Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Low income families do not universally appear in poor social statistics

 Another who thinks more money thrown at the problems of the "underclass" will make them go away.

Graeme MacCormick  believes taxing and distributing more to the "underclass" will reduce problems of, "...domestic violence, child abuse, crime and imprisonment rates, childhood poverty, alcohol and other drug abuse, poor health and educational outcomes." He blames the effects of colonisation on the tangata whenua,  the Douglas/Richardson economic reforms, and, if more money is the answer, than obviously, poverty. "Parents need sufficient" he writes "to give their children a positive start in life."

Over the past fifteen or so years this has become a familiar diagnosis and recommended remedy. But as New Zealand has become more ethnically diverse we see new groups emerging that are not necessarily wealthy. Seldom do they appear among the poor social statistics MacCormick describes. He could check negative stats from Oranga Tamariki,  and the Ministries of Health and Education to verify that Asian and Indian children are almost absent. Yet many live in low income homes. The difference? Strong, stable families with intact work ethics. Those characteristics nurture and protect children to a much greater extent than cash hand-outs. 

1 comment:

Brendan McNeill said...

Correct again Lindsay

For those on the ideological left, it has become convenient to blame the lack of Government funding, rather than cultural, social or family structures for poverty, child abuse and neglect.

Unfortunately, for these ideologues the facts are in, the evidence is clear. The problem for all of us is that remedies are hard, slow and require personal proactive family engagement. Many are simply unprepared to pay the personal price required by such engagement, and prefer to outsource these demands to the State, hence the growth in social workers.

Again, unfortunately the facts are in here also. A 'paid 9-5 professional' is no substitute for a caring parent, or grandparent, or family member. Getting your hands dirty, engaging in the suffering, the tears and the hurt is unavoidable if we really want to see change. And that represents a challenge to our personal peace and comfort that few are prepared to countenance.