This is a telling graph from Infometrics published in this morning's Dominion Post.
It's self-explanatory. Labour has managed to take the heat out of the welfare issue by constantly trumpeting low unemployment but we are still spending just as much on welfare. Part of the reason, but not enormously significant, is slightly higher Super expenditure. In terms of working age welfare we are spending more on supplementary benefits, family support (very significant) and In Work payments
The column is entitled When working becomes a casual choice. Quite.
"The current government likes to play the part of the all-powerful provider. If you take tax of the workers and hand it around, you might make more enemies than friends. You may bribe students, increase the number of people on welfare and, instead of simply cutting taxes for nine years, hand out billions in badly designed packages such as Working for Families."
Amen to that. I can never figure out why the promise not to take money off people is less persuasive than the promise to take it and throw it around. Whatever it is, the acceptance is deeply ingrained in the New Zealand psyche.
Nigel Pinkerton concludes;
"Returning New Zealand's living standards to the top half of the OECD is up to us. We can achieve this by working both harder and smarter. It's time we stopped looking to the government with outstretched hands and got on with the job ourselves."
And therein may lie the answer to my previous puzzlement. Perhaps too many New Zealanders are just too lazy and insecure to look after themselves.
4 comments:
absolutely spot on Lindsay. I am reminded on the Margaret McClure article entitled 'A Badge of Poverty or a Symbol of Citizenship?'. The creation of rights should only ever serve to bolster people's personal responsibilities. Instead we're seeing the fundamental value of work being diminished through 'social rights' which could be more accurately termed 'couch rights'.
A very good article indeed.
It's a scathing analysis and a frontal attack on the failed policies of this socialist government (and the spineless Tories before).
Welfare reform is long overdue.
If people lack confidence in themselves, they will respond more positively to a government which promises to take care of them. New Zealanders are not noted for being overly confident.
It follows that a right-wing political party will want to see a more self-confident, can-do national culture emerge. A left-wing party such as the Labour Party - assuming they take their long-term interests into account - would wish for the opposite.
Glad you liked my article.
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