Andrew Dickens Afternoons

So business confidence continues to fall with the latest result this week from the NZIER the lowest our business confidence has been in five years.Now I could repeat the editorial I wrote a month ago that said why should businesses feel worried but that was a month ago.Since then we’ve had survey after survey saying the same thing. It may be criticised as a self-fulfilling prophecy but the problem is it’s actually fulfilling itself. The business community are not sure what will happen and so bit by bit they’re deciding not to take too many risks over the next few years.The problem is not necessarily the government’s budget or even the Finance Minister who I feel is playing a very straight bat. I trust him to keep a tight rein on the fiscal budget. The problem is those beneath him who’ve been throwing their grand statements around without realising that their words now carry power.It’s easy to highlight Shane Jones with his attacks on Fonterra and Air New Zealand. If that’s how he feels about those businesses