I spent a day in Christchurch yesterday that was both marvellous (thank you to friends and Maestro Domingo for making it so) and depressing.
The former commercial heart of New Zealand’s second-largest city still lies in ruins. The place where business used to be done. And instead of allowing business to do what business does—i.e., to get on with reshaping and improving everyone’s situation one trade, one improvement, one productive innovation at a time—the government’s “solution” has been to bar businessmen from doing business while pretending to do themselves what businesses were set up to do.
The result: More than a year after the first earthquake, the government still has wire fences and soldiers surrounding the city to keep out business owners, while their sites inside are now slowly, very slowly, being turned into tarmac. The recovery plan in summary appears to be to ban business activity while hoping that the rescue fairy will somehow or other arrive on her own.
No wonder there is anger. Very justified and, as yet, very ill-directed anger.
These are just a few of the examples of “street art” decorating the barricades.
And while it’s nothing to do with the anger directed towards the government and its creature C.E.R.A. (Cancel All Recovery Anyway), I thought this addition to the police’s “street art” was rather good:
1 comment:
Just disgraceful.
One thing which has always mystified me is that as soon as the least little thing happens -(hurricane Katrina, earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks etc) it automatically becomes a 'government problem'.
During the last 80 years we have seen this become conventional wisdom so much so that every man and his dog feels a sense of entitlement and god given right to be bailed out by the State.
After the earthquakes the State should have kept well out of it; just let market forces rule with ordinary folk getting on with rebuilding their buildings, homes and businesses.
The reason this has not been allowed to happen (as usual) is the sense of entitlement and egalitarianism which pollutes New Zealand - ie: because of the risk that a small number of stupid, ignorant poor people may end up even worse off... everybody else has to suffer.
How pathetic.
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