The median household has $1700 in the bank – you couldn’t really term that savings, it’s operating cash. The Nats want us to fork out at least a grand a time to participate in each share float. That just doesn’t add up.
Labour and the Greens are right, this isn’t an opportunity for ordinary people to invest, it’s a wealth transfer to the elite.
As Russel Norman pointed out last week, Treasury expects only 7% of kiwis to buy shares – also known as the elite.
Now, Bill English’s line is that people might not have much in the bank but asset sales give them somewhere better to put their money than in the bank or paying off the mortgage.
Two problems with that: $1700 isn’t savings, it’s the money families need to meet expenses week to week, and with the government planning dividends of 4% on the assets, which is a 3% net return for ‘mum and dad’ -they’re better off using the money to pay down their 5-7% mortgage.
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