Rogernomics

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 22

Rogernomics

Sir,—The comments by the acting chairman of the Business Roundtable, Mr Myers, regarding the Government’s mini-Budget (November 26) reveal a simpleminded grasp of economic reality. Privatisation, reduced State spending, and tax cuts tor the wealthy minority do not raise the standard of living for “all New Zealanders,” nor will they “create jobs.” International experience shows this. For example, Mrs Thatcher’s privatisation campaign has, if anything, increased unemployment and poverty. Free enterprise and the market economy might seem a bright new alternative to protectionism and the Welfare State, but history has shown freemarket policies produce massive social inequality, unemployment, and financial hardship because of low wages (Mr Myers calls this the “deregulation of the labour market”). The export-led

growth proposed by the Roundtable will benefit a handful of business people while we, the domestic market, will find we can no longer afford to buy the goods we produce. We will join the rest of the Third World unless wage workers and the unemployed actively resist Rogernomics, and replace the market economy with a workable alternative.—Yours, etc., CRAIG SATHERLEY. November 26, 1987.