Poverty harmful to children. No-one will dispute the central tenet of the child poverty report released this week by Children's Commissioner Russell Wills.
Kids who go to school hungry struggle to learn. Kids who live in damp, cold, crowded homes get sick. Kids who grow up poor are more likely to struggle as adults.
Where readers may be inclined to part company with the commissioner's expert advisory group is over how to tackle the problem.
The slippery slope
18 minutes ago
3 comments:
The editorial uses John Key's mother as an example. In fact, you could take the vast majority of New Zealanders of John Key's age and ask how it is that were raised so well when their parents grew up in far worse economic times (i.e the Great Depression and WW2)?
The parents of the baby boomers had none of the advantages of the parents of the latest generation, such as comprehensive health and welfare, and yet somehow they did a pretty damned good job of being parents. Perhaps genuine economic hardship builds self-reliance rather than dependency, and handouts only encourage greater dependency.
Kiwiwit. You might have left out a generation or two there, but your point remains valid. John Key was born well after WWII.
I think some of the "poverty" is caused by Work and Income staff not fully advising clients. See point about DPB - and I know it is a common occurance.
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/beneficiary-impact-highlights-poverty-of-social-policies
Sure, there are arguments about these people working instead of receiving social security. I would counter that running people down financially makes it drastically harder for them to return to productive lives - something which seems to escape most politicians on the right.
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