Monday 18 April

The Economic Illiteracy Support Group today threw its full weight behind the nine rebel Wellington councillors who are seeking to push expensive roading projects through Wellington.

"After carefully assessing the issue, it's apparent that these councillors need our support and advice rather than the criticism they have been receiving in some sections of the media", said a spokesperson. "As should be obvious to all concerned, the roading projects they're promoting are a complete money-waster and will actively destroy hundreds of millions of dollars of economic value for the region. However that's not the important issue right now."

According to the Support Group, the nine councillors are suffering from an easily-identifiable but debilitating condition - economic illiteracy. "The most basic numeracy skills would have demonstrated that spending a dollar and only getting back 40 cents - as these roading projects do - was a dumb idea. So it's clear that these councillors need every assistance in learning what a benefit/cost ratio is, what that little minus sign in the benefits column actually means, and how they can avoid looking like idiots in the media."

"Economic Illiteracy is a debilitating and dangerous condition, particularly for politicians", said a spokesperson. "Some people suffer from hearing loss, or dyslexia, or other disabilities that can prevent them participating fully in society. One in five people in New Zealand have some kind of disability - although discovering that 9 out of 14 councilors are economically illiterate is certainly one of the worst cases we've ever seen. In fact, it's even worse than Mark Hotchin being taken in by a basic Ponzi scheme when he was leading Hanover!"

"So the Economic Illiteracy Support Group is stepping in to help educate and support these deluded councillors", said a spokesperson. "We're sending some relevant textbooks aimed at the right level of comprehension - our favourite is Spot's First Numbers - along with calculators with really big buttons on them to some of the "rebel" councillors. We hope they will take the opportunity to educate themselves on why supporting roads with a benefit/cost ratio of only 0.4 is an exceptionally stupid economic choice."

ENDS

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