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Duh Oyez, You know we're upside down at the bottom of the world. The most right winged government that NZ has ever had was a left winged Government. The current Aussie government is a Liberal one but being liberal in Australia is being conservative. NZs most right winged governement got us booted out of ANUS and yet, it had a finance minister (i.e., Roger Douglas)who's right winged policies ultimately got him a knighthood and to the top of the 'Business Round Table'. Helen Clark was minister of health in that government and was responsible for privatising our health system! As for NZrs fleeing the country, these are the young and its part and parcel of Australasian culture to head overseas on the big OE (Overseas Experience). That's why, despite our small size, we are the worlds greatest travellers and can be found in every corner of the globe. That so many Kiwi's head to Aussie is because there is no visa restriction and Australia's economy is just 'slightly' better than ours, but not much better! As for the hard workers paying out their money to support social welfare, DRIVEL. We are one of the most deregulated countries in the world and our taxes are low - VERY LOW. The NZ economy suffers because of big players like the USA who restrict our products through every means possible and then claim to be proponents of free trade (hypocrites as usual). If there were no restrictions placed upon our products, we would be one of the wealthiest nations in the world as we were in the 1950s. Ironically, we opened our economy up to the rest of the world and have suffered ever since. We played by the rules (and still do) but the rest of the world have not! In conclusion, you are confusing economics with politics. There has been a slight restructuring of the tax rate since Clark took office and also our employment contracts act. However, in general, her governments economic policies are no different to the previous. Oyez, there are only two communist states left in the world. If you are talking economics, these are 'command economies' and are failing dismally as they always have. If you are talking politics, you are talking about an elite few having total control. If you are talking spirituality, you are talking no religious freedom whatsoever. If you are talking socialism, then I suggest you have a good look at some of the European countries such as France and Sweeden. A comparison of NZ with these countries would make us look like the leaders of the free market world - which incidently we are because we have absolutely no barriers to trade! We are a very small economy and small economies must have some government intervention in order to survive. Singapore is a case in point! Our market has not proven big enough to have lots of competitors. There are just 3.8 million people in NZ and only about 1.5 million people work. The rest are either elderly, students, or children. You can't run a pure market economy in a country of NZs size. WE HAVE PROVED IT DOESN'T WORK. That the NZ government intervenes, albeit very slightly, does not make it socialist. And it certainly does not make it communist (LOL). It does makes it sensible though.