Sunday, September 07, 2014

"...poverty is significant and growing"

David Farrar blogs about the CPAG protest yesterday and how a National MP was effectively blocked from speaking. He makes the point that these sort of activities only happen when National is government despite the reality of the 'poverty' landscape.

Indeed.

Ten years ago here's what Major Campbell Roberts was telling the Green Party AGM

So the reality is that, although there has been improvement in the economy, actions to address poverty, and organisations like our own spending $70 m a year on services, the number of our fellow New Zealander's facing poverty is significant and is growing.

Under Labour. 



2 comments:

JC said...

When I was a kid my mum was famous locally as a cook and filler of cake tins with all sorts of yummy treats.

Us kids used to whine for more cookies and she'd often say "No, you'll just eat them!"

Everyone understood this piece of feminine logic.. the more you produce something people want or like the more they'll demand it despite its dubious value.

Its not too different with foodbanks and other "free" stuff.. the more you offer the greater the demand.

People aren't stupid, offer them free stuff and they'll build it into their personal economic framework. Free stuff can be translated as freeing up money for smokes, a party, bling or increasingly an overseas trip.

But there's another form of blindness that we can note about taxpayers.. take the example of a young woman who is working and takes time off to have a baby.. within 6 weeks to 3 months she's back at work because she's an integral part of the family economic unit and she likes her out of home work. She has no problem paying tax to support another woman who demands the right to never work outside the home and have as many babies as she wants even though her progeny will never work and will always be a burden on the taxpayer.

When you think about it thats an amazing amount of generosity on the part of the working woman.. she gives up an enormous amount of precious time to be with her babies in order to donate 20-30% of her income to other women to act irresponsibly.

to do that the working woman must act out of a sense of guilt, altruism and maybe plain ignorance of the consequences of her donations.

JC

Anonymous said...

I just hope, hope like hell that we get a government with ACT and Conservatives in it as well as National.

Because the last 6 years of National has made welfare even worse in NZ - if such a thing is possible- and set a disgusting precedent that payed for it for five years with borrowed money.


Imagine how much better NZ would be now had Key English, and Joyce gone to the country and said:

Labour left the economy far, far worse off than even we ever thought possible - and how we have the earthquake and the GFC to pay for. Everyone will have to make sacrifices - while we ensure the economy gets moving again.

* GST goes up to 20%. Obviously the right thing, got enough flak with the move to 15% that GST wouldn't have hurt at all

* Corporate tax rates down to 10% or zero.

* All welfare benefits including super phased out. I'd prefer just stopped, but OK, lets pay 2/3rs or year 1, 1/3rd or year 2, then done.

* State schools & hospitals full user pays. There isn't any money left to pay for them anyway!

Three simple straightforward policies - and imagine how much better of NZ would be today had Key done what any competent economist would have told him to do.