An interesting post from David Farrar calling for National to implement radical rightwing policies while it still has the support to get away with it:
The long-term goal is lifting our economic growth.
No. As we know, lifting GDP growth is not an end itself, even the creators of GDP said as much. The long-term goal is a prosperous sustainable society where people can live happy lives free of poverty and its consequences. Economic growth is just part of getting there.
Despite the rhetoric we will never close the income gap with Australia,
An interesting admission. We’ve being saying all along that the Government’s 2025 Taskforce isn’t really about lifting economic growth, it’s about using economic growth as an excuse for pushing through pro-rich, anti-worker policies.
but we might be able to stop the gap getting any bigger.
Um, it did stop getting bigger, once we booted out National (source).
Hell, I’ll even settle for the gap not growing so fast as before.
Again, the gap grew fastest when rightwing economic reforms were being implemented. Ironically, they were being implemented by people who said we had to act boldly to close the gap with Australia.
Some of what we need to do to lift that growth may need boldness.
I’d prefer some decent ideas sensibly put in place after careful thought to flawed ideology combined with boldness. Attacking wages and working conditions does not lift growth. All it does is create a cheap disposable workforce, which discourages businesses from investing in capital. One of the traits of business in this country is that it re-invests a relatively small amount of profits and pays out a lot of dividends compared to other countries – that ultimately holds back our economic performance, and is intrinsically tied to the Right’s low wage policies.
Basically, Farrar is asking National to use its current popularity to push through major reforms without pausing for proper planning and debate. That’s bad enough in itself. But rushing through more of the same old failed rightwing economics, that would really be a disaster.
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