Mike Hosking Breakfast

As schools return, let’s begin the term with a little Economics 101. When you artificially inject yourself into an economy with the view to helping people out financially, what do you do? Do you: - Give the help to everyone no matter whether they need it or not? - Give it those who need it most? - When do you stop, and under what circumstances? - Was any of this explained in a way at the start that would allow you to enter the programme and exit it, in a way as to avoid fiscal and political fallout? - If not, why not? So, we got the extension of the petrol subsidy last Sunday. We got it last Sunday out of the blue because the Government knew on Monday the inflation figures were coming out, and they would be ugly, and they would yet again be faced with the quite accurate charge that they are economically incompetent. So what better way to appease a growing number of angry people than to give us all some free stuff? You might remember after the budget, Grant Ro