Originally Posted by
elZorro
MVT, sorry for the slow response to your missive above. Those are all valid points, if you assume Keynesian policy is a bad idea, and that the market is perfect. It very obviously is not perfect.
In a perfect market, each business or enterprise that fails is instantly replaced by a better one, and the fantastic profits are immediately fed back to the growing workforce. Liberal governments need not interfere with the market because its aims are entirely benevolent towards the rest of the country and its general populace. The opportunities for new enterprises are so great and obvious, that a constant effort to import the world's most cost-efficient goods and services cannot harm the country's workforce. Even when looked at from the government's point of view, where a social backup is provided to those without employment or employment prospects, the landed cost of goods and services should be the main criteria, not whether any local businesses could be harmed.
Think tanks formed by the liberal right have arrived at a forgone conclusion that the only good business is big business. There is no point fostering change in smaller businesses, so while they get a mention, they'll get none of the backup they would like. Meanwhile, the heads of major business will be lauded in the press, their lobbyists will be listened to, and it won't be of great concern if their income is directed to tax havens, or if their advertising costs are huge (sponsorships etc) to reduce tax. The quid pro quo is that these firms will get the major taxpayer grants that they so obviously need to keep going, until the business is sold to overseas buyers and dismantled from here.
Maybe something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and New Zealand.