Butt Out, Bill!

Libertarianz deputy leader Richard McGrath said today the $7 billion spend-up announced by Finance Minister Bill English was both detrimental to the prospects of economic recovery, and damaging to the moral fibre of New Zealanders.

"This golden shower of handouts will be funded by churning out yet more worthless paper notes – debasing the currency, and punishing those who try to put New Zealand dollars aside for a rainy day – or by borrowing, so that future generations of Kiwis are burdened with debt."

"These 'rescue' packages undermine the lessons taught by the free market," said Dr McGrath. "If you lend money to high-risk customers such as sub-prime mortgage holders, or sink money into dodgy investments, there is a significant chance of losing some or all of it."

"Forcing the taxpayer to rescue incompetent banks and investors stops the latter from learning from their mistakes and encourages more of the same foolhardy speculative behaviour," McGrath added

"The best thing the government could do is step aside and let the banks and businesses that have failed their customers - and the investors and entrepreneurs that have failed themselves - quietly close down, so that valuable time and resources can be allocated into more productive activities."

"Rewarding failure is irrational; stealing from taxpayers to reward failure is unjust. Libertarianz calls for an end to this Keynesian madness."

ENDS

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