Business confidence rebounds - ain't that good news!

I begin the day perusing news stories.  Usually this is an unremittingly depressing job as the news is all pretty dire. The news has been getting worse and more intense in  just the last few weeks. As Michael Ruppert said recently it is like modulation in music when the key changes in an upward direction for extra effect.

Today is not really any different, but  I found this latest headline today in the New Zealand media.  It even made it into the Sydney Morning Herald.

NZ business confidence rebounds

“New Zealand business confidence rose in the second quarter as record-low interest rates and soaring commodity prices bolstered a recovery after the deadliest earthquake in 80 years devastated Christchurch in February.

A net 27 per cent of 782 companies surveyed expect the economy will improve over the next six months, from a net 27 per cent that saw a deterioration in the previous survey, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said today in Wellington. The net figure, which isn't adjusted for seasonal patterns, is calculated by subtracting the proportion of pessimists from optimists.

The recovery in confidence from a two-year low adds to signs the economy is recovering from a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck the nation's second-biggest city. Central bank Governor Alan Bollard is expected to keep the official cash rate unchanged until at least the fourth quarter to ensure the pick- up in growth is sustained, economists say.” - Sydney Morning Herald

....

When I read this I really began to wonder if I’m living in cloud cuckoo land.

Wellington’s  Dominion Post even had a graph of business confidence to give the whole thing a scientific veneer.

I have really given up on the local media because you will search in vain for coverage of even a small part of what I see in the international media.

For instance I really thought that when the director of the Australian Reserve Bank gives a talk in Melbourne and gives a stark warning that the global economy is facing ‘a slow-moving train wreck’ and warns of the effect of this on the Australian economy that over here we might sit up and listen.

Isn't this the same Australia, the ‘lucky country’ that sailed through the last crash in 2008 because it is selling minerals to China?  

Maybe I’ve missed something?  Perhaps with all this optimism when the global economy goes down (and Australia with it) New Zealand will be left standing?  After all we’ve got the rugby world cup coming up - real grounds for optimism!

I did a search on the Internet - and although Mr McKibben’s article merited an article in the Sydney Morning Herald I could not find any signs that it made it into the New Zealand media (except for an item on Radio New Zealand -= which is usually the only exception).

Is this country going to wake up?  

This government is seemingly ignoring warnings from the International Energy Agency that global oil production has peaked; It has no plans for investing in alternative energy or public transport (as if that was going to make a difference at this late stage) - but it is involved in an obsessive round of roadworks and road building.  It is preparing to destroy a local community to build an expressway that will probably never get finished.

Let’s use up what little capital we have left to build something that has absolutely no future!

Let’s commit suicide!

For some reason (maybe it’s because we live on an island?) we (or our political masters) think that nothing that happens elsewhere has any bearing on us.

Greece has been sold to the highest bidder and is about to default on its loans (followed by Portugal, Italy....?).  

The United States (at a figure of, I think 14 trillion dollars) has reached its debt ceiling and political impasse - and is itself in danger of default. 

Japan has a debt 200 % greater than GDP - and an economy slowed down because of the tsunami and Fukushima.

Never mind - shouldn’t affect us!

Manufacturing activity in both Asia and Europe slowed down due to decreased demand. 

Sagging export demand cooled Asian manufacturing activity in June, surveys released on Friday showed, reinforcing concerns that a slowdown in the United States and Europe was sapping world economic growth. (Reuters)

European services growth slowed in June in the face of sluggish new orders and rising interest rates, giving firms less optimism about the year ahead, business surveys showed on Tuesday.

The euro zone service sector grew at its weakest pace since October, with an unexpectedly deep contraction in Italy and smaller euro zone countries masked by resilience in Germany and France.(Reuters) 

Japan, which is suffering its hottest summer ever is having to turn the electricity off and people work in buildings without any air conditioning.

There are extreme weather events all over the world - from Africa, to China, to the United States, to Europe -  so we can forget about “bumper grain crops” this year. People are starting to starve and rioting because of high food prices.

Never mind! Our farmers are getting good prices for dairy and even wool and meat are not looking so bad - so everything’s alright.

Oil prices are at record highs (but they’ve come down again haven’t they?), this country is more dependant on oil than almost any other country on the planet and more vulnerable to supply disruptions.

We can’t do anything about it says Mr. Key ...so let’s just ignore it all and continue building roads!

Besides which business confidence is up - isn’t that great news?!