Simon Collins has published a very good article comparing various parties policies on social security. As is the current trend, he doesn’t fully examine the deep and lasting contribution good child care & education make towards society & the economy. It’s about material and social well-being.
There’s much to discuss on the two election-focused TV debates conducted over the last 24 hours. Prime TV’s new show: Prime Time with Sean Plunket – Bennett & Turei on poverty/inequality (Prime TV Fridays 9.30pm): TV 3’s The Nation: Saturday 9.30am
How much longer do we have to live with this”neoliberal” nightmare? It should have died with the global financial crisis, caused by the unfettered greed of the banksters & socially callous. “Paying the Price” on Al Jazeera; AAAP Mangere Action Impact this week.
Tracey has submitted a series of OIA’s in order to get information about the stats Bill English referred to in relation to the government having reduced the numbers of single mothers. So far…. nothing helpful.
A must read Hand Mirror post acknowledges the passing of Pat Rossier. She played a significant role in NZ’s 2nd wave Women’s Movement. Misinformation about feminism fails to represent its diversity & socialist underpinnings. A full chronicle of the NZ 2nd wave is needed.
Reposted from Polity. Here is Vernon Small this morning: The Government rejected plans to include beneficiaries in a package to help families with […]
Rob Salmond has been looking through the newly released Ministry of Social Development’s Household Incomes Report. It really is invaluable.
Bill English has stated that a third term Key government would majorly reform the government’s budgeting & spending. It’s a major move towards privatisation of public services, & full spectrum digitally-enhanced monitoring of individuals’ lives: especially those of the already demonised and harassed single mothers on benefits.
Jan Logie’s post: “Work and Income – stories from hidden people” is a must read: stories from a divisive society, under a callous government that benefits the few at the expense of too many. We can do much better than that. Vote for change this election!
Five years after making cuts to the training incentive allowance for solo parents wanting to educate themselves National is moving to provide some support and now realises that it makes long term sense to invest in education for solo parents. Could it be there is an election around the corner and National realises that it is vulnerable on issues relating to poverty and inequality?
It’s a classic National manoeuvre. Ask them a straightforward question like “is there support for all newborn babies in New Zealand?” and get a straightforward “Yes” – with several significant caveats that altogether add up to No.
Rob Salmond at Polity has a series of posts in recent days that have been well worth reposting but alas they missed due to travel. Who gained from National’s tax switch? and May TV polls. But he is on fire since he got back from aussie – perhaps they spiked his drinks? But this one looking at the probable shifts in inequality in NZ in the future is pretty damn sobering to anyone who thinks that we need a more equal society.
The more that National publicly adopts “left wing” “socialist” party policies, such as “free” medical care for children under 13, keeping the retirement age as it is, and balancing the budget, the more they rise in the polls.
No Right Turn points out that depressing fact that “Still 42,000 (more) out of work under National”. Tories don’t really care until they have to pay taxes for the debt. But hey they voted themselves a tax cut in 2008 – so they’re still happy as the government debt levels keep blowing out to Muldoon levels. National economic management = stupid debt.
Today’s NZ Herald editorial joins Paula Bennett’s beneficiary-bashing stunt, asking for flying privileges to be cut, & denying there is a lot of poverty in NZ- a view from the privileged part of NZ’s inequality gap.
Images from today’s mainstream media news: tales of class, crime, drugs, disasters…… and jet-setting beneficiaries.
Radio New Zealand has reported that power disconnections have soared at the same time that WINZ hardship grants have plummeted. Simon Bridges has suggested that it is the power companies fault. The Government should be blaming increasing poverty and inadequate WINZ hardship grants instead.
“Rockstar economy”? Let’s hear it for another chorus of,”There is no depression in New Zealand”! Demographia reports on absolute food and housing poverty for too many Kiwis. Simon Collins reports on the ethnic inequality gaps & high rates of Maori imprisonment.
Simon Collins article on reducing inequalities for Māori & Pacific people. Māori and Pacific youth have become significantly disadvantaged in employment. However, the article supports charter schools, without examining how such neoliberal intitatives are ultimately damaging for Māori & Pacific people.
Yesterday one woman’s story blew the lid on our government’s treatment of beneficiaries. Sarah Wilson’s post on her ongoing struggles just to get […]
Sheila Holt, in the UK, is in a coma for 2 months. She has also just been invited to “intensive job-focused activity” by the Dept of Work & Pensions.
Labour’s current policy to gradually increase the age of retirement is a fiscally appropriate response to the pressures that will result from the baby boomer bulge in the population approaching retirement. But is it the right thing to do?
In many ways what is even more irritating about this screwup by treasury is that it isn’t likely to be the children living below the poverty line that has an impact. It is the large numbers of elderly that Treasury has now discovered getting worse off and falling into poverty. After all they have a vote. Whereas children don’t so the future accumulated costs of their poverty aren’t something that this government will concern itself about.
The documentary ‘Mind the Gap’ and an interview with a UNICEF advocacy manager focus on poverty and inequality. Zombie “neoliberal” policies have increased poverty & inequality, damaging the futures of too many children. We will all benefit from good government policies underpinned by a commitment to collective approaches and responsibility.
The Salvation Army’s latest State of the Nation Report is damning on child poverty & unaffordable housing. The government is misrepresenting the conclusions, reversing the main focus on failings, and focusing on the positives: the spin is repeated in an NZ Herald editorial.
Damien Grant has argued in the latest Herald that those convicted of tax evasion should be treated more leniently than those convicted of beneficiary fraud even though an average tax fraud case resulting in jail may involve eleven times as much money. Obviously wealthy people are somehow better …
John Key has welcomed Tony Abbott’s confirmation that Australia would extend access to students under the Higher Education Loan Program to long-term New Zealand residents in Australia. But this policy was announced eight months ago.
The ratings/sales driven ethos of the corporate MSM skews the coverage of the election campaigns of parties of the “left” and the “right”. Focus on individuals, implying they represent large sections of the population. The left are leading the agenda on inequality.
The PMs’ statement todaywas a bit of a fizzer: lacking ideas, a lot of waffle. Some opposition speeches were more inspiring, & laid out some real alternatives: like the speeches from Cunliffe (on fire), Norman (inspiring), Ardern (animated) & Harawira (real people; real struggles).
There has been an abundance of research showing that communities and societies function better when their resources are shared around. But the need to persuade ordinary people that this is so is the most important thing to achieve. Because without popular support attempts to change the current system are bound to fail.
However, a UBI is a change in distribution of incomes, not an increase in the size of Government.
Progressive taxation is the price of living in a well resourced, pleasant, and cohesive society.
A video by Auckland Action Against Poverty is a record of their work and achievements. Narrated by Sue Bradford, it’s must see viewing for anyone interested in actions against poverty, grassroots campaigning, networking and direct action. Very impressive!
Income equality is one measure that can be used to indicate the equality of a society. Flip has analysed the 2011 income distribution and show how a UBI (Universal Basic Income) can create greater income equality.
Paula Bennett’s punitive welfare reforms are bad enough (pressuring people into unsuitable work, or off benefits without alternative support); then there’s privatising the scheme by outsourcing enforced work placement to private companies – worse still, to overseas corporates. Devaluing & dehumanising people, communities, & nurturing activities. [Update: APM conflicts of interest]
This post by polity certainly adds some grist to the debate on unconditional basic income (UBI) and kids. It looks at the example provided by the Cherokee in a natural quasi-experiment in North Carolina on how kids grow up. Being generous and acting early pays off.
Why a UBI?
Firstly. To overturn some paradigms:
That a great many people should lead poor and constricted lives, so a very few can be rich.
That ordinary people are disposable economic production units.
