John Key, to the Kerikeri District Business Asociation, December 2008:
Another point raised by Ms Brookes-Quan concerned the exodus to Australia by New Zealanders, lured by attractive wage compensation, and the recent call for employers to pay more.When Key couldn't spin and obfuscate his way out of this admission, he pulled the strings of his tame Herald editor to have a "correction" printed (for another paper, for giving an incorrect "impression"). But in light of National's policies in office (which have seen mass unemployment and sub-inflation wage rises), and today's announcement of a further attack on worker's rights which will further reduce the wages and living standards of ordinary Kiwis, maybe we should be taking Key at his word.Mr Key would like to see the opposite occur.
"We would love to see wages drop," he says.
As I've pointed out before, extracting higher profits through lower wages is a core policy of the National Party. When they talk about "raising living standards", they're not talking about raising them for us, but for the top 0.1%. Its about transferring wealth upwards, by making ordinary kiwis actively worse off. And I can think of no better definition of "evil" than that.
