assets

Categories under assets

privatisation (511)
- Public Private Partnerships (42)

Winnie’s big chance

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:00 am, April 18th, 2011 - 58 comments

The TV3 poll has the NACT vs Lab/Green/NZF gap at 22% vs 9% in the latest Roy Morgan. I’ll tend to pay attention to the company that polls every fortnight to the one that polls once in a blue moon. Nevertheless, the story of both polls is the same: Labour struggling to make headway + Nats potentially with a majority = opportunity for Winston Peters

Stop asset sales

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 9:36 am, April 12th, 2011 - 24 comments

No ambition for New Zealand

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 10:30 am, April 11th, 2011 - 105 comments

National came to power promising to close the wage gap with Australia. Not only have they failed to fulfill that promise but Bill English now portrays it as a good thing. His appearance on Q+A yesterday only confirms how out of touch National is: determined to sell our assets for no good reason, against our will, and happy with our low wages.

Nice to have

Written By: Tammy Gordon - Date published: 10:21 am, April 7th, 2011 - 25 comments

The PSA is the frontline in our fight against National’s plans to savagely cut our public services. Much in the same vein as the sticker campaign that Eddie posted on yesterday, the PSA has used humour to get across an incisive message: what the rich elitists in National consider ‘nice to have’ is very different from what we value.

IMF: Neo-liberalism dead

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 9:03 am, April 7th, 2011 - 48 comments

This post is largely by the head of the IMF. “[T]he pendulum will swing … from the market to the state,” Mr Strauss-Kahn says, “The benefits of growth must be broadly shared, not just captured by a privileged few … the invisible hand must not become the invisible fist.”

Economy

Written By: Ben Clark - Date published: 8:25 am, April 3rd, 2011 - 84 comments

The economy, shall we say politely, is facing some difficulties. With a National government there was no plan as to how to weather the economic storm, we just got tax cuts for the rich and an economy that just can’t get growing.

The Shock Doctrine

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:31 pm, March 1st, 2011 - 147 comments

I’m really pissed off that politics has come into the Christchurch earthquake so quickly. But make no mistake, the Nats are pursuing a strongly ideological agenda. They’re using the quake as cover for radically cutting important policies and making other extreme decisions, while preserving the tax cuts for the rich. It’s called the Shock Doctrine.

2 to 1 against privatisation

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 7:53 am, February 18th, 2011 - 52 comments

Kiwis are strongly against selling our public assets. National’s policy is opposed by 60% and supported by just 30%. That’s more opposition than the mining proposal. There’ll be no back-down from the Nats – pillaging the State is a core reason for them wanting power. On these numbers, it may lose them the election.

S&P says no need for cuts, asset sales

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:00 pm, February 16th, 2011 - 27 comments

As you know, National has been trying to justify selling off our assets and cutting our public services to pay for tax cuts for the rich by saying that debt is at dangerous levels and we risk a credit downgrade. Numerous commentators have shown that’s false. Now, the final nail in the coffin has come from credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

Not for sale – first flyers

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 12:00 pm, February 15th, 2011 - 45 comments

To avoid another three years of backhanders to the rich, falling wages, rising unemployment, and asset sales, we have nine months to chip away at National’s support. As in 2008, The Standard will be running a campaign offering flyers etc for your to print off and deliver around your neighbourhood. Privatisation is an obvious first target.

The best they’ve got?

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:20 pm, February 13th, 2011 - 18 comments

Today’s Herald contains the first unequivocal defence of National’s plan to sell our assets to pay for tax cuts for the rich. It’s disappointing to say the least – confused, piecemeal, and unconvincing. Ironically, it’s written by some guy from an insolvency company – ie. someone who makes money from cleaning up after others’ poor business decisions.

Fallow latest to slay privatisation arguments

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 8:02 am, February 11th, 2011 - 45 comments

Brian Fallow has put the nails in the coffin of the Nats’ privatisation arguments. His column goes through the excuses that National has come up with for selling the family silver and none of them stack up. Nor does Key’s ‘money-go-round’ where the state-owned Cullen Fund buys these state-owned assets to free up cash for the state.

News round-up

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:46 am, February 10th, 2011 - 6 comments

*English vs English on assets sales, as business commentators come out against the flawed business case for privatisation. *Will Hide honour his word and resign over Supercity debacle? *Foreshore Bill to join CERRA as a constitutional outrage. *Economic woe keeps coming. *Is the ‘brighter future’ on its way or just more Key stunts?

Tuku wades in again – same result?

Written By: Mike Smith - Date published: 10:34 pm, February 8th, 2011 - 16 comments

There are some interesting legal and constitutional parallels between the Maori party’s attempts to rid themselves of Hone Harawira and previous unsuccessful attempts in Tainui to have their Kauhanganui chair dismissed for raising awkward questions about use of tribal finances. Tukoroirangi Morgan was a key player in the Tainui ructions; now he has waded into […]

Simmons destroys asset sale talking points

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:44 pm, February 8th, 2011 - 21 comments

The kneejerk righties have praised John Key’s plan to sell our public assets (indeed, the Herald seems to be calling for something far more radical in today’s editorial) but all the substantive analysis of the proposal continues to show it’s an ideologically-driven rip-off. Here’s Geoff Simmons’ take.

Testing Key’s $33 billion line

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 11:54 am, February 4th, 2011 - 12 comments

One of John Key’s excuses for selling our SOEs is that we need the cash to buy $33 billion of new assets over the next 5 years. Sounds like a lot, eh? It turns out the Crown spent $42 billion on new assets* over the last 5 years without selling our SOEs and even with that $33 billion of new capital spending the deficit will be gone in 4 years … I wonder what Key’s next line will be.

Save us from Nat working groups

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:54 am, February 3rd, 2011 - 27 comments

The same old formula has played out again: National appoints an expensive, hand-picked working group (the Savings Working Group). The working group comes up with predictable recommendations. The Nats extreme recommendations out of hand, to appear moderate, and do what they were planning to do. Here are the real savings solutions.

Time for the Goffice to step up to the plate

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:36 am, January 29th, 2011 - 137 comments

We face a stark choice this year: a Labour-led government, which will create fairer tax and invest in jobs and innovation, or National-led government, which will govern for the kleptocracy, giving them tax cuts, then selling our assets and slashing our public services to pay for them. So why is the Goffice doing such a bad job making the case?

Contact Energy: A Case Study

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 6:01 am, January 29th, 2011 - 65 comments

We could look at bailed-out TranzRail and Air NZ, with privatisation leading to risk-free pay-outs for the temporary owners of infrastructure that couldn’t be allowed to fail. Or Telecom that doesn’t look out for NZers interests, and needs us to pay for it to build us a fibre network. But let’s look at the “success” story of Contact, the closest privatisation to National’s new plans.

Selling assets to pay for tax cuts for richest 1%

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 7:50 am, January 28th, 2011 - 171 comments

John Key, very optimistically, reckons he can raise $10 billion by selling our assets. Key’s Government gave massive tax cuts, averaging $16,000 each, to the richest 1% of taxpayers that they’ll get year after year. The present value of those tax cuts for the richest 1% is over $10 billion. He’s selling our assets to pay for tax cuts for the richest 1%.

Debt an excuse for enriching the elite

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 12:45 pm, January 27th, 2011 - 24 comments

In 2008, John Key’s line was ‘New Zealand doesn’t have a debt problem, it has a growth problem’. In Budget 2010, he said the Crown would be back into surplus in record time. In December, he said debt wouldn’t force a downgrade. Now, he says debt is such a problem we need to slash and sell. When did he mean what he said? Never. It has never been about debt.

Slash & sell … then crash

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 10:55 am, January 27th, 2011 - 6 comments

Ironically, the best response to Key’s ‘slash and sell’ agenda came from Obama, whose spotlight Key is always trying to share: “Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may feel like you’re flying high at first, but it won’t take long before you’ll feel the impact.”

Political “courage”

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:51 am, January 27th, 2011 - 99 comments

Just what is this political “courage” the Herald speaks of?

Nats start the election campaign

Written By: IrishBill - Date published: 7:12 pm, January 26th, 2011 - 53 comments

Halfway through last year I suggested we’d see a July election as National raced to lock in a second term before their numbers fell.

I reckon that’s exactly the strategy we’re seeing today. The tories know that their numbers are only going to go down this year as their policies bite so they’ve decided to put the pedal down.

6 quick reasons why asset sales suck

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 6:00 pm, January 26th, 2011 - 83 comments

While we’re all eagerly awaiting Tracy Waktins et al’s reviews of John Key’s controversial decision to wear a mauve tie in his state of the nation speech, I thought I would look at some of the reasons why asset sales are such a stupid idea.

The Sell-off Begins

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 12:04 pm, January 26th, 2011 - 160 comments

'Privatisation in health, education and superannuation makes sense'

So John Key’s great bit of policy for the election is to sell off the family jewels. Generations of New Zealanders have built up these assets, and now, like in the 90s, National intend to flick them off to foreign investors, and drain the country’s wealth.

Ministers put public land in private hands

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:28 am, January 24th, 2011 - 28 comments

You’ll remember the disgraceful Schmuck scandal when Minister John Carter had clauses inserted into legislation specifically to legalise Doug Schmuck’s annexation of a public reserve. John Key took no action. Now, Kate Wilkinson and David Carter got in on the act – forcing DoC to sign over more public land for private use.

Privatisation stalking-horses on the hoof

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 2:30 pm, January 17th, 2011 - 15 comments

The Herald today has an article that serves as a stalking-horse for privatisation of public assets. Privatisation is a core part of National’s agenda- it will have to push for it in some form at the election. Articles like this one are all about softening us up for that campaign.

More privatisation by stealth

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:06 am, January 16th, 2011 - 29 comments

Since it came to office, National has cut the Conservation budget in real terms by 2% and the cuts are going to get deeper. Now, we learn that DoC is looking at contracting out camping areas on the conservation estate to be run for a profit. Coincidence? I think not. It’s privatisation by stealth.

Farrar joins call for SOE reform

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:00 am, December 24th, 2010 - 95 comments

Say you run a large company. Say the manager of a division in your company chose do a deal that improves the division’s own profitability instead of one that would have made the division less profitable but the company as a whole more profitable. You would be angry. So why are the people who run our SOEs required to act like that?