I spoke awhile ago with the partner of a former Prime Minister of NZ, who takes an interest in such matters, and they expressed dismay as to why the main-stream media relentlessly asks the Chief Economists at the Big Banks for commentary. First, appearing in the media pretending to give helpful economic advice is simply free advertising for their Big Business employers. Second, their comments are typically biased since, obviously, they come with vested interests. After all, the RBNZ is their regulator so they would never dare attack it.
Maybe this explains the lines today from ANZ's Chief Economist who's quoted by Newshub, "Most Kiwis will see a forecasted drop in house prices as a relief .. ANZ has forecast house prices will fall by a total of 22 percent from their peak, or 32 percent adjusted for wages. ANZ's chief economist told Morning Report for most people, the drop would come as a relief .. if the decline happened in an orderly fashion, Zollner believed it would be a 'great outcome'".
Why is the drop a relief for "most Kiwis"? Most Kiwis (65% in fact) own their own homes. So most Kiwis are definitely not relieved by plummeting house prices.
These lines from ANZ may as well be straight out of a speech from RBNZ Governor Orr. When you have a former Kiwi PM sitting as Chair of ANZ, their Chief Economist applauding falling house prices & the mainstream media giving prominence to their musings that concur with the Governor's, as the Big Banks make record profits whilst sitting on $50 billion in their settlement accounts at the RBNZ earning the rising Official Cash Rate (yet paying their customers a fraction of that rate on their cheque accounts) it leaves my mind boggling.
No wonder people are losing faith in capitalism.
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