Written By: - Date published: 10:35 am, December 15th, 2015 - 172 comments
Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, December 12th, 2015 - 195 comments
It is that time of year when poor people realise just how poor they really are – the season for giving, the season to be jolly. Well that may be so for some of us, but some people will be working on Christmas day instead of spending time with loved ones. These will probably be […]
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, November 24th, 2015 - 22 comments
Max Rashbrooke has another excellent piece in The Guardian, on inequality and on the ways he has been attacked for his writings on this issue.
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, November 20th, 2015 - 12 comments
Saturday in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Written By: - Date published: 7:10 am, November 10th, 2015 - 65 comments
Inequality is a choice. It isn’t a choice made by individuals, it is a choice made by governments. Check out Joseph Stiglitz’s new book Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.
Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, November 8th, 2015 - 68 comments
While pondering this post, I was pointed to a post from last year, in which poverty and the cost of breakfast were on the agenda. Stephanie was writing in response to the ignorance of Nikki Kaye who claimed that giving affordable nutritious breakfast to children was easy. While I haven’t taken the time to read all of the comments on the subject, I thought Stephanie proved the point quite aptly that the reality is far different than the hypothetical world of poverty in which Nikki Kaye lives.
Written By: - Date published: 4:45 pm, October 30th, 2015 - 97 comments
Guest post from Kōrero Pono on the politics and ethics of food banks.
Written By: - Date published: 7:29 am, October 20th, 2015 - 182 comments
Obesity is a difficult topic to write about, but with the release of new government policy yesterday it is very much in the news. Unfortunately, unsurprisingly, National have chosen to tinker with the consequences of obesity without addressing the causes.
Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, October 13th, 2015 - 9 comments
Briefing Papers have been busy recently, check out some recent articles. How long can wealth keep sucking up before a society breaks down completely?
Written By: - Date published: 8:32 am, September 26th, 2015 - 98 comments
Pope Francis has given two important speeches recently.
Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, September 17th, 2015 - 33 comments
Not only is Housing Corp planning to pay a $118 million dividend to the Crown this year but hidden away in its accounts is the payment of a further capital contribution of $336 million. Talk about strip mining …
Written By: - Date published: 9:22 am, September 16th, 2015 - 66 comments
Written By: - Date published: 9:04 pm, August 28th, 2015 - 107 comments
When European and NATO countries participate in destabilising and destroying nearby countries, the human tragedy doesn’t stay neatly confined to the other side of the border.
Written By: - Date published: 11:48 am, August 28th, 2015 - 20 comments
Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, August 18th, 2015 - 7 comments
While we devote acres of pixels to flag distractions and “celebrity” nonsense, the health of the nation goes largely unremarked. Was there any MSM coverage of the latest Ministry of Social Development report – Household Incomes in New Zealand: trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2014?
Written By: - Date published: 2:09 pm, August 2nd, 2015 - 127 comments
A UBI would allow ordinary people to shift their daily focus from doing paid jobs making money for others, to doing useful work of their own choice, under their own control.
Written By: - Date published: 12:04 pm, July 21st, 2015 - 40 comments
As the Nats celebrate “falling” benefit numbers it turns out that almost half who leave the benefit are not going in to work. So what happens to them?
Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, July 9th, 2015 - 15 comments
Max Rashbrooke has a major article in The Guardian today looking at poverty in NZ and the UK, and what each country can learn from the other.
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, July 8th, 2015 - 222 comments
Europe must agree to slashing Greece’s debt so that economic growth can begin again. Germany should understand this better than most.
Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, July 7th, 2015 - 11 comments
The government has awarded itself a nice report card. Let’s take a closer look.
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, July 6th, 2015 - 29 comments
Key claimed that the number of hungry kids in schools was limited to “the odd one or two”. Everyone knew it was nonsense. Now a survey by the New Zealand Principals’ Federation indicates the true extent of the problem.
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, July 2nd, 2015 - 25 comments
The Social Housing Reform (Transaction Mandate) Bill allows designated Ministers to sell off state houses. Currently Housing New Zealand has no such power. Interestingly however this Government could introduce a Bill with criteria to enable sales to be signed off by the CE of Housing New Zealand but instead they are seeking that power for themselves. But within it there is a fishhook for iwi. UPDATE: comment from Turei and response from Bennett
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, June 17th, 2015 - 139 comments
Trickle down economics is pronounced dead by the IMF. Housing, the working poor and the economy – the policy settings are wrong everywhere.
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, June 14th, 2015 - 43 comments
This is the true irony of National governments. Their entire platform is one of “fiscal responsibility” and “good economic management” yet time and time again they spend money the way I did when I was a teenager: false economies and short-term wish fulfilment.
Written By: - Date published: 7:11 am, June 6th, 2015 - 30 comments
According to the Ministry of Social Development child poverty is worse in NZ than in any European country. According to the Child Poverty Action Group new figures are going to show an increase in poverty. According to the coroner a damp unhealthy state house contributed to the death of a child. Welcome to the “brighter future”.
Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, May 26th, 2015 - 4 comments
Should have covered this earlier – extracts from Gordon Campbell on the budget.
Written By: - Date published: 6:49 am, May 22nd, 2015 - 188 comments
An increase to the base rate of benefits is welcome, but it comes with nasty fishhooks. As the Nats are forced to address leftie / progressive issues – a capital gains tax, Auckland housing, poverty – we the people need to keep the pressure on.
Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, May 18th, 2015 - 13 comments
The levels of poverty and inequality in NZ are a disgrace. Apparently the budget is to “arrest the decline”, but we have heard such promises again and again from Key.
Written By: - Date published: 6:08 am, May 17th, 2015 - 64 comments
Back in March 1988 David Lange had a clear idea about what lay ahead for New Zealanders as the long-term consequences of Roger Douglas’ psychopathic worshipping of the metaphysical Invisible Hand gradually materialised.
Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, April 2nd, 2015 - 162 comments
The Government has appointed Paula Restock to head an expert panel tasked to review Child Youth and Family. Even now the intent appears clear, outsource functions and cut costs. But if they were determined to improve matters they should reduce child poverty.
Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, March 24th, 2015 - 67 comments
In times of trouble for the National Party, you can always rely on them to raise the rallying cry of “Personal responsibility!!!”
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