The very good Cactus Kate has provided a wake up call for NZ. As usual, she is accurate but has not patience with the politeness and political correctness of NZ. One Chris Trotter — who is a leftie, but is usually worth reading responded:

And from where, pray tell dear Kate, are you going to muster the divisions required to implement this vicious little programme? And how, once it has been implemented at the point of their bayonets, do you propose to prevent the soldiers from tossing all you pampered patricians (on whose behalf this counter-revolution has presumably been launched) from the walls of the city, and establishing a brutal military kleptocracy?

Read a little history, Kate. it would do you the world of good.

via Blogger: Cactus Kate – Post a Comment.

What Chris does not realise is that you cannot — as a state — do socail transfers without the cooperation of the well off and the ability of the well off to pay for such transfers.

I suggest he look at two examples. One is California (or New York, or any other liberal run state from the USA). High state taxes lead to people moving to low (in the US read nil) state tax areas. The people who can do this are high net worth. To quote Lenin, they vote with their feet. NZers who do not like a socail welfare net have been able to go — until fairly recently — to most of the Commonwealth and start over. Many have.

Now, if things go bad, peoples incomes reduce. People cannot spend, and people pay less tax. (As an aside, Chris, if you have a progressive tax system you do worse as a state because people with lower income slide down the tax brackets). In many cases the person is on the dole.

Now, if the gummnit does not pull back, they are going to go seriously into overdraft. Banks do not like that unless you have something like a house (or your strong right hand) as security. Banks pull out.

The economy collapses. (If it happened to Argentina, it can happen here). The best example of this is Zimbabwe, where the army does keep the socailist tyrant and his group of nomenkultura in power.

But the narod are fleeing from there. They are starting to flee from NZ.

We all need to worry, Chris, when the Cactus — in her words — no longer gives a shit and gives up on NZ. We will no longer be GodZone but just another Peronistic Hell.