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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Hand grenade

Good Afternoon (National Party stalwart),
 It is becoming clearer and clearer that the Labour-Green ‘plan’ to nationalise the electricity industry amounts to little more than a deliberate attempt to sabotage the economy for their own political gain.  “Comments made in recent days by Grant Robertson, David Parker, and Russell Norman show they don’t care about the damage to KiwiSaver accounts, mum and dad investors, and the wider New Zealand economy,” said Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce. 
“Kiwis are deeply suspicious about the Labour-Greens’ announcement and its timing. It’s simply economic sabotage.” 
Financial analysts including JB Were, Woodward Partners, Milford Asset Management, First NZ Capital, Devon Funds Management and Forsyth Barr have been unanimous in their condemnation of the reckless announcement. One even labeled it as a ‘hand grenade’ to the New Zealand economy, while others have said it will cut the value of every New Zealander’s KiwiSaver account, and could even lead to rolling black-outs. 
Investment in new power generation would wither, and investment in the wider economy would suffer also. The National-led Government is focused on attracting investment in new business and jobs for New Zealanders. Labour and the Greens would do the exact opposite. 
 This is a policy not worth it for anybody. The last time we had central planning of the power industry, prices went up faster. Even Labour’s own 2006 Cabinet paper said such a plan would push costs up for consumers over time. 
 New Zealanders will see this policy for what it is: a cynical, selfish attempt by left-wing parties to play politics with New Zealand’s assets for their own gain. 
 Greg Hamilton 
 General Manager

4 comments:

Armchair Critic said...

Hang on, once they are sold they aren't New Zealand's assets at all, they are the shareholders' asset. And these shareholders could be anyone, anywhere.
As Samuel Johnson noted, patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. This is a clear and erroneous appeal to patriotism. Unbelievably cheeky.

robertguyton said...

The Natty stalwarts will swallow it whole, most likely (bar the one who forwarded this email to me:-)

Armchair Critic said...

Nah, a smart business owner will realise that lower electricity costs directly increase their profit, because it lowers their overheads. This will be more pronounced for businesses that use a fair bit of electricity.
Smarter business owners will realise that lower power bills to their customers will increase the amount of spare cash available to buy products and services. In a well run business the increased turnover will turn straight into increased profit too.
Council's, who tend to be big users of power, will benefit too.

robertguyton said...

Good point. I'll put the good news to the council at our next meeting.