Not at all Belgarion, there is a lot of misinformation out there, and I won't pass up the opportunity to give credit where it is due. But it does take some time to find the data in the first place, and get your head around it. I hope Labour manage to get past the rhetoric in 2014, and put these past figures up as the outstanding results that they are, compared to Nationals' record.
Cuzzie, the sort of graphs I mean are the govt budget surpluses and deficits for the last 20 years, the net government long-term debt, the employment graphs for the same period, the tax take figures, the GDP per capita, the number of enterprises (business births minus deaths). In all of these graphs the nine year Labour stint produced meaningful positive results, and by and large these have been undone during National's tenure.
It's easy to say that this was only because of the GFC and the Christchurch earthquakes. But can any National supporter really say that there have been many policies from National that have worked to reduce the gap between rich and poor, rather than the opposite? Point out to me any research about the trickle down theory working.
This new batch of govt performance data we are seeing, is what National's strongest supporters want to see. A reduced tax take from the wealthiest, easy access to R&D funding but only for the biggest companies, ability to sell a rejuvenated business overseas and pocket the tax-free gain, a bigger unemployed pool to keep labour costs low, smaller government to lock in more opportunities for profits, a clamp on minimum wage rises, etc.