The best political commentary these days doesn’t come from the political journalists. As Zetetic shows, they have turned themselves into government minders.
But there are others who tell it like it is. Such as Karlo Mila in today’s DomPost. The article was headed up “If you could just suck it up, that would be nice.”
A few choice quotes:
Almost a fifth of our young people can’t even get their feet on the first rung of the career ladder. They’re learning one of the hardest lessons the labour market can teach.
Business Week described this group as the lost generation: “bright, eager – and unwanted”. Paula Bennett eloquently advised young people having trouble finding work to “suck it up”. Noice.
In a context of hard times, aside from telling us to suck it up, our Government’s plan is to increase GST. Say it three times and rub your sparkly red shoes together: GST is not a tax, GST is not a tax, GST is not a tax. Did it work for you?
For a Government that campaigned heavily on tax cuts, a move to increase tax is phenomenal. Actually, they intend to increase one tax (that affects everyone) to reduce another tax (that affects some).
And:
There is so much talk about catchup with Australia but so little talk of match-up. Australia managed to sidestep the recession. Unemployment is at 5 per cent. As Alan Bollard pointed out, Australia is helped along by its minerals. Analysts have pointed to a relatively functional banking sector, an advantage New Zealand shares. One major difference was that Australia’s approach to the recession was generous stimulus. They supported people to keep on participating in the economy.
We’ve gone for penny pinching, service slashing, line-by-line reviews and 1402 job losses in the public sector. We’re losing jobs and homes in unprecedented numbers. Higher GST is another pinch and a punch for ordinary Kiwis.
She writes well, too.
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