So says NZ Herald columnist John Armstrong
So the two major parties are instead playing the political equivalent of poker by constantly raising the stakes by coming up with bigger and better rescue plans for the economy and assistance packages for those who will lose their jobs.
Labour yesterday promised an income-tested job search allowance equivalent to the unemployment benefit for up to 13 weeks for someone whose partner is working and who has been in the workforce for at least five years.
The move was a pre-emptive strike ahead of National's release today of its "transitional assistance" package, which will provide similar time-limited grants for those laid off.
National's initiative was designed to outmanoeuvre Labour which had previously gone one better than National by indicating it would bring forward "job rich" infrastructure construction projects to soak up the expected increase in unemployed.
Closer scrutiny reveals that Labour's redundancy help package is far less generous than appears at first sight. But you get the picture. Neither party is prepared to surrender ground.
