The Mike Hosking Breakfast Newstalk ZB

Auckland’s Ports are remaining in the Council’s hands. 

They’re expected to bring in $1.1 billion in profits over the next ten years, more than would be made by selling. 

CEO Roger Gray told Mike Hosking that they’ve already seen a turn around when it comes to profits, and they’re confident they can deliver what the city needs.  

He said the advantage of the Port of Auckland is that it’s predominantly an import port, so they’re not subjected to as much of the export vagaries of the market and world.  

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We now have three reports this week that help us understand just what an astonishingly bad place our economy is in. 

The OECD report on Monday, which was blunt and although slightly political in terms of ideas around capital gains tax, was irrefutably accurate when it talked of our issues around productivity, education, and debt. 

What the 2017-2023 Government left us is fiscally criminal. 

Then there was the Morningstar report on our KiwiSaver fund. In the first quarter its value is up $4 billion to $108 billion, which is the good news. 

The bad news is in the commentary. New Zealand's economy is likely to slow. What makes that worse is the world's isn't and that is where the funds growth came from, by tapping into the success others are having while we aren't. 

Report number three was from Treasury saying the deficit is blowing out. For the nine months to March, it's over $5 billion. Just to explain that that's $5 billion more than we have for just the nine months so far. That's over half a billion dollars worse than they thought it was going to be and they thought it was going to be bad already. 

Tax is your issue. When you are in a recession we don’t pay as much of it. 

The carbon markets played their part because the previous Government cocked them up so badly the return didn’t happen, nor did other returns from the Crown and state-owned enterprises. 

Our net debt is at 42.9% of the size of our economy. 

When Labour arrived, it was 19%. 

Personally, I would never ask Chris Hipkins another question about this current Government's actions or policies ever again, because between him and Jacinda Ardern, as these three reports so clearly point out, show there are few so-called "first world economies" on this planet that are as hopeless as we are right now. 

Everyone is suffering. Every second organisation, agency or charity has their hand out for more money and any number of groups are on a series of strikes or stop-works. 

The social and moral malaise is palpable, and the reports produce the numbers that explain why. 

I don't envy this new Government. No matter which way they turn there is mess. 

There should have been an amnesty on criticism because what they face is so bad that all we can do is wish them well and always remember that what they are undertaking is a repair job of historic proportions. 
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Adult film star Stormy Daniels has taken the stand at Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial. 

She walked the jury through the US$130,000 payment she received prior to the 2016 US election to stay quiet about what went on between her and the former President.  

She detailed her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which Trump denies.  

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that Trump's had a sour expression the whole day, and at one point appeared to mouth an expletive.  

He says the Judge often seemed taken aback by the detailed and lewd nature of Daniels' testimony. 

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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 8th of May, can we trust our electoral system going forward after it was revealed there were counting mistakes? Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith had some thoughts.

According to our power companies we're running out of gas, and Genesis has had to start importing coal again. Minister for Resources Shane Jones provided some answers. 

Ginny Andersen and Mark Mitchell tried to make sense of the Corrections numbers and whether crime is being sorted in this country. 

Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

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Labour’s Ginny Andersen and National’s Mark Mitchell joined Mike Hosking to dig through what’s happening in the political sphere. 

This week’s hot topic is coming off the back of the $1.9 billion funding announcement for Corrections as they discuss the figures and whether an impact is being made on crime in New Zealand. 

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Gas prices could hike up due to the country's low gas production. 

Figures from the Gas Industry Company show a 12.5% decrease in gas production last year, and almost 30% less has been produced than projected this year. 

Resources Minister Shane Jones told Mike Hosking that he doesn’t want to catastrophize, but it’s very serious.  

He said that after a long period of noninvestment in and stigmatization of the gas sector, we’re now increasingly relying on Indonesian coal to keep the lights on. 

It will be a big challenge, Jones said, to convince foreigners and kiwis who have the money to continue to commit to the gas sector. 

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