Is NZ Labour more ideological than the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party?

I've made the point in the past that NZ Labour's insistence that not even a single share of any currently owned crown company can be sold, is way outside the mainstream for not just the centre right but also the centre left. Left wing Governments around the world have seen the merits of allowing the private sector to invest in companies that were once solely state owned.

The latest example we have is in Laos. It is basically a communist dictatorship, and has been since the revolution of 1975. The Lao People's Revolutionary Party is the only allowable party, and it is a Marxist-Leninist party.

But even in Laos, they move with the times and recognise unrelenting hostility to the private sector is ideological madness. A December 2010 news report states:

A state-owned power company plans to mobilise as much as 930.5 billion kip (US$115.4 million) to build more power plants after putting 25 percent of its shares on sale this week.

The EDL Generation Company is allowing and investors to subscribe for shares until December 24, after obtaining permission from the Lao Securities Exchange Commission.

The company will sell about 217 million shares, with about 86.9 million allocated to foreign investors and 119.4 million to local investors, at an initial price of 4,300 kip per share. Some 10.9 million shares will be available for purchase by company employees at 4,000 kip per share. …

The company will use the money it raises from the sale of shares to finance new power projects and maintain existing plants. …

The EDL Electricity Generation Company is the second state-owned enterprise to offer shares for public sale.

Let us hope that one day the NZ may become less ideological than the marxist-leninist Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

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