It’s hard to see Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the market, perhaps that’s why media don’t report on its many successes. They’re first to complain when things go wrong, but who’s around to praise the market when it works? Free Press, that’s who, and this week we look at the crisis that wasn’t.
So, what happened to the fuel crisis? Only two months ago, it felt like we could be digging in for a COVID-level crisis. Shock jock commentators seemed to hope so, as they made scarier forecasts and called for deeper Government interventions.
Former Herald columnist Matthew Hooton wrote that we were entering a Mad Maxscenario, and the Prime Minister should go overseas and trade food for diesel, immediately. Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold appeared to be auditioning for the role of Michael Baker for this crisis, calling for dramatic controls on diesel and forecasting $150/bbl oil.
At various times the opposition stood up in Parliament and demanded the Government copy the most extreme version of every rationing or subsidising policy they could find overseas. There was some wild stuff to find.
The Australians made public transport free and halved fuel excise taxes. Various countries started down the path of rationing, others got into buying fuel by the billions.
In New Zealand we refurbished a tank, bought nine days’ diesel to fill it, just in case. We also raised per-kilometre reimbursement rates for low-income care workers who need to drive from house to house.
We gave low-income working households with kids $50 extra per week on the Earned Income tax Credit. The $50 will cease when petrol is back under $3 for a month – an ACT idea – that will probably save the taxpayer $250 million.
And the crisis? Now on Auckland’s Manukau Road, the super competitive strip of upstart fuel retailers, Unleaded 91 is going for $2.75. Diesel has been spotted at $2.10. The market has worked, but the media won’t thank it.
I can only assume a Labour Government would have imposed fuel restrictions from Day 1, and spent $10 billion on the crisis, with less than half actually being spending on anything to do with the crisis.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
3 comments:
If Labour was in power we would have covid-era travel restrictions with everyone working from home, children not going to school, gangs deciding who has permission to use the roads, daily media/propaganda briefings with the media gushing how wonderful Labour is, fat "experts" with blue hair from the Royal Society telling everyone to restrict fuel use while wasting it themselves, billions of dollars given to iwis (because the fuel crisis is a breach of the Treaty principles), and scapegoats to blame for all our problems - normally the farmers, miners, and all heterosexua pakeha males who work. After all that, Chippy would get nominated for a Nobel prize for being kind.
That all would all be totally ridiculous if it hadn't happened before.
Wow just imagine such a hypothetical situation that I just invented in my head and made a boogeyman out of something that definitely would have happened because I reckon it so and use it to sell fear! It doesn’t bear think about.
A Labour Government would have wanted us to all be locked up at home hoarding toilet paper and avoiding the neighbours
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.