Corporate interests sink Team NZ and Countdown really the free market at work

By
Martyn Bradbury
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18
0

capitalism
Not a good week for free marketeers.

It’s been revealed that corporate sponsors of Team NZ sunk the chance to win the Americas Cup…

The revelation Dalton made the decision without consulting Barker and the team, apparently to accommodate sponsors and their corporate guests, is inexcusable.

…so can we get our taxpayer dollars back from those corporate sponsors now? Watching the hopes of ordinary NZers caught up in the excitement of a toy race for billionaires only to have those emotions betrayed by the selfish interests of the corporate sponsors at the last moment doesn’t help win hearts and minds for Milton Friedman.

As for Countdowns stand over tactics, the fact we have an Australian duopoly dictating terms under the guise of a ‘free market’ shows how well that ‘free market’ really works. The end point of neo-liberal capitalism isn’t a fair and open market, it is a dominant corporate plutocracy milking monopoly rentals. Countdown’s perverse stand over tactics is the exact outcome of such unregulated giants.

So the question now really is when do all our Australian corporates start leaning on our Australian owned media to start quieting these stories down? Expect to hear great things about how the Australian banks and corporations are really very good for us.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Well the ‘anti-supermarket’ comments made by Dick Smith on “Morning Report” this morning were a step in the right direction – and somewhat contrary to your argument. He was absolutely right about the stupidity of basing an economic system on ever-continuing profit growth.

    However, in the longer term, you may be right; time will tell.

    The more important point, I think, is that the “Countdown Saga” is just a foretaste of things to come if our dearly beloved government is stupid enough to sign up to the PPTA with all the anti-sovereignty” clauses that the USA has added to it in order attempt to prop up its failing economy.

  2. If the TPPA hastens the end of this nightmare and lets the bit-part revolution we are currently spasmodically seeing bloom in full, then sign it and sign it now.

      • Jeremy probably feels Russell Brand hopelessness, i.e. there IS NO POLITICAL SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS. The reason is that the crisis was and continues to be CAUSED by our current political system – i.e. voting for “the lesser of two evils” and expecting something other than evil. It won’t happen, because it can’t. I too suspect there will be a revolution in a DEMOCRATIC country (quite possibly Greece or Spain), which may well spark the silent masses in many countries to overthrow DEMOCRATICALLY elected governments – because democracy in itself CLEARLY no longer guarantees our privacy, liberty or pursuit of happiness – things that are not supposed to be RESTRICTED by the government but in fact we have an INHERENT right to as humans and are therefore supposed to be rigorously PROTECTED by our leadership. Our democratic system is fast losing the CONSENT of the governed, and these folks rightfully are starting to get pissed off.

  3. Well here you are folks, the beginning of the realisation that we all have a common enemy be we left or right in our thinking. The enemy of us all is big
    Capitalism has a goal, that goal is to eliminate all the competition and become “the only one” and in the end people and what they are able to purchase is under the control of the monopolistic govt.
    For the socialism side of it the big ends up with the govt in control of everything, result not much different for Joe Citizen either way.
    NOW will people start listening
    That illustration is perfect

    • That was supposed to read “what they are able to purchase is under control of the monopolistic CORPORATE not govt, but by the time we get to that situation it’s all going to feel the same

    • Sorry, that was supposed to read “under the control of the monopolistic CORPORATE” not govt though by then who will be able to tell the difference

  5. CER with Australia is alot of BS same as the Free Trade Agreements with China and the USA.

    John Key is but a babe in the woods and can not see the wood from the tress.

    The guy is incredibly naive and is leading us all up the garden path, he should be acting in Hollywood, it would be a win win situation for all of us and himself.

  6. I watched SJ in Parliament yesterday and it was good television. I’ve heard recently through business contacts that Countdown were up to this mischief, and if it’s true, they are total muppets and I hope NZ’ers take their business elsewhere.

  7. It’s a bit disingenuous to claim that sponsorship requirements caused Team NZ to lose to Oracle. What happened may not have helped, but I’d wager that Oracle being a better team, using better tactics and having Larry Ellison’s billions to dip into helped more.

    Besides, corporate sponsorship doesn’t seem to have hindered the All Blacks too much.

  8. Vanabundo,
    I don’t remember, or even care, about all the details but I think you may find Oracle took full advantage of that lay-day to make major changes to their boat and start winning all the races.

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