So many elephants in the room they are becoming unremarkable

In the NZ Herald this morning ex Labour leader sort of congratulates Grant Robertson on his budget spending. Or rather, damns with faint praise really. He writes,

Housing ... not just the supply but also the quality of existing stock — continues to be the elephant in the room to addressing the growing inequity in our society.

Housing is an issue. It is some people's major issue. But...

Set me to thinking. What is mine?

It's twofold. It's stubborn and ignorant repetition of past policies that have never worked. 

And simultaneously charting dangerous territory with the assertions that democracy can't work for minorities (with flavour of the day, Maori). To that end frantically throwing out bedrock democratic principles.

Democracy doesn't work for minorities. I know. I am in one. The 5-10 percent that genuinely crave small government, free markets and personal responsibility. It doesn't follow I advocate for an overthrow of 'one person, one vote'. It means my minority has to persuade the majority their way.

But back to the point of my post. 

What is your elephant in the room?

Prove my point. There are so many elephants in the room that they are now unremarkable.

Budget baloney

Unbelievable bullshit.

The great spin machine has it that for too long mothers on the DPB - called Sole Parent Support since 2013 - have been robbed, yes robbed, of their rightful child support payments made by the non-custodial father. Jacinda says mothers have been "denied money that is rightfully theirs."

Reality check. The state has generously paid a livable statutory entitlement to any sole parent - regardless of the reason for their single state - since 1973. If the non-custodial parent was paying child support (known as 'maintenance' at that time) the state kept it to offset the cost of the benefit to the taxpayer.

Today's announcement puts an end to that.

Some sole parents are in for a pay rise. 

Not because the father is going to pay more. But because the taxpayer is.

Female prison population shrinks nearly twice as fast as male

 

Between March 2017 and March 2022 the female prison population decreased by 39.3 percent whereas the male prison population shrank by just 22.4 percent.

A win for the ever-aggrieved feminists?