It makes it easier to believe in Father Christmas when Rodney Hide praises the IRD's new culture and says the way it treats his queries is "a great credit to the staff."
That stunner, delivered at this week's finance and expenditure committee meeting, was not the only unexpected present under Michael Cullen's tree this week.
The most welcome were the 10 cents-a-litre fall in petrol prices and a remarkably positive end-of-term report from the Reserve Bank.
Don Brash's reading stopped short of the sought-after Goldilocks economy - not too hot and not too cold - because of a worrying spike in inflation.
But it was at least a Santa Claus economy - all right for the present.
The mood in the economy has shown a swift about-face since early November, and the Finance Minister has been quick to conjure visions of a glorious summer.
"New Zealanders' thoughts are turning towards the beach, the barbecue and the summer holidays. As they do, their mood is mellowing. The long winter of discontent is over," Dr Cullen cooed yesterday.
A new spirit of optimism had, he said, permeated the national consciousness.
Business confidence polls are improving, and yesterday an NBR-UMR Insight poll showed the Government's fortunes on the mend.
The chance of a contraction in the September quarter growth figure, due out only days before Christmas, has seemingly dwindled to zero.
The Treasury's final forecast of the year, due for release on December 19, will show a healthy surplus, despite the 0.9 per cent contraction in the June quarter.
The NZIER's predictions released this week, showing a Budget surplus of $720 million to June 2001, rising to $1.8 billion and $2.7 billion in subsequent years, will be very close to the Treasury's pick. The official growth forecasts, however, will be softer than the Reserve Bank's, which foresaw 2.5 per cent in the year to March 2001, followed by 3.5 per cent growth in each of the two out years - enough to prevent unemployment rising.
Wrap that all together, and Dr Cullen must feel like all his Christmases have come at once.
After the mid-winter crisis of confidence, when every comment was read as an anti-business jibe and the campaign against ACC changes and the new industrial relations law was at its zenith, the mood swing is understandable. By being so negative, business was shooting its own profitability in the foot, and the data on employment and exports have clearly lifted the pall.
The leaked Bill English memo, accepting there had been an improvement in the economy, also helped by showing it was possible to be both National and optimistic.
True, the RBNZ figures do give the Opposition some ammunition. With inflation clearly outstripping wage growth, living standards are being eroded. On top of that, the slow-down mid-year - while the rest of the OECD was ripping along - has left us all worse off than we needed to be.
But even National's most loyal disciples believe the present mood will ensure the usual improvement in the Government's fortunes over the long break. It will be a real surprise if Labour's solid poll lead over National - already beginning to emerge - is not substantial by late January.
Oddly enough, as the Government's economic woes have eased, its normally watertight political management has shown some bad cracks.
Police Minister George Hawkins' penny-pinching campaign with the police, even if it is driven by budget constraints, is a very bad look.
The dog's breakfast that was Annette King's political management of the health reforms - compounded by Judy Keall's awful and embarrassing chairing of the select committee - has struck a very sour note for the Government. Nor is the castration of "closing the gaps" a pretty sight.
Labour was planning a Government relaunch early next year to cement the advantages of a long, hot, politics-free summer.
With the economic good news in the bag, that may not now be so pressing. Yet Helen Clark still has some work to do showing other ministers how to keep their heads below the parapet as the Coalition moves into its year of consolidation.
With all eyes on a second term in office, there was some drooling in the Beehive over the long-term Reserve Bank outlook.
If elections are won and lost six months out - and if they are always about "the economy, stupid," then the projections for March 2002 are very Coalition-friendly.
The current account deficit is forecast to fall to 4.5 per cent of GDP, inflation to ease to 2 per cent, unemployment to drop to 5.5 per cent, Budget surpluses to top $2 billion and growth stabilise at 3.5 per cent. Even the tightening in monetary policy envisaged by Don Brash next year would push floating mortgage rates to only about 9 per cent.
Of course, some of this has to be taken with more than the usual grain of salt. The bank's requirement to control inflation while not socking the real economy means it tends to see its own actions as "infallible" in terms of long-term impacts. In other words, if inflation was not coming back towards the middle of its target range and growth was not reasonably robust, it would not be doing its job.
Yet even in the stolid and mainly upbeat bank forecasts there are some concerns, both for the economy and for the Government's strategists.
For instance, Dr Brash warned that he might be underplaying the growth spurt caused by the weak dollar - and therefore the inflationary impact of the extra growth.
In short, interest rates could go much higher.
Conversely, the real chance of the US and world economy slowing - crystallising even after the RBNZ forecasts were finalised - could see growth here weaken as the worldwide demand for our exports is curtailed.
Add in the possibility, tipped by the ANZ, that over the next year the New Zealand dollar will soar back above 50USc, and the economy - and, crucially for Labour, a big improvement in the cities - is by no means a one-way bet.
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