#1 - Colin MacDonald 2008-03-15 14:36 - (Reply)

8 SIMPLE RULES FOR A CHANCE AT RE-ELECTION For a Labour Government grown stale, tired and lacking in vision after three terms in power, there are a few issues they would do well to consider seriously if they are considering the possibility of a fourth. 1. Interest rates High interest rates are unnecessarily hurtful to ordinary working Kiwis repaying mortgages, as well as to our much-needed export sector. There have to be other, better ways to control inflation, like reining in wasteful government spending: e.g. the mushrooming bureaucracy that has increased by 50% during Labour’s tenure, with little or no benefit to the nation; also, a welfare system that rewards the indolent for contributing nothing to society or the economy. 2. Law enforcement Begin to address the rampant lawlessness and crime that assault society on a daily basis, for which all the usual remedies have been found wanting: harsher sentences are no more effective than the softly-softly approach favoured by the prevailing ideologies. Total lack of respect for others and for authority have so pervaded society, from noise pollution all the way through to random homicide, that some lateral ideas and methods are needed, in some cases drastic ones. Some of the firm-but-supportive wilderness survival/bootcamp programs seen in recent times really seem to hit the mark in terms of real and lasting positive effect upon the miscreants involved. We need a groundswell of attitude reality-checking from the ground up, including holding parents partly responsible for the behaviour of their young. 3. Energy With energy and environmental issues becoming ever-more crucial, the government could be doing a lot more to help the situation. Alternative energy applications should be high on the list of priorities: solar water heating for every household, for starters; investment in wind farms, tidal generation schemes, electric vehicles, etc. In the short term they could invite South Africa’s Sasol company to set up a fuel-from-coal plant to supplement imported oil, for which the world is increasingly being held to ransom by ruthless and greedy oil producers. 4. Savings If Kiwis are such poor savers, why are there not more tax incentives to save? Set the tax rate at 10% on interest on savings up to, say $50,000 and watch the savings rate increase exponentially. This will have a huge positive effect for the economy: imagine not having to rely on offshore borrowing…… 5. Tax threshold The higher tax threshold at $38,000 is a joke, except that ordinary working folk don’t find it funny. This amount is hardly more than a living wage, the starting rate for many a job, and is hardly any incentive to work hard, do overtime and increase productivity to justify wage increases. The level needs to be raised to at least $60,000. The government have shown that they are aware of this issue, but nothing continues to happen….. 6. GST A popular, universal and easily managed tax cut would be to remove GST from all essentials, such as basic and unprocessed foodstuffs, electricity, water and fuel. Also, what justification is there to put tax on top of taxes like council rates or to levy 50c a litre on petrol? This is simply lazy and unimaginative economic management, and wins the government no friends. 7. Home ownership The government need to DO SOMETHING to ease the situation for normal working people aspiring to home ownership. House prices have been artificially inflated beyond their worth because of various factors, including hard-nosed speculators buying and selling them at huge profit and virtually untaxed. Housing is an essential, like food, energy and clothing: why should it be traded like commodities or luxuries? 8. Ideological Social Engineering Labour, perhaps more so than any other government, are prone to excess in this field. The anti-smacking and other unpopular laws (ill)-conceived by minor players and forced through by parties insensitive to public opinion do the government no favours. MP’s, highly-paid “consultants” and so-called experts do NOT always know better than widely-held common-sense views of the public, whom they seem to treat little better than schoolchildren. To allow referenda on important issues is not a sign of weakness, but one of wise and transparent leadership.