If selling assets worked, we would be rich by now. We've sold enough already.
Asset sales are such a central election issue because they represent profound differences in the way government solves problems.
In the eighties and nineties Labour and then National governments cut the top tax rate, creating huge debt holes that they tried to fill with the proceeds of asset sales.
We ended up with more debt than we started with and the deficits drove inflation so high that interest rates soared over 20 per cent. Entire provincial townships never came out of the longest recession in our post-war history that resulted.
Labour learned from the episode about the time they had to start buying back the airline and railway, and open Kiwibank.
This, of course, is the line that Labour has been running for some time now, and in true party fashion, Pagani parrots it perfectly.
Well, almost perfectly, because his next line stuffs his whole argument; read on:
But now National wants to repeat the failed policies of the past.
National, of course, is NOT proposing a return to the "failed policies of the past". The John Key-led government has learned from the slash-and-burn approach of the Lange/Palmer/Moore years when Phil Goff sat at the Cabinet table, and seventeen state assets were hocked off to the first person who turned up with a chequebook.
What National is proposing is to retain control over a small number of state assets ($5-7b out of a total asset pool of $230b). The Crown will retain a majority shareholding, and will continue to receive income from dividend, albeit at a lesser rate. And the revenue from the partial sale will be put to good use; building new assets.
National has indeed learned from the "failed policies of the past", and is trying a new approach. And we thank John Pagani for giving us the opportunity to make that point!
3 comments:
Of course what Pagani says is factually untrue. It was a result of tax and spend policies, like the current policies of the Greens and Liabour, (and Labour Lite - National), that left New Zealand bankrupt. In order to get us out of that hole in the 80's assets needed to be sold.
Wer are in the same hole now. Fortunately not quite as deep as in 1984 but heading in the same direction. Prior to 84 we were subsidising farmers to breed fatty lambs to sell to, ah, well no-one really wanted them. Now we are subsidising breeders and university students amongst others. Government spending is exceeding taxation revenue by $300m a week. We're 'eating the house' so to keep debt down we need to sell assets.
The root cause is the same, and the Paganis just want to make it worse.
Paranormal
Re asset sales the NZ Herald poll today is showing a very interesting result:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/election-2011/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=1503012
The voters aren't as stoopid as the left think. But I guess Goff doesn't really want to try and talk about the Labour economic policies.
We are richer you muppet Pagani, its just that your socialist mates think it will continue the climb by taxing the bejesus out of the productive sector to bribe the dumbarse voters that a government can legislate wealth.
Why stop at a minimum wage of 15 bucks when $25 wuold make us all rich, not.
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