It is becoming an old story. New Zealanders asked about their outlook on the economy typically say they are doing fine but believe times are tough for everybody else.
The latest surveys of business and consumer confidence find the mood, particularly in Auckland, more cautious than it has been for nine years.
Once again, people are much more upbeat about their personal prospects than they are about the economy as a whole. And no wonder, when their impressions of the economy are largely gained from conversation and confidence surveys.
Yesterday, for example, an economist for one of the surveying banks took confidence from the fact that, considering the state of the economy, consumer confidence had held up surprisingly well.
With comfort as cold as that, it is no wonder we can talk ourselves into trouble. Let's not blame economists - it is their job to measure and analyse these things. But let us not imagine they give us the complete picture, either.
We have much more going for us than economics can measure. Farmers and their suppliers in the cities are celebrating the low dollar and, if they are far-sighted, will be looking for new investments that might reduce their dependency on a narrow range of commodity exports.
In the cities, especially Auckland, the low dollar is good news for any company that is exporting, and is an inducement to reorient the urban economy from imports and real estate to external earnings. That is not a challenge to fear.
Let's be realistic. We are a wealthy developed country trying to arrest a gradual decline in our ability to sustain that living standard. We therefore have far more going for us than a developing country trying to hoist itself up the ladder.
We have an educated population, modern health services and sanitation, a well-established infrastructure and highly developed telecommunications.
We have stable government, an uncorrupted public service and a high degree of popular compliance with law, particularly the laws of property rights, observance of contracts and limited company liability.
Those laws commonly distinguish prosperous societies from poor ones. We take for granted the political and legal culture inherited from Britain, but many a developing country struggles to establish those pre-conditions of capitalism.
There will always be improvements we should make to education, infrastructure, corporate law and market regulation, but criticism should not obscure the standards we have.
Our sophistication is far more apparent to outsiders than to ourselves. They wonder at our propensity for self-criticism and want of confidence.
Much of it might have been politically motivated in recent years, particularly after the first MMP election produced a Government that few expected. But for nearly a year now, the country has had a Government that, whatever its weakness, cannot be said to lack legitimacy.
It has enacted a set of policies that will damage the country's competitiveness, but which could be much worse. It's not the end of the world and there is no point in the corporate community continuing to depress itself. Nor is there any point in the rest of New Zealand cloaking itself in pessimism.
Ask people if they would rather feel optimistic and they will give an emphatic "yes." And, yes, they would rather see the glass as half full, not half empty. Murmurings in the business community about the need for a change of outlook are growing in volume.
So, too, is recognition that private sector leadership, including the role that this newspaper can play, will be the key to a positive turnaround.
Leadership based on optimism and vision has the power to change the way we think and act. We have feared the future, but should recognise that we will never overcome our anxieties by worrying about them.
We have been content to let obstacles impede our progress. But we must learn to outflank them. We have had our eyes on our feet, fearful of the next step. It is time to raise those eyes to the horizon.
<i>Editorial:</i> Time to look up at our bright horizon
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