Overview:
OPINION
Michael Wood, Minister of Transport, Immigration and Auckland, holder of a BA, and with experience in selling Christmas trees and menswear has blithely minimised the effects of yet another OCR hike.
“Labour Minister Michael Wood admits the latest official cash rate (OCR) hike will make life [a bit more] difficult for some people.”
Official cash rate decision to ‘make life a bit more difficult for people’, minister admits (msn.com)
A bit more difficult? What planet does he live on? This is the person who called constituents, the Wellington protesters, a “river of filth”. The one who described himself as a donkey. He is indeed an ass.
“Many households will be scrambling to find an extra few hundred dollars a week to pay the mortgage after the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) raised the OCR by 50 basis points to 5.25 percent on Wednesday.”
Official cash rate decision to ‘make life a bit more difficult for people’, minister admits (msn.com)
Scramble to find “an extra few hundred dollars a week…” Household budgets are already so squeezed that to find an extra few dollars a week is becoming impossible. Many cannot afford to scramble eggs – if they can find any. Another few hundred extra dollars? He has no idea. None at all. How is it that a representative of the people is so far out of touch with the people that he serves? It’s interesting to note that he has a background in selling Christmas trees and in menswear as a salesman for Hugh Wright. Maybe if we had portfolios filled by Ministers who actually had some knowledge of their portfolio, we would see better outcomes.
The complete shambles that is this out-of-control Labour Government becomes more evident day by day, and most of us are on countdown (as we cannot afford New World) until the election, when we can only hope and pray that the majority sees sense and kicks this lot out. Along with their mates. Marama Davidson’s disgusting attack on cis white men should have resulted in her being sacked, not being supported by the PM, as of course she was. As PM Hipkins doesn’t know what a woman is, it may be that he doesn’t know what a man is either, hence his inability to act like a principled leader, be they man or woman, and rid the room of her toxic presence.
Just when it seems that things surely could get no worse – they do. Day by day.
Having run out of ministers to reshuffle, it is now a matter of waiting to see who next stuffs up and is excused instead of excised, as there are precious few options remaining. The ‘talent pool’ of the Labour party wouldn’t get a big toe wet in a bath.
And, having moved on from blaming the war in the Ukraine, the Covid spend-up, and anything else handy, it is now down to cyclone Gabrielle.
“The RBNZ said the inflationary pressures of the rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle were to blame, while the National Party called the 11th straight hike a “kick in the guts”.
Official cash rate decision to ‘make life a bit more difficult for people’, minister admits (m
Not, of course, that incompetence is to blame. Or the ignorance of Grant Robertson. Or better yet the obsequiousness and blind follow-the-leader action of Adrian Orr and the RBNZ. Just wait for the mortgagee sales, the heartbreak of families left homeless and very likely jobless too. Despite the rosy glow of fudged figures, sorry, official statistics, and the notion that yet more jobs must be sacrificed to save the economy (how does that work exactly?) employers are still trying to find employees. Described as people who are willing to work. And support their families. And – pay the mortgage. Mm…
We have allowed the development of a couch class. The ones who have just had a benefit bump.
We have able-bodied people for whom work is something that other people do to support them, in return for…nothing. No responsibility. No accountability. No time limit on Netflix. It is time we looked realistically at the scenario that has been allowed to develop and bring welfare back in line with some realistic expectations, some quid pro quo, a time limit – a hand up for a time, not a handout forever. Welfare dependency has gone on for long enough.
“Jacinda Ardern’s legacy will be more children growing up in welfare-dependent households with no significant reduction in child poverty,” says ACT’s Social Development spokesperson Karen Chhour.” ACT New Zealand
Press Release: ACT New Zealand
And that is what it is. Yip Yip.
How does welfare dependency stack up as a guiding light for the future of a person and for a country?
- […] The idea of welfare dependency is that long-term reliance on income support payments can weaken a person’s character or create a ‘culture of dependency’ that can spread across communities and pass from parents to children. Character is understood in terms of ‘self-discipline or self-control.’ A ‘culture of dependency’ is understood as an attitude of fatalism and defeatism.
- According to this idea, dependent individuals become resistant to economic opportunity and are likely to remain on income support payments even when jobs are available. From this perspective, the problem of welfare dependency cannot be solved simply by providing income support recipients with opportunities for education, training and work or access to services designed to overcome barriers such as lack of access to childcare or transport.
- The current debate over welfare dependency reproduces many of the themes of earlier debates, such as that dependency is like an addictive drug; a poison or a contagious disease that can spread through communities; or a way of life that is passed from parents to children.
- While the term welfare dependency is sometimes used to refer narrowly to the receipt of certain income support payments, it cannot be easily separated from the broader idea of dependency and can imply a particular position on issues of causation and moral responsibility.
Welfare dependency: the history of an idea – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)
It is time to put a stop to this dangerous situation. Welfare dependency does not deliver for anyone: for long-term recipients, for their children or for the country.
Louise Upston, in October 2021 in a press release asked the question, “Where is the plan to end the welfare dependency crisis?” and noted that, “around 360,000 New Zealanders (were) currently receiving a main benefit. That’s about one in nine of the working age population dependent on the Government for an income.”
There is no plan to end it. Just to further fund it.
We are in a mess created by incompetents.
Jacinda may have swanned off to court Prince William and his Earthshot Prize team and to be the boss of all information, but she left a loyal foot soldier to carry on her insidious work. Chris Hipkins is just another face of the same trajectory.
Roll on October.