Andrew Dickens: Politicians do anything to get votes

I’m still in slack mouthed shock at Barbara Edmonds' performance on this programme yesterday.

After the release of the Government’s books showing we’re still in deficit and will be in deficit longer and with every day that passes our debt grows, Labour was quick to say National has screwed things up and we should have voted Labour onto the Treasury benches.

I would have thought that would mean they knew how to do things better. Therefore, they could perhaps tell you and I what should have been done. 

So, we gave them the opportunity to share their superior knowledge, particularly with you the voter, yesterday morning

And what did we get? Nothing other than slogans and a general tone of "just trust us things could have been better and we’ll tell you why next year". 

Now to be fair, she did criticise National's tax cuts. That was the moving of the thresholds and reinstating the rebates for landlords. 

That had the effect of reducing government revenue by $14 billion dollars. $14 billion that could have been used to repay the debt or build infrastructure. 

Now the thresholds were morally wrong, and I agree with resetting them. They were giving the government an automatic tax rise due to wage inflation.  

But changing them in a time of economic downturn when your revenue was reducing anyway was a self-inflicted wound on the books.

But they had promised them in the election, calling them a tool against the rise in the cost of living. But that was no better than Barbara Edmonds yesterday, it was a slogan to get votes.  

I don’t know if National knew that purposely reducing their revenue was unsustainable. Slashing their own revenue undid all the work they did cutting spending.

If they did know that was possible then that’s a piece of economic foolishness.

And this is what worries me the most about this country and all its politicians. 

They’ll say anything to get votes. They care more about keeping their jobs rather than making the country better. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm still in slack mouth shock at Barbara Edmund's performance
on this program yesterday. After the release of the government's
books showing we're still in deficit and will be in
deficit longer and with every day that passes, our debt grows.
Labor was quick to say National has screwed things up
and that we should have voted Labor onto the Treasury
benches because they could do things better. So I thought

(00:21):
if they thought they could do things better, they could
perhaps come on to the program and tell you and
I what should have been done. So we gave them
the opportunity to share their superior knowledge, particularly with you
the voter, yesterday morning. And what did we get. Nothing
other than slogans in a general tone of just trust us.
Things could have been better, and we'll tell you why
we will be better next year when the election cut

(00:42):
rolls round. And that was it. I gave specific questions
about spending and debt and all sorts, and she wouldn't answer. Now,
to be fair, she did criticize National's tax cuts, and
that was the moving of the thresholds and reinstating the
rebates for lands. Now the kind of tax cuts, and

(01:03):
yet they're not, but they had the effect of reducing
government revenue by fourteen billion dollars. Fourteen billion that could
have been used to repay the debt or build infrastructure
if the government wanted to, or they could have just
blown it anyway. Fourteen billion. Now, look, the thresholds were
morally wrong, and I agree with resetting them. They were
giving government and automatic tax rise due to wage inflation.

(01:25):
John Key loved it. But changing them in a time
of economic downturn, when your revenues reducing anyway, well that's
a self inflicted wound on your books, isn't it. But
they had promised them in the election, and at the
time they called them a tool against the rise and
the cost of living. But you know that that's kind
of slogan airing as well. That's no better than Barbara Edmonds.

(01:47):
It was slogan to get votes. And I don't know
if National knew that purposely reducing their revenue was unsustainable.
Slashing their own revenue undid all the work they did
over the last two years cutting spending. But if they
did know that, that was possibly a piece of economic foolishness.
But it was a good slogan and got them votes.
And this is what worries me the most about this

(02:08):
country and pretty much all its politicians. They will say
anything to get votes, and they care more about keeping
their jobs than making the country better. For more from
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