Posts Tagged ‘asset sales’

National 0, Christchurch 1

Written By: - Date published: 1:49 pm, September 21st, 2016 - 97 comments

Did Lianne Dalziel just prove how economically challenged the National Party are? It appears Christchurch will be able to pay its quake bill without flogging off the family silver. Why are the right so wedded to asset sales when they make no financial sense?

Flogging off Kiwibank

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, March 31st, 2016 - 67 comments

Flogging off Kiwibank is not an option.

NRT: Disgraceful

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, June 23rd, 2015 - 11 comments

I/S at No Right Turn: “Since coming to power in 2008, the National government has sold more than a thousand state houses and tightened access to the remainder considerably. The net result? People not getting the assistance they need…”

Free houses?

Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, February 17th, 2015 - 188 comments

That may be what it takes to interest charities in becoming “social housing” providers.

Labour’s plan vs National’s plan

Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, January 28th, 2015 - 43 comments

The choice is clear.

Sale of social housing stock won’t save costs

Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, November 16th, 2014 - 20 comments

Hamilton City Council currently has plans to sell of its remaining pensioner housing stock. It already sold off a block of them in 2012. Of those sold, only 12 out of 53 units are available for seniors to rent at affordable rates. This is because 27 were sold as there was no social service provider able to buy them. So now Council want to sell the rest.

Social housing providers

Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, November 12th, 2014 - 46 comments

Is Key planning to flog off state houses at half price to a liquor company?

NRT: Wealth transfer

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, November 5th, 2014 - 11 comments

John Key’s latest answer to the housing crisis: bigger subsidies for private landlords! Subsidies to private landlords simply result in rent increases. It doesn’t increase the housing supply. But ole JK just likes screwing over young first home buyers..

Housing policy shambles

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, November 5th, 2014 - 30 comments

National’s sale of state housing assets and other aspects of housing policy is stupid at all levels. Which is probably why they are confused themselves about it.

Polity: Newsflash: Houses are assets

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 pm, November 3rd, 2014 - 34 comments

Prime Minister John Key, in his capacity as Prime Minister, promised no asset sales this term in the run up to the last election. But now they are selling assets – state houses.

NZ Inc: Frightening the invisible horses of the market

Written By: - Date published: 12:15 pm, September 16th, 2014 - 15 comments

The Herald is scathing of Labour’s NZ Inc policy, which defies all logic and reason by assuming that there are better ways to build our economy than flogging off profitable assets, built by New Zealanders, to foreign investors.

Polity: Buy low, sell high. Except National.

Written By: - Date published: 1:06 pm, March 24th, 2014 - 27 comments

Rob at Polity points out National’s intensely unstrategic view about investments and asset sales. In a down market where all the indications said “buy,” National sold our assets for a pittance, and refused to invest in the Super Fund. The Super Fund has been making returns of 21%, far exceeding the Crown’s cost of borrowing. And National will only start investing in the Super Fund when equities are expensive again.  It is almost as if they wanted to waste taxpayers funds eh?

National – a party for wastrels

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, January 24th, 2014 - 13 comments

The Crown Financial Statements to the end of November 2013 show that the sale of Meridian and Air New Zealand added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the asset sales programme. Combined with the cost of the Mighty River Power sale and ancillary costs such as the Rio Tinto payout, the total cost of the asset sales now stands at $440m. National just likes burning the money of the taxpayers for no productive purpose.

At least 225,000 Nats said “No” to asset sales

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, December 14th, 2013 - 90 comments

Rob Salmond runs the Polity blog and has given us permission to syndicate his posts. Long time readers will remember him from the brilliant posts on 08wire.org during the 2008 campaign, so expect us to often find something of interest.

Like this post looking at who voted No on the referendum. That number of previously National voters must be scaring the National party at present.

Where our Assets have gone

Written By: - Date published: 3:24 pm, August 13th, 2013 - 133 comments

Labour have OIA’d a Treasury list of where the money from Asset Sales has gone.  Hint: it’s mostly not schools, hospitals, or paying down debt like National said.

More pay for them; bigger bills for us

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, April 4th, 2013 - 24 comments

Ryall has announced that Might River Power top brass will be receiving massive pay rises, in relation to the sale of the powercos. The directors have multiple positions, and questions have been raise about the past of one or two of them. They benefit; we pay.

Surplus power and asset sales

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, March 28th, 2013 - 55 comments

Apparently Meridian Energy are saying that there is unlikely to be a renewal of the Tiwai Point power contract. This would massively disrupt the value of sales of shares in state owned power companies by this government. However news is being released just before Meridian appears before a select committee.  So I’m anticipating that it is a chicken little play to scare this weak-kneed government into an emergency wastage of taxpayers dollars – just like the Peter Jackson inspired Hobbit extortion.

Strategic blunder

Written By: - Date published: 8:20 am, March 6th, 2013 - 40 comments

Amidst the froth of predatory “excitement” about the sale of our power generation assets, it was refreshing to read in The Herald yesterday a single lone voice who was thinking long term.

Kiwis at the front of the queue?

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, March 4th, 2013 - 140 comments

One of the promises that Key made about asset sales was that Kiwis would be “at the front of the queue”. So why will up to 30% of the current offering be heading overseas?

Selling NZ – in the news

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, December 29th, 2012 - 93 comments

There’s been a couple of stories in the news over the last 24 hours that could do with some scrutiny: Treasury warns of asset sales over-load; potential sale of Oceania Dairy to an overseas company to set up a milk factory in NZ.

2012: “celebrity” PM – collective action

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, December 23rd, 2012 - 47 comments

Individualism & “celebrity” PM, John Key were still strong in 2012.  But, there was opposition from some (often local) groups working collaboratively:  Occupy, Glen Innes protesters, MUNZ, Asset Sales referendum, AAAP advocacy activism, manufacturing inquiry, NZLP democratisation, TS nest of vipers. And 2013?

Marriage Equality and other bills

Written By: - Date published: 9:55 pm, August 29th, 2012 - 51 comments

It’s Members Night in Parliament and the Marriage Equality Bill has passed its first reading. Future Asset Sales have not been entrenched however and National are currently arguing against raising the minimum wage.

Asset Sales to pay for nearly 1.5 years of roads

Written By: - Date published: 4:06 pm, August 29th, 2012 - 8 comments

Gerry Brownlee has announced $12.3 billion of road spending over the next 3 years. Asset sales will pay for less than half of it. Does it really make sense to lose control of our strategic assets – with all the income they bring in – for just over 1 year’s worth of roads?

$3 Billion

Written By: - Date published: 6:47 pm, July 31st, 2012 - 21 comments

The government have $3 billion for the Christchurch rebuild burning a hole in their pockets. But at the same time they’re claiming governmental poverty is why we need to sell our productive assets… And there’s 30,000 people nearby wanting proper houses to live in.

The cost of asset sales

Written By: - Date published: 5:29 pm, July 24th, 2012 - 25 comments

Loyalty Scheme:   $360 million.
Brokerage Fees:   $90 million.
Advertising/PR:   $30 million.
Iwi Settlements:   $unknown.
Lost Revenue:   $100 million/year.

Asset sale delay likely

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, July 17th, 2012 - 62 comments

Even John Key is now admitting that the asset sale program is facing a serious legal challenge, and that delays in the sales are likely.  Any such delay would have several implications…

1600 dead, power prices 2/3 higher than Oz/US: Market working – Ryall

Written By: - Date published: 2:28 pm, June 19th, 2012 - 81 comments

Independent energy analyst Molly Melhuish is putting out some facts that Tony Ryall will not find comfortable: we pay on average 28.1c per kWh from private companies and 24.79c per kWh from state owned companies. Why is the asset sales process being rushed through parliament, before Treasury can analyse Molly Melhuish’s research?

Asset sales: What’s the rush?

Written By: - Date published: 3:13 pm, June 13th, 2012 - 49 comments

The Asset Sales Bill will be back in Parliament for its second reading tomorrow.

It’s a further abrogation of due procress, as it comes back 5 weeks early, curtailing proper scrutiny.

Asset sales: still bad

Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, May 27th, 2012 - 16 comments

Adding to the canon of reasons and commentators on why you don’t sell your assets (particularly to pay for your maintenance) is an excellent article on The Guardian. It is an article exhorting the countries of the Arab Spring to resist Western countries pressure to implement neo-liberal economics in the name of ‘freedom’. It cites […]

Spin v reality

Written By: - Date published: 6:45 pm, May 21st, 2012 - 13 comments

National have become a very adept PR machine. While not adept at running the country, they’ve become great at running statistics. John Key was pushing things a little too far with his lines that unemployment rising to 6.7% showed an improved economy and that Europe electing anti-austerity leaders showed their austerity policies were right, but […]

Another asset sale lie

Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, April 14th, 2012 - 99 comments

The Nats promised to sell no more than 49% of any given state owned assert.  Now they’re trying to get cute with semantics and effectively remove all limits.  

Unfortunately for them their previous promises are on record and very clear.   Hey Peter Dunne – are you going to vote for this latest lie?