Goff may have a good point that the Government needs to change the law to instruct the Remuneration Authority to take into account the state of the nation when it doles out public sector wage increases but Key ignores him, hoping words alone will be enough to sway the authority.

I worry Key is being too dismissive of Labour, shutting Goff out of the employment summit and ignoring his advice on how to achieve the MPs wage freeze.

Of course, Goff and Labour aren't doing themselves any favours by constantly whingeing about virtually everything the Government does. To quote Obama again, they need to realise, "The ground has shifted".

In the current climate the public don't want to hear the same old stale political arguments.

Both parties would earn far more brownie points if they worked more co-operatively together and only chose to maul each other when there was a really vital issue at stake.

When you are worried about losing your job, watching your savings shrink and the value of your house plummet, you are unlikely to be impressed by a bunch of politicians bitching at each other about what to do.

When you are feeling insecure and exposed you need to know that those who control your destiny are doing their best to help, not just grandstanding and mudslinging.

Till now, apart from an alarming inability to safely negotiate stairs, John Key has not put a foot wrong. Like Obama, he has coasted through on a combination of brave words, great PR and the blind hope of the people.

Now we need to see the rhetoric rapidly become reality.

We have heard a lot about the first 100 days but, really, it is the next six months that count.

By the middle of the year the Government will have to have created the desperately needed mechanisms to pump many millions of dollars into our increasingly arid economy if we are to avoid high unemployment and further economic collapse.

National and Labour need to understand that extracting ourselves from recession confidence is as important as commodity prices and productivity.

To gain that confidence we need to see the people to whom we have delegated the management of the country are working sensibly together in our common interest.

Why did I hear the words "Yeah, Right" when I wrote that?

By Bill Ralston | Email Bill