Thursday, July 07, 2016

The spousing crisis

The spousing crisis is leading to homelessness and child poverty.

Rental spouses are just too expensive.They are insecure and impermanent. You could get kicked out at any time and have to go looking for another. Some spouses have become P-contaminated and put children at risk. But there simply aren't enough solid, life-time spouses available, so more and more people are being forced into the rental spouse market.

The spousing problem in Auckland is worst. Auckland spouses are the most expensive and are driving people to look for spouses in other parts of the country. But it just gets worse. People are having to shack up with other people's spouses and share. Some even turn their backs on spouses to live in cars!

Some spouses wait, empty. Nobody wants them. they have been turned down for more attractive spouses.

Some say state-spousing is the answer but is it? State spousing (sometimes called the DPB) only makes poverty worse.

If Labour has a policy to solve the spousing crisis, I'll vote for them.

But honestly I think the only way to solve the spousing crisis is to stop meddling with the market.


7 comments:

Mark Hubbard said...

From a writerly point of view, this post is, Lindsay, as the kids would say, 'the thing'. A little bit of genius :)

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Thanks Mark. It just popped into my head this morning and wouldn't stop developing. But I guess some people who think I am perennially dour won't get it. Just one of those days when taking the piss seemed preferable to taking it to heart.

Mark Hubbard said...

Thing is it's not just taking the piss. It's right.

aWanderer said...

Some spouses are just too expensive , not worth it and too expensive to maintain. What we need is more cheap, well built new spouses. If we have a lot of more spouses available perhaps the expensive spouses will feel the competition. Over time people will expect more from their spouses and won't be prepared to pay the same for such poor performing spouses.

Don't give up on rental spouses,it serves a need and it is after all the oldest profession on earth ;-)

Lindsay Mitchell said...

aWanderer, New spouses should not only be "cheap [and] well-built" but go up instead of out. Auckland can't cope with more sprawling spouses.

Steinienick said...

Great analogy. You did it well. Thanks.

The Slippery Slope said...

Gold.