Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand
Subject: Re: Sir Robert Muldoon Dies
From: paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (cantva)
Date: 13 Aug 92 09:37:31 +1200
Reply-To: paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz

From article <1992Aug12.161416.10051@waikato.ac.nz>, by hist1261@waikato.ac.nz:
> In article <1992Aug12.075038.280@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>, paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (cantva) writes:
>> Perhaps Muldoons biggest crime was the 1975 National Superann policy -
>> an election bribe of enormous proportions.
> 
> Does "election bride" = democracy?  I thought he put a policy to the people and 
> he was elected on the strength of it.  It may have been foolhardy but who is
> the bigger fool, the one who devises the policy or the one who votes for it?
> 
> There is nothing sinister in the so called "bribe" - it is merely democracy in
> action.  Now saying one thing ("consensus government" or "the decent society")
> and doing something else, that is reprehensible and deserving of such emotive
> terms.

The public were certainly foolhardy to believe that such a generous scheme
was sustainable.  But surely Muldoon, for all his supposed intelligence
and financial wisdom would have know that this scheme was very expensive
and at best only sustainable in the very short term (i.e. long enough
to see him elected on the basis of the policy and then re-elected once or
twice).

Muldoon was a very skilful as a politician, and had a highly developed
instinct for getting himself elected regardless of the cost to the country
(Superann, Think Big, Springbok Tour, etc).

> Whether or not the "scheme was always unsustainable" is also debatable. 

Most things are debatable :-).  Given the country's demographics though,
the sceheme would have come under tremendous pressure when the baby boomers
start reaching 60 in about 12 years time.  Any scheme based on funding
retirement income almost entirely out of current taxation is going to get
into big trouble when a large population bulge reaches retirment age.

The fact that since then both parties have suffered major 
embarassment because of broken promises over this issue indicates
just how unsustainable the sceheme was ("No ifs, no buts, no maybes :-)").

> Personally I'd rather have 61 year old people out of work than 21 year olds.

So would I, but the difference between the dole and the pension makes the $
cost considerable.

>> The scheme .... gave people the
>> unrealistically high expectations that they still have today.
> 
> What does this mean ? - that the poor should know their place?  These arguments
> are almost word for word the same ones used against Seddon when he first
> introduced the old age pension!  I don't think the expectation that politcal
> parties keep their word is in any way "unrealistically high".  "Realism" is
> an ideologically loaded term.

It means that the country is basically broke and that it is unrealistic
for retired people with substantial income to expect to get the
same pension as retired people who have very little.  

>> I wasn't glad to hear that Muldoon had died, but then again I wasn't
>> particularly sad either.  Still, I can't help thinking that if he'd
>> died 20 years ago we _may well_ be a lot better off today.
> 
> Your thoughts are your own affairs, sir.  Would anyone else have done any
> better?  Do you think Rowling would have taken the hard decisions you advocate?    
> I can just see him implementing an Employment Contracts Bill with Jim Knox's 
> support.

Who knows what might have happened under Labour in 1975, or National
without Muldoon.  I find it hard to believe they could have done any
worse. Under Labour, for instance, we might still have the scheme they
started and be reaping benefits of it (such as a large pool of
investment money, and a much lower bill for retirement income).

I'm not a new right idealogue, and would be happy to see Muldoons
superann scheme in place for all time if the country could afford it. 
It's a great shame that we can't (now and for the forseeable future).

To me, Muldoon's financial policies were at the very best ordinary, at
worst totally incompetent.  Couple that with Muldoon's very abrasive
nature, the way he stacked his cabinets with incompetents, and the
cynical way in which he manipulated public opinion (which probably
culminated in the Springbok tour) for political gain, and you have a
leader the country would have been much better off without.

That isn't to say that we've had wonderful leadership since, but I would
rate them all more highly (even Jim "Fat Lady" Bolger) than Muldoon.

--
----- Paul Ashton ----
Email: paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz
NZ Post:        Dept of Computer Science
                University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand