Quaint

I just came across this article in the New Zealand Herald.

... [the] economic slowdown that has pushed business confidence to levels normally associated with recession.

Does a really hard landing loom? Most likely not, economists say.

They paint a picture in which the business sector bears the brunt of the slowdown, especially those firms which are exposed to the exchange rate as exporters or because they compete with imports.

The overvalued dollar, high energy prices and rising wages put their profits under pressure and they respond by cutting back on investment, albeit from high levels, and pushing up selling prices where they can.

But they hang on to employees for as long as they can, because their recent experience has been that good workers are hard to find, especially skilled ones. If they lay people off, chances are when they need them again they won't be there.

Quaint, isn't it? Somebody in the world actually wants to keep their employees. My heavens, I guess the Republicans haven't made inroads in New Zealand yet.