We did it here in New Zealand as well in the 1970's, one of our previous Prime Minister's portrayed it as "reds under the bed" etc etc, destroyed it, and now we

We did it here in New Zealand as well in the 1970's, one of our previous Prime Minister's portrayed it as "reds under the bed" etc etc, destroyed it, and now we're paying for it dearly. Stupidest move in NZ's economic history as far as I'm concerned. According to current studies, we would've had one of the largest soverign wealth funds in the world if we'd kept up with it since its inception. Policy blunders like this are par for the course here though, Normally committed by the right-wing/conservative (as in economically, not religious, we don't really give them much space in our national discourse) National Party.