Modern day welfare

My eleven year-old is bent over his guitar working on Joe Walsh's riff from "Life in the Fast Lane". He does this constantly but quietly while the TV is on. A Working for Families ad comes on. Family scene plays out. "If your family is struggling there might be extra money available." Son looks up, and says, in passing, "Don't look like their struggling. She's got an ipod."

He's got a point.

At its birth, government controlled income redistribution was about getting money to the aged with no family to rely; to the most destitute with no prospects of working; and to soldiers maimed by war.

Haven't we come a long way.

Council demands ice lolly

A Palmerston North video store owner who has been selling wrapped icecream for more than 12 years is angry that he has to pay about $200 for a health licence.

"It would be different if it was new legislation," said Graeme Foster of Video Ezy. "It's just a revenue-gathering exercise."

It appears that the licence fee covers the cost of sending around an inspector who checks the temperature of the fridge. Seems to me that if you have a fridge mantaining hundreds of dollars worth of icecream you are going to make sure it is kept in saleable nick.

Charity Hospitals

Remind me what the public health system is for - "free" healthcare for all? Rationing is today's reality and charity hospitals are no longer a thing of the past.

Canterbury Charity Hospital came to my attention when down south during the break. They have just launched a fundraising campaign to raise a dollar for every man, woman and child in Canterbury. They rely on volunteer staff. This year they aim to provide 700 operations to those who can't afford to go private and can't get into the public system.

RMA rort

Received in my letterbox yesterday was a scare-mongering letter. It asked me to picture my local environment, "in 10 years with high density housing, much less bush and fewer native birds."

A couple of Bays away a developer wants to divide a section into two lots which are apparently under the square meterage allowed in the council district plan - by about an eighth.

The owners of a neighbouring property have decided to try and enlist the support of hundreds of homes in the local vicinity by partially completing a standard submission on the application for resource consent, placing it in residential letterboxes and asking the resident to complete the form and send it to the council (or return it to them for forwarding). They have of course filled in the part requesting the council decline the consent.

This sort of thing irks me no end. The complainants are alerting all similar types (environmental zealots with no regard for property rights) for miles around. Using bold headings like, "It's your lifestyle at stake," they will elicit many submissions from people who would otherwise take no interest in this development.

This is a typical example of how the RMA is abused.

Neither Left nor Right

This is from the Adam Smith Institute; a further description of American's right-left dilemma.

"Along with Gallup, exit polls suggest that .... there are large numbers of unrepresented Americans who just hate government pushing them around. About 17m of those who voted for John Kerry did not think the government should do more to solve the country's problems. And 28m Bush voters support either gay marriage or civil unions. That's 45m people with broadly libertarian views. But, says Boaz, you'd never know it from watching TV, or listening to elected politicians."

There are New Zealanders who voted Labour but didn't want more economic intervention and redistribution by the government and people who voted National but are supportive of Maori property rights and civil unions. ACT should be their alternative. But being small rules us out in many minds. So they vote for the lesser of two evils.

ACT has to effectively show people that when they vote Labour they get what they don't want and ditto with National. Voters are more motivated by what they don't want than what they do. (The strong upsurge in National's polling was a vote against Helen Clark and Labour.)

It's a big ask but it can't be avoided. That's why it is vital ACT declares itself economically and socially liberal and then conducts itself accordingly. Some people will leave but others will join. The gamble is that the second group will be much bigger. The time is ripe for taking that risk.

Beware the benevolent state

Thanks to Will Wilkinson of the Cato Institute for this review of Happiness Is ... Higher Taxes; Is one man’s productivity another man’s pollution?

It's not a book I wanted to read and now I don't need to.

Richard Layard, a member of the House of Lords, is the author. Here are some excerpts from the review;

The political moral of Layard’s story is that we are duty-bound to contrive a more Swedish America (and Britain), a point the prescient Labour Party economist was pressing years before he chanced upon the exciting “new science” of happiness....

Layard is no isolated crackpot. Like public health activists of the mind, a new wave of paternalists, including a spate of prominent psychologists and economists, draw on the latest research on happiness to argue that the state must “encourage” us to buy smaller houses, travel by train, and get out of the office—for our own good........

Because your gain in position and happiness must be someone else’s loss, Layard lumps upward income mobility together with classic “negative externalities” such as toxic sludge dumped in a stream or the roar of jets taking off from a nearby airport. Economic success is, by Layard’s reckoning, “pollution.” The solution to pollution? In a nutshell: Tax everybody until they spend less time at work and more time on vacation.......

Far more troubling than Layard’s specific bad arguments for astronomical tax rates is the very idea of his book: that the job of the state is to discover what will make us happy and then make sure we do it.

We have any number of "crackpots" in this country who would heartily endorse this prescription for society.

Brash expresses himself

A Herald report says;

This year he will push even harder his well-worn line that New Zealand has to become more prosperous than Australia if it is to survive.

"I had swallowed the Government line that we had been doing relatively well relative to Australia, but that of course is crap."

Now that last word is an unusual choice for Don. Somebody complained when I used it
(as a respresentative of ACT) on a Tax Freedom Day protest banner.

Unfortunately there is no other polite word that conveys the same feeling. It won't hurt Don Brash to throw off some stuffiness.

Census

In a previous post I linked to a tribute to John Cowperthwaite. The following excerpt also got me thinking (no conclusions mind you.)

(Marian Tupy) asked him to name the one reform that he was most proud of. "I abolished the collection of statistics," he replied. Sir John believed that statistics are dangerous, because they enable social engineers of all stripes to justify state intervention in the economy.

Here we are on the eve of another official five-yearly Census, which produces arguably our largest and most reliable collection of statistical information. This is a very tricky area for anybody who relies heavily on statistics to produce social research. Rather than justify more state intervention my research is intended to build a case against it.

But arguing that this end justifies the means, ie forcing people to provide information about themselves and their families, their income, religious beliefs etc under threat of prosecution, doesn't sit easy.

Statistics NZ spends a great deal of our money on TV and radio trying to "educate" us about why the information is needed. If it's any consolation, some people will be using the collated information to remonstrate about the level of government intervention we have to tolerate.

Forgotten truisms

"A man’s liberties are none the less aggressed upon because those who coerce him do so in the belief that he will be benefited." Herbert Spencer - (1820-1903) British author, economist, philosopher



"The greatest tyrannies are always perpetrated in the name of the noblest causes." Thomas Paine, (1737-1809)

Thank goodness for that

Rod Oram, writing in today's Sunday Star Times says, "Brash's prescription of less tax, spending and regulation shows no advance in his economic thinking for 25 years." Thank goodness for that.

As Roger Kerr has said, economics is not a matter of passing fashions.

Ethical dilemma

Here's a tricky one.

"Three women in Massachusetts have sued Wal-Mart over its refusal to stock emergency contraception in its pharmacies, calling it a violation of state law that requires pharmacies carry all "commonly prescribed medications." The women, Katrina McCarty, Julia Battel, and Dr. Rebekah Gee, attempted to purchase emergency contraception (EC) at suburban Wal-Marts, and were told that the store did not sell it and it could not be ordered. The women hope to force an injunction that requires pharmacies to carry EC, similar to the one currently enforced in Illinois.

Massachusetts is one of nine states where emergency contraception can be sold over the counter without a prescription, but pharmacies are not required to stock it."

Emergency contraception is the morning-after pill (which can now be purchased from New Zealand pharmacies without prescription but only one dose at a time). Assuming this is the case in the Massachusetts, it can't be stockpiled. One would think as long as there is profit to be made from selling these products pharmacies would want to sell them but some have an aversion to it, sometimes on religious grounds. Preventing conception is one thing; administering an "abortion" is another.

Walmart has been inclined to "crowd out" independent drugstores in small towns. Which means a woman trying to prevent an unwanted pregnancy by taking the morning-after pill, is prevented from doing so.

Of course there are other ways to insure against unwanted pregnancies. But what about a rape? And what about somebody who, in the sober light of day, thinks they may have done something silly? Can and should the state force pharmacies to provide this product?

Tribute to Sir John Cowperthwaite

Sir John Cowperthwaite, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary from 1961 to 1971 passed away on Jan 21, 2006 aged 90. His name came to my attention when reading James Bartholomew's, The Welfare State We're In. Here is an excerpt from a tribute by Marian L Tupy;

At some point during our first conversation I managed to irk him by suggesting that he was chiefly known "for doing nothing." In fact, he pointed out, keeping the British political busy-bodies from interfering in Hong Kong's economic affairs took up a large portion of his time. Throughout Sir John's tenure in office, the British political elite tried to impose its own ailing socialist economic model on Britain's colonies, including Hong Kong. Sir John managed to quash all such attempts and Hong Kong benefited as a result.

In 1960 Britain's productivity per capita was fives times Hong kong's. Hong Kong has always maintained the low taxes Cowperthwaite championed. Here is the effect;









Now Hong Kong has climbed to eighth and UK is 20th.
John Cowperthwaite's legacy.

In Bartholomew's words; "Cowperthwaite's most important reason for playing Scrooge was to keep taxes down. He thought high taxes slowed economic growth. Low taxes would eventually produce more revenue than higher ones, he argued, because of the growth they would encourage. Fast growth would also benefit the poor by boosting demand for labour and pushing up wages. Fast growth produced a 'rapid and substantial redistribution of income'. Successful capitalism benefited the poor."

He was right.

Collective wisdom moves slowly but surely

The headline reads Kiwis blame poor for being lazy.

A survey has found New Zealanders are more ready than 32 other countries to blame the poor for being lazy.

The survey gave people only two options for the question, "Why are there people in this country who live in need?"

In the last survey in 1998, exactly half picked the option, "They are poor because of laziness and lack of willpower." The other 50 per cent said, "They are poor because society treats them unfairly."

In the latest survey in 2004, the number picking "laziness and lack of willpower" soared to 73 per cent. Those ticking "because society treats them unfairly" plunged to just 27pc.

National MP, Judith Collins, welcomed the news with "great joy". Not words I would have used. It is sad but inevitable that people are beginning to see with their own eyes what the welfare state is delivering. The problem is, the realisation creates resentment. With this resentment comes greater difficulty in in getting people to help others at a voluntary level. Some people will always need help. We don't just cut it off. We have to find a less destructive way of providing it.

Priorities wrong

My only feelings about the Lee Tamahori business are repulsion for the LA police, practicing entrapment of pathetic people trying to sell blowjobs. With 518 murders in 2004 you'd think they'd have better things to do.

Welfare American- style

On Wednesday Feb 1, 2006, the House of Representatives narrowly passed (216 to 214 votes) controversial spending cuts which will further restrict entitlement programmes.

These are the welfare measures;

WELFARE AND CHILD SUPPORT: Saves $1.6 billion in welfare, child-support enforcement and other human services.
• Significantly reshapes 1996 welfare reform by requiring states to get half their welfare recipients working within one year or face penalties.
• Cuts programs that attempt to collect child support from noncustodial or “deadbeat” parents.
• Allows people getting off welfare to keep Medicaid assistance for one year.

Announcing the eighth sin

Senior churchman says it time to declare homosexuality a sin.

So apparently are anger, lust and envy yet I can't actually see how these things are trangressions against morality. And I certainly can't see what is wrong with two people caring for each other; two people doing things they want to, together.

"The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney says it is time to declare homosexuality a sin. Dr Peter Jensen says the church is on a "slippery slope" if it changes the Bible's view on human sexuality".

The "church" has been on a slippery slope for a long time - to oblivion. Is it any wonder.

David Carter predictions

The midday NewstalkZB bulletin featured an excerpt from an interview with Mike Yardley this morning. National MP David Carter, attempting to deflect questions about National leadership, said he would guarantee that NZ First would not go to the 2008 elections under Winston Peters and Labour would not go to the 2008 elections under Helen Clark.

Then again, there is no guarantee there will be a general election in 2008!

Need a job?

Spotted this yesterday smack bang in the middle of News page A7 in the DomPost.

First, I'm surprised they would need to advertise the position. Linda Clarke publicity did that. Then again, given what she said about the place, maybe that's exactly why they do need to advertise.

Otherwise, if it was just a regulatory requirement, why place it in such an expensive position? And if they placed it in the DomPost, it probably went into the Press, ODT and Herald.

I don't listen to government radio but I'm reliably told that Sean Plunkett would be a perfectly good replacement.

A suitable replacement?

Paul Ellis is quitting NZ Idol. I confess. I watch it. Me and the kids lap it up and Paul Ellis provides much of the glee with his cutting comments to people with less talent than a corpse. So who could replace the "grumpy" one? They don't need to know anything about the industry. None of the voters do. Gareth Morgan? Doesn't mince words but isn't very photogenic. Allan Duff? A straight shooter but would unbalance the PC proportionality of the panel. Pam Corkery? She seems to be at a loose end these days. Just who would be "grumpy" enough to make you still want to switch on?

Children stay at primary school

Giving credit where credit's due, the Ministry of Education deserve a mention for reversing a decision which would have forced Year 8 children to go on to a secondary school with a very poor academic record. The solution is temporary but at least the parents (and their children) have been heeded. The long term solution is to do away with the state monopolising education.

Update. You know you are on the right track when trade unionist and PPTA President, Debbie Te Whaiti, comes out condemning the Ministry's decision, saying it is a "myth" secondary schools fail

Gearing up for the Sevens

Wellington City Council is absolutely, positively, pissed-off. It has told Phil Gorman to stop selling tee-shirts which say Absolutely, Positively, Pissed. The tee-shirts are "derogatory" and a misuse of the WCC logo.



But Mayor Prendergast says if the council had been approached about the shirts, they might have been able to reach a compromise.

What would that be? A cut (but they think the tee-shirts are injurious). A change in wording? Perhaps Absolutely, Positively, Pickled? It's a bit late now anyway. The council should just get over it.

Co-habiting does not equate to marriage

Research reveals interesting comparative spending habits of co-habiting parents vs married parents.

Cohabiting parents typically part with so much of their money at tobacco and liquor stores that they have little left to spend on their children, say researchers at the University of Chicago.

Phone a friend??

LONDON -- Pupils in an East London school have been banned from raising their hands to answer questions in class because their teachers fear it leads to feelings of victimization. "Phone a friend?" - read on

A big loss

Rodney Hide has just posted on this article from the Christchurch Press.
Out-going ACT President, Catherine Judd, sees the future party as radical and liberal. ACT will remain the small party with the big ideas. I thoroughly endorse this view. Thanks Catherine. You've stuck to what you believe. I hope your successor will have the same sort of tenacity.

Not the cat's whiskers really

The Scottish Parliament is busy passing legislation enshrining the rights of cats and dogs. They plan to spend a quarter million pounds promoting a code of conduct towards animals. Today's Scotsman reports today;

A draft of the Department of the Environment's "cat code" includes advice to keep them indoors at night and to guarantee that they have "mental stimulation".

Bedtime stories perhaps. How about a little Beatrix Potter? The Tale of Tom Kitten?

Where are the Libertarians?

Here David Boaz asks, Where are the Libertarians in the media and politics? His question is prompted by a gallup poll showing a sizeable chunk of Americans are neither conservative nor (left) liberal. And according to 2004 exit polls, 45 million Americans don't want the government used to promote "traditional values" or do things best "left to individuals and business".
There is no reserach I am aware that has bothered to ask such questions here.

Nasty stuff

Judith Tizard, on Don Brash's speech, speaking to Paul Holmes on NewstalkZB, "The idea of a man who is married to a migrant attacking migrants really does worry me."

What did Don Brash say?

"Looking ahead, we will be devoting particular attention to three more issues.

The first of these is immigration, not least because it is intimately connected to economic policy. Indeed, immigration has been thought of by many people as being relevant only to the economy. How do we fill gaps in the workforce? What level of gross immigration is needed to offset the steady outflow of New Zealanders? How do we ensure there are enough people of working age to ensure that older New Zealanders are cared for in their old age?

But just as importantly, how do we do this while retaining the common values that bind us together as a nation? New Zealand is a liberal, tolerant and secular society, a society that embraces the Western Enlightenment ideals of personal liberty, private property and rationality as the basis of decision-making. These are values so central to our society that we hardly even think about them. Immigration can add greatly to our society, but it also has the potential to undermine the glue that holds our society together.

Our current immigration policies have evolved without serious public discussion or debate, and we will be giving careful consideration to this issue through the coming year."

But so starts the ugly spin and all the people who won't bother to read the speech will believe what they hear from Labour mouth-pieces like Judith Tizard.

Update. Let's not forget the conspiratorial Greens. According to the NZ Herald, Green MP Keith Locke described the immigration comments as a "coded attack on non-white migrants" and with Mr Peters muzzled, Dr Brash was trying to fill his shoes.

State of the Welfare Nation (3)

A commentor on State of the Welfare Nation (2) suggests that the continuing growth in welfare spending since Labour took office in 1999 is due to increased Super spending.

Super spending increased by $938 million or 18 percent.

Invalid/sickness benefit spending rose by $918 million or 83 percent.

Although the sharp growth in the second group is, in part, a reflection of our ageing population, the most common reason for being on one of these benefits is a psychological or psychiatric condition. Since 1999 the number of people on a benefit due to substance abuse problems has doubled and due to stress, tripled. Numbers with an intellectual handicap have risen by 6 percent. The trends here are as important, if not more, than the raw numbers.

There is some good news. The rate of increase in incapacity benefits has slowed slightly over the past year.