ImperatorFish: Yes, Steven, this is just like North Korea

Written By: - Date published: 2:25 pm, April 19th, 2013 - 7 comments
Categories: greens, labour, Steven Joyce - Tags: ,

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.

Steven Joyce yesterday claimed that the plan by Labour and the Greens to reform the electricity sector was from “the North Korean School of Economics”.

But is this true? Let us examine the facts:

A state-owned organisation will purchase power from power generators. These generators will be a mixture of private, state owned, and partly-state-owned companies. Those generators will still be allowed to make a profit.

Conclusion: Yes, this is JUST LIKE IN NORTH KOREA!

The shareholders of those power generators will still receive dividends from their shares.

Conclusion: Yes, this is JUST LIKE IN NORTH KOREA!

The power generators won’t all suddenly be nationalised. Their ownership won’t change under this plan.

Conclusion: Yes, this is JUST LIKE IN NORTH KOREA!

Consumers will be able to shop around to get the best deal from their electricity retailers, and electricity retailers will continue to compete for customers.

Conclusion: Yes, this is JUST LIKE IN NORTH KOREA!

A centralised buying agency will reduce excessive profit-taking by suppliers and ensure consumers get a better deal.

Conclusion: But isn’t that what Pharmac already does for medicines?

OMG! PHARMAC MUST ALSO BE STRAIGHT FROM THE NORTH KOREAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS!

Phase Two of Labour and the Greens’ power reform plan?

(And since we’re comparing political parties with despotic terror regimes responsible for the murder of millions of people, does Steven Joyce’s obsession with building motorways make him a follower of the Adolf Hitler School of Economics? Yes, I agree, what an awful thing to say.)

7 comments on “ImperatorFish: Yes, Steven, this is just like North Korea ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. AmaKiwi 1
    19 April 2013 at 6:55 pm

    They have no choice except to panic because their plan to sell off value state assets just went down the gurgler. Under our rotating dictatorship form of government I can’t see anything they can do to stop it.

    The 800,000 who didn’t vote in 2011 might decide it’s worth voting in 2014.

    For lefty voters, deciding whether to vote Labour or Green becomes simply a matter of how the portfolios get divided up.

  2. Murray Olsen 2
    19 April 2013 at 8:02 pm

    National’s addiction to the Trans Pacific trade agreement will kill off Pharmac, that remnant of North Korean economics.

  3. Plan B 3
    19 April 2013 at 9:18 pm

    There may be an unwritten Law of Blogs that when Nazi’s or Hitler is mentioned all rational thought has left the building. I am not sure what the case is when it is mentioned in the actual article. However with the North Korea comments being the modern day equivalent I guess you could say’ they started it’

    [lprent: I wouldn’t call Godwin’s law as being unwritten. And here is the man himself…
    ]

    • QoT 3.1
      19 April 2013 at 9:55 pm

      Welcome to Godwin’s Law. Are you quite new to the internet?

    • felix 3.2
      20 April 2013 at 6:02 pm

      “that when Nazi’s or Hitler is mentioned all rational thought has left the building.”

      No that’s not what Godwin’s Law states at all.

      It’s simply an observation that as a discussion thread grows longer the probability of someone making a comparison to Hitler or the Nazis approaches zero.

      That’s all it is. No value judgment on the quality of the discussion is implied.

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