There are many reasons to dislike Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s policies which generally put corporate welfare and private sector greed well ahead of the common good. Brown points out most of these services would be much cheaper if they were provided “in house” by lawyers, planners and accountants employed directly by the council. This “market model” is supposed to be cheaper but any savings have been long lost after 35 years of neo-liberalism. The late Penny Bright referred to the “contractocracy” in local and national government which was screwing us. It’s another failure of neo-liberalism which should be highlighted and hammered by Labour but the party is trapped by political paralysis.