Axe-grinders of the world unite…

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 pm, April 23rd, 2013 - 26 comments
Categories: cost of living, energy, Privatisation, Steven Joyce, uncategorized - Tags:

Brokers and analysts, you have nothing to lose but your fees. (Never mind, there’s always the $200million Bill English and the Treasury have already slipped your way from the taxpayer.)

Following Labour and the Greens unforeseen announcement about NZPower,  a host of the usually uncontested financial commentators have turned Chicken Little, predicting the end of the world as they know it. Self-interest? Not a bit of  it.

I particularly noted Phil Anderson from Devon Funds Management on Morning Report today saying that the Labour/Greens intervention to produce a fairer market would spook the institutional foreign investors. No mention of priority for Mums and Dads any more in the Mighty River Power sell-off – it was all about those fat offshore fees going west in my opinion.

Now the North Korean line isn’t working Steven Joyce has turned to the axe-grinders for support, and named them in an extraordinary press release. They are all there – quoted as authorities by Joyce.

“Financial analysts including JB Were, Woodward Partners, Milford Asset Management, First NZ Capital, Devon Funds Management and Forsyth Barr are unanimous in their condemnation. One has labelled it a ‘hand grenade’ to the New Zealand economy, while others have said it will cut the value of every New Zealanders’ KiwiSaver account and lead to rolling blackouts.

analystsI think Emmerson‘s analysis in today’s Herald is much more accurate.

There couldn’t be a clearer indication (if anyone needed it) that Joyce and National are on the side of the ticket-clipping brokers and investors with money to burn, while Labour and the Greens with their plan to lower power bills  are on the side of the consumers who have to be careful about when they can turn on their heaters.

 

26 comments on “Axe-grinders of the world unite… ”

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  1. Paul 1
    23 April 2013 at 9:11 pm

    Is there a list of National and ACT’s political funders available anywhere?

  2. geoff 2
    23 April 2013 at 9:16 pm

    Quick, somebody send Joyce a copy of Who moved my cheese?

  3. Pete 3
    23 April 2013 at 9:21 pm

    This is shaping up to be a real class conflict. Kiwis are being forced to ask themselves uncomfortable questions like whether they stand with the elites or with the rest of us. It’s stripping away the fictional veneer that this is an egalitarian society. Or at the very least, giving it a light sanding.

  4. geoff 4
    23 April 2013 at 9:26 pm

    Also, I hadn’t seen them in a while but tonight around news time I saw one of those ‘what’s my number/powerswitch’ ads. This one had the self promoting Jaquie Brown reminding us of the huge savings we can make by trying to jump from one shark-infested pool to another shark-infested pool.
    Apparently if we just keep jumping between shark-infested pools everything is going to be just fine.
    The faster we jump, the longer we spend in the air and because the density of air is less than seawater then our electricity bills will be lower. Makes sense eh?

  5. vto 5
    23 April 2013 at 9:35 pm

    Well Joyce just continues to dig himself deeper into the North Korean hole. He must think people are stupid (quite the common thing in politicians it is noted).

    People know who investment bankers are. People know investment bankers are unable to comment on the entire issue due to their conflict of interest. For fucks sake these investment bankers were barred from MRP commentary last week for very good reason yet here is Joyce reeling them out for commentary…. doesn’t this mean that Joyce and these investment bankers have broken the rule………………………………

    Do not trust what these people say.

      • vto 5.1.1
        23 April 2013 at 9:49 pm

        They can’t help themselves. They are exactly like drug dealers.

        That is why they cannot be trusted Joyce, you idiot. Sheesh man wake up (but of course Joyce is wide awake, which can only mean one thing – he’s in on it too)

        • AmaKiwi 5.1.1.1
          24 April 2013 at 8:11 am

          The people who caused the 2008 financial meltdown are the ones who said they had fixed it,

          That’s why we are on the verge of a much worse meltdown . . . now. Ask the Europeans.

          • vto 5.1.1.1.1
            24 April 2013 at 8:38 am

            Yes.

            A wise person might perhaps glance across a few measures in various economies to see whether those substantial flaws have been fixed, or banned etc. Let’s see, 2007 to 2013…

            1. Amount of debt in the world. Is it lower or higher?
            2. Lending practices. Are they the same, improved or worse?
            3. Asset bubbles. Is there a property boom on at the moment in bigger centres?
            4. Commentators with vested interests. Are the outfits like credit agencies still all conflicted to hell?
            5. Risk of debt default. Improved or more likely today?

            The writing is all there on the wall.

  6. Tigger 6
    23 April 2013 at 9:49 pm

    “New Zealanders will see it for what it is: a cynical and selfish attempt by left-wing parties to play politics with the value of New Zealand’s economic assets.”

    Funny, ‘cynical and selfish’ is how I’d describe the asset sales programme. I’d also add dishonest, self serving, sociopathic, vile, ill-conceived, poorly managed, embarrassing and hilarious.

    • karol 6.1
      24 April 2013 at 8:55 am

      Yes, Joyce seems oblivious to his own dubious values, supporting the interests of the relatively wealthy over that of the struggling poor. And responding to the NZ Power policy by playing politics through reds-under-the-beds scaremongering.

  7. Ed 7
    23 April 2013 at 10:07 pm

    I cannot understand why people say that value has been stripped from Kiwisaver accounts. None of them have been able to purchase MRP shares yet! (and presumably the price will be dropped to meet new expectations and the higher level of uncertainty – is it still a success if they all sell at $1 a share?)

    (and as for the effect on Contact Energy, DimPost has already covered that fairly well)

    • Colonial Viper 7.1
      23 April 2013 at 10:15 pm

      True but apparently Trustpower and Contact shares took a hit too

      But that’s just because capital markets are inefficient and often misprice securities. Usual orthodox economics being completely right about their theory, just that their theory is completely wrong about real life.

      • AmaKiwi 7.1.1
        24 April 2013 at 8:13 am

        Their first assumption is humans are rational.

        We are not.

        • Colonial Viper 7.1.1.1
          25 April 2013 at 6:24 pm

          “Rational” in economics language doesn’t mean the same thing as in English.

        • RedLogix 7.1.1.2
          25 April 2013 at 7:17 pm

          Yes interestingly it means “being able to perfectly predict the outcome of all choices”.

          It is of course an impossible criterion, and just one of many entirely false assumptions that neo-liberal economics is built upon.

  8. Poission 8
    24 April 2013 at 11:24 am

    “Financial analysts including JB Were, Woodward Partners, Milford Asset Management, First NZ Capital, Devon Funds Management and Forsyth Barr

    FB is a known purveyor of snake oil schemes,why would anyone listen to their analysis.

    http://www.interest.co.nz/news/63457/commerce-commission-says-forsyth-barrs-promotion-capital-protected-credit-sails-was-both-

    the risk is always in listening to the risk analysis provided by organizations who stand to benefit.The reality is that financial advisers rarely exceed the expectations of monkeys with typewriters or dart boards.

  9. prism 9
    24 April 2013 at 8:15 pm

    Joyce and National are on the side of investors with money to burn, while Labour and the Greens with are on the side of the consumers who worry about turning on the heater.

    Nice analogy Emmerson in Herald.

  10. Peter 10
    25 April 2013 at 6:19 pm

    Agree with your sentiments. A good chance that Shearer gets out of bed thinking about the NZ people. Key …… no idea what he think about?