Working means income, but working also means productivity, two very separate outcomes that New Zealand government policy managed to annihilate during the Covid years.
Working from home became necessary and popular around the world, although the working aspect can be a misnomer.
What’s not to like? Bloomberg reported that in Washington, USA, federal employees account for one-in-three downtown jobs, they “embraced working from home and many don’t want to go back, it seems no one was monitoring government employees who didn’t log into their digital offices between March and December 2022 – allegedly 20-30% of them.”
Rep Lauren Boebert wants to know why no one noticed how many federal employees allegedly “joined the pyjama party” instead of logging into work.
Since when does anyone think it is okay not to do your job just because no one is watching?
Is the same thing happening here?
My theory is the rot set in pre-Covid when people abandoned core values like personal responsibility. As a nation we became soft, happy to take the easy route and we trained our children to do the same. If we can shirk work, so be it. If we can rely on the government, so be it. One minister discounts the government’s increase in government financial assistance as not enough, he wants to see beneficiaries move from “survive” to “thrive”.
Who does he think will pay for beneficiaries to thrive and what about the disparity between income earners working 40 hours a week and earning less than beneficiaries thriving on government support?
Is it okay for someone else to pay for our food, is it a basic human right for everyone to have a warm house and clothing and a decent education? If we don’t have to work to obtain what we consider to be the basic necessities of life, then why would we?
I am a baby boomer, the second generation born after the New Zealanders who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. A depression is an intimate encounter with the phrase “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” It’s a fact of life that people starve to death during a depression and survivors instil techniques for survival into the next generation who likewise pass on the value of strong work ethics to their offspring.
From a young age, my siblings and I helped our parents earn extra income. It wasn’t just about the money, it was an expectation that everyone in the family contributes. The positive outcome from working becomes a facet of self worth: I am important, I can measure what I produce and the skills that I acquired in the process – attributes that are equal to, or more valuable than financial recompense.
Do you really think the current government holds these same values? They should, because if they did everyone would be better off and healthier.
What we have though, is ministers like the aforementioned who hasn’t a clue how to implement his idealistic theory and more than a generation of people who don’t value work but still expect a similar standard of living to those who do. These people are the leeches on society, lacking self-esteem and good values. Some, if they aren’t given what they want will take it.
Data released to the opposition by the police minister shows reported retail crime rose by 39 percent from 2018 to 2022.
National’s police spokeperson Mark Mitchell said there was an average of 292 recorded retail crimes each day in 2022, up from 140 per day in 2018.
RNZ
At what point will income producers give up and take their business offshore? When it becomes uneconomic to do business here, eg they get pinged with a top tax rate of 45%.
Does the government understand its policies drive entrepreneurs overseas? On paper, only one cabinet minister, David Parker, has worked on start ups, without risking his own money.
In 2020 we saw the biggest increase in beneficiaries in 24 years, unsurprising when so many tourism, hospitality and construction companies went bust as a result of the mandates, lockdowns and border closures.
It’s not over yet, the Companies Office reported in February 2023 that more companies were removed from the register than were added:
- 4,286 new companies were incorporated, and 4,491 companies were removed from the register.
- 124 companies were placed into liquidation, there were 8 receiverships and 4 voluntary administrations.
There must be sufficient financial reward for investors to risk new business start ups, but the current economic climate has many drawbacks: expensive fuel; RMA reform a long way off; net zero carbon policies trashing farmers; fruit growers reliant on imported casual labour to harvest crops; forestry slash left untended to wash into waterways and devastate housing and infrastructure during the recent cyclone and endless disruptions in transport – road, rail and ferry services not properly maintained when the government put projects on hold during Covid. Transport breakdowns and road closures are not conducive to business growth.
Instead of considering business growth this government is more concerned about redistributing wealth thereby creating a haven for unemployed bottom-feeders.
Backing up my theory that people won’t work if they don’t have to, we have a persistent labour shortage.
“Employers have been crying out over the past year over their difficulties to hire new staff, with 38% of those surveyed struggling to recruit for more than six months, according to a report from the Employers and Manufacturers Association.”
Human Resources Director recruitment specialists
Because it is election year and government handouts buy votes, the government increased payments to 1.4M people dependent on government support which is one in four of us made up of the unemployed, pensioners, students, children and parents.
I would like to see the government value accountability from employees, and reward hard work and entrepreneurship by individuals who create jobs, employ and up-skill staff and still manage to turn a profit. This is a very different concept from the current bureaucracy laced with green idealism and ministers dependent on working groups who fritter away taxpayer funds.