Last Updated: Nov 19th, 2009 - 11:07:39 Newsletters : 2005 Newsletters : 16 December 2005 Thought for the Day "Our elections are free - it's in the results where eventually we pay." Bill Stern Dec 16, 2005, 14:06 Newsletters : 2005 Newsletters : 16 December 2005 Letter to the Editor I opened the latest Listener and had a look at the editorial written by Tim Watkin, entitled "Holding Our Own". What I read was the antithesis of information. It consisted of trying to justify why governments should own businesses and various enterprises. It came straight out of some 50 year old communist manifesto. I couldn't believe the extent of Tim Watkin's lack of economic understanding. He seriously thinks that because the government interfered with Air NZ and its proposal to link up with Singapore Airlines and had to bail it out to the tune of $1,000,000,000 that this is a good thing. You must read this absurd editorial for yourself. How can we possibly hope to make progress in the modern world if this is the type of thinking looping round the halls of power? Below is my letter to the Listener: The Editor, Dear Sir, I was amazed and appalled to read your editorial for the December 17th Listener. This is more a socialist polemic than a serious editorial discussion. Surely some attention to fact and economic theory would have been in order. The old shibboleths of state ownership need to have light thrown on them – not boosted by socialist cant. For your information the country was in dire straights in the mid eighties after Muldoon’s version of state control produced an economic disaster and the Lange government had little choice but to remove some of the mill-stones from around the neck of Nanny State. Railways was steadily losing $1,000,000 dollars PER DAY and the Post Office had just lost $1,000,000,000 the previous year. The Bank of New Zealand had had to be rescued by pumping in $1,000,000,000 of tax payer cash and the only hope was to sell off some of these very badly run businesses. Of course they went cheap! I was surprised that anyone would want to buy such rubbish. But nevertheless some far-sighted individuals could see the value in these enterprises if they were properly managed and they decided to spend their own money in taking that risk. You baldly state that, “profitability improved because services and wages were cut and charges increased”. You should recall that postage went DOWN to 40c a letter under private enterprise but has since gone up to 45c under this socialist government. The service has vastly improved in telephony. In the “good old days” if you wanted a phone shifted the bureaucrat made you fill out a form and then you waited for weeks. Now you keep the same number and do it over the phone immediately and the nice person at Telecom asks you what time of day you would like them to do it for you. Private enterprise has taken weeks of inaction down to immediate action and timing to the minute. When politicians run businesses the over-riding imperative is “we must get elected next term”. The business is thus guided by this thinking and making a profit “doesn’t enter into it” as John Cleese would say. Hence gross over-manning on the Railways and Post Office. The wage bill was cut because staff were laid off and subsequently have found more useful employment as witnessed by today’s shortage of workers. The remaining workers got increases in wages which a profitable company could afford to pay. If the State goes back to running businesses again we will suffer the same fate. Have the lessons of the 20th Century socialist experiment not percolated through yet? The importance of ownership is that it must be ownership by individuals not ownership by politicians. Individuals will work for their own interest and this just so happens to benefit their customers. Politicians work to get elected and they don’t have customers. Political interference can be seen at its clearest in the recent debacle over TVNZ. As a State Owned Enterprise the politicians were held at arms length but when the socialist imperative descended in 1999 the Enterprise was doomed. This latest fiasco is simply the obvious result of politicians running a previously successful business. Sooner or later KiwiBank will go the same way as the old BNZ if it continues to be run by politicians. Why do 96% of New Zealanders not trust politicians yet think that they should be trusted with running mega-million dollar companies for a profit when experience tell us they just use those enterprises to help get themselves elected? Yours sincerely, Phil Scott Parties for Growth Incorporated P O Box 10-282 Wellington Telephone 64 4 972 4365 Mobile 64 027 229 1519 phil@partiesforgrowth.org.nz www.partiesforgrowth.org.nz Dec 15, 2005, 11:21 Newsletters : 2005 Newsletters : 16 December 2005 We Need More Carbon Di-oxide to Grow More Trees We keep getting strange emanations from government. Here is a recent note from Nania Mahuta: "Wood pellets contribute to greater energy efficiency and a sustainable New Zealand society. Made from a waste product, wood pellets can heat people's homes while minimizing pollution to the air, they are made from a renewable energy source, wood pellets are carbon neutral in terms of our commitment to the Kyoto Protocol that will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This means that by using wood pellets, we are not only making good use of a waste product but we also help to clean up New Zealand's air - protecting the 'clean green' image all New Zealanders are proud of. Having said this, I am pleased as Associate Environment Minister to be here today." So we can burn wood pellets because our Associate Environment Minister assures that this is good for us and does not affect our standing under the Kyoto protocol. Should we then start an industry pulping trees into pellets so we can then burn them without any environmental cost? How much energy is consumed in producing wood pellets? Does she really know what she is talking about? I have said it once and I will say it again, "Virides delendi sunt". Have a look at this site for some interesting information. . . [ Visit Website ] Dec 8, 2005, 11:37 Newsletters : 2005 Newsletters : 16 December 2005 And Then a Miracle Occurs Continuing with our thesis that all politicians should be required to study Economics 101 we give you this study in economic logic. As long as our politicians make decisions affecting our economy on the basis of ideology or "buying votes" we will all suffer lower growth and a depressed standard of living. Notice how Michael Cullen resorts to attacking Treasury people when his argument fails. This "Ad hominem" approach is typical "Polly Speak". In his terms he "wins" the argument but unfortunately all of us are the losers as he continues to make bad economic decisions. Our growth rate is declining and he continues to make decisions that will assist the slide down the slippery slope. Labour's efforts have so far taken us from number 37 in 2000 to number 38 in 2005 in the World Wide Wealth list. They are managing to turn the ship of state around and are now heading in the wrong direction. Please send this newsletter on to your favourite politician and ask for his opinion. Nov 30, 2005, 10:15 Newsletters : 2005 Newsletters : 16 December 2005 Taxing Times: Tax Competition and Regulation Over the last ten years in Eastern Europe, nine countries, starting with Estonia in 1994, have adopted a flat tax rate. Here is an interesting comparison between East and West. Why can't we do what what is best for all the people of New Zealand? Why do we cling to the losing strategies of the past? Why can't politicians be required to pass Economics 101 as a job requirement? Oct 31, 2005, 13:11