More bad news for the Government. The Saturday Dominion Post has a large front page article saying that "New Zealand is stagnating while other countries surge ahead, and Australians are richer, healthier, better educated and living longer, a United Nations report shows.
The report, made public this week, shows that New Zealand has spent more than a decade in a rut placed 19th on the UN Development Programme's Human Development Index.
Australia is placed third, Spain has leapfrogged from 21st to 13th place, and Ireland - once on a par with New Zealand - is now fifth.
The index is based on a range of data including wage rates, life expectancy, adult literacy, government spending and gross domestic product.
It shows that since 1998 New Zealand has remained at either 19 or 20 on the scale and this year scored an index rating of 0.943. Australia is third with 0.962 - it was fourth in 1998."
The story goes on. Most interesting for Queen Bee is the comment from Finance Minister Michael Cullen than the report should be "taken with a pinch of salt". No wonder we have been treading water. Get real Michael. You have happily re-socialised the economy when you should have been putting money andd freedom back into the productive sector.
