If National wins ...

[fungus pudding]

But the state provided the capital to get it running again, they are not passive investors. They stepped in when no-one else would.

You mean when they wouldn't let anyone else in; namely Singapore airlines. That was a huge mistake.

[elZorro]

You mean when they wouldn't let anyone else in; namely Singapore airlines. That was a huge mistake.

The Labour Government sold 100% of Air New Zealand in 1988 to a syndicate made up of 25% Brierleys (not Singapore-owned at that stage, was it?), 20% Qantas and 20% Japan Airlines, coupled with a contractual undertaking by the syndicate that the remaining 35% would be sold to the public and that the stock would be floated on the NZ Stock Exchange. The public share sale and Stock Exchange listing duly occurred. To protect NZ’s / Air NZ’s international bilateral aviation rights, 51% “A” shares were available to NZ entities only, while overseas interests were restricted to the 49% “B” shares. Singapore Airlines moved into the share register perhaps.

Labour rescued the airline from a collapse in 2001 with $885mill, and I think at that stage the state owned 80% of it. Over the years their shareholding diluted a bit. FP, who is to say what Singapore Airlines would have done with our airline once they owned it? It would have reduced competition to remove its brand, why else would they have been interested?

The big capital injection made AirNZ strong. It then went on to make good profits in the years that followed. In other words, the opposite process from globalisation. A national business gets the local asset backing it needs to continue to employ NZ staff on good wages, with flow-on to other NZ businesses, while still making a sound profit for the shareholders.

In another example, Joyce defends a boat building contract with Bangladesh. There will be no taxes paid in NZ to defray the cost of this vessel, no-one will be taken off the unemployment queue, no-one will get any training in job skills, and no ancilliary businesses will have a chance to help any locally spent money go around. If the quote is so much lower than other providers including China, what sort of a ferry will it be? Cobbled together out of parts of scrapped ships?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11186423

Business confidence is up in NZ, which may point out the lowest point in the latest cycle. Domestic spending is now at the same level seen in..March 2005, the middle of Labour's 9-year term. I don't think National can claim any credit at all for this situation, but they have been luckier than they deserve in the leadup to the next election.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11186173

[iceman]

Business confidence is up in NZ, which may point out the lowest point in the latest cycle. Domestic spending is now at the same level seen in..March 2005, the middle of Labour's 9-year term. I don't think National can claim any credit at all for this situation, but they have been luckier than they deserve in the leadup to the next election.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11186173

That's an incredible statement EZ ! Maybe you just need to accept that the current Government seems to be doing a fairly good job !

[craic]

Most of the Bangladeshi operations are breakers yards where big ships are run aground at high tide and cut up in an operation that chills the heart of every greenie. Swarms of people strip the furniture and fitting and drag them off to stalls and sheds where they are resold. Cutting torches cut the hull up with no regard for anything like safety. Oil pours everywhere and into the sea unless it catches fire. The casualty rate is horrific.
The current contract is for a ferry that is a gift to one of our Pacific neighbours and I imagine it will have the usual marine surveys. And the bottom line is that while NZ is up ther with the best in yachts and pleasure craft, we are not shipbuilders.

[elZorro]

Belg, this is the ugly face of globalisation. The NZ price included NZ labour rates. Of course the businesses building the vessel may have been able to make more of them later, setting up an industry to replace the closed Hillside workshops, but that is not National's way.

I have been involved on the sidelines with a big international business that was building a world-leading steel-based product in NZ that had been designed here, the IP and manufacturing sold off to the international company some years ago. They started getting competition from the start, but more recently Chinese copies (patents expired) were being built for the price of the NZ steel. They are not as good of course, but the international company sorted out the problem by applying the rules of globalisation. Over a period of 3-5 years, all processes here were documented, suppliers were screwed down, the good plant here in NZ was dismantled and sent to a small corner of a big new plant in India. 12 months later the new staff in India are making the same unit with their lower labour rate, for the international corporate. 150 staff positions in NZ plus many ancillary earning jobs are gone. All that is left here is the pride that NZ engineers designed and made a world-leading product, and the knowledge that the big corporates don't really care about that.

[elZorro]

elZ,

Take heart from companies like Nike. Tiny number of actual employees.

We need a few of those. We MUST learn to retain IP and stop selling it off for way less than its worth to overseas concerns so all we're left with is bragging rights.

Let's hope XRO shows NZ Inc. how to do it.

I think we must learn to hold onto IP so we can create the right sort of manufacturing businesses. If we can't employ nearly everyone, tax rates will have to stay high just to keep these people on the straight and narrow, even though they can't find suitable work. And also to pay for the necessary infrastructure for the rest of us.

I don't know about XRO. It has a decent staff now, while they get the programming done. But a bit of a comparison is valid.

NZGovt net value of all assets (schools, roads, hospitals etc) $68Bill
That international company I mentioned (20,000 staff) $6Bill MCAP (always makes a profit)
XRO (has not made a profit yet) $5.4Bill MCAP

[westerly]

You mean when they wouldn't let anyone else in; namely Singapore airlines. That was a huge mistake.

Interesting Singapore Airlines is 54% owned by Temasek Holdings the investment arm of the Singapore Govt. Investments of many billions of dollars around the world. Perhaps they should be encouraged to sell - It is not good business for Govts. to be involved in private enterprise. ?

westerly

[elZorro]

That's an incredible statement EZ ! Maybe you just need to accept that the current Government seems to be doing a fairly good job !

National has been lucky that the normal fluctuations in the dairy/meat commodities are peaking at the moment, as Chinese demand for protein picks up. Longer term, NZ is helping to set up huge dairy platforms in China, the Middle East, etc. We can't expect prices to stay like this. Globalisation means that primary producers have to move to a large scale to make a decent profit. Ask anyone who is trying to grow food crops on a small scale in NZ.

The Christchurch rebuild will be good for wages and employment too. Again, not National's doing. Like any relatively brief concentrated industrial work, some firms will prosper and others will fail, pricing themselves too low in a bid to keep their workers employed.

We have thousands of tertiary students leaving our universities with qualifications every year. Where are the smart new businesses that are reaching global scale from these inputs? They are few and far between. Labour have the policies and the drive to help push us all into new R&D areas. For all the right reasons.

Yes, the economy is looking up.

Here is a list of the 31 poor and needy large businesses that have received the bulk of the R&D funding from the National Govt for the last three years (this bite worth $140mill). Some at least are overseas owned, others are busy automating their processes and have greatly increased productivity/staff numbers already. Some do most of their manufacturing overseas. Most of them have to do R&D to keep ahead of the competition anyway. I will admit that F&P Appliances (owned by Haier) are taking on numerous engineers for R&D here in NZ.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/grow...warded-5800507

[winner69]

The Phoenicians were keen on the "globalisation myth". Traded all along the Mediterranean, Spain, Britain and part of Africa. Became really prosperous as a result.....

...........but what happened to them in the end Major

[craic]

I will admit that F&P Appliances (owned by Haier) are taking on numerous engineers for R&D here in NZ.

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/grow...warded-5800507

One of those is my son and he is happy there - He can also bring the heavy items from the family wash and have it done on one of their "test " machines. Could probably store his beer in one of their "test" fridges but he's not that silly.