Speaking of inequality…

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, June 25th, 2016 - 45 comments
Categories: class war, national, poverty - Tags: , , ,

While we’re on the subject of increasing inequality and its political consequences, back here in NZ’s Brighter Future:

Poverty NZ’s ‘new normal’ – report

The government is dumping responsibility for desperate people on the charitable sector, say New Zealand’s Christian social services.

A new report from the NZ Council of Christian Social Services, released today, says demand on social service organisations has soared, while government support has shrunk, particularly in the form of food grants.

Read the full report online here

Executive officer Trevor McGlinchey said like many of the people they served, social service organisations were under huge financial stress, with government funding staying largely static for the last eight years.

Desperation to find housing, food and sufficient income to survive had become “the new normal” for many families, he said. …

See also Food bank pantries bare, emergency food grant dropping – report (video) “They’re already struggling to find a home, now many of the poorest Kiwis can’t even get a meal”, and also NZ egalitarian? That’s a pretty little lie.

Hello – National supporters – look around at the world – where do you think this is going to end?

45 comments on “Speaking of inequality… ”

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  1. marty mars 1
    25 June 2016 at 10:19 am

    Yes in some ways the hardest pill to swallow this new normal. The cascading downstream effects are huge for everyone.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.1
      25 June 2016 at 1:01 pm

      Quite a few people knew that this would happen back in the 1980s but the then 4th Labour government listened to the ‘experts’ and the result has been an ever increasing poverty while a few people got richer.

      • Paul 1.1.1
        25 June 2016 at 1:06 pm

        I wonder whether history books will describe the events of 1984 – 1988 as a coup d’etat.

  2. Whateva next? 2
    25 June 2016 at 10:32 am

    I was heartened recently to hear increasing numbers of people feeling “uncomfortable” about the fact they had a warm dry bed at night.
    It would be a seismic cultural shift for NZers to learn to tolerate current wealth gap, and stop caring about their neighbours, something they have been very proud of.
    What a legacy for Mr.Key, or what an opportunity for those real people to unite and refuse to be moulded into the resentful mobs we will become

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      25 June 2016 at 1:03 pm

      It’s not just Key but governments for the last thirty years and the neo-liberal nightmare that they’ve imposed upon us.

      • Paul 2.1.1
        25 June 2016 at 1:04 pm

        +100

      • jcuknz 2.1.2
        25 June 2016 at 2:34 pm

        As I have heard and understand it Lange cut Douglas off before he had a chance to balance what he started with the safety net as a Labourite was his history and upbringing…. typical stupid Labour infighting unfortunately. National rarely engage in it which makes them strong.
        I guess they are pragmatic rather than idealistic.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.2.1
          25 June 2016 at 2:45 pm

          What’s pragmatic about hate speech and corruption?

          Your ‘understanding’ doesn’t meet the definition of the word.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.1.2.2
          25 June 2016 at 8:25 pm

          As I have heard and understand it Lange cut Douglas off before he had a chance to balance what he started with the safety net as a Labourite was his history and upbringing…

          If he was going to do that then he should have done it at the same time as he ripped it out…

          Oh, wait…

  3. whispering kate 3
    25 June 2016 at 10:43 am

    We will be having the Government next bringing in Work/Poor Houses where the destitute can survive under a roof. My own Great Grandfather ended his days in a London Working House and it was the era then for the churches and philanthropists to give charitable alms to the poor in lieu of Government responsibility. I heard the other day a comment which went something like this “we wouldn’t need to depend on philanthropists or charity for the hungry kids and homeless if everybody paid their fair share of taxes.

    This is not progress but a regressing back into history and we all know that saying “history has a habit of repeating itself”. It seems the powers that be haven’t learnt a thing and do not read history which should be a pre-requisite for eligibility to becoming a member of parliament.

    • Draco T Bastard 3.1
      25 June 2016 at 2:10 pm

      This is not progress but a regressing back into history and we all know that saying “history has a habit of repeating itself”.

      QFT

      It seems the powers that be haven’t learnt a thing and do not read history which should be a pre-requisite for eligibility to becoming a member of parliament.

      The powers that be really do seem to want to take us back to feudalism. That’s what privatisation of the commons looks like and that’s what we’re getting. A few people that own everything and thus has everyone else indebted to them – in other words, an aristocracy.

    • srylands 3.2
      25 June 2016 at 6:17 pm

      Meanwhile back here on earth, the Government will be spending billions via social investment over the next decade to improve lifetime outcomes for disadvantaged kiwis. And all this from a ‘neoliberal’ government. What a thing!

      http://www.treasury.govt.nz/statesector/socialinvestment

      But don’t let reality interfere with the obvious enjoyment you get from your misplaced hatred.

      • Paul 3.2.1
        25 June 2016 at 6:18 pm

        Someone defending a government that does not house its citizens.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 3.2.2
        25 June 2016 at 6:46 pm

        “Social investment”, in this context, means “privatising government services.”

        I wonder, S Rylands. Did you have any hand in authoring this tissue of corrupt self-interested lies? Or did SERCO write their own report?

        What kind of trash (apart from you, S Rylands) responds to a problem now with more brighter future promises.

        Is there a good reason people shouldn’t spit on you in the street?

      • Draco T Bastard 3.2.3
        25 June 2016 at 8:24 pm

        And yet things will still get worse as they privatise even more of our commons so as to make rich people richer.

      • reason 3.2.4
        25 June 2016 at 9:18 pm

        meanwhile in the real world this Govt did a ‘Dirty Politics’ hit on behalf of the drug pushers known as the alcohol industry.

        They had their dirty team players run attacks and smears on health professionals who were trying to lower alcohol ABUSE.

        The head of the snake John Key came out and trashed the report …. by ruling out one of its main recommendations straight off his slimy cuff.

        They then ignored other recommended measures to improve public safety and health …….. instead drafting and passing a expensive confused mess which has worked totally in the liquor industry s favor.

        And now the police are at breaking point with over half of their work “domestic related”. That is why they can not investigate your burglary…… Beaten woman and kids are more important.

        This is what the Nats were ignoring when voting for their friends in the Alcohol drug industry ……………….

        * It can ruin the lives of individuals, devastate families, and damage the fabric of communities.

        * The harmful use of alcohol is especially evident among younger age groups with the World Health Organisation (WHO) citing alcohol as the leading risk factor for death among males aged 15–59.

        * Harmful drinking patterns are particularly prevalent among men, young adults, Māori, Pacific people and those living in highly deprived communities.

        * Children, young people, Māori, Pacific Peoples and those living in more deprived neighborhoods are among those that experience a disproportionate burden of harm from Alcohol abuse.

        * Children experience significant harm from the drinking of others.

        *between 2005 and 2007 an average of 61 children and young adults aged between four weeks and 25 years died every year because of their or someone else’s drinking. In 32% of cases the death was due to someone else’s drinking.

        Srylands and the nats are liars when they pretend to care about children.

        Collins, Key, Adams, Tolley and the rest of them are responsible for a huge amount of child abuse and family violence.

        They should be locked up in Serco which has profited from their pro-booze governing.

        .

  4. save nz 4
    25 June 2016 at 11:43 am

    Please bring on NEXIT

  5. Greg 5
    25 June 2016 at 12:16 pm

    Its how society was run during the Victorian era, the Golden times for Tories.

    A disposable cheap exploitable workforce, prostitution, abuse of children, and violent suppression of dissent.

    Nationals brighter future was a light at the end of the tunnel, except its a glowworm.

    Hopefully when Key departs the party next year, it will break National.

    The next census will trigger a electorate boundary change, and National party seats in the regions will shrink. As the regions have been depopulated by Nationals benefit changes.

    http://www.elections.org.nz/voting-system/electorates/how-electorates-are-calculated

    We can expect more prisons to be built, which will blow out Treasury debt to 150 Billion.

    • jcuknz 5.1
      25 June 2016 at 2:44 pm

      “will break National” and get what? A NZF/Green government with the muppets to be seen in both groupings ? It could be the future with all the tired old seat warmers in Labour. I read KB too and comments about folk desperately looking for a seat.

      • Greg 5.1.1
        25 June 2016 at 2:57 pm

        Wait until the next census sunshine.
        Last report on the population figure i read in a NZ National Geographic story was that the regions make up 13% of our population.
        Nationals needs to keep immigration high so a few might move to the regions,
        it wont replace the locals, and ex farm workers that are been forced into cities to look for jobs.

        Helensville didnt vote for the flag change, that has to hurt.

  6. reason 6
    25 June 2016 at 9:34 pm

    It is evident that the burden of alcohol-related injuries and violence falls disproportionately on some population groups, for example those living in more deprived neighborhoods, Māori, Pacific peoples, children and young people.

    Being young, being Māori or Pacific or living in more deprived neighborhoods all increase risk of experiencing alcohol-related harm

    Problematic alcohol consumption is common among marginalised groups.

    Women experience greater harm as a result of other’s drinking.

    More than 62,000 physical assaults and 10,000 sexual assaults are estimated to occur in New Zealand every year where the perpetrator has been drinking

    . New Zealand males and females who abuse alcohol are up to
    13 times more likely to commit violent offenses than those with no alcohol misuse

    It is clear that alcohol use in New Zealand is contributing to increased inequalities and this must be addressed through policy and planning development.

    • ropata 6.1
      25 June 2016 at 9:52 pm

      It’s the same with other drugs & vices, legal or illegal. The poor do not have the support systems and resources to manage addictive behaviour and recover from it relatively intact

      • reason 6.1.1
        26 June 2016 at 3:38 pm

        I agree with what you say ropata …. but its even worse than that …. addiction services are the first to get cut or chopped back in health budgets under stress…… Addicts are less ‘deserving’.

        and in Society our number 1 drug of addiction is kept cheap……its, pushed with $200 million ‘marketing’ and it is in the face of every man woman and child every time they visit the supermarket.

        Being in the supermarket. after having a bad day, and with a spare $20 in your pocket would be the leading trigger for relapse for problem drinkers trying to give up …… The booze industry loves$ those who abuse alcohol …. there is large profits in problem drinking.

        Key was one of the first to trash the Alcohol law review ………… and suffered zero political harm.

        John Keys Govt Dirty politics operation do not care about abused kids or harm to the vulnerable and disadvantaged…..

        Instead They’ll use the resultant damage to get a hatchet merchant like Rebstock to advise privatization of Cyfs ………. and sercos

        Whale oil is being taken to court for his part in the Nats DP campaign to protect the profits of the alcohol pushers …..

        but there are others like Peter Dunne & Karl de frense who should be in the dock with slug boy …………….

        ‘Minister responsible for the government’s alcohol policy, Peter Dunne today dismissed Professor Doug Sellman, an addiction specialist, and 450 senior doctors and nurses as a group of people who don’t like a drink of wine at a wedding.

        “These people are campaigning to stop the harm and violence that erupts as a result of alcohol abuse, particularly the harm done to young New Zealanders,” Jim Anderton said.

        “They are not campaigning to stop people enjoying a glass of wine at a wedding, and to suggest that shows how ill-equipped Peter Dunne is to be a minister anywhere near alcohol regulation.

        “Although Peter Dunne claims to know what people like Professor Sellman thinks, Mr Dunne could not name the 5+ Solutions that Mr Sellman and Alcohol Action are proposing..’..”

        Du fresnse wanted Sgt Alistair Lawn and any cops like him removed from the NZ police force https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHI-4NWB8n0

    • Psycho Milt 6.2
      26 June 2016 at 10:26 am

      Problematic alcohol consumption is common among marginalised groups.

      I’ll suppress the urge to raise the difference between “problematic alcohol consumption” and “problematic behaviour” to focus on the more significant logic fail in your comment.

      Like “problematic alcohol consumption,” violent criminal activity and low educational qualifications are also associated with poverty. People who aren’t very bright (most commenters over at Kiwiblog, for example) think that the best way to deal with that is through more intensive policing of the poor and setting up charter schools. People with a little more intellectual horsepower than the typical Kiwiblog commenter recognise that fixing poverty would be a more effective approach than trying to clamp down on the unpleasant things that are associated with poverty.

      Your comment, and the activities of the public-health wowsers peddling policies to restrict recreational drug use, are the left-wing equivalent of that fucked-up approach to poverty-related crime and education problems. Trying looking at the cause, not the effect.

      • reason 6.2.1
        26 June 2016 at 3:51 pm

        Gosh you sound like peter Dunne …….. same lies.

        Your like a climate change denier of alcohol abuse ……………..

        You’d be funny if it were not obvious your not a person who has to deal with the results and mess of your favorite drug ……

        • reason 6.2.1.1
          26 June 2016 at 4:17 pm

          “Alcohol-related injuries are a major burden to Emergency Departments (ED). In New Zealand up to 35% of injury presentations to EDs are estimated to be alcohol-related, with this increasing up to 75% during weekends

          Alcohol was involved in almost half of all facial fracture presentations; males accounted for the majority of cases and violence was the leading cause of presentation

          intoxicated patients negatively affect ED staff. One New Zealand study reported that 50% of ED staff were assaulted by an intoxicated patient at work”

          And hospitals are spending “health funding” to pay for security guards to protect the doctors and nurses ……..

          .

          • Psycho Milt 6.2.1.1.1
            26 June 2016 at 4:34 pm

            Hell is other people.

            More to the point: you can wish as hard as you like for people to stop using recreational drugs, it ain’t going to happen. There are governments that kill people for using recreational drugs and people still use them (well, not the ones who were killed for it, obviously). You might just as well wish for them to stop fucking.

            The situation you describe involves behaviour that’s already criminal. Assault and threats of violence are against the law – enforcing those laws would be a better approach than fiddling with alcohol licencing.

            • reason 6.2.1.1.1.1
              26 June 2016 at 5:32 pm

              you keep telling lies Psycho Dunne …………..

              Show me where lowering abuse =….”wish as hard as you like for people to stop using recreational drugs,”

              It sounds just like dunnys lie “dismissed Professor Doug Sellman, an addiction specialist, and 450 senior doctors and nurses as a group of people who don’t like a drink of wine at a wedding.”

              My view is If we had sensible Alcohol and other drug laws we would be having less victims of abuse and violence………. and we would be closing prisons.

              “Police attend a family violence incident every seven minutes

              In terms of the actual economic cost to society a 1994 study entitled The New Zealand Economic Cost of Family Violence put the bill at $1.2 to $5.8 billion.

              Based on that study, the cost today would be approximately $8 billion.

              Each year, Police alone spend $3.9 million on homicide inquiries related to family violence.

              spokesperson for the National Network of Stopping Violence Services, Brian Gardner, believes domestic violence levels in New Zealand would drop significantly if recent recommendations by the Law Commission’s report Alcohol In Our Lives – Curbing The Harm were adopted.

              “

              • One Anonymous Bloke …
                26 June 2016 at 5:37 pm

                Why does “your” “view” completely ignore the effects of inequality?

                we would be having less victims of abuse and violence………. and we would be closing prisons.

                By what mechanism, when violence and crime are consequences of economic factors?

                What you are proposing is an increase in the consumption of homebrew and moonshine.

        • Psycho Milt 6.2.1.2
          26 June 2016 at 4:37 pm

          Gosh you sound like peter Dunne …….. same lies.

          So you’ll be able to point out those lies and explain how they’re dishonest, then? Because, otherwise, you’re just a spouter of bullshit. My money’s on the spouting one.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 6.2.1.3
          26 June 2016 at 4:51 pm

          No, I think PM is quite right: the mental health (including alcohol and drug abuse) of a society is inversely proportional to the GINI.

          If you want people to feel less like numbing the effects of centre-right government policy, then the thing to do is destroy the policy and treat the low-life scum who implement it with contempt, not penalise the victims.

  7. John shears 7
    25 June 2016 at 11:06 pm

    Hospital ED Departments and Ambulance services are also overrun by drunks especially on weekends and violence is a problem in those areas as well.
    Bring back drunk and disorderly as a criminal offence, apply the breath test to prove level followed by blood test to confirm Then in the clanger and before the court on Monday and publish names in the paper just like they used to, no exceptions.
    Intoxication is a self inflicted malady.

    • Colonial Viper 7.1
      26 June 2016 at 5:02 pm

      Well that’s shitloads of NZ’s future doctors, dentists, lawyers, teachers etc screwed before they even start their professions.

  8. reason 8
    26 June 2016 at 5:52 pm

    We suffer from dual propeganda regarding recreation drugs leading to bad laws

    I …….as I’ll use Amy Adams to show and demonstrate.

    I’ve ‘quoted’ Amy Adams saying exactly the same thing …..but readers should gauge their emotional response

    Amy Adams …”She said the Government needed to understand the implications of putting in place a ban on drug sponsorship of sport, before making any decisions on the issue.”

    vrs

    Amy Adams ….”She said the Government needed to understand the implications of putting in place a ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport, before making any decisions on the issue.”

    Our indoctrination minimizes the harms of the drug alcohol ……. and demonizes “Drugs”.

    Leading to manipulation and exploitation ……………… and very shitty laws.

    • Psycho Milt 8.1
      26 June 2016 at 8:12 pm

      Our indoctrination minimizes the harms of the drug alcohol ……. and demonizes “Drugs”.

      If you think about it real hard, you might be able to figure out why the best response to that isn’t to start demonising alcohol the way we have those other drugs.

      • reason 8.1.1
        27 June 2016 at 12:24 am

        Demonizing would be like Draco or Paulas claim where something 24 times below the level of any ‘plausible’ health effect is ‘contaminated’ and toxic……

        Paula …. “We are not going to risk houses suspected of being drug dens today, becoming potentially toxic playgrounds for innocent children in the future.”

        Or false claims/smears such as those who want to lower alcohol ABUSE ”wish as hard as you like for people to stop using recreational drugs,”

        or call them “public-health “wowsers” ….. or claim “450 senior doctors and nurses as a group of people who don’t like a drink of wine at a wedding.”

        I’m not trying to demonize or ban anything ……………… but I am disgusted with Nationals DP campaign against those trying to lower alcohol abuse in our society.

        Lowering Alcohol abuse IS the low hanging fruit in lowering all sorts of other harms. Especially domestic violence.

        Why is it such a drama to take booze out of supermarkets and back into bottle shops? …………. whats so extreme about stopping advertising /pushing. Why should the drug Alcohol get subsidized by taxpayers ?.

        I do agree that our quite macho thugby society has a hell of a lot to do with the levels of violence that go with our Alcohol abuse.

        Violence I’ve found is generally related to levels of anger …………..

        Being exploited, being treated unfairly or feeling left out by a hostile society raises anti social angry feelings.

        Otherwise Poor people are more honest and caring than the rich in my experience ….. so I do not buy the poverty = violence meme. …. its how people feel treated.

        Anyway I’m not going to argue about alcohol/violence again ….. I have literally screes of Alcohol stats and quotes which I will copy and paste up.

        People can draw their own conclusions.