Andrew Dickens: We are talking ourselves into hard times

So last week, my opening comments centred on how opposition MPs and anti-government commentators have been fear mongering about the state of the economy. When it was published online it became one of our most commented on pieces of the day with over 500 people expressing what they thought. Many called me a Labour party apologist. A lot asked why I was praising Labour's management of the economy. Problem is; I wasn't.  Nowhere did I say Labour was doing a good job. In fact I'm on record as saying the Government and the Reserve Bank have not handled the reality of the economic situation appropriately. But, I'm also pointing out how many are exaggerating the possibility of economic gloom and doom for political effect. And the more it's said the more chances it has of becoming real. Last week a number of economists from home and abroad came out and said they don't believe New Zealand will fall into recession. But on Friday, retail figures came out with a 2.6 percent fall. The headline was "Fears of a recession as retail spending falls". A Westpac economist was interviewed. In it he actually said Westpac does not believe a recession is coming.  But the headline in the story did not give that impression did it? He said that hard goods like furniture and electronics were down but he also pointed out that the comparative figures were swollen by the pandemic, when we didn't travel we just bought a new telly online. He did warn of a Christmas slowdown citing shipping costs, petrol and interest rates, but one of the biggest factors he highlighted was consumer confidence. People believing bad times are coming closing their wallets.  Probably because they keep hearing fears of recession headlines. We are talking ourselves into hard times. Liam Dann interviewed two visiting Australian economists in the weekend, including the guy who invented the phrase ‘Rockstar Economy’ for New Zealand. He's one who does believe that a recession is likely.   Both believe that Australia and New Zealand are very well placed to be the fastest recovering economies on Earth inside the next year.   Our government spending was excessive but not as bad as most. Shipping prices are falling rapidly. We don't have the energy crisis that Europe is about to undergo and our primary exports are still desirable. That's the story I prefer hearing rather than biased players calling us a basket case to get rid of the incumbent government.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.