Word is that the bipartisan support of Moore for the WTO in NZ was largely due to the fact that everybody wanted rid of the guy - a million bucks was cheap at the price.
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>From: John Pennington <John.Pennington at parliament.govt.nz>
>To: "'lbo-talk at lists.panix.com'" <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Subject: RE: Mike Moore @ WTO
>Date: Fri, Sep 3, 1999, 10:54 AM
>
> As a New Zealander I ( amongst the rest of our benighted population) know
> quite a bit about Mike ( lamb burger) Moore. The lamb burger reference
> refers to the time when as minister of Overseas Trade Moore came up with the
> idea of overcoming New Zealand's precarious economic situation by convincing
> the world that lamb not beef should be the way burgers should go. This is
> unfortunately rather typical of Moore who thinks more often with his mouth
> than his cerebral cortex.
>
> He certainly has a Labour background, having been an MP for 26 years
> and briefly Prime Minister after the Lange - Douglas debacle of the
> 1984-1990 years. He was turfed out when Labour lost the election in 1990. He
> has constantly made a virtue of his working class background and the fact
> that he worked in the freezing works ( slaughter house) and can relate to
> the aspirations of the working class. In fact, he is so much on the side of
> the working class that he has been one of NZ's biggest cheer leaders for
> globalisation and was, and is a big supporter of the MAI. NZ's National
> (Tory) government even nominated him to the position and supported him to
> the tune of a million bucks so he could conduct his WTO campaign, which
> really only got going after the US came in behind him. He is the author of
> 8 "books", one in which he mentions the Common Wealth's Secretariat's
> Report Protectionism Threat to International Order as particularly
> influencing his thinking. His most of recent is a paean to the benefits of
> the global economy and the market. As head honcho for the WTO Moore will
> definitely press for further liberalisation in trade and finance. Mike Moore
> the workers "friend"
>