Bro maybe you need to look at a calendar again. 50 years ago was 1974, NZ economy was in the doldrums and about to enter a recession in 1976.50 years ago NZ was world leading and statistically the economy was better than Australia.
Then Britain ditched us, we ramped up immigration without matching economic growth; globalisation exposed us, etc
We stagnated and our politics reflected our laid back attitude. We prioritised clean and green before productivity. This current govt has proposed good things to grow us and the media and even posters on here shows that to many NZers are happy being mediocre.