Think of a dysfunctional householder on the breadline throwing all its bits and pieces into a threadbare sheet and taking the whole lot round the pawnbroker the day before the rent collector’s due. That’s Brooniland 2009.

It is quite profitable as a toll road, the same could be done for the Auckland Harbour Bridge with the rights to build a duplicate crossing, with tolls, from Victoria Park to Constellation Drive.

The world wouldn’t come to an end, the government wouldn’t need to borrow to build a new crossing, the timing of the crossing would be when it is optimal (based on tolls), tolls could be offset by existing fuel tax/RUC consumed while using the road, and the Western Ring Route would provide a check on toll rates (and the Commerce Act allows price control if need be).

Then NZ deserves to die.Im serious….if the cure is to hard for the poor dears to take then they can go to hell.I’ll be off and won’t shed a tear.

Kris, ever read The Road to Serfdom?
You should.

No I haven’t. I’ll try and track it down.

redqueen 8:57 pm,

I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. And I’d be happy to be proven wrong, I just don’t see it from where I’m sitting.

I’m off. Chow for now.

Excuse me?

“dobbed themselves in”????

To whom??

What is it with the Green vernacular that you always seem to spin it to sound like sanctimonious a-holes.

I watched Q&A, I witnessed the ‘confession’ – there was no unprompted public announcement – although Metiria Turei certainly tried to make out this was the case.
Just so you know, when information has to be teased out of you that is not generally classified as ‘dobbing yourself in’.
It’s akin to arguing that Jan Molenaar handed himself over to the Po-Po without duress and of his own free will. It’s nonsensical.

You should.

You may revile me, you may even revile my Lord, but sadly for you He will revile you too when you stand before Him.

Of course, there was a time when the people of NZ owned the country and its infrastructure. The government was resticted to managing the country on behalf of, and according to the will of the people. If government went back to this model, and the populous were regarded as the shareholders of productive assets, rather than something from which to suck the last dollar from, then NZ would be a more prosperous nation and not driven by the winds of the global economy to the same degree we are today.

Instead we have government that does the opposite of what the people want, and what is usually in the very worst possible interests of the people. Whether that be economically, morally, in the formulating of our laws, or the appointment of minority group representatives that in no way represent the will, or the best interests, of the majority.

Selling off and privitising our essential infrastructural asset base is ultimately just another means by which the people of NZ are further pushed toward a position of servitude; whereby we become slaves to offshore financial interests, and those with vested political and ideological global interests.

They “dobbed themselves in” months later when it was obvious the media were about to break the story. Which is a bit like murdering someone, waiting till the police are about to batter down your door, give up, and then claim that you deserve a reduced sentence for turning yourself in.

But well done having enough cheek to try and get away with such an outrageous argument tho. Have you ever tried selling dodgy used cars, real estate, or bridges? Because you’d be a natural.

As far as asset sales go… Aren’t the government trying to sell the Skyhawks and Macchis? Surely that violates election promises and the “all government assets represent much lowed family silverware that can never be sold” principles that Labour have left us with. I demand that we keep them at Blenheim airport! No asset sales!

And you obviousy didn’t lean anything from the experience Kris K. When Muldoon tried to run the economy like a Soviet shipyard.

And you still didn’t learn anything for the ’80s and early ’90s, when Douglas and Richardson tried to run it like Milton Friedman’s thinktank.

Kris K -you are at the top of my “naughty list” right now – because you provide doctrinaire responses (based on what you interpret from dubiously translated scripture that your Lord Jesus Christ may or may not have wanted) rather than rational argument.

So rather than insulting you, I’d merely cast your attention to the issues which we should be addressing, rather than having the government own vast swathes of the economy and for no reason but profits and the ability to rent seek (such as with electricity).

Kris K, you’re obviously too young to remember the 70s. NZ has been there and done that. It nearly bankrupted the country.

Being held to ransom by offshore interests whose primary aim is in maximising returns to offshore shareholders, and where we’re lucky to get a tax return, much less any profit return, is also a road to financial ruin. Once the family silver’s gone you loose all control, all your asset wealth, and we’ll ultimately end up as tenants in our own country. Not to mention loss of sovereign statehood.

And I lived through the 70s, having been born in 1962.

I’m not suggesting he’s done anything wrong re his electorate office financing, but the sneaking suspicion of that possibility should be enough for him to front up and put the figures into the public domain.

Transparency is what it is all about. Jeanette Fitzsimons and Catherine Delahunty dobbed themselves in over a $6,000 stuff-up. Would be good to know that other MPs are prepared to do similar, (even though the amount may be greater).