Friday, September 16, 2005

biting my nine-inch nails

election day tommorrow and it really is (chose cliche) too close to call/ a cliff-hanger/ a nail-biter etc.
personally i think brash would be a dreadful prime minister. oddly enough, i'd rather he was in power with the detestable peters, who he can't possibly get along with, but who is unlikely to roll over for a dry trickle-down monetarist economy.
in the nineties the economy stagnated, productivity did not grow, unemployment was relatively high. what did grow was the gap between rich and poor. that's the one thing brash's policies are certain to increase.
tax-cuts are hard to roll back, and national's proposed cuts would undoubtedly leave us with less government into the distant future.
they'd also move us into an america style polity: the rich richer, government struggling to provide services- and therefore the market as an alternative made to look good- and most of us defined as "not mainstream".
brash is clearly influenced by america. i've never heard phrases like "not one dime", "lousy" and "baloney" used in nz politics the way he uses them. i don't know where he's coming from but this language must be a clue. way out of touch.
as reserve bank governor, he strangled the nz economy in the nineties. on record as believing we need 6% unemployment to keep inflation down. on record as blaming the unemployed. go figure.
labour have run a poor campaign, considering. no inspiring rhetoric, no clear and defining vision, no devasting analysis of national and brash's (he's act's ninth mp...) woeful scenario.
but they do present a clear alternative. LPG would make a good government.
here's hoping.