Bill,

I can understand the need for a degree of compatibility with Auz on taxation, but why are you waiting to take a lead from them when some of the issues we have to deal with require the obvious solutions being proposed and advocated more and more widely now? (Have we got time to waste?)

As for CGT/LVT and the balancing benefit that would bring, is there a snowballs unless Dunne and No.1 can't get their heads around it, swallow the pride medicine and allow it to be more than a just talk-fest/review?

I guess if you are paying close attention to how Auz does things, you might care to ask them how them about their tax treatment of private sector R&D?

In exchange you could tell em' how the likes of Kiwibank could be used as a macro-economic tool:

http://business.smh.com.au/business/peoples-bank-to-break-the-big-four-2...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2580792/Talks-held-on-growth-of...

And then maybe you could help them out with some advice on monetary policy - just pass on all that you and Cullen have ignored.

English defies the evidence on monetary policy, 20 Feb 2009;

Monetary Policy problems sit with MP's not the banks, 12 June 2009, here:

http://www.mea.org.nz/media/pressreleases.aspx

Anyway, well done - at least you are initiating and maintaining discussion on things that seem to give lesser leaders electoral nightmares.

Bill English and JK are good politicians they know patience and timing is everything, the public don't like change happening too quickly,and they want a second term thats why he says "any restructure of the New Zealand tax system would take longer than one term of government" You can guarantee these changes are going to happen its not a matter of IF we have a CGT LT and GST increase its a matter of WHEN. I beleive it will be within the next 5 years.

Matt in Auck,

Great idea. I've put in the request for an interview with Phil Heatley. Should have it within a few weeks.

To all,

Who else would you like me to interview and what questions would you like asked?

cheers
Bernard

Steve Joyce would be good:

After completing a zoology degree at Massey University, Steven started his first radio station, Energy FM, in his home town of New Plymouth, at age 21. More...
Ministerial Portfolios

* Minister of Transport
* Minister for Communications and Information Technology
* Associate Minister of Finance
* Associate Minister for Infrastructure

http://bit.ly/9pyyr

Bernard,

I'd like to you to interview Alan Bollard and ask him why he has been harping on about our high debt and low savings level whilst at the same time encouraging it via absurdly low interest rates.

Kieran - good points.

They are not remotely dim-witted people. However the longer we leave it, the worse things will get, more especially in terms of maintaining and building capability in the wider productive side of the economy. Maybe if it wasn't for the divisive dynamic of the MMP electoral system, they could be getting on with the job with the speed and gusto of Douglasian change - but given the passage of time and a better understanding of how the classic ideologies have failed us, now with more accuracy in designing the solutions - that are being advocated more and more widely now.

Noting the problems we face were just as obvious in Labour's tenure, I wonder if they would do the right thing by NZ and be supportive of the necessary change, rather than divisive for their own electoral interest?

How much time do we have to waste?

Cheers, Les.

Bernard, how about the CEOs of either TSB and SBS banking and ask them why they are a better alternative to Kiwibank and how they have been helping their communities over the last, say 100 years.

John Key, Bill English or Rob Cameron, any one from the banking, finance, commerce fraternity,

Ask them to explain to the uninitiated what a Government Bond /Local govt bond is. Who are allowed to exchange currency for government bonds, that is before they can be onsold on the secondary bond market. What do the registered bond dealers give us in exchange for our government bonds. What role do they play in our economy.?

You had a great chance to ask him there Bernard

Bernard, another idea (before someone beats me to it) - the directors and CEO of SCF and ask the questions raised in this article:

Brian Gaynor: Finance company faces tough questions

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=1058...

"SCF has survived the finance company meltdown but there are a number of important questions that need to be answered:

Why has it lent so aggressively during the recession, particularly to the property sector?

Why has it not improved its reporting and disclosure standards, particularly as investors are now demanding higher standards?

Why has there been a dramatic rise in related party loans when these advances are now considered to be inappropriate?

Why is SCF buying farm properties from related parties during a recession, particularly when farm prices are falling and are difficult to sell?

Why hasn't the board been freshened up with younger and more independent directors?"

I had almost forgotten, but as always one must study the structures and personal of the institute complicate in an area that repeated problems are having detrimental impact upon society, especially the tangible sector or realsector as opposed to the non-tangible financial sector or bullshit sector. Follow the trial and check for conflicts of interest.
Thus it is time to look at who pulls the strings of the Governor of the Reserve Bank.
This RBNZ Boards submission to 2007 inquiry into Future Monetary Policy -

The role of the Board of Directors
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989 specifies that the Board of Directors of the Bank is responsible for keeping under constant review the performance of the Bank in discharging all its functions as the central bank of New Zealand. One particular focus is on the Bank's achievement of monetary policy targets agreed to between the Governor and the Minister in the Policy Targets Agreement (PTA). The Board assesses the consistency of the Bank's policy statements with its primary function and stated goals under the PTA. Under the Act, the Board prepares an annual report on the performance of the Bank. If, in the Board's judgment, the Governor of the Bank has failed to discharge the duties of the office satisfactorily, it may recommend to the Minister that the Governor be removed from office.............
The Board generally meets each month and has access to the same papers and advice that inform the Bank's decisions and operations. At meetings that follow monetary policy decisions, these papers include summaries of recent developments in the macro-economy and in domestic and international financial markets, guidance on the near-term outlook for various sectors of the New Zealand economy, longer-term economic projections, as well as a précis of information from the Bank's business contacts and material on the views of markets and other commentators. A small subset of senior Bank staff provides the Governor with non-binding formal advice on changes to the OCR, and these are made available to the Board on a non-attributed basis. In addition, the OCR advice tendered by the Bank's two external monetary policy advisors who take part in the OCR advisory process (following the Svensson review of 2001) is made available to directors. Finally, Monetary Policy Statements published by the Bank are considered in detail at Board meetings, accompanied by a presentation from the Governor (and senior staff) on the rationale for the policy decision.................From time to time, various eminent academic economists and foreign central bankers have visited the Reserve Bank to observe the monetary policy decision-making process first hand. (The Appendix provides a partial list of such visitors.) The Board has access to these visitors' written reports and in some cases has met with them. The Board has also sought additional materials from Bank staff and, indirectly, from international monetary policy experts, on various aspects of monetary policy and its implementation. In general, the findings of these reports indicate that the Bank's processes are comparable with international best practice.
International organisations such as the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD and various credit ratings agencies periodically visit New Zealand to consult with the Reserve Bank, and with other government officials and private sector economists. The regular reviews that result from these visits include assessments of the recent performance of the New Zealand economy, forecasts over the medium-term, and detailed policy commentaries. Again, these reviews support the current legislative framework for monetary policy, and have generally reported favourably on actual policy decisions.
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monpol/about/3076975.pdf

Well what do you know, "International organisations such as the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD and various credit ratings agencies periodically visit New Zealand to consult with the Reserve Bank, and with other government officials and private sector economists." the privately owned international banking network again.

Now lets have a look who is on this RBNZ Board of Directors -
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/about/whoweare/0092967.html
I will look at Allan Crimes the chair of the board and leave you folks to stir your investigative juices on the rest. Arthur Crimes entire CV makes very, very interesting reading. The question begs to be asked, his he a fool or a liar? does he represent slaveminded entities looking to monopolise our necessities of life or do his allegiances truly lie with the economic equal opportunity of as many as possible in this nation -

Visiting Appointments
1992: Visiting Scholar, Centre for Pacific Basin Studies,
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (4 months)
http://www.motu.org.nz/files/docs/people/Arthur_Grimes_CV_2009-04.pdf

Just a timely reminder of how the ex chief economists of the Worldbank and Imf describe the institutes that they tried hard to reform from within, but failed -

Joseph Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. He was Chief Economist of the World Bank between 1997 and 2000. So when he says that the IMF are "˜free-market fundamentalists' working in the interests of Wall Street, the world ought to sit up and listen. The NI interviewed him in London.
http://www.newint.org/features/2004/03/01/imf-failure/

The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government"”a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we're running out of time.
by Simon Johnson
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice

In other words, the Fed, which is already totally unaccountable to Congress, is to be placed in complete control of the entirety of the U.S. financial system, to do as it wishes without repercussion.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14063

Time for an inquiry into not only banking in NZ, international banking!