Alternative Budget 2010 competition launched to get generations X and Y thinking

The Productive Economy Council and the New Zealand Manufacturers and Exporters Association (NZMEA) have launched an inaugural Alternative Budget Competition for all university students. “Generations X and Y have a huge stake in the future of our country since it is on them that the tax burden of supporting any future benefits – which they may or may not receive – will fall. And yet these generations are poorly represented among those who form our economic policies,” said Selwyn Pellett, spokesman for the Productive Economy Council (PEC). “We want to see what ideas our smartest students can come up with as a counter to the traditional ideas which lack inspiration and have delivered an unbalanced economy with lacklustre growth. The objective is summed up in the tag line for the competition: Clean Sheet, New Vision.” said Pellett. “While the domestic economy seems to be recovering - albeit with a fiscal stimulus we can’t sustain - jobs and exports are still declining while our national debt has increased to alarming levels at around 100% of GDP,” said John Walley of NZMEA. “The jobless recovery must be worrying for all students and we thought it was time they had the opportunity to propose alternatives via this competition.” “The Baby Boomers, as a powerful voting block, demand attention from our politicians and that influence has long been seen in the conservative approach to economic policy. Giving Generations X and Y a voice might open up some interesting alternative thinking,” said Walley. “The property inflation of the last 15 or so years has not served our children and grandchildren well and yet we are expecting them to pick up the tab for our bad investment decisions,” says Pellett. “As a nation we have borrowed privately, via trading banks, not to fund productivity or remove capacity constraints but to fund asset inflation. While we balanced the Government expenditure and reduced crown debt over the last decade we seriously under-invested in infrastructure which undermines our ability to be competitive as an export nation. In short, we funded immediacy and consumption rather than investing for the next generation.” First prize is NZ$7000, while the other three finalists will win NZ$1,000 each. The judges include Lachlan McKenzie from Federated Farmers, Brian Gaynor from Milford Asset Management and Bernard Hickey from Interest.co.nz, as well as John Walley CEO of the NZMEA and Selwyn Pellett from the PEC.