Perl6 isn't being developed because Perl5 is stunningly bad, but because developers have a vision for something Ever So Much More So. There's a
lot of space between pie-in-the-sky and stunningly bad.
Update: It's probably the Perl5 to Perl6 transition that he's talking about when he marvels at how rapidly it's changing. And that suggests that the "stunningly bad" ideas could well be proposed features of Perl6.
We're not really tightening our belts, it just feels that way because we're getting fatter.