Kiwis are not good savers, so they tell us. The Beehive Burglars have been banging on about it for yonks, trying to give us the guilts.

And it is not just the politicians beating their gums. The Reserve Bank gaffer Allan Bollocks has been ticking us off for borrowing money to have a good time, to go on holiday, to buy a car or generally just to have a splash out.

It is enough to drive you into the confessional box for a few mea culpas. But are we such bad savers?

Many of us who live in God's own wants a piece of our half gallon, quarter acre, pavlova paradise. We have gone out and invested in bricks and mortar which has been inflating as fast as Luigi Peters' travel bill.

Many home owners have had to borrow more and therefore pay more to the banks, most of which are Australian owned, for their mortgages. The Aussies pay much less than we do for their mortgages but that is another story.

The fact is, we are so busy meeting our commitments to the banks there is nothing left in the kitty for fun times. So we save in another way and hopefully by the time we reach retirement the mortgage is paid off and the kids are gone.

Many then downsize and reap the benefits of their years of lining the banks' pockets.

But the burglars have now come up with a scheme to get us to put money aside for a rainy day. Savage Mickey Cullen's even prepared to release his pit bull terrier grip on the purse string to give employers a tax break if they contribute to the scheme to help us to save.

It is as though he has been converted on the road to the next election telling us that we are the only country in the developed world not to give tax breaks for savings.

So now he has entered the real world. The scheme is bound to be used as a wage bargaining chip which could keep the cost of wage settlements down.

Now that will be music to the ears of the Reserve Banker!

Barry Soper

Political Editor

Newstalk ZB