Ryan Bridge: Labour's getting protest votes

People aren't telling pollsters they'd vote for Labour because they'd actually vote for Labour.

Labour hasn't got any policies - they're an empty vessel. 

It's captain is still, according to most recent polling, less popular than the current Prime Minister. 

It's a protest vote. They're telling the PM to hurry up and do something else to rescue the economy the last lot, and a trade war, have suppressed. 

You don't throw the baby out with the bath water and back a team that has no plan. 

That clown that's running in the Wellington Mayoral race has more policies than Hipkins. He wants to turn the Basin Reserve into a swamp. 

Sure, it's mad, but at least it's something. 

Late last year and early this year, the recovery was on-track. 

We then got hit by Trump's Liberation Day. Confidence and investment took a massive hit, the markets were in freefall, remember? That's thrown everything off course. 

Now, you can argue that National went too hard and fast on cutting spending and stopping infrastructure. 

But at the same time, they were voted in to stop wasteful spending on dumb projects. That's what we asked them to do - many think that hasn't gone far enough. 

Just yesterday we learned of 100 jobs to go at the Reserve Bank, which under Adrian Orr, wanted a budget of a more than billion bucks and twice the staff they started the pandemic with. 

Does that sound reasonable? 

This comes down to a question of who is best placed to invest in this country. The private sector or the state? The answer is, of course, a bit of both. But's chicken or the egg stuff right now.

One thing's for sure, if the only thing capable of keeping this country afloat is government borrowing, then we'll only ever end up back in this same position.

Over and over again. 

The medicine needed to dig us out of this whole is nasty. Completely unpalatable. But the disease its treating is worse. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
People have been looking at the polls, and that was
at home yesterday looking at all the stories about the polls.
I don't think people are telling pollsters that they would
vote for labor because they would actually vote for labor.
Labour hasn't got any policies. They are an empty vessel.
It's captain still, according to most recent polling, less popular
than Luxon. This is a protest vote. They're telling the

(00:22):
Prime Minister, hey, hurry up and do something else to
rescue the economy that the last lot and the trade
will have suppressed. You don't throw the baby out with
the bathwater and back a team that has no plan.
That clown, literally a clown that's running in the Wellington
Meryal race, has more policies than hipkins right now. He
wants to turn the base and Reserve into a swamp.

(00:44):
Sure it's mad, but at least it's a policy. Late
last year and earlier this year, the recovery was on track.
It was heading in the right direction. They got hit
by Trump's Liberation Day. Confidence and investment took a massive hit.
The markets were in free fall. Remember that long ago,
but you do forget it's throwing everything. Of course now
You can argue that National went too hard and fast

(01:07):
on cutting the spending and stopping infrastructure projects, but at
the same time they were voted in to stop wasteful
spending on dumb stuff. That's what we asked them to do.
Many think that hasn't actually gone far enough. Just yesterday
we learn of one hundred jobs going at the Reserve Bank,
which under Adrian Or wanted a budget of more than

(01:28):
a billion dollars and to keep twice the number of
staff that they started the pandemic with. Does that sound
reasonable to you? This comes down to a question of
who is best place to invest in this country, the
private sector or the state. The answer of courses a
bit of both, But it's chicken or egg stuff right now.

(01:51):
One thing is for sure. If the only thing capable
of keeping this country afloat is government borrowing like the
last lot did, then we'll only ever end up back
in this same position over and over again. The medicine
needed to dig us out of this hole is nasty, tastes, disgusting,
completely unpalatable, but the disease it's treating was worse. For

(02:16):
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