privatisation

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.

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 […]

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.

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%.

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.”

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.

The Sell-off Begins

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

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.

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.

A very Tory Xmas

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 9:56 pm, December 21st, 2010 - 30 comments

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the House,
Nats announced policies, they’re usually scared to espouse.

Journos on holiday, Key out of reach on his Hawaiian vacation,
It was the time to let slip, their plan for ACC privatisation.

Electricity privatisation begins

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:58 pm, December 19th, 2010 - 39 comments

What to do if you’re a government with an ideological fixation on selling assets, which is hugely unpopular? The public will catch on if you put SOEs as full entities up for auction. So, you don’t sell off the companies. Instead, you sell off the things they own or, through bond issues, their profit streams. We’ve been warning this would happen. Now, it is.

Good Day to Bury News

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 11:18 am, December 14th, 2010 - 25 comments

So Pansy’s gone. That should mean we can breeze over the fact that thanks to National’s economic policies (or lack thereof) the economy’s gone to custard.  And thanks to National’s tax cuts for the rich, the government’s books are in the poo. We certainly won’t get to hear anything about the fact that our first […]

PPPs suck, toll roads do too

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:00 am, December 1st, 2010 - 61 comments

By backing a (soft) privatisation policy, David Cunliffe is throwing away a vital point of difference with National and allowing National to move rightwards. Worse, Labour appears to be determined to give up political advantage for dumb policy: public-private partnerships and tolling have a terrible track record.

Nats push ahead with ACC privatisation agenda

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 10:30 am, November 8th, 2010 - 22 comments

The Government is planning to reduce ACC cover and portray it as a cost saving for levy-payers. You would get less income coverage when injured and have to endure a longer wait time of three weeks until your coverage would begin. Levies would be personalised on the private model. This is privatising ACC on bite at a time with no actual cost savings.

Killing the golden geese

Written By: r0b - Date published: 9:26 am, October 16th, 2010 - 45 comments

National is developing an agenda for privatisation.  It’s crazy.  State owned assets are generating some rare bright spots in an otherwise dismal sea of poor economic news.  So why would any rational government sell ACC (or other state owned assets)?  Why would any rational government be cutting back on the Cullen Fund?  Why are the Nats determined to kill the golden geese?

Treasury papers reveal SOE sale list

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 7:51 am, August 25th, 2010 - 25 comments

In the Treasury asset sale papers we released earlier this week, a key word is blanked out again and again. It is the name given for a group of SOEs in a series of slides on reforming the SOE sector. One can only presume that this list is the group of SOEs that the Government will be seeking to sell, if it can find a way to dupe the public first.