Sir Roger Douglas Speech

Sir Roger Douglas in a recent speech confirmed that he is still the best thinker on matters economic in New Zealand. He certainly has his detractors, mindless buffoons who still believe in some socialist utopia that they imagine existed before Douglas became Finance Minister in 1984.

Douglas points out:

· Households borrowing too much has in part created this current recession, govt borrowing more will not help

· Free markets are not the problem they are the solution

· Recent past policies have been geared towards wealth redistribution not wealth creation

· We cannot spend our way out of a recession


· Labour costs have increased by 60% since 2000 with minimal gains in productivity

· Governments do not create jobs the private sector does – bike paths are a poor investment & will divert people from the productive sector

· Every dollar borrowed by the govt (TLAs) is a dollar unavailable to the private sector & will have to be repaid through taxes (rates)

· In the last 2 yrs $30 billion has been wiped of the stock market

· In the last 1 year $30 billion has been lost on our housing stock

· In total with losses at ACC, Super Fund & finance companies $70 -$80 billion has been removed from NZ’s wealth

· That’s $18,000 for every man, woman & child in New Zealand