Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Christchurch bars, restaurants and retailers are preparing for a bumper weekend with the city's new stadium playing host to its first crowds.
One NZ Stadium hosts Super Rugby’s Super Round over the next three days, with the Crusaders taking on the Waratahs in the opening match tonight.
Recent alcohol law changes mean hospitality venues can now open past midnight and sell alcohol without serving meals.
Business Canterbury Chief Executive Leeann Watson told Ryan Bridge that the stadium will bring people into the city and have them spend locally, which is exactly what they want.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More New Zealand lamb could soon be making its way to India under our soon-to-be-signed free trade agreement.
Labour's now backing the deal, which will reduce or eliminate tariffs on 95% of exports to the world's largest country.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand says the Indian market has been largely unavailable until now due to a 33% tariff.
Chair Kate Acland told Ryan Bridge India consumes a huge amount of sheep meat.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some challenging Budget decisions ahead for the Government due to the ongoing war in Iran.
Treasury officials are revisiting their economic forecasts for next month's Budget, just weeks before it's due to be delivered.
International credit agency Moody's has downgraded New Zealand's economic outlook from stable to negative, noting the Government's later-than-expected return to surplus.
Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Ryan Bridge the Government's finances weren't in great shape, even before the war.
He says the Government wasn't projected to be back in surplus until the end of the decade.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I see ACT is flying a kite on free money for school kids.
Which sounds odd given the party's aversion to free lunches.
Seymour's talking about giving each Year 11 student, 5th form, $500 each to invest. It'd cost $30 million a year and could be funded via the KiwiSaver subsidy.
They'd be able to invest in a term deposit, managed fund, and equities. It'd be a controlled fund so they couldn't go nuts or withdraw, but they might learn something.
Trump's done something similar in the US, though with the help of private capital.
This is a great way to get young people interested in investing and learning about investing.
But isn't there an inherent problem with this? Giving them free money doesn't teach them the value of earning it in the first place, which I would have thought was central to ACT's philosophy on life.
I spoke to Fraser Whineray, former Mercury boss, a few months back about his idea for KiwiSaver 2.0.
He reckons we should overhaul KiwiSaver and give every newborn Kiwi kid $5,000 instead of giving adults the $250-odd per year they currently get from the Government.
With compounding returns, the $5 grand becomes $20,000 by age 18.
The lesson is pretty simple, time in the stock market equals money in the bank.
Whether ACT's or Fraser's approach is better depends on how you view the trade-offs.
But there's no doubt in my mind that they're both on the right path. We need to improve financial literacy not just for the sake of Kiwi kids, but the country.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Friday 24 April.
Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.