Not so much an election as a referendum
This weekends election is less and less about the direction of this country - a phony election, if you will. All that has happened is National and Labour have slung as much mud as possible (some of it sticking) to try and beat this up to a real contest.
Both Labour and National both have the same broad view of how to manage the economy. While there are differences, they are mostly cosmetic. There is no radicalism being preached - no major upheavals of hospital management, no major upheavals in Education. (Labour have even, to an extent, copied/adopted National's Tertiary and Adult Learning Policies.) There is no promises to change the direction of economic management as the current direction has worked well since 1993.
So this election has come down to one issue - the Budget Surplus and what to do about it. National favour returning it to those who earned in the first place, Labour wants to spend some on assistance for more people in health and targeting assistance to families.
So this weekends election is not really an election. Which is why this election is so close. It's not a measure of Government performance over the past three years, it's not about the public trusting Brash more than Clark. This election is a referendum on whether we want tax cuts or not.
As an aside, the surplus is so large that it has caused policy distortions. If Labour is elected, an MP with 5 kids and a stay-at-home partner can qualify for assistance. (I checked it on Labour's Calculator.) National's Tax Cuts are not modest - the maximum that 85% of taxpayers will pay is 19% Income Tax.
Both Labour and National both have the same broad view of how to manage the economy. While there are differences, they are mostly cosmetic. There is no radicalism being preached - no major upheavals of hospital management, no major upheavals in Education. (Labour have even, to an extent, copied/adopted National's Tertiary and Adult Learning Policies.) There is no promises to change the direction of economic management as the current direction has worked well since 1993.
So this election has come down to one issue - the Budget Surplus and what to do about it. National favour returning it to those who earned in the first place, Labour wants to spend some on assistance for more people in health and targeting assistance to families.
So this weekends election is not really an election. Which is why this election is so close. It's not a measure of Government performance over the past three years, it's not about the public trusting Brash more than Clark. This election is a referendum on whether we want tax cuts or not.
As an aside, the surplus is so large that it has caused policy distortions. If Labour is elected, an MP with 5 kids and a stay-at-home partner can qualify for assistance. (I checked it on Labour's Calculator.) National's Tax Cuts are not modest - the maximum that 85% of taxpayers will pay is 19% Income Tax.
posted by Michael at
7:02 PM
1 Comments:
Michael, this latest posting is the first political one you have made that I can agree with 100%. well done! There indeed is little difference in direction between Labour and National with I guess the emphasis being that labour likes certain things such as health, essential services such as NZ rail, roading, electricity, prisons and eduction to be operated by the Government while National would like them run by private concerns.
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steven, at 12:23 AM
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