Heed Greece on selling assets

In his book Chronicles On Our Troubled Times Thomas Piketty makes the point that the reason Greece is so broke is not because Greeks are lazy but because the rest of the world owns so much of the country in the form of businesses, real estate and financial assets.

Foreign ownership far exceeds what the Greeks themselves own and the national income available for their own consumption is eaten up in payments to the foreigners in the form of interest and dividends. Greece is, in effect, a colony of wealthy foreigners.

New Zealand already has more than enough of its assets owned by foreigners. Chinese banks, if they get a toehold here, will strip the country bare. COLIN WILSON Lower Hutt