It's been somewhat amusing to see the right wings response to the Labour/Greens policy announcement last week that will make power prices cheaper. In fact their reaction has been way over the top with claims that intervening in the "free" market that has obviously failed consumers will somehow be the end of the world.
Clearly level heads did not prevailed, with Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce saying the policy was "nothing more than deliberate economic sabotage" and amounted to a "Polish shipyard approach". Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said the proposal was "reminiscent of Soviet communism" while Prime Minister John Key said it would result in power cuts and "leave families huddling around candles" for warmth.
But if that wasn't enough baseless rhetoric, Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said it amounted to "economic vandalism" while right wing propagandist Fran O’Sullivan said Labour was adopting a Hugo Chavez style of politics and likened them and the Greens to a "Mafia". Not that anybody really cares what he thinks, Libertarianz Party leader Richard McGrath said it "smacks of economic dyslexia" whatever that is?
Meanwhile John Banks claimed it would "destroy the incentive to invest and to use electricity efficiently" and was therefore a "return to Muldoonism" of all things. Not to be outdone, Cameron Slater said it was "wanton vandalism" and "economic terrorism" while David Farrar said it would cause "no new generation" to be built and lead to the government confiscating people's houses... You couldn't make this shit up.
Now stop laughing for a second and give their insane claims the credence they clearly don't deserve... Let's explore the concept of economic sabotage:
So, economic sabotage is generally defined as raising prices for consumers, which would make NZ Power (PDF) the exact opposite of economic sabotage. An actual example of economic sabotage can be seen with Nationals huge increase in external government debt:
Clearly level heads did not prevailed, with Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce saying the policy was "nothing more than deliberate economic sabotage" and amounted to a "Polish shipyard approach". Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said the proposal was "reminiscent of Soviet communism" while Prime Minister John Key said it would result in power cuts and "leave families huddling around candles" for warmth.
But if that wasn't enough baseless rhetoric, Business NZ chief executive Phil O'Reilly said it amounted to "economic vandalism" while right wing propagandist Fran O’Sullivan said Labour was adopting a Hugo Chavez style of politics and likened them and the Greens to a "Mafia". Not that anybody really cares what he thinks, Libertarianz Party leader Richard McGrath said it "smacks of economic dyslexia" whatever that is?
Meanwhile John Banks claimed it would "destroy the incentive to invest and to use electricity efficiently" and was therefore a "return to Muldoonism" of all things. Not to be outdone, Cameron Slater said it was "wanton vandalism" and "economic terrorism" while David Farrar said it would cause "no new generation" to be built and lead to the government confiscating people's houses... You couldn't make this shit up.
Now stop laughing for a second and give their insane claims the credence they clearly don't deserve... Let's explore the concept of economic sabotage:
Economic Sabotage is the practice of undermining the economy of a nation. It is a tactic used to pressure governments. The power of the markets is such, that it may be wielded as a weapon to damage the stability a countries economy, raising food/fuel prices, interest rates on international debts and other factors important to an economy. Economic Sabotage can be used against a foreign government to undermine their standing, or by the ruling class to undermine left-wing governments.
So, economic sabotage is generally defined as raising prices for consumers, which would make NZ Power (PDF) the exact opposite of economic sabotage. An actual example of economic sabotage can be seen with Nationals huge increase in external government debt:
That's what real economic sabotage looks like folks.
