We were told again & again that the never-ending Auckland lock-down strategy engineered by Chris Hipkins and the Otago University epidemiologists (whatever they do) was not only beneficial to health outcomes but also beneficial to the NZ economy. We were told there was no trade-off - quite the opposite - the two went hand-in-hand. So let's take a look at how that claim stacks up on stock-market performance.
Fact Check 1: On February 21st 2020, just as fear about the pandemic was breaking out, the NZX 50 Stock Index was at 12,073 points. Today it is 11,735, a fall of 3% over a nearly 5 year period. Taking inflation into account, it's a wipe-out:
Fact Check 2: On February 21st 2020, just as fear about the pandemic was breaking out, the Dow Jones Industrial Stock Index was at 28,990 points. Today it is hovering around 40,000, a rise of just under 40% over a nearly five year period:
Let these facts speak for themselves: Covid Minister Hipkins - together with his Finance Minister mate, Grant Robertson (Otago University's VC on $629,000 per year) & Harvard-based carbon-burning globetrotter Ardern, wiped out the private wealth of NZ'ers. When you add to that record, consigning the nation to inflation, rising unemployment, unaffordable housing, increased inequality caused by the effect of the Reserve Bank's money printing on house-prices, and a brain-drain of highly-skilled Kiwis to Australia on a scale never before recorded, broken health & education, and chronic lack of infrastructure investment in our big cities, it's an achievement. What is Hipkins excuse? In his Labour Party Conference Speech he says his ideas never "had time to embed". Six years wasn't enough? Does he want to be PM for 30 years like some other world "leaders"?