Mike Moore @ WTO

[Bill Cochrane]

As a New Zealander I can only second what John says here, Moore is a nut 
period. Those who have had the misfortune to worked for the guy occasionally
frequent my office, complaining of his minute intelligence, awesomely short
attention span and wild enthusiasm for what ever popular fad happens to be
in vogue at the time - think a dumb Mussolini with a love of free trade and
your on the button.

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"


>