right, But it also means
that who's ever running that simulation, they wouldn't run it
for boring outcomes. They run it for the most entertaining
unexpected outcomes. And can you believe the past week is
definitely the most unexpected outcome of all Trump all those

(01:01:08):
people trying to stop him from getting into office. Elon
coming alongside Trump and helping him get into office the
very opposite outcome of what was expected or what people
tried to make happen. And that's another lesson of Elon
that the most likely outcome often is the most ironic one,
the most opposite of what was expected. And that's in
part because if this is a simulation, they'd want it

(01:01:30):
to be really entertaining.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
Now do you reckon it's a a simulation, you know?

Speaker 13 (01:01:34):
The weird thing Mike is. At first, I guess though
he's kidding, he's kidding naps, But then I did ten
years worth of research into how long he's been talking
about it, and I looked at the science of it
and I interviewed a physicist named Melvin Bobson at a
UK university whose name is escaped me just now, and
Melvin came up with the second law of infodynamics. Melvin,

(01:01:54):
the physicists found that across all of the universe, all
of nature, this weird thing happens. Information is reducing itself
all the time. The first COVID nineteen virus had you know,
a plethora of base pairs of DNA, but as it
mutated mutinator it got less and less and less and less,
even though it did the same job. Everywhere in nature

(01:02:16):
is reducing. And this physicist says, you know, if this
were a computer simulation, you'd want to save on storage
and processing power as much as possible. So maybe this
is proof that's a simulation. So it starts to get
very fun. But here's the one thing. Even if we
don't believe literally it's a simulation technologryally it could be.
You know, if you look at where we came. Elon

(01:02:36):
says from Pong in nineteen seventy, just kind of two
little bits of light hitting a ball back and forth
against a black background into these three D video realistic
you're inside, you know, doom you know, shooting monsters. We
both I it can advance that much in seventy years,
imagine what could do in ten thousand years. So it
would definitely be true ten thousand years from now to
have a simulation that's so undetectable from reality that you

(01:02:58):
don't even know it. And if it's true, and ten
thousand years, and you look at the Earth's about four
four billion years old, that's something like four hundred thousand
or four million different ten thousand year patches in which
it could have happened. The thought that's never happened until
ten thousand years from now seems unlikely. So Elon therefore says,
and if there's one simulation, there's probably billions a lot

(01:03:21):
of people playing simulations jesuys, So aren't the chances billions
to one in favor of simulation? But let's say we
reject all that. It's just fun to think what if
it were it? Lets us look at the world in
a different way. I've got a new job offer, but
it's crazy, it's such a high risk. Well maybe I
should take it because this could all be a video game.
I've just had a terrible loss. My wife has left me,

(01:03:42):
divorced me. You know, as hard as it is, if
I could put on glasses that say, hey man, this
is all fake, this is all just a simulation, maybe
I could heal a little bit and feel a little
more philosophical about it and kind of remove myself from it.
There's one more thing about the simulation thing, okay, that
I throw in there. Ketamine a drug that used to

(01:04:03):
be perirely the hospital painkiller for surgical patients and now
is a therapy for depression. My own doctor fifteen years
quit his practice to join a ketamine company. Ketamine is
very popular with Elon, and I'm told that when you
take ketamine and you're sitting there, there comes a point
where you are dissociated from the picture in front of you.

(01:04:25):
You are suddenly sitting on high everything's super sharply defined,
and it's as if everything is a prop It's as
if all of it is an illusion, and you suddenly
realize that it's like what the materialists said one hundred
and fifty years ago. This desk is here only because
I think this desk is here. It has substance only
because my mind gives it that. So it starts to

(01:04:47):
get really quite fascinating, and the publisher warned me and
talking about the book, not to start there. It's just
too weird. I just started with you know less than
number five. Most people are loafers, work harder than you
ever have before, and yet I remain fascinated by its possibilities.

Speaker 18 (01:05:02):
What are you?

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
How much in the genius of Musk? How much is
genius and how much is pure insanity?

Speaker 11 (01:05:08):
Oh?

Speaker 13 (01:05:08):
I think it's ninety percent genius.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
The guy's unbelievable.

Speaker 13 (01:05:12):
I mean, We've never seen and I've been understood of
a business reporter Wall Street journal managing eder of Forbes,
anchor at CNBC, anchor at Fox Business for thirty plus years,
and I've never seen anything like it. It's one thing
to see Jeff Bezos, who once crashed a dinner party
of mine and sat with me for an hour and
a half. Great guy, fantastic laugh, amazing ambition. But he's
been great at one thing and on Blue Origin his

(01:05:34):
space rocket stuff, you get the feeling he's not that
deeply involved. He leaves it to the engineers. Elon is
super successful on half of different fronts and companies, and
he gets deeply involved in each thing and is actually
technically involved, and he continually amazes the engineers around him
when he comes up with solutions that they just don't see,

(01:05:55):
because then you get to that ten percent insanity that
gives him that extra ability to see things that most
people don't.

Speaker 3 (01:06:01):
All Right, Dennis, hold on a couple of moments, and
we'll come back with more with Dennis Neil in a
Moment thirteen Past the.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talk zip.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
B News Talks sixteen Past eight X FOXIC CNBC. Dinnis
Needls with us the book as the leadership Genius to
be long must tell me Dennis about Teesla. See, I'm
not a massive fan of Tesla. The genius I think
of what he did with Tiesler was he beat everybody
to it. So you know, he had an EV before
the world had an EV. But now he's going to
get beaten by the Chinese and badly. So what's you know,
what's genius about that?

Speaker 13 (01:06:34):
Okay? So, first he bought into Tesla right with his
own money. He staked I think seventy million, which was
at the time a substantial portion of his own wealth,
which you know, one ever does you raise other people's money.
He did that and made it into something better than
he than it ever would have been. But to me,
the biggest gift of Tesla is I always said along
I was an opponent of green policy. I thought it's

(01:06:56):
there is no crisis. The profit, motive and and technological
advance will take care of any threat. The thought that
a four billion years old Earth suddenly is in danger
only because of one hundred years of industrial use by
humans seems a little arrogant, okay, And yet Tesla was
a great car. People who drive it by it and

(01:07:17):
drive it say his self driving goes something like one
and a half million or two million miles without an accident.
If you look at the whole fleet, that is three
times the links without an accident of regular cars made
by Detroit. He made a car that was better than
other cars. Never mind whether it's electric or what it was.
It was just a great car, and people love it.
They feel out affection. But one other thing, there's this

(01:07:39):
synergy that goes on but among all these different Elon businesses.
So his Exai engine ai chat bought learns from reading
stuff right, was able to read six thousand messages per
second posted to the x platform that Elon owns. Meanwhile,
the Tesla car it's self driving system changed a year

(01:08:01):
or two ago over from lines of computer code. If
then do this, If then then do that to instead
reacting to video, eliminating the computer code in favor of
ingested video. Very few other AI efforts have been able
to do this. Now, all that information that ingests also
can be fed to x AI, the platform that learns
only by seeing and reading more things. So there's a

(01:08:23):
way it hooks into everything. But then when he takes
Tesla and he says, you know, if you're going on
vacation for a month, there's no reason your car should
sit idle. We can just order it up and have
it go pick up people and get paid for you
and you don't have to do anything because but we
have self driving. So it ends up becoming its own
taxi fleet. And then you look, Tesla has this robodies making.

(01:08:44):
Have you seen this thing? It's human sized And by
the way, one of the most fascinating things is that
the human hand is one of the hardest things to replicate.
Five fingers. It's why cartoon characters only have three, and
yet this thing has five four fingers and a thumb
perfectly operating.

Speaker 11 (01:09:01):
All right.

Speaker 13 (01:09:02):
Now, this thing supposed to make Tesla cars is going
to end up, he thinks, being thousands of them in
the home, right, But it also is ingesting everything, and
it can feed that further to the AI engine. Its
arm can end up being attached to an amputee thirty
years from now, it's say, in the future, using the
brain ship at his Neuralink Brainship company, so that an
amputee could be using the brain chip to operate this

(01:09:25):
mechanical arm. And that is from Olympus. I mean, so
no one else sees how it all fits together. And
I think Elon does, what do you do?

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
What do your reason? He wants? With Trump?

Speaker 13 (01:09:34):
I truly believe he never would have gotten involved if
he hadn't felt that America was about truly to tumble
down into the woke mind virus and never come back
from it. I think he did so reluctantly. He knows
that he turns off half the audience, and he wants
one hundred percent of the audience buying Tesla cars, all right.
But and also because he has the zeal of a convert.

(01:09:58):
He is an adopted American, he became a u A citizen.
He has more appreciation for the First Amendment right to
freedom of speech and free expression than most Americans. Do
you know something like this is shocking to me? When
I did the research on it, A third of Americans
believe that preventing hate speech, which is protected by our

(01:10:20):
First Amendment, preventing hate speech is more important than ensuring
free speech. Well, you bunch of whimps and babies, how
about you turn the channel. How about you don't listen
to the hate speech. It's so upseting it makes you
feel unsafe. You seek God. They actually talk about safe
spaces at university campuses. What a bunch of babies. I
can't even believe that. We got into a whole problem

(01:10:42):
when we began to accept this term called harmful content,
as if words they're mean can leap off the screen
and smack you in the face. And so when someone
smacks you in the face, you blame the words that
made him do that, when you should blame the person
that smacked you in the face.

Speaker 16 (01:10:59):
Stop with it.

Speaker 13 (01:11:00):
Because as soon as you decide content can be harmful, well,
then now we got to restrain it. We got a
censor it don't we And that is what Elon Musk
utterly blew apart by spending forty four billion dollars, most
of it his money and not an insane expense, by
spending that to buy Twitter, read ab X and tell government, no,

(01:11:23):
we're not going to censor thousands of voices that you
don't like to hear. No weird thing happened. All social
media continued censoring after the Twitter files came out, thanks
to Elon Musk and Matt Taibi, the independent journalist and
the guys he works with. All right, so so, but
now finally Mark Zuckerberg just came out the other day
and said, look, we're sorry, man, we like bowed the government.

(01:11:46):
We censored like crazy. We want to literally, he said,
quote restore free expression to Facebook, threads, Instagram. Now he
says we're going to get rid of the fact checking
based on liberal media who are biased. Clearly, he says,
we're going to do community notes the way X does.
So that means that much of the social media world
is going to go toward the ex approach. And yet

(01:12:08):
the media and politicians told us he had destroyed Twitter,
it was going to die. He's ruined it. And yet today,
it's stronger than ever before. It is the most powerful
media platform in the world. And he did that, and
he did the Trump thing at considerable risk, just because
he felt like there was no other choice. But how
long Mike, before that relationship gets rendered asunder the new

(01:12:30):
chief of staff, this woman that Trump put in. You know,
Mark Cuban, the billionaire said that he doesn't surround himself
with strong women. And Trump is the first president to
ever have a woman as chief of staff. She, you know,
Elon has an office in the executive wing. Okay, so
he's not in the White House, and she's now making
sure he doesn't have direct contact with Trump unless he

(01:12:51):
goes through her. And that's got to be frustrating for
him because he's been hanging out and living at Mar
A Lago for weeks and like partying with Baron and
hanging with Trump. But then once he becomes president, you
get kind of secundent or secreted and no one can
get to you. And it's got to be frustrating. And
I know that the Democrats and the media are working
hard as they can and some Trump allies to break

(01:13:13):
up that relationship. They fear it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:15):
Dennis got to go but I appreciate your time. Dennis Neil.
The book is the leadership genius of Elon Musk eight twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:13:21):
Three, The Mike Hosking Breakfast with the Range, Rover Villa
News Talk sad B.

Speaker 3 (01:13:27):
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z ask We've got to catch up with Rod. The
another storm coming in we had we had the big
one last week, but we've got mania coming in to

(01:14:29):
certain parts of the country.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
At the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:14:31):
Wh Smith still the high Street in Britain looks to
be a mess. Wh Smith two hundred and thirty two
years old. They're looking to sell five one hundred and
twenty of the high street stores. Rod with that and
much more out of the news, which is next?

Speaker 13 (01:14:44):
You use talk.

Speaker 2 (01:14:47):
The only report you need to start your day from
my casking breakfast with Bailey's real Estate finding the buyers
others can't use togs ed vs.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
Before I leave Elon Musk, I list to a It's long,
like too many podcasts are. And if I ruled the world,
I would contain podcasts in terms of their length, because
there is a thing in podcasting whereby you just think,
because it's a podcast, you can talk for as long
as you like, and the audience is going to stay
with you anyway. This was an hour ten hour fifteen,

(01:15:17):
but it did contain some really interesting information. It involved
a guy called Mark and Dreesen, and he's a billionaire
out of Silicon Valley and he was being interviewed by
a bloke who was a pain at the bump but
big that as it may. Andreasen has been loosely associated
with Elon Musk and the veck in Doge, So in
other words, he claims he's unpaid in turn, which is

(01:15:38):
just him being funny. But nevertheless, they've gone into these
departments and they've had a look at DOGE and that.
Listen to the interview because the size of the American
public service will astound you. The number of people who
don't go to work will astound you. And that's why
you got the work from home thing being announced by
the President the other day. Anyway, what they've found as
part of this Doge thing is just extraordinary and the

(01:16:02):
problems that they're facing in saving themselves billions upon billions
upon billions of dollars. Mark and recent have a look
at him and look him up and listen to his
latest podcast, twenty two minutes away from.

Speaker 17 (01:16:12):
Nine International correspondence with Insigne Eye Insurance Peace of Mind
for New Zealand Business right the I writ can we go?

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
And my old Mike lord Little's beck let us rod
morning to your happy new Year.

Speaker 11 (01:16:23):
I'm all intoineer and happy new Year. And I said battery.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
Now a couple of storms. There was the big one
last week and now you got another one. Is this
one not as bad as last week? And how much
damage is being done? And who's been hit?

Speaker 11 (01:16:34):
I like this one because it's just flattened the south
of the country and I'm in the north. Last week
flattened the north, so you know we were snowed in
for a week or so and then that was just
in January, and then a bit later the windness blew
a lot. Meanwhile, floods have been visited, particularly on the

(01:16:55):
southwest Somerset Devons around there. There's snowed out are happening
more often. The Met office over here tends to exaggerate
them all and says do not go out, Never go out,
you will die, which is silly. But because they exaggerate

(01:17:15):
the problem, people tend to take it rather lately. But
there's no doubt that these storms are happening more and
more often.

Speaker 3 (01:17:21):
Okay, just some of my reading. These are generalizations, but
I just want your take on what's going on. That's
Rachel Reeves business, whereby Starma says that she will remain
in her role for the quote the whole of this parliament.
So she's clearly got some credibility problem. She goes off
to China, drums up a little bit of business, but
not much. Then she seems to be backing down on

(01:17:41):
her text promises, after all the millionaires decided to pack
up and leave Britain, all of that sort of thing.
How much trouble is she in?

Speaker 11 (01:17:49):
Lots She's in a lot of trouble, but she is
tied so closely to kiss Starma that Starma is probably
right in saying, you know, she stays with me for
that you're the duration being the length of his tenure
in number ten Downing Street. I suspect she's in trouble
because we have kind of negative economic growths and inflation

(01:18:11):
is going to rise. Having said that growth is a
priority for the government, she then puts up national insurance,
and it's surprised to notice that growth ceases entirely, you know,
because companies can't pay their staff anymore. They can't invest
more money because they've got these new bills to deal with.
She has increasingly been seen to be an elephant around

(01:18:32):
the neck of this government, but there is not much
at the moment Starma can do about it. How sorry,
go on?

Speaker 3 (01:18:41):
How bad is the economy? Because I'm reading this morning
wh Smith yet another high street operator, I at two
hundred years old. They're looking to sell five hundred and
twenty of these stores. How big are problems he got?
Economically speaking, it's.

Speaker 11 (01:18:52):
A huge problem, particularly in terms of economic growth. He
also has to cope with the fact, or she has
to cope with the fact that after the election, ten thousand,
eight hundred millionaires left the country. This is the equivalent
of something like five hundred and fifty thousand average rate taxpayers.

(01:19:12):
It's lost billions to the treasury, and people are beginning
to wake up and notice that now because the people
who are coming into the country aren't millionsaires at all,
and may not have the intellectual prowess of millionaires either.
So it's a real problem, And the biggest problem is
a failure to get anything in the anything close to

(01:19:34):
growth when we were expected to grow a little bit
and have begun to grow a little bit under the Tories.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
I'm reading this poll out last week with Reform on
twenty four, labor on twenty five, Laborer down nine. Is
that did people not know what they were voting for?
Or is this just you know, things aren't going as
well as we thought, so we're a bit grumpy.

Speaker 11 (01:19:56):
I think the latter. I think basically people thought we've
had enough of the Conservative what a new government? Oh,
they don't look too bad. They did give out an
aura of competence before they came into power, an aura
which is somewhat evaporated over the last three or four months. Reform, Yes,

(01:20:17):
are doing well. There is a problem there with Reform though.
They do find it hard to get above twenty five percent.
It looks like that's a kind of ceiling for them
in so far as the vote goes. Now, this may
change with the advent of the Trump election in America,
and when Trump says he gets rid of all diversity,

(01:20:40):
equity and inclusion targets and actually does so on day one,
people suddenly saying, oh my god, you can actually change
the country. You can do these things. So I think
that might well play in reforms favor.

Speaker 3 (01:20:53):
Yeah, so you should say that because I've written another piece,
this is Starmer, and he was talking about curbing what
he called nimbi eagal blocks on infrastructure, and so all
the people who sue the garment. Every time you announce
something big, like a railway line or a wind farmer
a ride, somebody sues you and stops it happening. It
happens here as well. I mean that to me sounds
like the right thing to do. Is it him just

(01:21:15):
saying that or he doesn't know how to do it
or what's the problem.

Speaker 11 (01:21:21):
Well, what he has to do is to unpick so
much legislation, so many rules and regulations, and also at
the same time devalue an awful lot of local authorities
who have the power to stop them sort something he's
talking about, and who are very often, in the majority
of cases, run by the Labor Party. You know, it's

(01:21:43):
a labor party. You put these restrictions in there, the
regulations and restrictions, so it's very difficult sometimes for the
Labor Party to undo them. But yeah, you're right. I mean,
as far as Trump's concerned. And they had a conversation
Trump and Starma a couple of days ago. Yeah, where

(01:22:03):
starmatid indeed stress the fact rather like a kind of
errand schoolboy that he was going to scrap regulations across
the country and so on. Apparently got a lot of
approval from Trump for that. But it's still the case
that there there is no warmth between the Trump administration
and this government.

Speaker 3 (01:22:21):
Always a thrill. Might we'll catch up again Thursday. Appreciate it,
Roder Littlebeck for twenty twenty five dollars you lasked week
that I wasn't so. Rod Beck with us on Thursday
morning on the mic Asking Breakfast. It's quarter two the.

Speaker 2 (01:22:32):
Mic Asking Breakfast Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talks.

Speaker 3 (01:22:37):
A b in away from nine, sir. So this wild thing,
which as far as I can work out, has got
basically no coverage whatsoever. But this was part of the
National Science Challenge, and it was swept through by people
like David Seymour who were looking to save money. In
totally ended up saving four hundred and eighty six million dollars.
They found four hundred and eighty six million dollars worth
of waste. Some of that waste was this National Science Challenge.

(01:22:57):
This is the story you haven't heard of. It's called
the Oranger Well Being Project. Five step research project. As
part of this challenge brings together the country's top scientist
to use the best science to address the challenges. So far,
no big deal. One of the things they were doing
was testing to see if using Mari world views would
help in the fight against Carie die back in mittle Rust.

(01:23:21):
This particular project began in twenty twenty only stopped in
March of last year. So twenty twenty, twenty one, twenty two,
twenty three, twenty four scientists looked at the relationship that
Maori believe exists between the sperm whale and the curry tree.
They investigated solutions like praying for Cari and singing songs

(01:23:45):
of sadness to see if that helps heal the tree.
They collected different Can you imagine being a new government,
you come and go where am I going to save somnia?
And you stumble upon this you honestly you'll be pinching
yourself and you'll be thinking. You'll be thinking this cannot
be real, won't you. They collected different whale songs and sounds,

(01:24:08):
mixed those whale sounds with sounds from healthy cowrie forests.
The sound how do you have you got a sound
of a healthy carry forest? Needling ex give us the
sound of a healthy cowrie forest, and they played it
in unhealthy carrie forests?

Speaker 1 (01:24:27):
The was it they.

Speaker 3 (01:24:32):
They played it in unhealthy carry forests? Is that a
scientist to assess whether the whale music could be soothing
and healing?

Speaker 12 (01:24:44):
I think one of them might be a code tree
could be if you listen carefully.

Speaker 3 (01:24:52):
Said an unhappy carry sound? Very happy dying back? He's
dying back a rush rush anyway. This is all on
the MB page. The project leaders openly admit that this
research is a way to give Maori knowledge equal footing
with science, and claim that it doesn't need to meet

(01:25:14):
scientific standards because it's about restoring life force rather than
achieving measurable results.

Speaker 12 (01:25:21):
Man, you'd throw a few midichlorins in there and you'd
have somebody who's in touch.

Speaker 1 (01:25:25):
With the force.

Speaker 3 (01:25:26):
Four zero point two seven million dollars we spent on that,
and you want to was it?

Speaker 12 (01:25:34):
Submitted by Obi Wan Kenobi.

Speaker 3 (01:25:38):
And away from nine the Mic.

Speaker 1 (01:25:40):
Asking Breakfast with Bailey's real estate news togs.

Speaker 3 (01:25:43):
The'd be no, it's got an unmistakable silhouette. We've got
the characteristic falling roofline, the continuous waistline, the floating roof effect.
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end of the future with the Randrover Evoke pasking Mike,

(01:26:49):
welcome back, all the best for the new year, Great
AFC Championship game yesterday. The only floor I can see
is Patrick Mahomes's game, as you cannot spike the football.
The reference there is the game between the Bills and
the Chiefs. Yes, he scored. He ran across the line
to Patrick Mahomes and he went to spike the ball
and the ball fell out of his hand and looked
very embarrassing. But nevertheless, the Chiefs got home by three
points over the Bill. So they go on to the
Super Bowl and they will face the Philadelphia Eagles, who

(01:27:13):
spanked at the Commanders. The Commanders should not have been there,
because the Commanders went to Detroit the week before and
should have lost, but didn't play the game of their life.
And you thought at the time as you watched it,
I wonder if they're playing the game of their life
and it's all downhill from there. Indeed it was so
by the time they got to Philadelphia yesterday. Philadelphia is
ready for them. Philadelphia should not be in the super Bowl.
Detroit should be in the super Bowl. But that is

(01:27:33):
the wonderful, weird world of the NFL five minutes away
from nine.

Speaker 2 (01:27:39):
Trending now with chemist Well's keeping Kiwi's healthy all year.

Speaker 3 (01:27:43):
Round, the American markets will be interesting to see if
it affects US today on the markets. But Deep Seek
came from nowhere out of China overnight, so it's all
the tech stocks, particularly in VideA, taking a bath this
morning because basically what deep Seek seems to do, it
doesn't use that many chips. And this morning a YouTuber
cooled Matthew Boom and take youtuba has put it to

(01:28:05):
the taste. Can Deep Seek create the collape for the
game Tatris from scratch?

Speaker 14 (01:28:09):
It's these types of kind of internal reflections during the
internal monologue that are most impressive to me. It catches
itself as it's thinking through the problem. This is exactly
how humans think. Okay, Now, after many, many minutes and
lots of thinking, it finally gave me the Tetris game.
The final lot put one hundred and seventy nine lines

(01:28:31):
of code. Let's test if it works. So there we go,
saved play. Hopefully it works after that much thinking, oh
my goodness, look at that. Yeah, it actually works. So
let's see what happens when we land new piece. Yep,
new piece. Let's see if it's going to give me
a separate piece or a different piece. I should say,
there it is. This is very impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:28:51):
So it's very impressive. So deep Seak literally, as Andrew
was telling us that you're on, seemingly none of us
knew what was going on, and then video was going
to be worth hundreds of trillions of dollars. And then
suddenly the chins go, hey, look what we've gotten.

Speaker 12 (01:29:04):
Then suddenly the market and now reports that people are
selling off their bitcoin because they think that somehow it's connected.
And I tried to sign up for deep seat this
morning to ask it some probing questions. You can't get it,
can't you can't get on because apparently they're trying to
fend off some malicious attack.

Speaker 3 (01:29:20):
Right, the most downloaded app in America overnight, but chet GPT.
So she's an evolving and interesting world, which is the
sort of world we like, and reppell them anyway. That's
us for there's only three hundred and twelve of theays
to go till Christmas time or thereabouts. Back tomorrow morning
from six Happy Days.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
For more from the Mic Asking breakfast, listen live to
news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio

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Full Show Podcast: 28 January 2025

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