While Muldoon’s repugnant use of identity politics to divide a nation over rugby will always mark him as an authoritarian thug willing to plunge the nation into the social trauma of mass civil disobedience, he was ahead of the curve with Think Big.
His economic nationalism was ahead of its time, triggered by stagflation and geopolitical shockwaves, it parallels the same threats we face now.
Why shouldn’t we have our own basic pharmaceutical industry?
Engineering industry.
Industrial industry.
The supply side shocks caused by Covid and war are not going away, and they are being compounded by catastrophic climate change.
The arguments pushed forward by Muldoon for Think Big infrastructure resonate more importantly now than ever before.
Radical adaptation and communal community resourcing alongside a Big State approach to lynchpin infrastructure for basic self-reliance as an Island country facing enormous economic shockwaves is the only means to build the muscle mass to respond to the ever intensifying external disruption of late stage capitalism.
The need to increase military spending to 3% alongside the new costs for this infrastructure must be funded via new taxes aimed at corporations and banks.
A financial transaction tax and windfall profit tax would take the yoke of taxation off working people and place it upon the shoulders of the wealthy.
National and ACT see mass immigration as a means to create fake growth at a time when we should be focused on de-growth.
Climate Crisis is here and adaptation is now.
We need to start rethinking Isolationism as a strength and Think Big as Economic Sovereignty.
The geopolitical shock waves are only getting more intense.
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Cuba has a population of a little over 11 million. It has been subjected to an illegal siege by the US for going on 60 years.
And it developed the most effective COVID vaccine in the world. People who say we ‘need’ to kowtow to psychopathic neoliberal s**thole countries like the US, Britain, and Australia have holes in their heads.
Yes R D Muldoon was NZ/AO’s biggest and best forward thinking socialist in the last 50 years.
Muldoon a socialist?? Only neocon economists claim that, because they cannot see past their view of economics.
Muldoon hated all forms of the Left Wing of his time. He was definitely a Capitalist – just less extreme than the ultra-right economists who followed him.
Why is capitalism always juxtaposed against socialism? surely a socialist society can be capitalist? China, Vietnam? Isn’t it about sharing in the means of production? Muldoon was a Nationalist but his Think Big policies were Socialist. oops see what I did there.
Jesus Wept Bomber! There is an inconvenient but not insignificant point you have seemingly overlooked – that the self-knighted Sir Robert, and with his attempt to control and regulate every aspect of our economy and to insulate us from global market forces – took our country to the very verge of bankruptcy. Must we go there again? Agree on the 3% military spending though.
‘Bankruptcy’….. that didn’t actually happen.
Unlike the traitor Lange and all his successors selling off all our national assets.
Not true Jason….But there is a saying along the lines of …if you keep telling a lie long enough it will eventually come true….Douglas and Lange were experts at that……
oh he had plenty of help from a traitorous cabal within treasury
Getting essential goods safely and reliably to our remote little islands from distant parts of an increasingly unstable world (both in terms of weather and economics/politics) will become exponentially more difficult.
There is no alternative for our ongoing survival.
Self sufficiency is the only way to compensate for unviable air and sea routes.
And just wait until an undersea cable gets damaged and cannot be repaired.
Will Elon’s Starlink satisfy NZ’s internet needs?
If you want to lift the yoke of taxation from wage and salary earners, why not tax the capital increase of the ordinary home owners?
After all, that group are the ones who have done the best out of government and local government policies for the past 30 years, and they got a turbo-charged windfall out of the Reserve Bank’s money printing since 2020.
To be frank, that is where the money is.
And house and land taxes are hard to avoid – houses and land can’t be hidden or sent offshore.
We don’t need more crystal palaces. As soon as we withdraw money from the housing market the loses crystallise and is made into real loses. All the property bubble is one smuck will to borrow more than the previous smuck. It’s not a great way to fund defence. Change behaviour yes. Great care must be taken.
It doesn’t matter what something is “worth”, if you do not sell the item and realize that “value”, you don’t make any profit. If the house you live in, doubles in value, you haven’t suddenly got twice as much money. If you had to pay tax on that increased “value”, it is likely that you couldn’t afford to live in your house, especially if you were also paying a mortgage & interest.
If you sell the house you live in and then buy a new house to live in, you are buying in the same market, so all pricing will be relative and you will only gain some money if you buy a lesser value property or shift to renting. If you are renting, then this tax will be added to your rent to cover your landlords increased expenses.
Value or worth is only real if you can turn it into money (if we assume money is actually real). If you own a banana & some duct tape, then potentially you could sell this as art for over $100000 (https://www.gq.com/story/suddenly-the-koons-is-this-100k-banana). Based on this value, if you currently have 5 bananas sitting in a bowl, that is at least $500000 worth of assets, so if we tax that at 30%/year you now owe the IRD $150000. Since it is likely that you never actually realized the potential value of your bananas (in fact you probably ate them as food, instead of valuing them as significant financial assets, just like living in your own house as a home not an investment), there is no way you can afford to pay you tax bill and the IRD seizes all your assets (including your bananas) and you are now broke & homeless.
You can tax incomes or profits, but taxing the unrealized value in the family home would just make home ownership only possible for those with high incomes who could afford to pay the annual tax bill. Constant rates increases already burden those on low or fixed incomes. Profits made by those buying & selling investment properties that they never live in is a different matter and taxing those profits may make a difference to ordinary people and may make houses a less attractive investment.
Richard S Thanks for the calm guided tour, Ada may have been facetious but I object to my house, caravan or cave being labelled as an extravagance that should be taxed as a luxury.
Who ever said only extravagant luxuries need to be taxed? Houses are assets.
I agree with CGT on all property but think it should be taxed at the point of sale. I think that would avoid the issue you’ve highlighted.
I sure Richard Slade knows that, but he gives his straw man argument instead.
A complete straw man argument.
Of course the tax would be paid on sale – how else would the capital gain be determined.
I think there are systems that tax the capital gain or asset annually similar to council rates. A small percentage can be pretty expensive. Especially if it’s for a retired person who’s been in a house for a long time; which is now very expensive. I think a modest CGT, say 10 or 15% at point of sale would be good. Use the money raised to eliminate tax on the first 20k as the editor suggests.
Can you still afford your new home for your growing family once you pay the tax on the theoretical “profit” you have made when you sell your existing home?
As to a strawman argument, mine wasn’t. You were proposing a house & land tax or taxing the capital increase, which are all very different from a capital gains tax. Rates are a house & land tax, the amount you pay is determined by the value of your property and this tax is paid incrementally over the year. Your proposal sounds very much like an envy tax.
The capital in your home increases over time (generally in NZ) whether you sell or not, it is only realized as a capital gain at the time of sale, hence the profit can be taxed.
Different words mean different things, if you don’t say what you mean then you can hardly blame others for thinking you are talking nonsense.
As to hiding houses & properties, this relatively easy through trusts & shell companies if you have the money to make it worthwhile.
So you are wanting 2025 equivalents to the Trekka and Bata Bullets. Don’t tell me we are going back to a time when downtown Nadi was more sophisticated than the viaduct.
With the internet now in play there isn’t a surer way of white flight
Nothing wrong with Trekka or Batta Bullets Frank, Although I much prefer Hush Puppies and NZ/AO had a certain un-sophisticated flair especially in the hospitality/entertainment field, state/brewery run pubs/restaurants where one could tuck into a hearty chicken kiev washed down with a glass or 5 of finest leopard beer and for the truly enlightened a glass of Marque Vue wine/plonk and all this would be done and dusted by 11pm when you were sent home and if you were lucky get to watch the Good night kiwi on TV 1.
Ah the memories keep flooding back. Those were the days, NZ was a true hermit kingdom back then
Don’t you mean ‘white fright;? People who can’t stand living in a practical and sustainable manner can PO on their flight. There are a lot of lovely, dozey people around who should make up their minds if they want to live in their television, all coloured and glossy, or stand shoulder to shoulder if they are in good health and make this country a satisfactory place to live and love and have plenty of good times. Just less often than previously.
More or less what I’ve been saying in my comments recently: economic nationalism is something NZers need to put back on the agenda. We needn’t take it so far as isolationism and trying to build up every industry/sector of the economy simultaneously, but we should move more in that direction. And what political party has been advocating this for nearly 30 years? You all know the answer to that, don’t you?
There is nothing wrong with more self sufficiency. Strategically it makes sense as does weaning ourselves off China!
The problem is a generation of New Zealanders have been repeatedly told that state intervention is bad and socialism is not cool( as witnessed by mindless tossers blocking roads because the government wants to protect them)
Actually in the wake of the 1930s depression John.A.Lee and Bill Sutch were among a number of economists and academics who advanced the idea of self sufficient Aotearoa insulated from financial recession.
Of course they not be taken seriously because Lee was a ruthless radical who dared to criticise the cuddly Mickey Savage and accuse the Labour Party of not taking advantage of its popularity to make sweeping and meaningful actions to eliminate poverty(see, nothing fucking changes)
Sutch was a vile communist who was accused of spying for the Soviets(actually because of his known communist sympathies he was always blocked from any sensitive information so he had no useful information to ever give anyone and his resulting arrest and failed trial displayed the wanking traditions of our Intelligence Services that continue to this day).
The concern of successive governments with Free Trade Agreements where as a sardine we try to swim with sharks also makes us economically dependent on overseas events.
I remember the Muldoon days when Rob was a vicious bully that destroyed his political opponents. I had a job that paid a reasonable wage and I had a house, bought with a state advances loan. When I got hurt I could go to hospital and get prompt medical care that did not cost me a penny.
I remember that Muldoon introduced the Domestic Purposes benefit that made it possible for single mothers to care for their children and not put them up for adoption. I remember cheap electricity and free water.
Maybe a bloke can be a bastard and still do good? Offers some hope for me then.
We cannot do anything meaningful until we can wean young people away from the idea that socialism equals dictatorship
Yeah!
How about a John A Lee National House Building Works program?!
Cut off Fletchers at the knees and nationalise the company!
Then the government bulk buys everything via the newly acquired company from where ever the manufacturer of materials is and get it delivered pronto.
Then everyone who walk, talk count, read and wants a job gets one!
Then, get on and build some houses!
Easy peasie!
Identity politics to divide the nation over rugby….Muldoon the thug….The only thugs I remember of the tour were the Black power and spotty students protesting with their destructive behaviour…Muldoon didn’t believe in mixing sport with politics…..How are the good folk of South Africa doing now with apartheid gone…Don’t mention Rhodesia…You shouldn’t write articles that you don’t know about Martyn…you were only a kid and somehow you have a distorted view of the 1970’s and the 1980’s…..lt certainly was not perfect back then , and the Douglas brigade , rich and wanna be rich , have filled the gullible with all sorts of crazy ideas and lies of what it was like then….And as far as identity politics go….we are now experts of inventing the stuff and …it’s everywhere….and the slow back door introduction of apartheid into New Zealand….they will be protesting in South Africa soon about our policies and not wanting to play rugby with a country that practices apartheid..
Robs Mob you could interact on this blog for a decade and still not understand the sort of things you have brought up in your last comment. Unbelievable!!
I agreed with Think Big at the time and think that by offshoring everything we have ended up with a hollower country totally dependant on Agriculture and Tourism. We also opened the door wide to global capitalism with hellacious social consequences. Vision, greater self reliance and increased taxation are needed now and increasingly into the future.
Well the Maori’s did it without the outside worlds contact for centuries but then we are talking about a more sturdier and tenacious people of different times agreeably so which I’ve always posed the question what does ‘Nationalism’ look like in Aotearoa NZ today and going forward and is nationalism anti-democratic?
The dumpy pig was a commensurate Machiavellian confederate. He could wriggle out of a cast iron straight jacket.
He was a self propelled farmers friend while inside his sheeps clothing he was a treacherous liar and swindler. While enabling a cadre of urban polished arses around primary industry producer-board, board room tables he sequestered farmer goods at below cost prices to sell off for outlandish profits to ever higher bidders off shore once having paid the scam that’s AKA SMP’s. *
Muldoon, was, in fact, the architect of modern AO/NZ’s demise and he was able to pull that off by doing exactly what modern Labour are doing… hiding their neoliberal nefariousness in plain sight behind a thick hedge row of logical fallacies and all enabled by their all bought and paid for MSM.
You, and you, like him because you have no real idea what I’m on about. And that’s on you, and you, to find out what that is.
And nothings changed, just to put you at ease with your preposterous mortgages and personal debts leveraged against the aforementioned. Muldoon heralded in neoliberalism. He was a bully and a trickster and an accountant seen scurrying, like the rat he was, from Switzerland where he had a numbered Swiss bank account. Yes, he did. Look it up.
Of course, a social-capitalist democracy is a fantastic idea. I mean, it’s a human politic for human beings. Not, to use as a plaything for rich narcissistic sociopaths to build mansions with. [It’s] better than the nightmare we’re within at the moment. That’s why traitors like muldoon ,and others more recent, like to use social-ism to further their own greedy, sociopathic vectors.Think Trojan Horse theory. We’re all yaay! And Whoop! Finally! At last! A government for we, the people… Then we look up a few years later to find ourselves tits deep and sinking down in to a capitalist-fascist bog.
If we need to admire someone from the past then here’s a fellow.
John A. Lee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Lee
“In 1905, he left school to work, and became involved in petty crime. In 1908, he was convicted of theft, and served time at a boarding school for juvenile delinquents. He attempted to escape several times, and was eventually successful. After wandering the country for a time, he found work in Raetihi, but was then jailed for liquor smuggling and breaking and entering.[citation needed]” ….
“Not long after returning home, Lee became active in the Labour Party. Lee had been a committed socialist for some time, having read a large amount of Marxist literature over the years. He is said to have heard the speeches of Bob Semple and Harry Scott Bennett through the bars of his jail cell, and in the army, he had been known as “Bolshie Lee” for his views.” ….
“When Labour won the 1935 election with a large majority, and formed its first government, many expected Lee to enter Cabinet. However, Lee did not have the support of Michael Joseph Savage, the new Prime Minister. Savage appears to have considered Lee too radical and uncontrolled, while Lee considered Savage too cautious. The two had clashed on a number of policy issues, and in the end, Lee was not awarded ministerial rank — instead, he became an under-secretary. This position did not, however, have any legal authority until the following year, when Lee threatened to resign. Given responsibility for housing, Lee quickly moved to implement a “socialist” plan for state housing, with the construction of many new dwellings for the poor. “
Who could argue against the merits of enhancing our self-sufficiency, that we might become like Sweden, Denmark or Norway. But that would involve not only stepping away from trade arrangements that include importing commodities which we would make for ourselves, but also stepping away from their concomitant foreign policy arrangements too. And the ramifications of doing that are such that not even Muldoon, was prepared to tackle them. Our “security”, as guaranteed by “The Mob,” is only assured for as long as we trade as we’re told. And it’ll be a cold day in hell when any of today’s politicians try doing otherwise – unless they’re prepared to invite the wrath currently being reigned on China and Russia
I think there are a few industries that should definitely be part of any “self-sufficient” economy and is something every country should strive for. It isolates you from sanctions, global threats (e.g. pandemics, climate etc), currency devaluations (e.g. if the NZ dollar were to tank how can we buy foreign goods?), and war (e.g. imagine if the sea and sky are cut off due to ships being torpedoed and freight planes shot down.
The key areas of focus for NZ should be:
1. Energy (I think this is maybe the only category we’re basically good on, with the exception of oil, see 5)
2. Bulk chemicals (we should be making our own base chemicals, e.g. methanol, ammonia, solvents etc – also a requirement for 3 and 4).
3. Basic medicines (e.g. we should be making our own paracetamol, aspirin/ibuprofen, antibiotics etc).
4. Fertilisers (obviously we need to keep that working regardless of external events, and a lot of crops require fertilisers).
5. Refining of raw materials (e.g. our own steel, concrete, oil etc – Jacinda shutting down OUR refinery is nearly a criminal act imo and we can see dumb it was given the events of this year).
6. Basic manufacturing (e.g. sufficient to repair tractors, trucks, engines, and servicing manufacturing itself).
Feel free to add to this list.
nice one nitrium
we can’t be 100percent self sufficient but where we can be, we should be…if only to cut back on imports.
Muldoon economics stood in the way of private corporate profit, especially in the manner organisations like MOWD stood in the way of private sector provision and rent seeking.
International capital always seeks to exploit, then to avoid competition. Lange, Douglas and crew failed to understand that market mechanisms work well where there is a lot of competition but always, especially in small economies, tend to monopoly, cartel, duopoly etc.
First easy step is to regulate profiteering which requires a strong public body.
National socialism kiwi style, don’t ya love it.
Oh no please don’t hit us with a working government, whiner.
Guy F Go fork yourself. We are trying to have a serious discussion here.
Bravo Country Boy! Best and most accurate commentary of NZ Political History posted here! We should all take heed of the current dilemma we face and start decoupling ourselves from the Train Wreck of Neoliberal Capitalism. To do that we must return to the #8 wire mentality of the 70’s & 80’s, with a bit of John David Savage added for good measure! – PRONTO!
Nitriums’ ideas should be expanded and focused on, particularly around our Self Sufficiency in
“1.Energy (I think this is maybe the only category we’re basically good on, with the exception of oil, see 5)
2. Bulk chemicals (we should be making our own base chemicals, e.g. methanol, ammonia, solvents etc – also a requirement for 3 and 4).
3. Basic medicines (e.g. we should be making our own paracetamol, aspirin/ibuprofen, antibiotics etc).
4. Fertilisers (obviously we need to keep that working regardless of external events, and a lot of crops require fertilisers).
5. Refining of raw materials (e.g. our own steel, concrete, oil etc – Jacinda shutting down OUR refinery is nearly a criminal act imo and we can see dumb it was given the events of this year).
6. Basic manufacturing (e.g. sufficient to repair tractors, trucks, engines, and servicing manufacturing itself).” Excellent stuff Nitrium!! Allow me a couple more additions to your list please. #7 Toss Rio Tinto the hell out of NZ and Nationalise their operations along with the Refinery at Marsden. Call it National Security, or whatever..
The other Tossers that need to be tossed out on their Tukus’s are our dear Aussie Bankers & they can take their Reserve Bank Governor with em! Worthless bunch of Scavengers..
I heard this morning that Americans are planning to create a new Political Party Option named “Forward”. Might be worthwhile if we were to look into their Party Platforms for some tips of our own on how to take out the Dirty Laundry without dumping our kids in the trash as we are at the moment…
At this juncture in time Self Sufficiency is critical for a small country of basic insignificance to Bully Pulpit Big Capitalist Enterprises that we break our necks & wreck our Landscape to provide for.
We need to quickly clean out the Profiteers from our midst and make a quick move to Circle the Wagons to take care of our own during these rapidly changing times.
Me First, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme Populism is a dangerous Trend and needs to go the Fek Away along with the Stale Bathwater of Greed.
IF we can accomplish the disconnect from the current Status Quo that we need, we won’t need to compare ourselves to the other guys, or Countries out there, they’ll be gone long before we are & the good ones will be looking to us for their future examples.
Anyone with half a brain cell can see exactly where the US is headed with the current War on Russia and it’s sights set on China. Top Guns is an Oxymoron like Military Intelligence & Jumbo Shrimp. The good ole US of A has no intention to let up on its intentions to be the Solo Unipower in this part of the Galaxy & are drunk on their arse with false Bravado in following the PNAC Document to it’s conclusion.
If you haven’t yet read PNAC, get busy, you’re behind in your homework around Civilisations & Empire Building. These idiots aren’t muckin around! They’re truly Psychotic and need to be Quarantined from polite societies. NZ doesn’t mean shit to any of these guys folks, so please pull your heads in and get a bit of much needed Kiwi Patriotism in ya! Nobody’s gonna take our hands and lead us out of this mess so if you’re waiting for a Saviour Good Luck don’t hold yer breath!!
We once again need to shoulder the Yolk and do the Grunt work to future proof our country lest we lose it in the Next Global Real Estate Auction & if you think I’m kidding, or havin you on, guess again!
We have some of the most dangerous Capitalist & High Tech Criminals in the World living right here in God’s own that have no problem writing a check for a measly $6 Million Dollar investment to be a Kiwi & you don’t count to your own Government where Money in large denominations comes into the picture first and foremost.
You can thank Mr. Key for that one! We’re the Playground for the next batch of Kardashians, Trumps, Putins, Gates, Thiels, Rothschilds et al.
If we’re to get outa here alive we need to go it alone together and not cut corners! As they say, you only go around this life Once, so don’t blow it thinking your hot shit, you’re NOT! Look at yourself as an important Bit-Part Player and do your bit…Together as a team of 5 million we can knock this bugger off!
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