I’ll buy you -– If you buy me

‘Capitalism privatises its
profits and socialises its losses’ according to S. Omeone.
Sounds pretty right to me – meanwhile at the coalface of
business, inter-dependence is the name of the global game, and it
seems (from the outside) that the game is being played in most
developing countries.

An Australian bank will most
probably buy New Zealand’s biggest bank –National.
And why not? The National Bank is currently owned by
Britain’s Lloyds Bank TSB anyway. Why does it seem that
nothing in New Zealand is owned by New Zealand? And now the big
concern is that the three biggest banking groups ANZ/National,
Westpac/Trust and Bank Of New Zealand/National Australia bank
would control over 70% of New Zealand’s 194 billion dollar
banking market. The spirit of Ned Kelly lives on and we may as
well just have a common currency as well!

Meanwhile, Rabobank (Netherlands)
is becoming well entrenched in the Australian agricultural
industry, planning to lend more money to the sector than local
banking rivals, and taking up to 40% of the local market (a 26.7
billion dollar market – Agriculture and Fisheries).

Qantas (Australian) are still
working their way toward buying a major stake in Air New Zealand
(NZ) while Stage Coach (Scotland) Group who run Britain’s
third largest bus and train service, are looking at selling their
City bus unit (Hong Kong) to Tai Fook Enterprises (I would say
that that is China based). And Virgin Blue (British) is teaming
up with Rex (Australian) creating a far more weighty competition
to the dominant Qantas for Australian domestic travel.

I assure you, what is going on in
the world is being waged in another realm as well.

At least George Bush doesn’t
play ‘behind the scene games’ – he just goes in
and takes over another country outright. The Bush Administration
even rewards ally Nations openly: like Singapore with tariff-free
entry to the US for its exports and opportunities of new
investment from American companies. Similar trade deals with
non-cooperative Nations (Chile) have been postponed until further
notice.

While on the subject of Iraq
– and interdependence: Patrick Corporation, an Australian
company who provide cargo handling and passenger check in
services to several airlines including: Cathay Pacific Airways,
Air New Zealand, Air Canada and Virgin Blue Airlines, has won a
contract to work at Baghdad Airport, primarily to access
when it will be ready to open.

As was expected – an
American company (Washington based Skylink and Logistics) has
been contracted to run 3 commercial airports in Iraq…

Back on terra firma – in NZ,
ten years after being privatised Tranz Rail has hit major
difficulty and the Government (NZ, with a lot of overseas
influence) is now putting in a rescue bid to save the national
rail service. Mega company Toll Holdings (Australia) looks to be
a major player in the new looks Rail Company. As a NZ business
– trains cannot compete with trucks in a country the size
of New Zealand - logistically we’re too small. Hauling
distances and small inefficient quantities of bulk freight is the
issue - and the NZ Govt knew this when NZ Rail was privatised ten
years ago. In the early days (70’s) Government regulations
required that freight travelling more than 40 miles would have to
go by train – it’s a different ballgame today. Still,
potential overseas buyers are lining up: including the Illinois
Central and Freightways consortium.

Yes, it’s hard to get
excited when you read headlines like “Better Deals
for Consumers - A Result Of Recent Reforms” when
you just don’t see it happening in reality. I prefer the
truth.

“Regulation
necessary to keep power price down”

There is no successfully
functioning model of electricity deregulation anywhere in the
world. The experience in the United States has been a
disaster.

British regulators have concluded
that market manipulation and collusion have become standard
business practice after the Thatcherite deregulation.

The Canadian province of Alberta
went from some of the lowest electricity rates in North America
to some of the highest after deregulation. The large industries
that pushed for the deregulation are now clamouring for
re-regulation, or moving to provinces that did not
deregulate.

German businesses are complaining
about high power prices years after deregulation. Continued
reliance on the whims of the deregulated market would only
further fleece consumers, threaten businesses and the economy,
and profit energy conglomerates.” NZ Herald
11/6

So why all this international
flurrying and scurrying to de-regulate, privatise and sell to our
global brothers and sisters? Have you ever heard the term
‘Divide and conquer?’