Sigh, if only everyone knew what it really meant.

Dear Lynn
I seem to have that affect on blogs,just ask David Farrar as I helped put his blog at the number one slot.
Cough,cough. Excuse me madam. I am a miner for a heart of gold and certainly no egotistical martyr belonging too the Key Klark Klan.
Cheers big ears.

[lprent - junk warning - this is probably dad4justice under yet another alias. It is in his usual IP range and with the usual comment type.]

The term election bribe…I hate to say it, but people can have short memories. The more entrenched voters won’t sway, so election year promises are made to entice the swing vote – ‘election bribes’ are endemic to the system, as long as our government’s accountability to us is on a three-yearly basis. That’s not a critique of Labour, National or anyone – it’s a problem inherent with Liberal Representative democracy.

Not something I feel up to tackling right now, but one thought – without ‘election bribes’ how would you expect a Government to operate? Evenly spread out its policy releases, so the voters have forgotten about some of them, and they lose election ‘momentum’? They all do it because they have to, and I believe it’s one of the leading causes of disenchantment with politicials and government in general. *caugh* socialist participatory democracy *caugh*

Not from where I’m sitting. The traffic just keeps increasing. Some big jumps recently as the trolls (like you?) have been kicked out.

Personally I wish it’d stop growing so fast. But I’m sure the posters would disagree with me.

Lynn

OK, it’s administered by IRD… Is it a tax credit, a benefit or an election bribe? Either way Michele makes a valid point that people are becoming more reliant on the state.

If National said ‘We will scrap WFF’ it would loose them significant ground. In it’s current form we have only had it three years and already we can’t live without it.

Although the other factor is that for 8 years we have been told that tax cuts are $10/week. Thus convincing people that tax cuts don’t stack up against WFF is an easy sell when you mislead them about tax cuts. The truth about tax cuts will come out this year, imagine Cullen announcing he’s got $10/week for everyone in his May budget. Glorious.

It’s a [ benefit ] for 75% of families with children. Income tested benefit. It’s money paid by the state. You don’t apply for a tax deduction to get it, you apply for benefit. It’s administered by work and income. Ahhhh.

WFF is nothing like public healthcare, in WFF you qualify or you don’t, and if you do qualify you get your entitlement. Public healthcare, well you qualify, and you pay but you wait. Furthermore neither public healthcare or public roading is paid out by work and income. I think you are getting a little confused.

Feel free to ‘word up’ if you’ve anything substantial to put forward…

Burt – spot on, champ. Child subsidy, rebate, whatever you call it, it’s a targeted tax break for families with children. Or are you going to say that it’s perfectly synonymous with entirely government-funded income received for doing no work due to inability (to find & hold) or illness? You realise that’s like saying subsidised healthcare or public roading is a benefit.

[1] Ever-increasing dependency on the state (well it creates a permanent Liarbour-voting constituency and that can’t be bad if you love power);

This is complete rubbish. Benefit numbers are as low as they have been for decades, and job creation is the only thing that’s rampant.

And what about WFF? Or are you going to say this isn’t a benefit?

Please keep the length of your comments down.

From her original post:

[1] Ever-increasing dependency on the state (well it creates a permanent Liarbour-voting constituency and that can’t be bad if you love power);

This is complete rubbish. Benefit numbers are as low as they have been for decades, and job creation is the only thing that’s rampant.

[2] ever-increasing state involvement in and regulation of the productive, wealth-creating sector of the economy; and

This is also complete rubbish. New Zealand is regarded as on e of the best places in the world to do business. 3rd best as I recall, with a minimum of red tape.

But if you want to look at one aspect where state control is interfering, you need to replace “productive, wealth-creating sector of the economy” with “polluting, environment-destroying sector of the economy” and you’ll probably see why intervention is required. As always – the market wouldn’t know how to internalise a negative externality if a waste outlet jumped up a CEO’s ass.

[3] rampant hostility towards and deliberate eradication of the institutions of civil society, with the goal of creating an increasingly statist society

I can’t even approach this comment as it appears it’s without grounding in enitrety. I have yet to see evidence that the Government is trying to eradicate, for example, any New Zealand Charity or NGO. If she means that the Government is assisting to fund them in order to subvert them, perhaps a tin-foil hat is to be called for. Otherwise a straitjacket will have to do.

But then Michele’s modus operandi is to toss in a few lies and shits among the pigeons and hope no-one will notice (and then if they do, paste a largely irrelevant diatribe from L. Ron Hubbard or someone as equally unlikely).

Santi – you said that you thought her comments were useful – would you care to disagree with what I have said, and post a valid opposing viewpoint.

Monty, you too perhaps. And to make a point to Michele, I bet you could do it without adopting the sneering, obnoxious tone beloved of 14 year-old boys talking to their mothers.

Cheers.

P.S. Michell, with one so enamoured with property rights, I’m intrigued that you’d come on a blog and act like a spoilt child, then be so petulant when you’re flipped off. Surely you know how to act, given that property rights are inherent and all that bollocks. Oh, wait, property rights can be applied selectively, you said so yourself.

You can’t ask to be taken seriously and demand answers when your values have been torn to shreds.

Nice of the goose-stepping gauleiter himself to admit it …