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Of Genius and Gen Y

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, along comes another bailout by the US Federal Reserve. It’s kind of awe inspiring to watch from a distance, in the way that you might watch a tornado, before realising that its heading towards you…

Or more accurately, towards New Zealand. The interesting thing is trying to gauge the possible consequences for the slowly cruising National Party. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still looking forward to my extra $50 a week but there’s been nothing but a deafening silence from John Key on the latest crack in the capitalist monolith. I thought that maybe I just missed them, so went to National’s website but found nothing recent.

John Key made his $30 million (or whatever the actual figure is — it’s all a bit academic after a point) playing in the very markets that are now having to be bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of billions. It turns out these financial geniuses weren’t really all that clever after all. About the only fact that puts Key in a favourable light is that he got out before the whole Ponzi scheme fell over — although his selective memory over his trading in TranzRail shares, including how many he actually had, and who bought them, does not bode well for his ability to grasp more complex issues. It was almost farcical that his initial response to questions about his trades was simply to suggest that he’d lost money on them (as if that somehow makes it more acceptable), before being blindsided by questions about his personal purchase and sale of 50,000 shares, at a profit.

John Key wants us to believe that he’s a bit of a financial whizz and just the thing that this country needs in a time of uncertainty. He wants us to believe that Labour cannot be trusted, while implicitly asking us to trust him — but he can’t quite remember whether it was 50,000 or 100,000 shares. The question that hasn’t been asked is: “Do you think that it’s a good look for any MP to be wheeling and dealing in shares?” Full stop. Let alone dealing in the shares of a freight company when you are a Transport spokesman questioning the Government on transport policies.

Of course the other, more fundamental question is: “You’ve got bloody $30 million (or thereabouts), houses in several countries, a six figure salary, free domestic air travel, limousines, rental subsidies and god knows what else — how much more money do you need?” Mind you, we are talking about a guy whose wife apparently had to learn about the money markets in order to have conversations with her husband when he came home, so maybe he just can’t help himself. In which case there are some other questions that beg to be asked: Are you a compulsive gambler? Have you got any hot tips for us mere mortals? Do you think public-private partnerships can still work when private capital appears to be a bit thin on the ground, and getting thinner?

At what point does the electorate start questioning whether John Key is the answer to our prayers or representative of the whole ‘greed is good’ mentality? Because if there’s one thing for certain it’s that Key is a true believer in the system that brought him such wealth, and status.

At what point does the electorate start to wonder about just how National is going to fund that promised $50 tax cut? I mean it hardly seems like an ideal environment to start flogging parcels of Air NZ shares, or privatising parts of ACC, or laying off thousands of state servants or even spending a billion on fibre optic cable for that matter.

Traditionally, at least in times of economic uncertainty, the electorate has tended to drift towards National. They used to be seen as the safer pair of hands when there was rough weather on the way. But National fluffed its response to the Asian meltdown in 1998, which turned out to be their last big test, and the fact is that the same crew are in charge of the boat, albeit with a different captain.

On the other hand Labour has followed an extremely disciplined, conservative fiscal policy, that has left the country’s finances in pretty good shape – while generating enormous resentment at the maintenance of the ‘rich tax’, which five per cent of us paid when it was first introduced and around 40 per cent of us now pay. There is a certain irony in the fact that a Labour-led Government that includes the rump Alliance may be perceived as having the more sound economic credentials. But stranger things have happened.

However, I have been thinking lately that this election, perhaps more than any other since 1984, is not so much about policies or even personalities. It’s about generations. Specifically, its about Generation Y starting to flex its collective muscle and looking to make a change.

Helen Clark is someone they’ve grown up with and who has looked after them by delivering zero interest student loans and an economy that provided great job opportunities and easy credit. But make no mistake, Generation Y are ruthless little bastards and the Helen & Michael show was really a show that their parents put them onto and now they’re finding it boring — just like us Gen Xers experienced with MASH.

Seen in this light John Key has the advantage of ‘not being Helen’ and he’s promising a whole new world without being too specific about what that might mean, except maybe, faster broadband. That’ll do just fine for Gen Y because they’re not big on consequences — and deep thought is not really their bag. Youtube, Bebo and Facebook are not bastions of great philosophical or intellectual debate and entertainment is only a mobile phone away. Also, Key’s rich and if there’s a chance that they can get to be rich too, without working too hard, then that’s like, really good too.