Asset sales

I will declare myself here. I am opposed to asset sales on ideological grounds. I cannot understand how they are good for the country in the long term. We are selling companies that do two things. First they create income for the government. Which is a really good thing. Secondly they also should have a slightly different rationale. that is to provide a service, as opposed to make a profit. WE have seen with our railways what happens when we privatise assets. Disaster! Overseas owners did not care one jot whether we had a long term viable rail system. They simply bled it dry and flogged it off. Or Telecom, which despite the Kiwishare, failed to provide a good modern telecommunications network for this country, and instead made huge profits for the overseas owners, which we as tax payers paid for with the poor service and inflated fees. And then there is Air New Zealand, wrecked by private enterprise board who were, in the end, incompetent, but extremely well paid for being incompetent.

But, I am not an economist. So I was well pleased to read this article. Sadly, we will vote Mr. Key and his unwise cronies back in, and we will suffer the long term affects