Heady stuff

Who is he, this Yukio Hatoyama, the new prime minister
of Japan? Barely elected to office he has, according to a
report in the London Times, ‘made no secret of his
distrust of market fundamentalism.’ Apparently, too, he
has ‘strongly condemned’ global capitalism. Did we ever
hear newly elected John Key express such sentiments? I
don't think so. ‘We are not denying all market principles,’
says Hatoyama. ‘We just don’t think market principles are
a fundamental necessity.’ Be still, my beating heart! Of
course, it remains to be seen whether Hatoyama and his
Democratic Party really will ‘sever ties with vested
interests [and] abandon the pork barrel,’ let alone maintain
such an heretical attitude towards the great god market, but
what a start. First Obama, now Hatoyama. They even
rhyme. It already begins to seem New Zealand’s misfortune
that, just as other nations are electing, well, not exactly
radical lefties but progressive liberal leaders, we elect a
conservative government that lacks the imagination to
think outside the tired old paradigm of 'market-led' growth.