English taunts students

Remember this? John Key:

Today I want assure you that I will lead a government for all New Zealanders…

and this?

About 1200 supporters cheered rapturously to a triumphant speech from Mr Key in which he promised to lead a government that united the country.

What a lot of saccharine bullshit. This is not a government for all New Zealanders, it is a government for the rich. As was well observed before the budget, the burdens of the Nats mishandling of the economy are falling most heavily on the poor. The budget made it even clearer. Instead of reversing the costly tax cuts on the rich, or introducing a capital gains tax, the Nats would rather shake down paperboys for pocket change.

Their disdain for ordinary Kiwis is not just exhibited in their policies, it pervades their arrogant attitude to anyone else’s opinion. Like Key dismissing the asset sales hikoi, or calling another young group of protestors “cold and desperate”. Now Bill English is the latest, topical example:

English taunts student protesters

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister has taunted student protesters who yesterday blockaded an Auckland street saying “they need some Greeks to show them how to do it.”

Students yesterday blockaded Auckland’s Symonds Street in protest at English’s Budget which included measures tightening eligibility for student allowances and increasing the rate of compulsory student loan repayments from 10% to 12%. …

“Yes, there’s a protest movement out there but who’s really listening to them?” English said, in response to a question from the audience. “They get on TV and they can make a bit of a racket … dragging a few rubbish bins around, they need some Greeks to show them how to do it,” he said. “It gets reported, mainly because it blocked the traffic, [but] who’s listening?

Taunting the young people who are getting the shitty end of the economic stick – does it get any more arrogant than that?