The Politically Incorrect Show - 05/10/2001

Music - Die Fledermaus

Good afternoon, Kaya Oraaaa & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show for Friday, October 5, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit & excellence against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.

[Music up, music down!]

Yesterday I wrote about the resurgent cannibalism of government intervention in New Zealand's economy. Today, right on cue, the government announced its revised "rescue package" for Air New Zealand, which amounted to re-nationalisation of the airline, $850 million of taxpayer money being used to acquire an 83% stake in it. Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton was fair cackling with glee, at one point joking (?) that a "people's taxi service" would be next.

His chickens will come home to roost soon enough. In the meantime we should remind ourselves that while it is "salvaging" a civilian airline, the government is disbanding our air force's combat wing. Defence of the realm is a legitimate government function & duty; "rescuing" airlines is not. For the cost of the bail-out, the government could have maintained an air force strike capacity for four more years. It refuses to reconsider this matter even in the face of the War on Terrorism. This is a despicable dereliction of duty & distortion of priorities.

Mr Anderton & his colleagues crow that Air New Zealand is an example of "market failure." The market did not fail; au contraire, it confronted Air New Zealand's management with the consequences of its decisions, &, left alone, would have left THEM to deal with those consequences. That's what markets do, & that's what should have been allowed to happen.

As Sir Robert Jones wrote in Saturday's Dominion:

"The most important proof of a working market economy is constant commercial collapse. New more vital players instantly emerge to fill the vacuum, succeed for a period, become stodgy & die in the face of smaller, hungrier & more vigorous competition."

Commenting on today's act of Kremlinism, the head of one of Air New Zealand's small competitors, Origin Pacific, protested in exasperation: "How can I compete with THAT?" Finance Minister Michael Cullen ridiculed him in Parliament, snorting, "Well he's hardly in a position to become our national carrier." Of course not - how CAN he be when an opposing player is not allowed to fail when it deserves to but is propped up instead by hundreds of millions of dollars of stolen money?!

Oh yes, roll on the People's Taxi Collective.

"You ordered a cab, Sir?"

"Yes - six months ago."

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