My influence was Phil bolger, Che, Fisk and lots of history books as well as roger Douglas. From all this I came to the conclusion that freedom is the ultimate driver of ideas and growth.

How does this work with a monopoly like telecom well other telecom competitors pay levies and fees so that everyone in NZ pays the same telephone line rental. Any competitor has to pay their share if this was removed competitors could trim their costs right down for their target markets such as urban areas telecom would have to follow so cheaper phone rental in urban areas would be created.

In the rural areas the costs would go up but this would create opportunities for other companies with different technologies as people look around for substitutes.

So the end result is opportunities for companies and cheaper phones and services for a majority. Yes some people would lose but the innovative ideas that would appear with the opportunities and cheap urban phone charges would far outweigh the loses.

Government interference is more likely to protect the status quo either in technology and/or businesses and these are usually the same old people that those on the left claim to despise.

Freedom allows new companies to grow not just try to prune the old trees

And as for that stupid term right wing as I keep saying there are those that are for freedom and those that are not. Right wing and left wing are just different ends of the same stick that is used to beat the people I don’t believe in sticks

Thanks for the compliments though. But you forgot supercilious.

The terms effete, pompous, arrogant, narcissistic leap to the mind.

Jafapete shoud write to Cunliffe. He’ll probably give him a job as a media-release hack.

I noted to a friend in London who is intimate with the political scene there that kiwiblog is infested with people who cite/link to Ann Coutler, the Heritage Foundation, Weekly Standard, etc, etc. He responded that it hasn’t worked quite the same with the Tories there, and that the NZ right political culture has indeed grown very weird.

Somebody should do a study of the influence of the US loony right on NZ’s right-wing activists.

The honourable an correct right way to sort out the Telecom monopoly problem was to buy back the copper network as the Government did with the rail network.

Cunliffe has trampled on the property rights of tens of thousands of mum and dad investors. And not so much in the interest of everyday Kiwis as Telecom competitors big and small who euphemistically describe themselves as “users”.

Let’s see now whether the Telecommunications regulatory bureaucracy works for ordinary Kiwi users or for Telecom’s competitors.

Disclaimer: No, I don’t think that it is a good thing that Mugabe has been in power for 27 years.

And good on the DomPost for saying what needs to be said plainly: “Governments should not sell monopolies unless they are able to regulate to protect the national interest.” The superior performance of airports, etc, in Australia where the regulation of natural monopolies is heavier underlines this point.

And finally, good on DPF for bringing these gems to our attention!

Disclaimer: On a personal level I find Cunliffe to be overly smarmy. At least he doesn’t model himself so closely on Bill Clinton these days.

Maybe we should ban editorials, esp. in election year.