Ryan Bridge: Our country deserves more than an economic recovery

The RBNZ update this week again made the point that yes, the economy's in bounce back mode.

We'll grow 2.5% next year, they reckon. 

But this country needs more than that. It deserves more than that.

The problem for us is, and has been for about the past 30 years, productivity.  How much we get out for what we put in. We went sideways and it's now falling. 

As you know, this is a bad thing. It's taking us more people and resources to make less stuff. 

It puts a ceiling on success. It's a wealth killer. Some reckon it's the canary in the coalmine - the thing we should care about most because we're basically sleepwalking into third world status. 

Like falling asleep on a plane and waking up in a different country, we'll one day wake up outside the OECD.

The solution, in part, is AI. 

The World Economic Forum had some numbers showing it can boost labour productivity in developed countries by up to 40% over the next 15 years. The richer your country, the more you gain, which stands to reason because higher labour costs incentivise switching to AI to save on wage bills.

The economic upswing we're seeing right now is a business cycle uplift: they go up and down. 

But if you're talking about making this country a serious economic contender on the world stage, as we once were, you need a plan. You need a strategy. You need electricity. You need to get rid of a bunch of regulations. 

Do we have those things? No. 

But we need to. I'm hoping next year at the election, more than a tax cut here or a medi-card there, somebody, from some party, I don't care which, paints us a credible path towards prosperity and wealth again. Lord knows we need it. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This RBNZ update this week made the point that yes,
we are in bounce back mode. It's back on everybody.
We will grow two and a half percent next year,
they reckon, But this country needs more than that, and
it deserves more than that. The problem for us is,
and has been for many years, in fact, probably thirty
years now, productivity. How much we get out for what
we put in. We went sideways, and just recently it's

(00:23):
been falling. As you know, this is a bad thing.
It's taking us more people, more resources to make less stuff.
It puts a ceiling on our success. It's a wealth killer.
Some reckon, it's the canary in the coal mine. The
thing we should care about most because we're basically sleepwalking
into third world status, which sounds a bit dramatic, like

(00:44):
falling asleep on a plane and waking up in a
different country one day, we will wake up outside of
the OECD within that feel a bit gutting. The solution
in part is AI. The World Economic Forum has put
some numbers on this. They show it can boost labour
productivity and developed countries by up to forty percent over
fifteen years. Imagine if we achieved something even close to

(01:06):
that here, the richer your country, the more you gain,
which stands to reason because higher labor costs incentivize switching
to AI to save on your wage bills. Right, the
economic upswing that we're seeing right now is a business
cycle uplift. They go up, they go down. But if
you're talking about making this country a serious economic contender

(01:27):
on the world stage as we once were, then you
need a plan. You need a strategy, you need electricity
and a shrake ton of it, and you need to
get rid of a whole bunch of regulations. Do we
have those things right now? No, but we need to.
I'm hoping that next year at the election, more than
a tax cut here or a medicard there, somebody from

(01:50):
some parties somewhere I don't even care, which paints us
a credible path towards prosperity and wealth again, because Lord
knows we need it. For more fam earlier edition with
Ryan Bridge. Listen live to Newstalk STB from five am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.