The government's privatisation bill will go through its final reading today. So who benefits from it?
Firstly, there's the rich, who will purchase the SOEs, redirecting the dividend stream (and any capital gains) from the public purse into their own private pockets (this category includes many MPs, including John Key).
Secondly, there's the financial industry, who will be paid $120 million by the government to sell us our own assets, and who will clip the ticket on every share sale into the bargain.
And thirdly, there's the SOE directors themselves, who stand to see their fees double simply because of the change in ownership structure. Those fees, of course, will be paid for by higher power prices paid by ordinary kiwis.
Note who doesn't benefit: ordinary kiwis. We'll be facing reduced public services due to the loss of the SOE dividend stream, while being charged higher prices to meet the new owners' rapacious demand for profits. And then, in a decade or so, when they've run it into the ground and asset stripped it, we'll have to buy it back.
Sounds like a shit deal to me.
