New Zealand – First again!

Over the many years we have spoken many thousands of words to
many thousands of people and yet the vast majority of New Zealanders have not
got a clue that in 1987 their country became the world's laboratory as 5 men
in the then Labour party of the day restructured the whole country and sold out
most of the Government assets to overseas groups.

When some of the oil companies had some rotten petrol to
sell, they sold it to New Zealand as nobody else would be stupid enough to buy
it. Then to add insult to injury they put a woman on TV to explain why this
petrol was OK, despite the fact that it was melting small engines and setting
fire to motor cars left, right and centre.

The ploy of putting a woman on to speak is very clearly a
carefully planned scenario as men are less likely to argue with a woman as they
are with a man and normally if there was any decency left in them would treat
her with more respect.

Please notice the trend in this direction as other faux pas
take place around the world today, and women are called upon to explain what
happened.

We were not surprised therefore to read in the New Zealand
Herald, 13 December 2000. NZ first to get global mobile system.

"New Zealander's widespread use of mobile phones and
the internet have prompted British-based Vodafone to pick the country as the
launch pad for its Vizzavi global mobile information link.

Vizzavi, which goes live today (at www.vizzavi.net.nz),
enables Vodafone users to use their PCs to choose from a range of messaging,
organiser and information services, which are then delivered to their mobile
phones as text messages....

New Zealand had been chosen as the first country to get
Vizzavi partly because of the popularity of the Vodafone's initial mobile
portal, myvodafone.co.nz.

It has attracted 65,000 users, or 10 per cent of Vodafone's
638,000 customers.

"It's a good take-up at this stage of the game," said
Mr Isaksson, "It proves there is great interest in these kinds of services
here. We see high mobile take-up and we see high internet use. New Zealand
has come very far." End Quote.

Here's another first. New Zealand Herald 21 December
2000. Merger fraught with problems.

"A booming noise being made by Labour Party leaders to the
proposed takeover of the New Zealand Stock Exchange by the Australian Stock
Exchange has been received with barely a murmur.

Seemingly, the tide of globalisation has so swamped our
mindset that politicians and the public believe our small exchange can no longer
be viable...

It is, as investment analyst Brian Gaynor wrote in the Herald
recently, an issue of public interest that will have big implications for
the economy.

If the proposal proceeds, New Zealand will be the first
country to sell its Stock Exchange.

It will surrender a big slice of its economic destiny for
dubious returns. This at a time when politicians of all persuasions are
pontificating about the need for New Zealand to build on the knowledge economy to
safeguard our economic sovereignty.

It is estimated that if the takeover goes ahead,
approximately 300 jobs will be lost in the financial services sector. The
immediate fiscal effect for the Government is about $15 million to $40 million
in lost taxes, with a further effect of a glut of commercial and residential
property on the market in Auckland and Wellington.

It may seem inconsequential, but restaurants and cafes in the
two cities would also suffer...

People who have been openly in favour of the takeover
include Helen Clark, Michael Cullen, Paul Swain and the board of the NZ
exchange. This group seem intent on making New Zealand the largest retirement
village in the world...

The main justification for a take-over, beyond blindly
accepting that globalisation makes it impossible for us to operate our own
exchange, is the possible movement to Australia of some of our leading stocks...

One question seldom answered with the seriousness it deserves
is: has the New Zealand Stock Exchange and stock market performed that badly?...

We've seen daily turnover increase through the 1990s from
the low of $14 million a day in 1990 to this year's daily turnover average of
$111 million to the end of September -– an eightfold increase....

At the end of the day, you're left with that old adage, "if
it ain't broke, why fix it?"..." End Quote.

All this comes under the title centralisation of
power, as it is easier to dominate and control one system rather than many.

We now turn to the New Zealand Herald, 22 December 2000, NZ
dairy giant aims for top spot.

"The dairy industry -– New Zealand's largest export
earner -– will be transformed by the merger of its two largest companies under
a deal announced yesterday...

If the ambitious plan succeeds, an enterprise nicknamed
Global Dairy Company will be headquartered in Auckland in six months, employing
18,000 people worldwide and selling $10.5 billion of dairy products in more than
120 countries.

It will be twice the size of the country's present top
company, Telecom, and will be the 14^th largest dairy trader in the
world -– the ranking now held by the Dairy Board.

But the new company wants to do better by rising to No 1 or 2
in the world, beating dairy giants Nestle and Kraft. It aims to have sales of
$30 billion by 2010...

It is the culmination of a decade of change, during which
hundreds of dairy companies have been distilled down to a dozen..." End
Quote.

Is the pattern becoming clear to you now? As you put all
of this information together, you say to yourself, "My word, there is a global
village being set up!" New Zealanders are also being set up at the same time.

We believers in the Lord Jesus Christ say - Thank God for the
Bible, which tells us where we came from, what we're doing here and where we're
going to, with very much authority behind it -– the power of the Living God!

Make sure you get to know Him in a very personal way as time
is short.