Letters: Greed is back in town - often and everywhere

Greed is back in town, a reader says. Photo / Getty Images

Greed is back in town
It strikes me often and everywhere. Greed is back in town. The big banks are getting a pasting for it (in Australia) but they're not the only ones doing it.

Insurance companies operate in a sea of greed, where only the foolhardy dare swim.
Even governments local, central and international seem to want more than their fair share.

And don't forget the rich individuals and companies with offshore trusts here, there and everywhere.

Everywhere you look you can see it. Greed. It is the Achilles heel of capitalism.

And capitalism underwrites our democracy. It is the way we have created it.

Sure, it has its issues, but it is way better than the alternatives out there.

So let's not be too greedy, otherwise we might lose it all.

And that would be a shame.

Graeme Martin
Tauranga

State Highway 2 questions

Before consultation with the community on SH2 speed reduction there are serious questions needing answers.

Approval for the Northern Link down to two-laning; how will bus lanes to be provided; how can congestion be relieved; and no time as to when work will commence.

Peter Williams was right when he wrote "The barefaced cheek of politicians", as they have adopted a desktop look through centralised decision-making, which on the one hand cuts the local NZTA budget by at least 25 per cent, when the Government wants more houses, more affordable houses, improved road safety, and that is all happening at Omokoroa.

A few years ago, restrictions were put on development on the Minden by the NZTA because the congestion on SH2 couldn't cope.

What a proper fiasco, and an example of the poorest infrastructure planning and muddled thinking ever inflicted on a subregion. In my opinion the congestion on this SH2 will not be solved with speed reductions, and certainly with no time lines as to when we can look forward to sound infrastructure being provided.

As we have an MMP environment, how can NZ First sit back and allow this substandard decision be thrust on this subregion? People need to speak up.

Margaret Murray-Benge
Bethlehem