Just how Bad is New Zealand's Economic Position?
On the two previous pages we looked briefly at what's wrong with our economic management and some people who are trying to do something about it.
So what sort of a mess are we in?
Compared to Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Solomon Islands and Burma, not too bad at all. Compared to our historical performance, absolutely dreadful. Our economic performance has been deteriorating for decades and if we don't force action upon our glorious leaders and would-be leaders it'll just keep on getting worse.
That's you and me I'm talking about. No use moaning, do something about it. Join a political party and stir up trouble. Write to the paper. Pester your MP. Make a noise.
The top nations' GDP per Capita – we wish
New Zealand has far more resources per capita than any of the nations in the table below except those with vast oil reserves. Don't be downhearted about the last bit – sooner or later oil wells run dry. Resourcefulness and barbed wire mentality don't. We can fix it.
Read this and weep:
Our position in the roll-call of nations is debatable. I've found data putting us as high as 26th. However, I suspect that the situation shown below is close to the truth.
What I find most astonishing about these rankings is not our pitiful slide from number 2 or 3 to OECD oblivion. The real surprise is some of the unlikely countries which are flourishing. I've been to Luxembourg and Malta – neither of those tiny nations have the natural resorces of Stewart Island, but they each earn more than double our per capita GDP.
I've been to about half the countries on this list and I've lived in four of them. If you exclude those which rely on obscene amounts of oil for their place in the sun — and those who service the oil industry — few, if any, have the New Zealand's per capita resources.
Once Were (Rich) Warriors
You have to put serious effort in to damage an affluent and resource-rich nation as well as successive governments have damaged ours. This isn't conjecture. This is fact.
Greece and Spain were basket cases not long ago. Now they've overhauled us. Portugal will soon knock us down a peg or two if they haven't already. Not long ago Slovenia was a tiny sleepy Jugoslavian province. Now they're richer than we are and climbing.
Relatively, we're falling.
In case you miss us on this list of the top earning 46 nations, we're at the bottom. When I was a boy I think we were #3, behind only the USA and Canada. Not far behind either.
This is disgraceful.
What's even worse is that none of the self-serving folk who want your vote have this problem in their sights. What's more important in the eyes of your potential representatives, telling you the truth, or becoming the next government? Taking our medicine now so that we're all better off in ten years or selling the family silver so that we can have a higher welfare benefit?
No fooling you, eh?
Per capita GDP
Source: CIA Factbook
On the next page we deal with the sorry effect our pathetic economic performance has produced for just one person and compare ourselves with the good burgers of Luxembourg.
Next: