"Why we are all beneficiaries of the welfare state"

This column, by Massey University tax lecturer Deborah Russell, appeared in the Dom Post yesterday under the heading, "Why we are all beneficiaries of the welfare state":

"It's easy to criticise the welfare system. Beneficiaries get too much money, too many of them cheat, and it all costs too much. But the unrecognised reality is that our comprehensive health and welfare systems create freedom and security for us all......

But when we criticise people who receive welfare, we are not just imprudent. We also undermine the security of our friends and family members and fellow citizens who depend on the welfare system.

If we complain about teenage mothers, and insist that someone ought to control their income and make them stop having babies, we make every sole mother worry about interference....

 Our health and welfare systems are based on need, not some notion of worthiness.

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The first thing that came to mind was Benjamin Franklin's quote, "Those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither."

People are hardly free when compelled to pay tax for systems they neither approve of nor use. Those making the largest tax contribution are often also paying for private health and education and would never qualify for a welfare benefit due to means-testing. So it is farcical to claim that,  " ....we are all beneficiaries of the welfare state."

Worse, many beneficiaries do not feel free; they feel trapped and forgotten. They are living at a subsistence level in substandard housing due to their safety net now being called upon by one in eight working-age New Zealanders. The welfare system has created so much contrived 'need' (consider Russell's example of teenage sole parents),  real adversity and emergency cannot be adequately met.

It is not a noble idea that the welfare system is no longer based on some "notion of worthiness". It used to be. That was how the architects designed it. Otherwise the system would be open to abuse. As it now is.

But the worst aspect of this academician's position is her cautioning against criticism of the welfare system. Is this how she teaches her students?

Truth column August 9

My Truth column from August 9 is now on-line.

In 2004 the Civil Union Bill was bitterly contested. Conservatives lobbied MPs furiously to prevent gays from forming state sanctioned and recognised partnerships.

 Even parties were split on the issue – ACT for example – although United Future members were unanimous in their opposition. The bill passed into law narrowly.

Just eight years later a new bill to legislate for gay marriage seems to be stirring far less division and looks like having the numbers to pass into law. Even lone surviving United future MP, Peter Dunne, is indicating support for it. That’s quite a sea change.

Society can change quite rapidly. Emotions burn out. Or people see incremental change, realise the sky hasn’t fallen and are then amenable to more. It is my fervent hope that the same attitudinal shift will have occurred to views about voluntary euthanasia. Labour MP Maryan Street currently has an End of Life Choice Bill in the ballot. 

The last time Parliament debated this issue was 2003. Then, New Zealand First’s Death With Dignity Bill was voted down 60-57.

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Other Truth columns here

On WINZ paying for vasectomies

The NZ Herald reports:

NZ First social policy spokeswoman Asenati Lole-Taylor said it was difficult to justify the amount of public money spent on vasectomies.
"Why should the population in New Zealand pay for something that is supposed to be a personal expense? It's astounding really.

Who cares how much WINZ spends on vasectomies so long as they don't spend money on reversing them!

But if we accept the NZ First argument, where does the line get drawn on what "is supposed to be a personal expense"? What about raising your children? Paying your rent? Do you suppose that NZ First are launching an attack on all welfare? Because that's going to look pretty funny up against the privileges pumped out under the Super Gold Card.

Generally I am against the "spend now to save later" arguments so loved by the Left. Too often there are those unintended consequences, and it's a licence to ramp up spending enormously in the here and now when there is no guarantee there will be a later saving.

But as vasectomies do provide an almost 100 percent certainty of future saving I can make an exception.

Europeans not measuring up

Is it just that I am so brow-beaten over the issue of racial discrimination that when I get to the following paragraph it feels as though, as a European, I am being castigated for being under-represented in prison?

 Despite Europeans making up 68 per cent of the population, only 33 per cent of those in prison are Europeans. That compares with 49 per cent Maori and 11.3 per cent Pacific - yet they make up only 15 per cent and 7 per cent respectively of the overall population.

If I put that aside and actually engage with the 'accusation' Maori and Pacific both have young populations and so you could expect some slight  over-representation, which is what we see with Pacific. But not gross over-representation, which is what we see with Maori. Why isn't some thought given to that difference. In the report's terms, why does the justice system let down Maori in a way that it isn't letting down Pacific people?

And as always, when these sorts of reports make it into mainstream media and are widely broadcast on the TV, I worry about the message they send to subjects of them. It'd be like me telling my kids that whenever they have a problem,  it's not their fault. They know however I am far more objective that that. Loving them doesn't mean I can't see their weaknesses. But it does mean that I have to help them overcome those weaknesses in anyway I can.

Blonde joke

An old, blind Marine Gunnery Sergeant wanders into an All-Girl
Biker Bar.

He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels. 

After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender,

'Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?

 The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.

 In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, 

 'Before  you tell that joke, Marine, I think it is only fair, given 
that you are blind, that you should know five things:

 1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.

 2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a 'Billy-Club'.

 3. I'm a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black 
belt in karate. 

 4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.

 5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional 
wrestler. 

'Now, think about it seriously, Marine.... Do you still wanna tell 

that blonde joke?'

The blind Marine thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, 'No...

not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times............

Ministry data: It's NOT official!

Paula Bennett keeps insisting there is no official measure of child poverty in New Zealand. This tack hasn't worked well for her.

In any case there is a measure produced by her Ministry.

The 2011 Household Incomes Report summary says:

Child poverty rates were the same in 2010 as in 2009 using both the fixed line AHC measure (22%), and the 60% AHC moving line measure (25%) 

There is much more detail following this statement including a table that shows the change since 1998.

Just over an hour ago a rattled (IMO) Bennett released another statement:

‘’Following recent debate on the issue, I have been misquoted in various media as saying there is no poverty line, or it’s been reported that I don’t acknowledge that a poverty line exists.

‘’What I’ve actually said is that there is no official measure of poverty in New Zealand, and that is correct." 

So her Ministry spends money exhaustively examining, analysing and reporting on poverty but the results are not official. Bizarre.

If I was using the MSD report I would  certainly feel justified in describing the data as 'official'. Would you?

Ill-disciplined MPs

Gareth Hughes, on Frogblog, has a post about the behaviour in parliament yesterday. Kudos to him for not posting the rest of the speaker's comment directed specifically at the Minister for Social Development. I wouldn't have heard about it myself if it hadn't been for a caller to talkback describing the look on her face.  Like Hughes, I don't care for the petty, juvenile behaviour of some MPs - a prime example is my own, Trevor Mallard. So I don't tune in any more.

Maggie Barry in danger of patronising

National MP Maggie Barry is opposed to voluntary euthanasia.

Ms Barry said many advocates of euthanasia were unaware of the world-class palliative care available in New Zealand's 35 hospices, palliative care homes, and in hospitals.

I am not one of them. I am aware of the care available. But being knocked out on opiates and blown up from steroids is still something one should be free to choose to avoid. I've seen it and it didn't strike me as a peaceful exit.

Back to Maggie Barry's assertion. Grey Power members are amongst the strongest supporters of voluntary euthanasia. They more than most will have had the experience of watching a slow death. Claiming they may be ignorant of palliative care is patronising if not insulting.

My advice to Paula Bennett re breaching privacy

Don't do it again.

Next time a Domestic Purposes Beneficiary starts to publicly complain about unfair treatment,  motivated either as an individual or by political activists, challenge them to disclose their full circumstances and income.

They don't need to be put under threat of exposure from the Minister. But they do need to know that they will be loudly challenged by you through newspapers, radio, television and social media.

You have the mana. You have the media pull. You can set up the platform. Use your power well. Use it to elicit the truth.

Call their bluff.

Jacinda Ardern contradicted by FVDRC

Criticising the Green paper submission summary released today Labour MP Jacinda Ardern says:

“Research shows that poverty and income inadequacy are key drivers of poor outcomes for children. Ms Bennett’s Green Paper ignores this with systemic issues like poverty barely rating a mention in the summary.

Yet the Family Violence Death Review Committee (FVDRC) included the following statement in its submission:

Low socioeconomic status (typically defined as family income below the poverty line, under-employment, and low education) is one of the major environmental conditions associated with child maltreatment. However, while the research shows an association between physical abuse, neglect and poverty, it is not a causal pathway. The majority of families living in poverty raise their children well.

Amen to that.

Being lightweight isn't going to do Labour any favours.

Submissions to the Green Paper on Vulnerable Children on-line and summarised

Submissions are now available on-line from MSD .... that is, those from NGOs and organisations. Those made by members of the public (like me) are not available.

Scanning through the lengthy summary paper via various searches I can only find a small number of references to benefit dependence playing a role in child abuse and neglect. One is a paragraph titled "Blaming Communities".

Blaming communities: A small minority of submissions suggested the problem of vulnerable children lay with particular sorts of people or communities. These submissions argued the culture of that group is the problem rather than the solution. Groups who featured in these kinds of arguments were Maori, DPB recipients, beneficiaries in general and absent fathers.  A related theme was the argument that vulnerability has arisen from a breakdown in family values, such as marriage, within communities.

(In 172 pages the DPB is mentioned three times.)

Anyway I searched "blaming" and "blame" . Guess what? The above reference is the only one. There is no mention of submitters blaming poverty; blaming colonisation; blaming systems or blaming inequality.'Blaming' is code for (as the summary authors see it) unfairly and prejudicially judging individuals.

Here is another brief allusion to welfare:

Benefits encourage poor parenting: A small minority of submissions argued the benefit system encourages and enables people who cannot parent properly to have children.

So a handful submitters have made the connection.   But the observation is pretty well buried under an avalanche of apologism for what is generally, at the core, an abrogation of parental responsibility.

(My submission was published here in February.)

Truth column August 2

My August 2 Truth column is now on-line.

Shortly after Labour’s Bill to extend Paid Parental Leave (PPL) from 14 weeks to six months emerged from the ballot, a poll of 16,000 votes showed 60% of respondents thought National was right to promise a financial veto against it. 

Frustratingly, this doesn’t indicate whether people were against the extension in the current economic climate, against an extension at any time, or against the entire scheme.  I fall in the last category.

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Other Truth columns here

Taking on the Treaty

This is probably a coincidence but Rodney Hide and John Ansell have both launched into the Treaty of Waitangi today.

Rodney serves it up to the Tribunal:

The Waitangi Tribunal is our Babylonian priesthood. Its members spend their days poring over a tatty old text seeking guidance for modern-day government.
The funny thing isn't that they do it. The funny thing is that anyone takes them seriously.

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While John writes:

TREATYGATE
Wake Up New Zealand, We’re Being Conned!

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Importantly, John Ansell has also worked out a practical way in which other New Zealanders can join him to stop the "TREATYGATE CON".

Shearer should reaffirm Labour's commitment to making work pay

Today's DomPost editorial points out the obvious. God knows why last year's Labour couldn't see it.

Given that the last Labour government had nine years to upskill, educate and nudge, the public could be forgiven for assuming that under Mr Shearer Labour has nothing new to offer.
Of one thing voters can be sure: extending the "in work" tax credit used to compensate low-wage workers for the extra costs associated with work, to beneficiaries, as proposed by Labour last year, will not solve the problem. It will only further reduce the incentives to seek paid employment.

The IWTC is an incentive to work. Effectively remove it and the incentive disappears. Shearer should publicly reaffirm Labour's commitment to making work pay separating himself from the lame duck period under Goff and King.

Doctor and academics slate Mayor's excitement over private sector job creation

Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace has been lambasted on the DomPost's opinion page. Below is a letter from a local GP and a further featured letter from University of Otago academics appeared today. My response to the first follows:

 

Dear Editor

Unlike Dr Susanna Kent (Letters, August 9) I wasn't "appalled" to see Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace recently launching a refurbished cigarette factory in Petone. Tobacco is still a legal substance. While this remains the case we may as well have the jobs here. At least the usual outcry  over unemployment caused by manufacturing jobs being lost overseas is avoided. Of course, criminalising tobacco would also create jobs. For illicit growers, black market racketeers,  police, court personnel, prison officers, etc. The unstoppable cannabis industry proves the point.

Acts of heroism

I feel terribly sad about the seeming loss of three lives in New Plymouth yesterday. When you have a child who could easily fit the bill it hits home more sharply perhaps? But there is something I wanted to say. While it may have been the wrong, and eventually tragic call to climb yesterday, the instructor lost his life trying to save the boys. It reminds me of the teacher in the Mangatepopo Gorge tragedy, who strapped one of the youngsters to his back but neither made it out. Makes me weep.

Maori and Pacific unemployment drop

Statistics NZ has just released the June HLFS. Overall unemployment is up slightly (6.7 to 6.8 percent) but Maori (13.9 to 12.8 percent)  Pacific (16.0 to 14.9) and Asian (9.4 to 8.2) unemployment are all down from March, though all figures are still slightly higher than June last year.

A new table (15) has been added. It shows the NEET percentage (aged 15-24 Not in Employment or Education). That stands at 13.1 percent.

Internationally NZ is ranking 14th in the OECD. We have steadily fallen in the rankings since around 2006. The OECD average is 7.9 percent.

Anyway, generally not much to write about that gives cause for optimism.

Kiwiblog: Labour soft on fraud?

David Farrar has a post regarding an exchange David Shearer had with a constituent about a neighbour being on a sickness benefit while he was up painting his roof. Shearer empathises with the constituent about the unfairness of the situation. Then Farrar points out the hypocrisy of this as Labour has opposed every National reform measure to reduce fraud. The implication is that Labour is soft on benefit fraud.

The statistics don't support this however.


table IS.1: Fraud and abuse investigations and reviews completed, and overpayments identified¹

Financial year2	Number of investigations and reviews completed	Number of overpayments established	Value of overpayments ($)
2006/2007	39,141	7,084	41,935,634
2007/2008	26,736	4,407	33,702,275
2008/2009	26,400	3,327	33,780,453
2009/2010	19,935	2,996	39,336,133
2010/2011	16,266	2,424	39,838,760

table IS.2: Fraud prosecutions completed

Financial year1	Number of prosecution cases of benefit fraud completed
2007/2008	1,028
2008/2009	735
2009/2010	789
2010/2011	690

Quote of the day

From Walter Williams here:

"One does not have to be in favor of death camps or wars of conquest to be a tyrant. The only requirement is that one has to believe in the primacy of the state over individual rights."

"ACT brand has been irredeemably damaged"

I am not a fan of Richard Long. In today's Dominion Post he writes as if an expert on ACT's history but can't get the ex-president's name right. However, the title of his column is wholly correct in my humble opinion.

Former ACT president Catherine Isaacs took the political gold at the weekend for making a sensible, coherent case for charter schools. But, alas, it is all too late to save her party.

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Unpalatable choices in public health provision

A disturbing example of the difficult choices that will increasingly face public health rationers.

From Scotland:

A GOVERNMENT adviser and leading surgeon has suggested that NHS funds would be better spent on providing surgery for morbidly obese patients than on palliative care for the terminally ill.

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Truth Column July 26

My July 26 Truth column is now on-line.

Every day across New Zealand thousands of heroin addicts are given legitimate doses of a heroin substitute – methadone – by their local pharmacist.

While the programme purports to wean people off with reducing doses, more often it’s a maintenance scheme which keeps the addict  stabilised, functioning and free from crime. 

This is a prime example of harm minimisation in practice. It represents an acceptance that people either want or need to use recreational drugs and making criminals out of certain users only creates additional harm.

Contrast this approach with the recent news that police have arrested over 2500 people in cannabis operations over the past six months. 

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Other Truth columns here

Does Sam win ... yes she does!

Erin Simpson Show Next Fashion Icon

 

Sam  was the winner of a trip to the NZ Fashion Weekend in late September. I watched the show on Friday heart in mouth despite knowing the outcome (she arrived back at Wellington airport with a beautiful bunch of flowers). She was thoroughly surprised when the judges said her name, and suitably humble I am happy to report. Her model was also a Year 9 girl, but 5' 11" and in (ginormous!) heels and they look adorable together - very much the long and the short of it.

The On Demand replay is here

And, from Sam, thanks so much to all of those people who voted her into the Top 25. You made it possible.

Remand population grows significantly

I wouldn't agree with Kim Workman's philosophical approach to crime and related matters but his statistical stuff is sound. Yesterday he delivered a submission to the Law and Order  select committee containing the following:

“In the last ten years, the sentenced prisoner population increased by 33.7%, while the remand population increased by 116%.” Said Mr Workman, “Around 56 percent of those remanded in custody did not go on to serve a custodial sentence. We remand offenders in custody at a rate higher than other comparable countries, with the exception of the United States.
“Maori defendants are nearly twice as likely as their European counterparts to be remanded in custody. The unanswered question is whether this discrepancy occurs because of differential offending patterns by Maori, a lack of cultural responsiveness, or the negative impact of laws, structures, processes and decision making criteria. There has been no in-depth research on this issue since 1973, and it is a matter of urgency.”

Following the link to his full submission was unsuccessful but it did take me to Rethinking's website. My first visit. It's a well designed site. Just a quick excerpt which describes Maori offending in a way I haven't seen before;

 At every stage in the criminal justice process, the outcomes for Māori are generally more severe than they are for Pakeha. Māori are less likely to receive diversion or cautions and are more likely to be sentenced to prison. Although New Zealand's imprisonment rate is 199 people per 100,000, the rate for Māori is closer to 700 per 100,000. Māori make up over 50% of New Zealand's prison population and over 60% of its female prison population.

Asset Sale poll

All I hear from commentators, politicians, the media etc is the majority of New Zealanders are against the asset sales. How do they know? This NewstalkZB poll doesn't bear out the claim.

Do you support the Government's asset sales legislation?

• Yes 50 %
• No 47 %
• Unsure 3 %

Truth Column Friday July 19

My Truth column for July 19 is now on-line:

A local bus stop was recently tagged with ‘Aoteoroa is not for sale’. I was tempted to sneak out in the dead of night and add, ‘No more house sales to immigrants’ beneath.

Because that is the implication and most would find the idea abhorrent. 

Now we have, ‘No asset sales’ which is equally sweeping, superficial and emotive.  The reality is the NZ government is carrying huge overseas debt and it needs to pay some down. If it doesn’t, its future ability to borrow to fund everyday, vital services could be endangered. 

We are all watching the situations unfolding in various European countries, which are either bankrupt or verging on it. That poses the question: Would New Zealanders prefer austerity over asset sales?

Read more


Other Truth columns here

Dads matter - an understatement

Rodney's Herald on Sunday column today is about his Dad and how important our Dads are. How they guide us and set an example. I am also blessed to have one such Dad. And I can bring to mind two people who lost their Dads in the past year who felt exactly like Rodney and I about them. Good men themselves.

Then I had lunch with a friend just returned from where her father lives who didn't even visit him. Can't abide him and was forced to explain to the aunties why. Because he violently abused her mother and siblings and she will not forgive him. Never. And without him she'd gone badly off the rails as a youngster (not that she ever seems to particularly rue her 'colourful' past.)

Last week Sam took a photo of her Dad and me as part of a social studies project. It's something to do with photos of everyday things that matter - a favourite meal for instance - to send to a school in another country. I wondered out loud how many of her fellow pupils would be able to send a photo of their Mum and Dad together. She in turn identified out loud which friends could. About half. I told her how when I was her age I didn't know anyone, not a friend, not a neighbourhood kid, who didn't live with both parents. Bar one whose mother had died.

Isn't that a phenomenally rapid  social change. One generation. And we know the downsides. The wealthier kids materially weather the upheaval  better but that's about it. And I'm not condemning people who split. Intolerably unhappy relationships should be abandoned. But the widespread nature of breakdown goes far beyond what should naturally occur. Or what would naturally occur without government interference.

Getting around the DPB work-test rules

The table below shows that most grants of a DPB are to people transferring within the system or who have been on welfare previously - 71 percent to be precise. I asked the Minister under the Official Information Act:

1/ In 2011 how many second-time or subsequent grants for the DPB were to a caregiver with more than one dependent child; a youngest child under 12 months old and who had been off benefit for between 12 - 48 months? Their answer:

The point of my question? I am trying to ascertain how many people will qualify for a further 5 years of welfare before work-testing because they had a subsequent child off welfare. 437 is a starting figure.

Not included in this figure is for instance someone who left under 12 months ago and returned with a newborn.

The Ministry also qualified my 'off benefit' as 'off DPB-related' which also narrows the field.

The point is, as it stands, as long as a baby isn't added to a benefit the caregiver won't be work-tested until the baby is 5. Some people are clever. They have already forced the Ministry to pay the DPB to both parents if the parents split custody of their children. So there are two benefits to play around with when considering which one to 'add' a subsequent child to.

As in any group of people, there are those who will abide by the rules because they are honest and well-motivated, and that includes people on welfare. But there are others who will play the system for all it's worth. Ironically those are the very people these new rules are supposed to positively influence.






table DP.3: Periods since clients last received any main benefit

Period since client last received any main benefit	2006/2007	2007/2008	2008/2009	2009/2010	2010/2011
	Domestic Purposes Benefits granted to working-age clients1
None (clients transferring within the benefit system)2	9,447	10,035	10,654	11,416	11,071
Under 12 months	9,900	10,567	10,876	9,683	9,963
1–2 years	3,289	3,938	4,483	3,656	3,198
2–4 years	3,061	3,393	4,365	4,201	3,307
Had not received a main benefit in the previous 4 years	7,774	8,561	11,433	11,660	10,533
Total granted to working-age clients	33,471	36,494	41,811	40,616	38,072
	Domestic Purposes Benefits granted to other clients1
Total granted to other clients	940	1,054	1,100	942	799
	Total Domestic Purposes Benefits granted1
Total	34,411	37,548	42,911	41,558	38,871

Forget "fair" and focus on the fiscal restraint

David Shearer says that Mondayisation of public holidays and longer Paid Parental Leave are "fair to families".

But these bills aren't fair to employers and most taxpayers. They are both an additional cost on the economy. And the timing is bloody awful.

Leaves me in no doubt that National was the better governing party to weather a protracted recession. That's not to say they couldn't do  better.

The passage of these bills would indicate that New Zealanders are no better than other head-in-the-sand Europeans.

Two coroner's reports

The NewstalkZB 9 o'clock news (Wellington - not the Network because I have checked the replay) reported that Gary Evans found Macsyna King "had no involvement in the death of her twins."

Contrast that to a coroner's report last week that found two good Samaritans had contributed to the death of Iraena Asher.

I am going on media hearsay but these findings seem utterly incongruous.

Using a benefit as camouflage

Here's a perfect example of people using a benefit as camouflage (albeit not a very successful one). I mean they surely didn't need the money.

Three solo mothers, one of whom is known locally as "the queen of green" and is seven months pregnant, have been sent to prison for a cannabis operation that netted them up to $340,000 in four months last year for selling "tinnies" from a state house in Napier.
A "tinny" is a small tinfoil-wrapped package containing between 0.6 and 1.2 grams of cannabis, which sells for about $20.
Business was so good during the four months that they sold a $20 tinny every minute and the number of customers so great that their cars would clog up the street...... The four offenders, who are all beneficiaries, appeared for sentencing before Judge Tony Adeane in Napier District Court last week.

Truth column July 13

My Truth column for July 13 is now on-line.  

Some people on the dole fail drug-tests and subsequently miss out on a job. So they stay on welfare. Is that OK?  The current government doesn’t think so. That’s why new legislation proposes sanctions – a reduction in benefit – when it happens. 


The legislation does not propose drug-testing all beneficiaries as a condition of eligibility for ongoing support. That’s jungle drum stuff. There’s another problem with benefits and substance abuse though.

Read more

Other Truth columns here

It's OK to henpeck and ridicule men

I just watched a SUBWAY TV advertisement for some new healthy product which is "girlfriend approved". For chrissakes. I immediately said to my daughter, do you want to be  the gatekeeper of what your boyfriend eats?

Men have always been hen-pecked but why make it standard operating procedure? Oh, but I forget.

A major newspaper recently crowed over  women now being smarter than men.

I can't help but notice that when IQ differences between ethnicities are suggested, all hell breaks loose. But claim a difference between genders, ie men are 'dumber', and that's fine and dandy. Imagine an equivalent headline to the linked story, "Sorry Whites, Blacks are smarter."

Why are sensitivities about ethnicity - fizzing amongst feminists especially -  absent  for gender?

I don't really care if Subway want to advertise "plus salad in case the missus is looking". It must work for them. It just bugs me that political correctness is applied so selectively. Look at the fuss from the feminists over  the Tui TV ads that have, they say, a "very corrosive effect on women's self-worth". Are they going to get upset about TV ads that make men look incapable of thinking for themselves?

Lazy All Black NZ

I thought NZ women were amongst the most promiscuous in the world. Doesn't sex count as physical activity?


Chart source.

Battles won Banks - not wars

The Social Security (blah, blah, blah) Bill passed yesterday. John Banks spoke (I was going to say on behalf of the ACT Party but not sure if there is one any more).

After summarising ACT's long crusade against welfare (nothing to do with me and everything to do with Muriel Newman)  his closing sentence had my eyes rolling backwards.

This bill is the arrival of that long march, and I am glad to be supporting it as Leader of the ACT Party.

Get off the grass John. This legislation represents some new attempts for New Zealand. It's a date on what will be a very long time-line.

More big beneficiary families needed!

Here's a silly letter if ever I read one:

Where to start (in 200 words or less).

Dear Editor

According to Allan Kirk (Letters, July 19) New Zealand needs more children, so large families born and raised on a benefit isn't a problem. He thinks the Social Development Minister's concern should be the well-being of the beneficiary and her children, not their dependent status. Presumably that means directing rather more resources at families on welfare.  This requires either higher taxes (perhaps from parents limiting their family size to one they can afford)  or less spending elsewhere. As the government is already fighting to stave off a credit down-rating and  disastrous loss of borrowing capacity, it can hardly find millions - or billions - more to meet Mr Kirk's urging.

As it stands children who are raised long-term on welfare, often those in large families, experience inter-generational dependence, particularly  females who go on to repeat their mother's life story. It is welfare dependence that keeps people out of the labour force, non-productive and unable to make a contribution to the upkeep of an ageing population.

It is arguable anyway whether the country needs a higher birth rate to meet future demand. More immigration has got to be a better option than paying people to have children.

DPB income versus working income

I've blogged the second and third graphs for a reader who wants to compare the NZ situation with the US. (Specific data can be found at Work and Income. Basic DPB rate here Accommodation Supplement here and a plethora of extra help here. Then I suppose you will have to get tax rates and WFF tax credit rates from the IRD website.)

The first graph is from the American Enterprise Institute. Two and three are from MSD, NZ. They aren't directly comparable but illustrate the same problem.

 

Welfare reform questions in Parliament yesterday

There were two Parliamentary questions yesterday relating to welfare reform. The first was from a government MP about the youth reforms. Turns out they are seeking to defer the implementation date of legislation. But only slightly. I'm not surprised given the breakneck speed welfare reform legislation has been going through the various processes. Here's a reminder about what the youth reforms do:

Hon PAULA BENNETT (Minister for Social Development): The bill makes changes to put in place total wraparound support for young people—those who are on benefit and those who are not on benefit—including young teen parents. Currently, we just pay these young people who are on a benefit and leave them to it, with very little follow-up and very little support around them. We are putting a youth provider alongside each young person to support them, manage their benefit, and provide parenting and budgeting assistance, as well as ensuring they are in education, training, or work-based learning.

The second was a cost-quibbling question From Labour. Bennett got a bit stroppy with Ardern:

Jacinda Ardern: Does she have any capacity to fund phase two of her welfare reforms, given Budget documents show that the Ministry for Social Development struggled to fill a $700 million budget shortfall this year, and stated that “the estimated costs of phase two are [even] more uncertain than phase one.”?
Hon PAULA BENNETT: I am delighted that the member is waking up to the fact that these are tough times. Yes, the department has struggled to find $700 million in projected costs from within the department, but we did—but we did—and that has been hard work. We will find the savings that are needed for bill No. 2, because we fundamentally believe that they will make a difference for New Zealanders and their lives and their outcomes. That is what we are working towards.

Meanwhile out of Parliament an accommodation provider is getting stroppy with Bennett:

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has been told to "get off her fat arse" and visit a caravan park she complained was unfairly hiking rents for "substandard" accommodation. The Waitakere MP yesterday singled out a caravan park in her electorate - Western Park Village - as "very expensive for what I'm sure most New Zealanders would see as quite substandard living". But the park owner, Darryll Heaven, said they did everything they could for many tenants that were forced upon them by Work and Income. "That is absolute bulls . . . That really annoys me because she won't get off her fat arse - she's only 500 metres away - to come down and see us. We've got a dozen staff and we're working 24 hours a day to control the place. She doesn't understand that and if she thinks we're ripping her off, come and have a look at our bottom line any time she likes."

The man has a preoccupation with bottoms.

To a point the accommodation supplement does act as a subsidy to landlords, but WFF 'top-ups' act as a subsidy to employers. So it is ironic that it is Labour driving a campaign against the AS from this standpoint. Correct me if I am wrong but isn't it the left that believe state redistribution is at the heart of a 'just and fair' society? The trouble is they have never been able to figure out how to stop confiscated monies flowing back to source.

US welfare reform loopholes

From The Washington Post and tagged "Big Government" (wouldn't it be great if we had a mainstream newspaper tagging stuff similarly?)


 [The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families bill] incentivized states to create welfare-to-work programs, trying to transition Americans from government dependency to financial solvency.

But states quickly acted to poke holes in that legislation, calling the following activities “work” for purposes of the statute: bed rest, personal care activities, massage, exercise, journaling, motivational reading, smoking cessation, weight loss promotion, participation in parent-teacher meetings, or helping friends or family with household tasks and errands.

This was idiotic. So in 2005, Congress closed the loophole, over the objections of then-Senator Obama.

Now, Obama has walked back the 2005 legislation, using his Department of Health and Human Services to unilaterally waive those work requirements.

Read more: http://times247.com/articles/obama-admin-motivational-reading-journaling-qualify-for-welfare#ixzz20r8QUYay

Judge no dope

The Taranaki Herald had a report that made me laugh out loud. Thought you might enjoy it too.

A Waitara cannabis dealer told a judge he had turned his life around.
Benjamin Teika, 27, spoke directly to the judge yesterday in New Plymouth District Court, saying he was deeply ashamed of his offending, and had taken himself out of Waitara and had been drug-free for 22 days.
"I'm bummed out that I've done this," Teika said.
"You're bummed out that you got caught," Judge Allan Roberts countered, telling him to "cut the waffle".

Success!

Thanks so much everyone for supporting Sam!

She has just found out she is in the Top 4 and will be flying to Christchurch next week for the final judging. One of her designs will be made and modelled and the winner then gets to attend NZ Fashion Week.

It'll be live on the Erin Simpson Show TV2, 4-30pm Tuesday July 24.

Quite an adventure for a 13 year-old who last went on a commercial flight aged three.

Truth Column July 5

My July 5 Truth column is now on-line.

The issue of false rape allegations is a nasty business. FBI data reveals one in four primary suspects is excluded by forensic DNA testing. These cases are circumstantially clear-cut. But what of alleged ‘rapes’ where the act isn’t disputed but consent is? 

More 

More Truth columns here

Great principle - poor application

Great quote from Paula Bennett in the Herald on Sunday about people having large families on welfare :

"There's two words we don't use often enough in this country and that's self-responsibility," Bennett told the Herald on Sunday. "The size of someone's family is their business, so long as they don't expect someone else to pay for it."

Just one problem there. Spot it?

Noble men sacrificing their jobs?

A Hamilton mother of three was jailed yesterday for "mistreating" her 6 month-old through using P while breastfeeding. The article doesn't stipulate how much of the jail sentence was for this count  and how much for possession and dealing.

What caught my eye however was this line:

Her father has had to quit his job to look after them until she is released.

That's a typical modern-day response and generally it requires going on a benefit (so that's the assumption I will make.) This is part of the reason the number of males on the DPB is growing. Absent mothers.

In the past however the view would have been her  father needs to stay in work as he is the only one capable of meeting the financial needs of his grandchildren. He'd be the one charged with putting bread and butter on the table. Not the state.

And the baby is one and the other two are at school for goodness sake. Have they heard of daycare?

(This has triggered a further thought. I have already raised a couple of loopholes regarding new work-testing regimes. Here's another. A mother who's added a child to her benefit has to take a job when that child turns one. In steps the father. He can now start on a caregiver's benefit free from work-testing until the child is 5. It'll happen.)

Last chance!

I blogged earlier about daughter Sam being in the Next Fashion Icon final 25. She's one of the youngest designers at 13. She had a phone call earlier this week from the producers of the show saying she was polling in the top 8 and checking her availability for a Christchurch trip if she makes the top four. The winner gets to see one of her designs made and modelled. The voting closes today so I'm having a last ditch push for her. Shameless, I know.

You can view her video and vote here (mouse over the second screen and use the arrows to find Sam.)

The market well-explained

The market economy is the social system of the division of labor under private ownership of the means of production. Everybody acts on his own behalf; but everybody’s actions aim at the satisfaction of other people's needs as well as at the satisfaction of his own. Everybody in acting serves his fellow citizens. Everybody, on the other hand, is served by his fellow citizens. Everybody is both a means and an end in himself; an ultimate end for himself and a means to other people in their endeavors to attain their own needs.

— Ludwig von Mises, Human Action [1949]

(Hat-tip Future Freedom Foundation)

Another child murder displaying predictable risk factors

Another child murder with all the predictable risk factors:

1/ Child living with 'stepfather'
2/ CYF pre-involved
3/ Inter-generational family disruption
4/ Lives in South Auckland
5/ Living in a state house

And I am guessing

6/ Born onto a benefit
7/ Maori ethnicity involved

There are numerous 'Martins' with gang affiliations and Maori blood. Check out Sensible Sentencing's violent database. Here's one with coincidentally the same Christian name as well.

Waikato police are hunting a man in regards to a sexual assault. A warrant for the arrest of Michael Martin, 33, was issued by the Te Kuiti District Court on May 23, but has not been found. Police believe he had friends who are assisting him avoid arrest. "Anyone found to have aided Martin can expect to face charges," says Det Paul Galletta of Te Awamutu police. Martin is described as Maori, 169cm tall, of medium build, and a gang member.

In which case add another possibility

8/ Gang links

 And here is the innocent victim of this atrocious taxpayer-funded  and enabled lifestyle:

Unenforceable laws and political pretence

The USA Today reports on laws that various states are implementing to restrict what welfare cash benefits can be spent on. They are politically expedient but apparently difficult to enforce.

More states are enacting or considering laws that prohibit people who get welfare cash from spending it on liquor, cigarettes, strip clubs, gambling and guns -- laws that even supporters say are difficult to enforce.

Ten states have passed such laws, and at least 14 are considering them, the National Conference of State Legislatures says.

Under a new federal law, all states must prevent the use of cash benefits in liquor stores, gambling establishments and adult entertainment businesses by 2014. States that fail to establish policies face cuts in federal support.

Welfare recipients use debit cards to buy things or get cash at ATMs. A report by the House Ways and Means committee cited news reports in eight states about people with welfare debit cards withdrawing thousands of dollars from ATMs in casinos, liquor stores and strip clubs.

The Federal government provides the majority share of welfare cash benefits and individual states add to that money. So federal law has to be implemented if states wants to keep receiving funding. But it seems fatuous to make rules that can't be enforced.

So what to do? Well we get back to the whole problem with state welfare on a vast scale. The system becomes so large and the players in it so anonymous the room for misuse is enormous.

Localised, personal assistance through charities etc allow the giver to know recipient. Envisage the Wellington City Mission. They know the people they are helping and no doubt can decide if and when to withdraw that help. They also know when help (cash for instance) is only hindering or exacerbating a problem.

Anyway, that's the ideal world. Back in the real world NZ will probably go down this path in the near future. Oh. I forget. We already are with the new youth benefit which restricts how much cash and where it can be spent for 16 and 17 year-olds, plus 18 year-old sole parents. And in lieu of better I'd have to support this move. But I am saying 'yes' and shaking my head all at once. Politically popular legislation but highly problematic in its execution.

Contrasting views on unemployment and inequality

An OECD report about international unemployment released yesterday isn't overly optimistic

“The recent deterioriation in the economic outlook is very bad news for the labour market,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, presenting the report in Paris. “It is imperative that governments use every possible means at their disposal to help jobseekers, especially young people, by removing barriers to job creation and investing in their education and skills. The young are at most risk of long-term damage to their careers and livelihoods. Targeting the most cost-effective policies is essential.”

I can't agree with much of the rest of their prescription - far too much weight on what governments should do. Calling for job subsidies, subsidised training investment, etc ignores the opportunity cost. That is every dollar the government spends can't be spent privately. (Actually for every dollar government spends probably $2 can't be spent privately.) But I can agree that it is paramount the young are not allowed to become permanently detached from the labour market. This then caught my eye:

The OECD also calls for action to tackle other labour market challenges such as rising inequality. The labour share of national income has fallen, often sharply, in most OECD countries in recent decades. This trend is closely related to the overall increase in inequality and is being driven, among other factors, by technological change and greater international economic integration. Enhanced investment in education and skills and better targeted tax and transfer programmes can help to ensure that the fruits of economic growth are more broadly shared, says the OECD.

Just a couple of days back I was reading a review which claimed inequality neither caused nor is aggravating the recession.

The Inequality Fetish

According to liberals, either the 2008 financial crisis and its attendant recession, or the sluggish recovery -- and maybe both -- can be attributed in large part to the high level of economic inequality in the United States. In this view, inequality is an economic malady on its own, even in times of prosperity, says Patrick Brennan, a William F. Buckley Fellow at the National Review Institute. This narrative has been latched onto by many in the field of economics, who then attach their names to the legitimacy of the narrative. The problem, however, is simply this: there is no real evidence that a nation's income inequality either dampens economic growth or worsens financial crises.

Now if you go back to the projection chart above you see that the US - regarded as a rich but unequal society - looks more promising than Europe.

Back to the OECD statists who seem superficially sensible but are actually at the core of the problem.

Individuals operate best under the condition of freedom. Communities and larger societies are only collections of individuals. The freer they are, the more productive and happy they will be.  Government does not represent or embody freedom. It can protect freedom to a degree but it can't create it. Just like it can't create jobs without destroying greater numbers of potential private sector jobs. Similarly government can't create equality without damaging a lot more in the process. Frankly, I don't know why they keep peddling this stuff.

Govt says benefit numbers rise slightly

Interesting that the Minister's  press release about June benefit numbers is titled, "Benefit numbers rise slightly in June."

The June numbers are being compared to May.

I would have compared them by quarter - June to March. That's how the Ministry releases them to the public.

So I did.

Over the past six years, if the March and June quarters are compared there is a pattern. I've marked the ones that featured a rise.

2006 
2007
2008 ^
2009 ^
2010 ^
2011
2012

So the positive pattern continues.

But 320,041 working-age people on a benefit is still very high at around one in eight dependent.

That's what the opposition should be highlighting - not a month to month rise.  Let's see what Jacinda says. As usual she's slow to respond but I don't think she'll be able to resist a dig, given the title of the release.

A novel idea to get business reducing the need for government

Here's a novel idea for getting the private sector and therefore, voluntarism back into sorting social problems. If the below example is successful,  required input from both private and public sources should diminish over time. Though I'd like to know what One Service actually does. The investor may be able to assist the ex-prisoner directly through employment for instance.

(A cut and paste from the Maxim newsletter.)

Social Impact Bonds By Jane Silloway Smith, 26 June 2012

back to top

A recent post on the New York Times website highlights the UK's experiment with social impact bonds — a new, innovative way of thinking about the financing of social projects and programs. In a nutshell, a group called Social Finance has created a financial product that helps connect investors with social service providers. The investors buy social impact bonds that fund a social service provider's project or programme that is designed to achieve particular measureable outcomes in a set amount of time. If the provider achieves their set outcomes, the UK government will repay the investors a portion of the savings they have made from the success of the project or program. The first trial of these social impact bonds is currently taking place in Peterborough. An organisation called One Service has made it their mission to cut down on the recidivism rates of men released from short-term sentences in Peterborough Prison. Social Finance has helped them to find 17 investors to fund their programme via social impact bonds. The better One Service does in lowering recividism rates, the more the government will pay out to these investors from the money the government will save. The idea of social impact bonds is an intriguing one for tackling difficult social issues. It will be interesting to see how the Peterborough trial goes.

Truth Column for Friday June 28

My Truth column for Friday June 28 is now on-line:

Pacific Islanders often get a raw deal, not just because manual work is underpaid in this country, as highlighted in a recent Queen St march, but because poor social statistics relating to Maori are often wrongly attributed to Pacific Island people. For example, welfare dependence, over-representation in child abuse and neglect statistics, and high crime rates. 

 More

Other columns here

Data matching and over-payments - good and bad

The Ministry of Social Development has improved its detection of benefit  over-payments by data matching with Corrections, Housing NZ, IRD, ACC and Internal Affairs. The results:




table IS.3: Data-matching cases completed, and overpayments identified

Financial year1	Number of cases completed	Overpayments identified – amount ($)
2006/2007	39,123	19,012,850
2007/2008	67,838	31,316,452
2008/2009	54,582	20,007,833
2009/2010	74,030	27,870,841
2010/2011	106,408	34,293,370

Note

1. Financial years ended 30 June.

Both a good and a bad result. Good because the over-payments are being identified and bad because there are so many of them. One other positive aspect is that as more over-payments are uncovered the average amount is dropping.

According to the report;

92% of current clients with balances owed are repaying on average $14.32 a week

This repayment applies to all balances owed which might include legitimate advances.

Government-funded lobbyists

The Institute of Economic Affairs has exposed how much British charities receive from government. NCPA summarises:

• Between 1997 and 2005, the combined income of Britain's charities nearly doubled, from £19.8 billion ($30.85 billion) to £37.9 billion ($59.05 billion).
• The largest portion of this growth came in the form of grants and contracts from government departments.
• According to the Centre for Policy Studies, state funding rose by 38 percent in the first years of the 21st century while private donations rose by just 7 percent.
• About 27,000 charities now receive more than 75 percent of their income from the government.

There is little reason why New Zealand charities, especially those working in the social sphere, would depart from this pattern. think about Barnardos, Salvation Army,  etc and the 2,300 service provider contracts MSD has with NGOs some of whom will also be listed as charities.

The problem with this is

It has been argued that state funding weakens the independence of charities, making them less inclined to criticize government policy. However, this assertion only addresses the surface of the problem. Considered more broadly, this strengthening relationship between government officers and charitable causes threatens to undermine democratic functions themselves.

• A normal activity for charities (which usually have niche interests) is direct lobbying of politicians and indirect lobbying of the public.

• While this is not inherently dangerous (lobbying is not a new phenomenon), the true problem comes from the fact that these lobbying efforts are now paid for by the state; in essence, the government is lobbying itself.

• These relationships with enormous interest groups all-too-often grant public officials substantial influence in the public arena long after they are out of power.

I would add to this that most NZ charities have redistributionist, left-wing philosophies. Just look at a list of lobbyists to the social services select committee. Even churches are now receiving considerable state money through contracts. The social services/activist area is highly incestuous.

The article says, the British government is essentially lobbying itself . Ironically in NZ however, the lobbyists are generally opposing government proposals. Not that government is taking much notice. But it's amusing to think of them funding activists only to disregard their representations.

So what's the solution?

One possible solution to these problems would be for the United Kingdom to adopt the United States' approach, which bars organizations from charitable status if they spend more than an "insubstantial" proportion of their resources on lobbying.
Further, a new classification of non-profit should be created for those organizations that receive substantial assistance from the state to avoid confusion with truly charitable causes.

I am fairly sure neither of these approaches is taken in NZ. According to the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards a review of the Charities Act was due in 2012 but has been deferred to 2015.

Student allowance numbers rise 61 percent in 5 years

Student allowances aren't classified as benefits. A case could be argued why they should be. But they are part of the Education budget, not Social Development and Employment.  As it stands, keeping them separate makes benefit stats look better. If someone moved from the DPB to a Student Allowance they officially stop being a beneficiary and become a student. But they remain the same (or very similar) item of government expenditure.



table SA.2: Types of Student Allowance received

Type of Student Allowance received	Students receiving a Student Allowance1
	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Single – parentally income tested away from home	11,404	12,704	14,031	18,280	21,041
Single – parentally income tested at home	18,851	21,158	23,202	26,872	31,921
Single – not parentally income tested away from home	1,959	1,987	2,110	3,456	3,404
Single – not parentally income tested at home	14,887	14,467	14,845	20,249	24,067
Single – student in independent circumstances	2,187	2,121	2,071	2,205	2,078
Single – student with dependent child(ren)	1,542	1,572	1,583	1,868	2,243
Couple – both students2	1,684	1,622	1,279	1,512	1,647
Couple – student with dependent spouse or partner2	5,638	5,524	5,288	6,497	7,400
Couple – student with earning spouse or partner2	1,307	1,350	1,296	1,699	2,147
Total	59,459	62,505	65,705	82,638	95,948

Notes

1. The number of students recorded as receiving a Student Allowance during years ended 31 December.
2. Includes couples both with and without children.

The 2010 cost of student allowances was $570 million. Also up 61 percent from 2006 when it was $354 million.

Now for something completely different

My 13 year-old daughter Sam has made the finals of  TV2's Erin Simpson Next Fashion Icon competition.

The best four designers are decided by public vote.

You can view her video clip here and vote if you want too. Just mouse-over the bottom screen and use the arrows to find Sam Mitchell.