OK, so the government wants to sell (almost) a controlling stake in some of assets and make some money to pay for more tax cuts I guess.
Let's see how this works.
Our asset is making $2M a year. The government decides to sell half for $4M. Which is cool. Who would say no to four million bucks right? That will help us pay off our deficit.
Oops!
In exchange for selling half for a quick buck, what's left our asset is now making half as much money (funny that!).
That is half as much money to pay for things lefties like, like:
- Schools
- Healthcare
- Freeview
And half as much money to pay for things righties like:
- Police
- Prisons
- Motorways
- Peter Dunne's hair gel
- John Key's $500million/year tax cuts
So why do it? I believe the reason is ideological. Remember this is not the first time a government has sold our country off for a quick buck. What happened then were a few people whose names you have probably heard of bought them for sweet FA then sold up and went to live the good life to the detriment of (to use a politician's term) "All New Zealanders".
So why let National do this now? Farked if I know. I do know that if I showed this economic "plan" to my Mum, she would clip me around the ears and give me a lecture that included the words "irresponsible" and "silly".
So what can you do if you don't want assets that
actually belong to you already sold off for a quick buck?
1. Protest. Center-left Labour's shit result has meant that left-er parties like the Greens have had a great result. National's zombie-archnemesis, Winston Peters is also back for another round. National will be able to get their legislation thru, but we can all work together to make life difficult for them.
2. VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! Then the next government can start the process of buying assets back again. Sigh
