Welcome back, and I hope everyone is looking forward to another year of opportunities to contribute. Some quick thoughts from me, in a pretty busy period:

• Where the world is at right now is still pretty interesting. Failure of Nortel gives a strong sense that corporates, as well as individuals, are hoarding cash rather than spending/undertaking business investment. Jobs cuts and losses globally are mounting quickly, and revisions to the downside are tennis match to “love” in the tennis match with the “upside revisions” thus far. This will change…
• New Zealand remains well positioned compared to other countries, and does have a real chance, still, to come out of this global tumult very well on a relative, and potentially absolute basis.
• The Prime Minister’s Summit on Employment is a strong signal from the PM that there will be public/private sector cohesion, which is a positive change of tone.
• It is very important that, like with the response to Swanbelly and Lloyd’s “Measurable Goal” that everyone thinks hard about new ideas, and what they or their organizations can tangibly do…

In terms of the NZX Blog,  the focus which grew up around the Swanbelly releases and your feedback – the economic future and growth focus of the NZ economy -  will remain consistent, the topics will move on, and obviously the upcoming Summit on Employment will be a reasonably big one.

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