Bribing the rich with taxpayer's money

John Key used the National Party Conference over the weekend to announce his latest bribe for his rich mates: a share bonus scheme for those investing in stolen state assets. Key says this will help ensure that "ordinary kiwis" buy in - but the problem is that those who will benefit are anything but ordinary. Only around 10% of New Zealanders own shares, and ownership is of course tightly concentrated among those at the very top of the wealth pyramid. What Key's scheme boils down to is offering these people, the ultra-rich like him, millions of dollars of taxpayer's money for supporting his asset theft policy. Its simply another exercise in cronyism and upwards wealth-transfer. But that, after all, is what the National Party stands for.