Why National, ACT and NZF’s attack on Covid spending by Labour is so outrageous and disingenuous
The political attack line writes itself — but it collapses under even the most basic scrutiny. Because the same parties condemning Covid spending are now borrowing more for far less.
The Political Attack Line
Look.
I just find National, ACT and NZ First’s attack on Covid spending by Labour is so outrageous and disingenuous for three reasons.
Claim One: The $30 Billion Narrative
1. National claim Labour wasted $30 billion.
Bullshit.
…exactly. Labour propped the system up until it could run again!
Claim Two: Borrowing More While Complaining
2. The Right can’t complain about Labour borrowing money for Covid WHEN THEY HAVE BORROWED MORE!
That’s right – National, ACT and NZ First borrowed $14 billion for tax cuts we couldn’t afford, $3 billion for landlords, $300 million for tobacco subsidies, $200 million for gas and oil subsidies and even $6 million for Michelin Stars to visit NZ and rate our posh restaurants – WHILE hollowing out public service budgets which has all resulted in National, ACT and NZ First BORROWING MORE than Labour did, despite having no once in a century pandemic to deal with!
Claim Three: They’d Do the Same Again
3. They would do the exact same thing if we were hit by a new novel virus pandemic
This is the real clincher here.
You know, I know, they know that there was a new novel virus with a higher mortality rate than Covid, we would do the exact same thing all over again.
Political Paralysis in a Real Crisis
National, ACT + NZ First too frightened to act on the petrol price crisis because they are still criticising Covid response!
That isn’t leadership, it’s political paralysis!
Where did the money go?
Robertson provided enough liquidity in a crisis to save the banks, save the landlords and save most businesses. About $10,000 per person was dropped from the helicopter. If you didnt have an extra $10,000 in the bank at the end of covid then your $10,000 had gushed upto the top 10 and 1 percent. Adrian Orr recommended to both governments that taxation be used to deflate by recouping the $50billion from the few who ended up with all that dosh.
The National Economic Mismanagement Party has cut capital spending, cut services spending, bracket creeped ordinary tax payers and given tax breaks to mates and of course not been able to pay down any debt.
Nactfirst has left the economy less resiliant in the face of an oil shock, financial crisis or pandemic.
The responses by Hooton and Penk to Martyn Bradbury’s excellent question on ‘The Bradbury Group,’ regarding what they would do if a new killer Virus hit the world tomorrow, spoke volumes.
They were full of bullshit and bravado until they were faced with that reality…
So Hooton said he would shut “down the borders immediately to prevent the virus getting in”….what is he on?
Firstly…By the time a confirmation that a new virus was out in the world killing people it would almost definitely be in N.Z already …and secondly…the whole world would come to a grinding halt again, so supply chains coming into N.Z. would not be happening…We would not be continuing in a ‘life is normal’ mode for very long if that what he thinks would happen…
There is not a practical bone in his body…and you can now see that he ‘trained’ Brooke Van Velden…next to Seymour…two of the most impractical people on the planet earth.
You would still have to wait for new vaccinations to be made overseas and then distributed to N.Z. and then enact the whole vaccination process.
Penk was looking down at the ground drawing circles with his big toe mumbling something incoherent about how Labour kinda sorta got it right at the start.
He should have added that incessant pressure from ‘The Right’ and mainstream media outlets forced their hand to spend more on keeping ‘businesses’ afloat which in turn caused more government spending.
My question to Penk would be…would you have saved those 1000s of business or let them go to the wall….thus creating mass unemployment?
Winston Clayton’s Peters, the trump you have when you don’t have the trump.