[PEN-L:5050] Re: Brits> NZ too

[Robert Peter Burns <rburns@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ellen Dannin and others who haven't seen it
should take a look at the transcript of
the CBC program "Ideas" on New Zealand which
is available in the pen-l archives.  It's very
long, so one should probably download it, and
print it out.  In NZ they have tried being
even more Thatcherite than Thatcher, with
disastrous results as the CBC program makes
clear.  NZ is the only country in the developed
world in which income inequality has grown faster than
in Britain.  In Britain, the Rowntree Foundation has
just put out a report on wealth and income trends in
Britain during the Thatcher years.  I'll post
the address where you can get this separately.

A few weeks ago a writer for the LA Times did a
cheerleading piece on New Zealand--something like
"NZ Profits from Tough Reforms".  I sent him a
copy of the CBC transcript.  No reply yet.
One bit that didn't make it into his piece was that
AGGREGATE economic growth in NZ from 1984, when the
free market crew took over, to 1992 was NEGATIVE 1
percent, compared to an OECD average of positive
20 percent.

Cheers,

Peter Burns SJ
rburns@xxxxxxxxxxx