It is unlikely the $2.75 million given to the Mongrel Mob to fund a meth rehab programme will do much mischief to the public debt because much of the money may well have come from the mob in the first place.
We suggest this makes it a marvellous money-go-round – or an exercise in fiscal recycling – because …
- The money (according to a Stuff report) came from the Proceeds of Crime fund (or money seized from gangs and criminals by police) ; and
- The NZ Herald last month reported that about $2m in cash and assets, including five residential properties, vehicles, motorcycles, jet skis, cash and the contents of various bank accounts were seized in an operation that targeted senior members of the Mongrel Mob in Hawke’s Bay involved in supplying methamphetamine.
This mention of the mob in Hawke’s Bay was part of a report on the smashing of another major drug ring, with more than $44 million in drugs seized as police surpass the $500 million milestone in confiscated assets from gangs and criminals over the past four years.
This should be comforting for those of us who are keeping an eye on cavalier government spending after the Treasury warned the government that its debt is on an “unsustainable trajectory” over the coming 40 years.
That’s because of an ageing population driving up superannuation and health costs. Continue reading “The Mongrel Mob, meth supply and a marvellous money-go-round – the PM giveth what the cops hath taken away”