…How last year, John Key had the media believing National was doing a good job of pulling NZ out of recession and suddenly yesterday he has decided we are in the cart big time (he said we have the same debt profile as Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) and we need to sell off the family silver to survive. What happened over Xmas?
…That the mythical mum and dad investors are going to buy up the family silver so we are not gobbled up by foreigners. Now John, would they be the Mum and Dad investors who lost their lifesavings to financial institutions in 2008 or are they the ones who have saved up a big nest egg over the past two years while wages have stagnated and prices keep going up? Surely, your not going to try and sell the line that it will be the KiwiSaver accounts that you gutted to make them as meaningless as possible?
…That National’s solutions to the nations problem now, look exactly the same as in the past – tax cuts that favour the wealthy, cuts to health and education and asset sales to privatise the nations wealth.
Play it again John. Didnt work then, wont work now.
Key uses “Mum and Dad investors” repeatedly presumably to show that “we” will own the shares rather than “them” from overseas.
Does anyone know who are the Mum and Dad Investors?
By their own admission and in their hysterical, but predictable response to Phil Goff’s speech, the nats will clearly not be putting any new spending on the table.
What do they have to offer? Privitisation of utilities the country already owns, and slashing cuts to services the people desperately need.
That’s going to be some manifesto. Maybe they should bash the unemployed or the actors union, again.
How diferent the upcoming election campaign would have been if the nats hadn’t borrowed $9bn over 4 1/2 years to pay for top rate tax cuts.
And isn’t it strange that the burgeoning Government debt has happened since NAct took office. If he was brave Key would say that
“Because of the big tax break that we gave to the rich, we have been running up a huge debt to pay for those tax cuts. We have overspent so now we want to sell off some assets to pay Bill’s bill.”
Mum and dad inestors are foreign investors planning to rape our public owned companies.
So they will pay a ‘foreigner’ premium, but so what? The asset, or 49% of it could be lost to kiwis forever.
Shame.
Does anyone know who are the Mum and Dad Investors?
I do, it’s code for the National ACT government will sell 49% of the New Zealand Energy sector to who ever turns up with enough money on the day. It would be nice if it was someone who is paying off their mortgage, or the rent, or school fees, but it is most likely to be some big outfit which can find lots of finance. Probably foreign financed, or even just out right foreign.
As a case example in 1990, it turned out that the Mum and Dad investers in Telecom were Bell Atlantic and Ameritec. To be fair, some of the investors in these American outfits may have been parents.
Its typical Nat policy – what more could we expect?
Mum and Dad investors will be similar to those who bought contact energy shares about 10 years ago (and still hold those shares)
I remember the Contact Energy Share issue was over subscribed. I will be pleased to be able to invest in a blue chip utility company.
So far I have heard good argements for a partial share float, but the left has only managed to say it it is bad – but faiing to spell out the reasons why it is such a bad idea. Certainly Grant you are desperate if you are comparing investing in a utility company with investing in a Finance company – simply there is no logical comparison.
The share issue would raise capital money for the government (good when you are in debt thanks to Cullen’s policies) and the profits would substantially be retained in NZ by and for NZers.
Key is well aware of the concerns the public had over the fire-sale of 100% of the SOEs that Goff et al sold in the 1980′s so he is obviously being careful not to repeat the same mistakes
This is interesting, is it going to be Labour’s contention that there are no real ‘mum and dad’ investors keen to buy shares of these SOE’s? Guess what, you might not believe in us but that doesn’t matter to us, we just carry on with our lives. It’s when we don’t believe in you that you need to be worried about.
“As a case example in 1990, it turned out that the Mum and Dad investers in Telecom were Bell Atlantic and Ameritec.”
Then why did Goff sell it to them?
Ah bless. Look at you two trying your best to spin out a really bad policy idea, nay policy mistake from smiley, wavey John.
If the cash was there for ‘mums and dads’ to invest in power shares, why has the retail sector been so deflated?
Why did credit card spending ballon over christmas?
The only ones to benefit from this will be those with disposable income, the ones already heartily catered for by nat policy over the last two years.
Moanty, you won’t be buying any shares. You can’t even buy your own coffee, remember?
Nevermind, eh? You keep spinning your way to electoral defeat.
Then why did Goff sell it to them?
I would be surprised if Goff sold Telecom in 1990 LabRat, given he was Minister of Education a the time.
I’d say that the sale was pushed through by Minister of State Owned Enterprises Richard Prebble, supported by David Caygill the Minister of Finance at the time, who was following his predecessor, Roger Douglas’s plan.
Since two of these three have been ACT party members for nearly 20 years now, and the Caybill left Labour about 15 years ago. Why don’t you accept that Labour has moved away from their policies.
A1lens – I love the way you hang on my every word. Firstly the left repeating endlessly that a partial share issue is a bad idea does not make it so. Please clearly outline why it is such a bad idea.
I will be buying as many shares in these quality investments as I can. Lucky for me I am careful with my money (eg bike/walk to work, drink coffee at work all which adds up to a few dollars per day or over a year(s) thousabds of dollars. This money can now be used to buy shares in blue chip organiations and make me even more money (Profits to be re-invested of course)
Maybe time for Labour to move on with their outdated thinking eh?
“Why don’t you accept that Labour has moved away from their policies.” – like Axe the Tax? I guess you got me there Sean.
Susan
Tax cuts that favour the wealthy middle class are a natural balancing consequence of the tax increases that tried to target the wealthy but over time ended up disadvantaging the middle class
@ Monty
-so Mum and Dads (sounds so nice and nurturing) are some of the rogues that caused Contact Energy prices to DOUBLE in nearly 5 years. Now that wasn’t too neighbourly of them was it !!!?
You sound near to retirement -what are you going to do with all your blue blood chips if you have to cash in your chips sooner than you think? You can’t take them with you and you will have left nothing but despair and poverty behind you.Well played that rightwing mammonite. There’s more in heaven and earth……….
So will China Monty, so will China.
And the Chinese, unlike us, have a government which realises that giving us their worthless printing press US dollars for our strategic energy hard assets – during the time of peak oil production no less – is a great deal.
LABRAT, any Right Wing Govt will sell our future away to foreigners and deserves to be booted out of office, whether they pretend to be Red or Blue.
I’ll be a “mum and Dad” investor.
I’ll be using the extra $25 a week we are better off after the tax cuts/GST rise. We can save this much because we can CHOOSE what we spend our money on, and we choose not to buy loads of gadgets etc. Our weekly grocery bill has gone up by 2.5% but I can negate that rise with careful buying.
I think you will find your grocery bill has gone up by more than 2.5%, as for fuel, electricity. I reckon you can choose to put you .50 cents.
Unfortaley most NZer don’t have the choice you have as they didn’t get a tax cut, they didn’t make that choice either.
“Amo” is making stories up. NACT is presenting people with a deteriorating list of bad choices and Amo is dreaming that $25/wk is going to buy some power companies that we all already own.
“Mum and Dad investors will be similar to those who bought contact energy shares about 10 years ago (and still hold those shares)
I remember the Contact Energy Share issue was over subscribed. I will be pleased to be able to invest in a blue chip utility company.”
From the man who has had to cut back on his coffee you want me to believe you will buy shares?
From memory Contact wasnt floated during a recession (1999), or in a country in the position of portugal, greece or ireland right now.
I dont care which party the assets sale sof the past came from, and they came from BOTH major parties, I want a guarantee they will work out better than last time.
“Richard Prebble, who had been reinstated as Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, was particularly upbeat. He said “the sales process has been extraordinarily competitive and the Government achieved an absolutely top price for the taxpayer.”
In retrospect, these comments were incredibly naive. Telecom has paid $5.5 billion in dividends since privatisation and its total value – excluding dividends but including $1.5 billion of capital repayments – has risen from $4.25 billion to $16.6 billion. More than 80 per cent of this $12.3 billion increase in value has gone to overseas investors.”
“In recent years Sir William Birch has spearheaded the privatisation programme. He was also the driving force behind the Government-funded Think Big energy projects in the early 1980s. The total loss from these projects was $7.4 billion.”
I dont know yabout you guys but whenever I have wanted to sell something, and wnated a good, nay the best, price ofr them I dont make a huge announcement about how desperately I need money, that tends to result in lower offers.
I’m an investor and I plan to be dad (one day!)
Sue my kiwisaver is not gutted in fact it is growing very nicely thank you.
If i remember rightly theres about 1.5M people in kiwisaver now, not eaxctly the numbers of a “gutted” scheme is it?
The “mum and dad” investors are those kiwisavers.
It’s strange how labour seem to have an inherant opposition to the share market, they say that NZers will just sell up to the overseas people that its all hopeless and likely to fail.
How are we going to grow our economy without strong private companies and sharemarket? Do you know any rich countries that are all govt owned as labour seems to want?
God, we need an intelligent objective media in this country. Not the pathetic grovelling smarmers that we actually have. Television news on all channels is moronic garbage designed to entertain people with less than half a brain. The most important issues to our media seems to be whether our leading politicians dye their hair!!!! groan……….