HOW MULDOON THREW AWAY NEW ZEALAND'S WEALTH by Brian Gaynor

This has nothing to do with books but I was greatly intrigued by the following story in the Weekend Herald by Brian Gaynor, one of NZ's most respected writers on financial & investment matters. I believe it deserves a wider audience so I am posting it here on my blog.

Sir Robert Muldoon painted Labour's fledgling super scheme as a step on the way to turning New Zealand into a Soviet clone.
A dreadful political decision, announced on December 15, 1975, transformed New Zealand from the potential Switzerland of the Southern Hemisphere into a low-ranking OECD economy.

Without this decision we would now be called "The Antipodean Tiger" and be the envy of the rest of the world. We would have a current account surplus, one of the lowest interest-rate structures in the world and would probably rank as one of the top five OECD economies.

We would still own ASB Bank, Bank of New Zealand and most of the other major companies now overseas-owned. Our entrepreneurs would have a plentiful supply of risk capital and would probably own a large number of Australian companies.
Most New Zealanders would face a comfortable retirement and would be the envy of their Australian peers.

The Government would have a substantial Budget surplus and we would have one of the best educational and healthcare systems in the world.

The full story here..........