Surprisingly, prominent Herald commentator, Simon Wilson, who sits on the left-end of political opinion, has written an article that appears frustrated with how Labour has been managing the economy. "Why aren't we building back better?", he complains. "We've been in the worst economic and health crisis in living memory and the result is this: the biggest-ever wealth gains for the already wealthy, while the poorest among us have been pushed deeper into poverty". He asks, "Is the Government moving so hesitantly because there are no votes in doing anything different?"
The answer as to why the government is moving so slowly on so many fronts, including the vaccine roll-out, is that it fundamentally doesn't believe in incentives and the private sector's ability to deliver. It has relied on bureaucrats and central planning, which isn't working. Now even Mr Wilson is complaining about the "public sector mandarins".
Yet this is the same person who proudly argued in May 2020 that government intervention arising from the Coronavirus pandemic was leading to the "death of neo-liberalism". "Everywhere we see the signs. Here & overseas, politicians who usually insist that the market knows best have fallen silent ... What we're doing now has the makings of a great achievement of civilisation".
Maybe Mr Wilson could reflect on the fact that the Pfizer vaccine which the Kiwi government is desperate to roll-out to avoid a potential economic and health mess in this country has been invented by ... Pfizer Incorporated. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Yes, a profit-maximizing, private sector company. Funded by ... markets.
Oh, and Pfizer shares are looking like a "buy". Investors.com says "Pfizer expects $33.5 billion in full-year sales of it Covid vaccine, leading its stock to surge in July & August. Meanwhile, the company could ask for emergency authorization of a booster shot next month & is planning to begin testing a specific shot for the Covid delta variant".
Could some NZ Herald writers ever bring themselves to publicly acknowledge that Pfizer may end up saving countless more lives from Coronavirus than our government ever has?
For sources, see: