Judith Collins action plan
1. get back into cabinet
2. gleefully await NZ Flag referendum results, privately gloat over John Keys failure.
3. craft a plan to deal to Paula Bennett
4. Cosy up to Michael Woodhouse, as he will be your future deputy
Printable View
Daytr you don't let facts get in your way too much saying John Key partially sold electricity generators at bargain prices. Have you forgotten the attack by Labour/Greens that cost the tax payers hundreds if not a billion dollars. Her is Chris Lee & Partners take on it in their latest "Taking Stock" newsletter. He is spot on:
"Who will forget how some oafish politicians cost our taxpayers more than a billion dollars, by pretending that they would seek to attack the electricity generation and retailing sector?
Struggling politicians sought headlines and a caffeine rush by pretending that they could get into power and then control those markets.
Their behavior allowed wealthy investors and fund managers to game the Crown, forcing the Crown, as vendors of companies like Genesis and Meridian, to sell at unfairly low prices, to the benefit of all who bought the shares and to the extreme cost of tax-payers.
The principal political partners in this nonsense have a legacy of value destruction, as far as I can judge."
Daytr, an ex-banker? I'm not at all surprised. One of my cock-relatives who has screwed up two or three careers and had to sell the family home and rent to meet his creditors is now well into a career as a financial adviser for a bank. I wouldn't trust him to change a dollar note but he still manages that superior smile when he comments on my affairs. John Key will outlast his critics and Judith Collins will never emulate Kiwalo - she probably doesn't even play golf.
I have some respect for Chris Lee as someone who is not afraid to speak his mind but he is pushing it a bit here.
The Crown did not sell the power companies, John Key made an election promise to sell them and followed through, even though Treasury advised against selling 3 companies so close together. If the Labour policy was so damaging to the selling price Key could have held back on the final 2 sales until after the election.
The present share prices of all 3 companies are not that much above the price Key sold them at which indicates the initial pricing was not that far out.
Of course Treasury are usually wrong in Nationals view as illustrated by their rubbishing of Treasury questioning the economic value of the Christchurch anchor projects.
westerly
Iceman, Westerly has already summed it up quite nicely, but I think you need to understand the difference between what is a fact and what is someone's view. FYI I was against the sale, but it wasn't something that I was overly concerned about either, however like the flag referendum the process was flawed and rushed and it this also impacted the outcome. I think there were far better things that could have been done that would have benefitted all NZers, not just the ones who could afford to buy shares. But the main reason I pointed this out was to correct Craic's falsehood that Key trebled the debt to increase the asset base, when he has in fact sold assets.
Not so. He was with Merrill Lynch, one of the worlds largest securities/ brokerage firms. That firm became part of the Bank of America just a few years ago, long after his time. One of my family holds a fairly high position there and move to Bank of America with the firm and he is not a banker by any stretch of the imagination.