Reading the paper this morning it’s very tempting to think that this little nation of ours is well down the road to hell, travelling in a handcart.

One article today on business confidence is even headlined 'Business is heading into a winter of discontent'.

We hear of loan sharks charging 800 per cent interest.  Mycoplasma Bovis is a billion dollar problem for one of our biggest exports. People earning $100,000 are now being classed as working poor.  Property values are at risk from climate change. Bailed killers will soon be on the streets slaughtering us all. Aucklanders are being hit with a fuel tax and the AA warns of dark days ahead if change isn’t quickly forthcoming. The globe is now in a trade war and the final nail in the coffin is that it’s really really cold for this time of year.

Sometimes it’s worth just taking a step back.

The billion-dollar bovis problem is certainly a thing but you need some perspective.  The cull will only affect two per cent of our national herd.  An economist says its effects will be similar to a bad drought and we seem to have those every couple of years.  It’s a hit sure but it’s not the end of days.  So calm the farm

The fuel tax in Auckland will hit the pocket, but as the cartoonist Emmerson points out today, in real terms it will cost you a glass of wine a week or half an avocado or a bus trip a day. It will have an effect but it won’t stop anyone from driving to the supermarket. The AA’s warning of dark days was for political effect.

The claim that people earning $100,000 a year are feeling the pinch needs some investigation as well.  That survey was on household incomes which include a lot of households with four flatmates all earning $25,000 each. There are working poor but very few of the individuals earning 100 grand are part of them.  Again the figures were distorted for maximum effect.

Another hyped fact was the jail population of gang members increasing 350 per cent while the general population increased just five per cent.  But that’s a percentage figure.  There are now just 90 extra gang members in jail out of the 3000 increase.  So are jails are not full just because of gangs.

And finally, business confidence is in free fall.  The business confidence index is the least realistic measure you can have.  It really is just a bunch of stats wonks asking businesses how do you feel.

Well, surrounded by overhyped misery headlines it’s no wonder they feel worried/

The reality is that three per cent growth is predicted for the next three years and the budget has been analysed as generally business-friendly.

Maybe as New Zealanders, we’re accustomed to only seeing clouds and never silver linings, but it’s important that we don’t talk ourselves into a funk, get depressed and stop trying.

We’re a small country with a few problems but vastly better off than the majority of everyone else on this planet.  So chin up Kiwis.  Things are not nearly as bad as the misery brigade would have you believe.