There was a point where New Zealand was more "American" than America where it came to economic policy. This was after the collapse of the interventionist Keynesian regime that spent large sums on giant steelmills that made a huge loss, which in turn was after the collapse caused by Britain joining the EEC and not buying NZ's exports any more. The hyper-American free-marketeers dismantled the state as far as possible, privatising everything, then there was a third collapse symbolised by the loss of electrical supply to Auckland because the distributor cut maintenance to boost profits until their network broke. I'd like to learn more of NZ's troubled history, it's grisly but fascinating.
|