Compare and Contrast

The Labour Party constitution:

Co-operation, rather than competition, should be the main governing factor in economic relations …

Bloomberg reporting on the Chinese Communist Party:

Zhou’s comments underscore pledges by the ruling Communist Party, which last week completed the most important phase of a once-a-decade power transition, to promote freer movement of capital in and out of the country for investment purposes and to make the exchange rate more market-based.

Ironic, as NZ Labour argues against foreign investment and having the Government set the exchange rate.

“Expectations are high” for change as government intervention, ranging from excessive regulation to rigid price controls, has become “unbearable” over the last couple of years, said Li Jiange, head of the country’s biggest investment bank and a vice chairman at the government-run company that holds stakes in state-owned lenders.

Rigid price controls? You mean, like on houses?

“We need to review what the Chinese Communist Party decided 20 years ago: that is, to let market forces play a fundamental role in allocating resources,” he said.

So 20 years ago the Chinese Community Party decided to go in the opposite direction of what NZ Labour is now promoting. Note their growth rate!

The new leadership will probably unveil market-oriented changes in late 2013 after a plenary session of the party’s central committee, Li said. Reforms will focus on reducing government intervention in the economy and breaking up state monopolies, he said.

Excellent. A growing Chinese economy will be good for New Zealand.

The yuan has appreciated about 33 percent against the dollar since the revaluation.

And Parker and Norman think we can stop the US dollar depreciating against the NZ dollar!

They may face economic expansion of 7 percent in 2013, the slowest in 23 years, according to Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s largest bond fund. Standard Chartered Plc sees a risk of annual expansion slumping to between 3 percent and 4 percent within 10 to 15 years without market-driven change to introduce more competition for state enterprises.

Hmmn, competition for SOEs. We could do with more of that in NZ!