Not PC: Privatising, Rodney

Sunday 17 September 2006

Privatising, Rodney

"Selling the family silver." That's what people call privatisation. "Selling the family silver," they say. "We paid for the state assets," they say. "They're ours," they say. "You can't sell them," they say.

Libertarianz policy on that for many years has been to say, "Very well, you paid for them - you have them back. Here's your shares in these assets; do with them what you will." Eminent sense it seems to me. Here's the Libz policy on privatisation, the same policy we've had since 1995:

State assets will be given back to those whose money paid for them - taxpayers! After retiring the government's debt, all assets will be distributed as shares to be sold or retained as you choose. So-called 'stakeholders' can become real shareholders. Existing superannuitants - whose savings have been stolen by taxes and government-induced inflation - would be provided for from these assets.

It's a policy we've promoted many times since. Here for example is what leader Bernard Darnton said in March of last year:

In our first term of government, Libertarianz will sell or distribute shares in ALL state-owned enterprises, crown companies and crown-owned businesses to the public."

Darnton produced a list of state-controlled entities he would personally ensure were gone by lunchtime:
Kiwibank
NZ Post
Meridian Energy
Genesis Energy
Mighty River Power
Transpower
Solid Energy
Landcorp
Television New Zealand
Air New Zealand
Ontrack
Broadcast Communications Ltd
MetService Airways Corporation.
"Privatisation should in the first instance be undertaken to eliminate public debt, which inflates interest rates and is a burden on taxvictims; and thence to give the public a shareholding in these companies --so that Dr Cullen's own desire for New Zealanders to save and own shares will be implemented by creating true public ownership and sovereignty."

"We hear much talk on the left about the 'people's assets' and the people having control over these assets - well Libertarianz will de-politicise the assets altogether and give full property rights in state businesses to New Zealanders," declares Darnton. "Then the people can decide themselves if they wish to hold shares in a power company for example, or if they would rather sell and buy themselves a new TV!"

"The important principle is to get government out of business as fast as possible!"

Makes perfect sense to me. And it seems it now makes perfect sense to ACT's Rodney Hide as well, as he makes clear in this speech over the weekend:

If public opinion is against 'selling the family silver' - as some people put it - why not simply return the silver to the family?
In other words, why not give Kiwis shares in their SOEs?

After all, taxpayers own the enterprises in the first place. The government is just their trustee, and a poor one at that.

Although they are the real owners, Kiwis can't sell their shareholding, and they have no control.

This is an issue not just of economics but also of freedom and fairness. What we ultimately own is locked up without our consent. Any dividends from our involuntary investment in SOEs are spent by the government, not paid out to us.

Citizens who could put their share of these investments to better use, like having a hip operation, are denied that opportunity for no good reason.

We should give Kiwis real control over what they already own.

To hand back control over the "people's bank" and "peoples airline", we could have a "People's Float".