“I couldn’t tell you about the war,” Johnson said. It wasn’t a lot different from anything else. I could tell you worse things about the peace.”  “What was the peace?”  “That was the bit in between.”  “Worse things?”  “Truer things.”  And so I said to him, not wanting to move and quite ready to listen: “Tell me about the peace then.”  (John Mulgan, Man Alone)

New Zealand's businesses are recovering ever-so-slowly after dodging a 'double-dip' recession, led by larger firms, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

As always, New Zealand’s economic calendar is packed in the lead-up to Christmas, at a time when the market is looking to wind things down. 

For those looking for certainty we say forget it. These are the most volatile and uncertain times many people in business will have ever seen and we see no reason at all for believing that 2011 will be any less up and down or uncertain than this year, last year, 2008, and even 2007 when we were wondering when tightening NZ monetary policy would finally achieve its goal of stopping rampant housing and retailing markets.