Saturday, May 27, 2006

Unbundling, Nationalizing- THEFT by another name.

Time for me to (belatedly) make my postion known.

I don't care much for Telecom- I don't care much for some of the people in the street, either- but theft from any of them is still wrong.

The confiscation, nationalisation or unbundling- call it what you will- is even more contemtable when it is done using the full powers of the sstate. It could not be compared with a fine or penalty, as telecom has committed no crime nor has it been convicted in the courts- the only time the state should have the power to seize assets.

Those who are clamouring for the benefits of this confiscation should not be called theives, themselves.

They are the moral equal of the guy down at the pub who happily buys a $200 plasma screen TV. They would never steal themselves, but are happy to benefit from the actions of the thief!

They are the ones who enable the thief to live by his dishonesty. They may not like the thief, but only encourage his stealing the property of others.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmmm
A couple of things spring to mind....
Where does the "Kiwi Share" fit in with this? Does it confer any rights to the government?

Whats actally been stolen? [apart from telecom itself - stolen from me and you when it was privatised - I appreciate that telecom would wish to keep its monopoly, but really, the writing has been on the wall for all to read for years!

Oswald Bastable said...

Ahh- two 'two wrongs make a right' defense!

The sale of telecm was a dodgy affair at best, but WAS a sale.

I have not heard of any compensation mentioned for the confiscation of line bandwidth.

If you own property, there is a high likelyhood some lowfife will deface, steal or interfere with it. Evryone knows someone who has been burgled, vandlised or stole from. You could say the writing was on the wall for them too.

Still doesn't make it right!



"Two wrongs don't make a right, but two Wrights make an aeroplane!"

Anonymous said...

And the Kiwi share aspect? I confess I dont know what it confers......

Anonymous said...

Mmmm
I recall the Righteous Bros when I was younger - some time in the 60s?

Anonymous said...

the fact that bandwidth probably meant the tuner on the wireless, or how wide the sticky plaster was back in hte 80s, should give the property appropriators something to think about. The copper was sold lock stock when the company sold at 4.5b (present dollars estimated equivalent$20b). The factthat technology value added to the asset legally purchased by Tel shareholders, is what has been misappropriated.
LLU will remain theft, unless some form of offset is allowed to TEL. It will be interesting to see if IRD will allow a massive depreciation claim equivalent to $2b to be deducted against income this year (isn't that the amount the market deemed the copper wire loss was worth, as this was the amount dumped off the value of the company?).
Personally I don't like comrade Bob in Henderson, and think they overcharge for water, so in the interests of LLU, I might start buying my water from Manukau, but just use the local pipes for delivery. Somehow I don't think it will fly, but the argument is exactly the same.