Libz Support Labour!

The government move to remove tariffs on clothing, textiles and footwear has been met with support from Libertarianz Leader Russell Watkins. He says it is something to celebrate that, after 70 years of denying it, the old-school Marxists of the Labour Party have finally come to realise that trade is good. "Unfortunately," he says, "they see 'the good' in the extra revenue they can loot from the traders."

Watkins says the real good in free trade lies "not in the enhanced revenue stream for government," but instead that regular citizens are able to buy their shoes, clothes and goods at much lower prices than they would do otherwise. Sadly, not all the old-school Marxists are happy about cheaper prices.

"The 'die-hard commies of Arena' in particular are trying to hang on tooth and claw to their cartel," notes Watkins. By calling on the government to stop the tariff removal programme they are asking New Zealanders to be forced by their government to pay more than necessary for their goods. That helps no-one," he says.

"International trade is the only way people around the world can exchange the goods that they make best for the goods that others make and that they want; everyone wins by trading value for value. If local industry needs tariffs to protect themselves then they obviously shouldn't be in that business. Tariffs only protect poorly operated, over-priced industries, and at the expense of everyone else - hardly egalitarian," he says with a smile.

"Some people will lose out initially, that is true, " he says, "but they cannot hold the rest of us to ransom, and they cannot resist reality in the manner of King Canute. Workers who may end up initially unemployed are well-skilled," says Watkins, "and with the extra spending power the population will have once tariffs are removed, the resulting increase in local trade, and the shortage of skilled labour that the CTU pointed out only days ago, these people will find work in no time in industries that need no favours from government tariffs." Libertarianz says that all tariffs should be ended immediately.

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