Ryan Bridge: The Green's budget is in la-la land

Here’s a few c-words for your Thursday morning: communist, coalition, and crash. Crash, because that’s what’d happen to the economy if we lived in the Green utopia complete with the $88-billion tax train wreck.  Coalition, because that’s what you’d get if Labour shacks up with their neighbours on the far left. Hipkins yesterday first claimed not have read the manifesto. Whatever.  This is the manifesto of a party he could well be sitting round the cabinet table within a year from now.  He then refused to rule out anything in it. It won't rule out the hammer. And I won't rule out the sickle.  The Greens are by far Hipkins' biggest Achilles heel, and therefore Luxon’s greatest strength.  Remember the hit in the polls Labour took over "defend da police"? Here's the thing about us New Zealanders, your middle voters, we may not right now be affected by the inheritance taxes, wealth taxes, higher income taxes, the company tax hikes which would put them amongst highest in the developed world. But the problem for Hipkins and Co. is that we'd like to be.  Kiwi families would like to start a business and create a life for their families. An asset. An income. A future. They dream of working their way up the ladder to get that better salary to get that house they’ve been saving to own. They don’t think it’s fair for part of mum and dad’s life work and savings to be stolen by the state.  The election of John Key showed us families are ambitious.  They believe in themselves to do better.  They’re motivated and ready for this recession to be over so we can get on with it. I’ve never doubted that spirit in New Zealand. That spirit hasn't left for Australia, it was hidden under a rock for six years. And yes, there are social problems here too. But what we learnt from the fading days of Hipkins reign is that voters don’t trust if they give up their hard-earned money and assets, that the state has the ability or wherewithal to change any of this. To fix it. They’re like Temu versions of a Michael Joseph Savage. Many of the houses he built still stand, building never started on most of Chippy's. And that brings us to the final C word: communist, because what else do you call them?  The Greens are planning a roadshow after their pre-Budget announcement.  My only question for Chlöe, Mārama and Co. is: will you be travelling to these towns and cities by bicycle or will be flying on an aeroplane?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.