tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post2057025425830281346..comments2024-03-04T16:39:30.609+13:00Comments on Lindsay Mitchell: Armstong moots a Machiavellian MinisterLindsay Mitchellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04437693272797130833noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-61995545204373712142010-06-13T13:38:02.351+12:002010-06-13T13:38:02.351+12:00Thanks Hollyfield. I have heard smilar tales over ...Thanks Hollyfield. I have heard smilar tales over the years. Just out of interest, would the positions have been put with Work and Income?Lindsay Mitchellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04437693272797130833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-25914860819117074542010-06-13T00:15:46.969+12:002010-06-13T00:15:46.969+12:00I don't believe that National has a radical pl...<i>I don't believe that National has a radical plan for welfare at all.</i><br /><br />More's the pity. Even ACT doesn't have a very radical plan. But we do: <b>Stop the lot. Cancel all benefits including super (except war pensions).</b><br /><br /><i> loosely characterised as libertarian extremists</i><br /><br />You aren't a libertarian extremist - I mean you're not advocating we just shoot all the bludgers are you? Or even compulsory sterlize them? <br /><br />Really the question of NZ's welfare system is down to basic mathematics.<br /><br />NZ's bludger-laden welfare syetem costs something like 300 MILLION DOLLARS PER WEEK. Money NZ simply does not have - money that we borrow and have been borrowing for years <b>with no plan at all to actually pay back</b><br /><br />The only way to stop borrowing is to stop welfare.<br /><br />The only way to pay the money back is stop state "health" and "education" and use those funds to pay back the debt.<br /><br />There aren't enough govt "assets" to sell to pay back 200% of out GDP which is NZ indebtedness. <br /><br />You know - I wish NZ was like Norway or Saudi - countries with enough income that they can afford to pay everyone a living wage, still build up huge reserves for super schemes etc, have lots of people on benefits and import "Guest Workers" to do the dirty jobs. It would be great. <br /><br />It would be great if NZ was like Germany or even Belgium or Sweden - countries with high benefit levels and high taxes, but high public infrastructures and <b>large real economies that actually make fucking money for the country</b><br /><br />But NZ isn't like that at all. Which part of <b>nett debt 200% of GDP don't these idiots understand</b><br /><br />No matter how many times you say it - and how obviously true it is - some people are just so stupid they cannot understand: <b>they ONLY way to stop welfare dependency is to STOP WELFARE</b>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-84575481792862174432010-06-12T21:51:20.588+12:002010-06-12T21:51:20.588+12:00I do have trouble having sympathy for the view of ...I do have trouble having sympathy for the view of some people that solo mothers can't work, there are no jobs, no after school care, after school care is too expensive, what do you do when your kids are sick, what do you do in the school holidays, raising children is the most important job of all.......The list of excuses seems never ending. Plenty of solo mothers (and married mothers) work and still do a good job raising their children. I have been a working married mother and now am a working solo mother. Yes it's hard being a single parent, but that doesn't mean you can't work outside the home and still be a good parent.<br />At the school I work at in a central Auckland suburb we recently had two teacher aide vacancies. (General classroom assistance - not working with kids with behaviour problems.) School hours, term time only, paying $20-50/hr plus 8% holiday pay. This works out as more than minimum wage in a full time job. Sound like a perfect job for a mother? We had only 18 applicants for the two positions, and all of those applicants were already employed. <br />HollyfieldAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19962237.post-24883846074160166422010-06-12T08:20:11.318+12:002010-06-12T08:20:11.318+12:00You are right, Armstrong is flying without instrum...You are right, Armstrong is flying without instruments. The problem is that almost everybody is, because of the secrecy around data. That secrecy can be the result of simply not knowing, or of purposefully hiding and manipulating data.<br />In my experience of govt information, it is probably a combination of the two. The only way we will ever be able to get through this problem is to get our hands on raw data, regardless of the "privacy" issues involved. In my view there needs to first be the acceptance that it is public money we are talking about, so everybody should have the right to know all of the details. Once that is achieved, data can be aggregated so it becomes meaningful. Only at that point can conclusions be drawn that have a chance of being beyond partisan or ideological viewpoints.<br />Unfortunately, the access to real data is now in he hands of those who benefit from obfuscation and from massaging data to mean what fits in the flavour of the day.<br />In my view therefore, there ought to be a stronger effort to achieve transparency, although probably nothing short of constitutional overhaul will be able to achieve that.<br />BezAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com