Fast forward a few years. New Zealand\u2019s annual inflation rate is down to 2.7% in the country\u2019s June figures<\/a>, sneaking into the Reserve Bank\u2019s target band. It got there thanks to the steaming plate of economic rootedness ordered up by authorities. Though our cohort of economists and politicians doesn\u2019t seem to have thinned out, thousands more workers are on the dole than when the Reserve Bank started hiking interest rates. As per usual in recessions, young people have been hit hardest, with unemployment among those aged 15 to 19 reaching 23% earlier this year<\/a> \u2013 more than quadruple the national average and the highest figure in more than a decade.<\/p>\n In other words, we did it, folks. Joblessness is up. Inflation is down. Mince is admittedly four trillion dollars. But overall, success! Surely our government should be pulling a George W\u00a0 Bush and unfurling a mission accomplished banner above the rusted deck of the HMNZS Canterbury<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead, it called a press conference to say, in essence, wtf.\u00a0 Luxon and social development minister Louise Upston gathered reporters on Sunday to announce too many 18- and 19-year-olds were claiming the benefit, and they\u2019ll be cutting them off if their parents earn more than the princely sum of $65,529 combined. Asked where young people should get a job in a recession, which, again, we deliberately engineered, Luxon pointed to k\u016bmara harvesting in Dargaville or seasonal work in orchards. Orchardists promptly responded that they didn\u2019t need more staff right now.<\/p>\n Similarly, the Herald splashed its front page on Monday with a survey of downtown Auckland businesses complaining, to paraphrase, that their area had become a lawless hellscape straight out of Mad Max. The survey, put out by city centre business association Heart of the City, said Queen Street\u2019s homeless population had ballooned, along with anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n There are likely many reasons for rising poverty and crime in the city centre, but one of the main ones is almost certainly that no one has any money due to the crushing recession we\u2019ve created on purpose. Another might be the government tightening its eligibility criteria for emergency housing<\/a>, which the council has blamed in large part for a 90% rise in homelessness<\/a>.<\/p>\nThings are apparently very bad.<\/p>\n