Swine flu lurks while banks trough

PANIC over swine flu isn't exactly stalking the streets here in New Zealand, so much as it's hanging about in doorways like a moody teenager. Everybody knows it's there but nobody wants to confront it or move it along for fear of an outburst.

Yet cases are slowly multiplying, and experts say it's only a matter of time before NZ provides the pandemic another 2 million victims.

The number of official cases is still only 23, but NZ is looking nervously across the Tasman to Australia where the virus is well estabished in the community and the number of cases has jumped to well over 1,000.

Dr Julia Peters warned workplaces could be breeding grounds for the virus.

The NZ Herald today carried a story warning sick workers to stay at home just in case they have the virus, and schools have been instructed to review their sickness policies.

Elsewhere, policitians have been shouting and spitting at the banks much as they did in the UK six months ago; the banks are accused of not passing on interest cuts to their borrowers. The banks are utterly innocent of course and deny any wrong doing.

A report from MPs on the multi-party finance and expenditure select committee this week suggested some banks were charging too much for their variable rate loans.

At the same time the Dom Post reports that mortgage interest rates are as low as they are going to get.

Home mortgage rates are as low as they will go because of a 'deposit price war' between banks...

Even so, the ASB ecomomic note this week makes it obvious that the NZ recession still has far to go before 'green shoots' can take root.

Imports of passenger cars fell 47% over the first quarter, following the previous quarter’s 28% decline.

One wonders what the government might do to stimulate the economy given that today Reserve Bank Governor, Alan Bollard, left the official cash rate unchanged at 2.5% but admitted economic conditions were weak.

We expect the New Zealand economy to begin growing again toward the end of this year, but the recovery is likely to be slow and fragile. Many key economic indicators such as unemployment are projected to keep deteriorating well into 2010

Comments

[Alan]

Hmm - have you noticed the excuses from the banks keep changing though?
First it was high international interest rates
(it costs too much to borrow from oversea's) then when world Govts. provided guarantee's, it changed to high domestic deposit rates (costs too much to borrow from at home),
then to they need to cover for bad loan risks (we've been covering bad loans since banking was invented, only now we think we've really buggered everything up and we don't know what we're doing).
All told - they just want more money and aren't going to share the pain with anyone.
Vote with your feet - pay off your mortgage.

[William]

Thanks for the comment Alan.

Jeez, I'd love to vote with my feet and pay of the mortgage, but it just won't happen for a while on a writer's meagre bread.

I am however getting the children to work on it.

[Alan]

Hi William
Yep - easier said than done. Much like paying taxes, having a mortgage isn't something you can easily walk away from.

Having voted with our feet on the whole taxation, Government & way of life by moving to NZ - I kinda see paying off the mortgage quickly as entirely possible. And a lot quicker than we would have done in the UK.