Marshalling a recovery
After WWII, Britain, France, Japan, Italy and Germany received aid under the Marshall Plan from the USA to rebuild their shattered economies, with Britain receiving by far the largest share.
Britain, France, and Italy reverted to outright socialism and nationalised everything from road transport, railways and electricity generation to
hospitals and water and spent virtually nothing on rebuilding their pre-war manufacturing might.
They are now the weaklings in export and wealth generation.
Germany and Japan - which, by the way, lost the war - spent their Marshall aid almost exclusively on rebuilding their even more shattered industries and heaved socialism out the door in favour of private enterprise and hard work.
They are now the world's second and third most wealthy industrialised countries per capita.
After Covid, there was no Marshall Plan to aid New Zealand but our Government did borrow billions - but not, it appears, to foster a vibrant free enterprise industry like Germany and Japan but to convince our society into believing social security like in the UK and France is the answer to our economic ills.
Free enterprise, not the socialist mediocracy, is where we should be heading - but are not.
Robert Burrow, Taupō.
Homegrown skills
Your editorial (NZ Herald, June 8) adds to the many concerns our country is facing with skills shortages. It is a serious concern, one Liam Dann mentioned with ANZ Australia chief economist Richard Yetsenga's acknowledgement of a tough year ahead for both countries economically and a reminder that labour shortages are global are portentous. The fact is so many people flew home to the safety of their countries during a world pandemic, increasing populations around the world. These investors in life are always our boldest and brightest and, now the world is reopening, many will be heading back.
What we should be doing right now is to increase intake numbers for the training of health professionals and teachers.
It would also be a wise, but probably an unattractive move, to pay for the training of this much-needed workforce, as we already do for the police and armed forces.
There are a lot of capable and eager secondary school students working toward this goal right now. With limited numbers, many will be disappointed.
So why don't we allow them to succeed? Invest in them now and watch them grow. They won't disappoint.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Similar straits
I keep up with the news from Australia. What are the key issues across there?
Inflation, with significant cost increases in basic items such as petrol and food; inevitable rising interest rates; a health system under considerable stress; a significant increase in gang violence; shortages of skilled labour; strikes by health workers and teachers for better pay and conditions; and so on. Sound familiar?
I wish our media would give a bit more in the way of coverage and comment.
What that would do is expose some of the political misinformation that does get reported in the guise of valid critical comments e.g. all of the above in all of their detail are the result of government mismanagement.
David Hood, Hamilton.
Missing meds
To much fanfare and bluster, Minister Chris Hipkins and director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield announced in January that, come early April, planeloads of Covid drugs would arrive in New Zealand. These drugs, when taken soon after the first positive test, reduce severity, mortality, and the risk of long Covid.
To contrast, we had a friend stay with us two weeks ago in Queenstown. On landing in Tel Aviv, she tested positive for Covid-19 and had early symptoms. She was sent home and a courier delivered the anti-viral tablets four hours later. The medication consists of two drugs taken for three days.
One day after taking the tablets, her symptoms were all but gone and after four, she was back at work, in spite of being a smoker.
Once again we have been let down by a Government that promises the earth but simply cannot deliver.
Dr Alan Papert, Queenstown.
New patches
Regarding the attempts to clamp down on gang violence in Australia (NZ Herald, June 9) and possible lessons for New Zealand, perhaps Kiwi commentators should have listened to the Australian commentator who pointed out that the new laws in Queensland have not actually eliminated the problem — they have just shifted it out of their territory.
The gangs have simply moved south into New South Wales.
Unfortunately, New Zealand does not have separate states with different laws to enable us to shuffle the problem from one location to another.
As a few wise heads have observed, the gang problem will always be with us until we face up to the root causes, the reasons why people join gangs — poverty, inequality.
A. J. Forster, Mt Eden.
