The perspective utterly missing from all mainstream media coverage of the despicable manner in which the poor are being treated in NZ from WINZ to housing is that this is a class war.
Generation theft comes into this, boomers were given a cradle to grave state subsidy which was stolen from Gen X and Y, but ultimately this is a class war.
Nick Smith told Morning Report this morning that there had always been poor people living in cars during his 26 years in Parliament, his tone of surprise that this is even an issue highlights the arrogance of National in power and reflects the neoliberal beliefs of National voters that those who fail are to blame for their failure, not society.
Key’s bewilderingly delusional belief that WINZ would help the homeless, the 3000 ghost beds that Paula announced which don’t really exist, the motel debt WINZ chases from the poor and the genuine surprise from most mainstream media outlets that WINZ is treating the weak and desperate in such disgraceful ways all miss that this is just the tip of the ice berg.
- What about those who are forced to plead guilty because legal aid is a loan which gets penalty interest attached to it – how is that impacting our justice system?
- What about the secret WINZ unit that trawls Facebook trying to catch beneficiaries out in relationships?
- What about the relationship equation that WINZ uses to claim beneficiaries are committing fraud? No one knows what that relationship equation actually is and WINZ won’t tell beneficiaries what it is.
- How about the policy whereby WINZ don’t tell people what they are entitled to?
- What about the 60% of those on sole parent welfare or job seeker benefits who owe WINZ money from overpayments to penalties incurred by WINZ voodoo math relationship criteria? These people are locked into a cycle of poverty debt they can never break out from under.
Key and National sell their brand on moderation, every mainstream media pundit parrots this claim of moderation because those same pundits are middle class, and it is the middle class tax breaks (WFF, Gold Card, capital tax free gains, interest free student loans) that haven’t been touched while the draconian welfare reforms go unnoticed.
I call it the Dr Raymond Miller syndrome.
The surprise by so many in the media at how people are actually being treated by the very departments we believe are there to care is symptomatic of a media that has been stripped of its intellectual depth for shallow clickbait pantomime. The media can’t see the class issue in this war, they can’t contextualise or critic it because Mike Hosking and Paul Henry’s brand of right wing free market fanaticism drenches every inch of the tiny media landscape we live in.
The National Party’s philosophy on social service provision in New Zealand is ‘THIS IS SPARTA!’
What should happen to John Key if he ever visited a WINZ office.
This is social policy spawned by spite and cruelty. We are actively punishing those whose plight and poverty offends our egalitarian pretensions. We are a country with all the maturity of a day old can of coke, so caught up in the false illusion of speculative property wealth, National voters have become wilfully ignorant to the desperation of their fellow citizens.
We should be embarrassed at the utter failure of the market and end the denial that this isn’t a class war. When the Government says Housing NZ has to pay $118M dividend instead of building more state houses to keep it “disciplined”, we have lost all moral compass inside Government.
In the 1980’s Labour built 10,000 state houses.
In the 1990’s National sold 10,000.
In the 2000’s Labour built 10,000
Under Key so far we are down 2000.
This is a class war.
What the Left need now is a leader with the political courage to articulate that.
There have always been people with either substandard or no houses to live in.
Correct.
But from the 1930s a certain PM called Michael Joseph Savage with his first Labour government decided to do something about it, instead of having the conventional (and abysmally unsuccessful) “leave it to the market” approach.
His government built state houses, yes – his government built houses for people who could not afford to buy their own house. They were good houses, not spectacular but pretty good and well built.
These houses had a few flaws such as lack of insulation but for all their faults they fulfilled a need that still exists today.
Let me tell you something Mr Key – a clean, dry, comfortable and affordable home is not a privilege for the rich, it is a right for everyone.
Micky Savage knew this, but as someone who always reminds us how he grew up in a state house – you have long forgotten this.
Shame on your Dickensian government.
Unfortunately in Savages time (and policy), the state houses built was not for the poor or for those desperately needing homes (actually subsidised housing was denied to the poor), it was more for the working class families.
Oh! one more thing.
Paul Henry and Mike Hosking need to stop playing with themselves in front of John Key portraits and take real notice of what happens in New Zealand.
The ONLY, solution is collective, armed violence. You may wish that were not true, but look deep into your heart and use your brain. It is true. Pontificating and handwringing will do nothing. After a few politicians have been dragged from their beds and summarily executed in the street, then a few things may start to change. Violence IS the ONLY answer where “we” are now.
Nope …for a number of reasons.
While we all would like the group camaraderie of expressing ourselves …
People get hurt. And that’s an understatement. People of both sides
It creates instability in govts – which keeps fueling itself successively into the next group who come to power
No one has the right to take another life
It encourages mob rule and innocent people die
And while it may feel good to have instant gratification of some sense of achieving a goal…the fear and grief and societal instability and horror … hardly outweigh the benefits
We still have a system where we can use far more balanced and civilized methods
You may end up being on the side that suffers great loss – thus ending any aspirations you had
There are many other philosophical reasons as well… that have far more long lasting solutions
Softly softly catches the monkey… so as Che Guevara constantly drilled into his people , do not ! … alienate the peasants – or in this case – the majority who do not wish to see violence … the methods used vary with the culture and the country… in NZ’s case ,…use the existing system and the ‘ slow drip on the rock ‘ method to effect change is the optimum.
And that means becoming active in all manner of mediums. This blog and others is one… activist groups and peaceful demonstrations are another , political party’s /unions are still yet another, as are humorous plays, skits, cartoons etc…
We have not reached that place of mass displacement and social dislocation of poorer third world country’s yet – but there are worrying signs we are displaying some of these symptoms … but here it is more stratified… as Martyn has said…and Key and his Natz are using the lower sociao economic demographic for political gain.
Therefore that is where the battle is. And that can be greatly influenced towards achieving the goal without the alienation caused by violent confrontations.
No, Castro, it certainly is not. But disciplined, non-violent mass civil disobedience has to happen before anything will change. And civil disobedience on a large scale will only happen when enough people are feeling sufficiently discomforted or marginalised to act. We have a way to go, yet, I think. But it’s getting closer.
After that comment, I think you can be sure you’re now firmly fixed in the malignant gaze of the state-sanctioned Eye of Sauron. There’s probably some chap at the GCSB writing an e-mail as we speak about dissidents and agitators advocating violence on the Interwebs. The real tragedy is that you may very well be right.
maybe for the Tooting Popular Front–“you’ll be first one up against the wall mate”–but if the NZ working class at its current level of political analysis were to be armed, one shudders to think who they might be shooting
decisive action is needed, but not “lead poisoning” just yet, see Steve King comment below
@ Castro’s right. History shows that he’s right in that, that was the only way to rid normal people in normal societies of the pestilence that is psychopathic nutters enjoying the misery they foist on others and all the better if they make money doing it.
There’s another way however.
Get rid of the banks. All foreign owned banks must go from NZ. All mortgage debt must be written off and all nickel and dime money lenders must be forced out of business.
Then? You’d see the rats abandon their sinking banks and take their filthy little selves to more fertile feeding grounds where other, equally innocent, ignorant, hard working people will be like lambs to the slaughter. Just like us. We stand back and watch those scumbags do this to us. We walk past old people bedding down in the street. We know people live in poverty with its associated squalor and it’s not their fault. It’s the Banks. The greedy fucking banks could care less as is evident from their grotesque advertising strategies. In a Bankster Land everybody’s pink, clean, happy, joyful, enthusiastic, usually white and never shown as struggling. That’s like ten people in a thousand. They shove bullshit into our tired brains and I call that the Professor Stanley Milgram effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Waring, killing, bloodletting and the consequential collateral damage from that makes money for the very enemy we need to defeat. It’s old fashioned, inefficient and doesn’t last and remember? We’d be coming up against the Police and the Military and they should be on our side.
Purging our society of money lenders and bankers would show how much better life would be without their deviant influence, would be long lasting and would send a clear message. Life is possible and indeed would be far more enjoyable without owing your soul to Banksters.
I agree with all others here as this is not a government it is a group of opportunists and carpetbaggers that are stealing everything from the masses as they force everyone off there properties and onto the streets.
So revolution follows every time we see governments turning their backs on leading by example governance of fairness of moral compassion for simple policy of forcing people into servitude.
This is a rich elitists caretaker government with no morals and must be thrown out of government by election or force.
JK following the Fay Richwhite Roger Douglas School of Economics.
I agree with all others here as this is not a government it is a group of opportunists and carpetbaggers that are stealing everything from the masses as they force everyone off there properties and onto the streets so revolution follows every time we see governments turning their backs on leading by example governance of fairness of moral compassion for simple policy of forcing people into servitude.
This is a rich elitists caretaker government with no morals and must be thrown out of government by election or force.
White Elitist Trash pandering to Asian Investors and US Bankers
Its also an investment dilemma, as theres a serious amount of work involved with running and maintaining a rental property and dealing with tenants, if the govt had investment bonds that offered a similar guaranteed return, it could well see the end of the investment in housing fiasco we are now experiencing. cheaper in the long run for the govt also, as the cost to the community is going to be so high in health costs over the next 50 years due to chronic health ailments the next generation of renters is experiencing. a cost the whole society will bear in increased taxes.
Keeping state houses, renovating them, making them habitable and warm for homeless Kiwi families should be the priority of government right now.
But what does FJK do? Bribe his greedy cronies with a $3B tax cut bribe in time for next year’s election!
An example of extremely poor governance, when lining the pockets of the already wealthy, takes precedence over the present housing crises!
Shameful leadership to say the least!
Without wanting to come across as racist, but where have all the NZers gone, Maori, Pacific Islanders and Pakeha? They are living on the streets, under bridges, in vehicles, sheds, tents, garages etc. That’s where they are!
Disgraceful, when this government is allowing far too many wealthy migrants to either take up residence here, or foreign domiciled investors, to buy up multiple properties! In some instances, many foreigners are bringing in their own people to work their businesses, living in recently foreign purchased properties!
That’s what’s causing damage to the social structure of NZ, pushing Kiwi families, unable to afford to purchase or rent homes, into the streets! And many of these people are working for a living!
Time to put a cap on migration or foreign ownership of land in NZ, clean up state houses to home Kiwi families in need and concentrate on getting our own working for a livable wage and into homes first and foremost!
And to finally add … the homeless people of CHCH, should have been immediately put into state houses without question, when their properties were damaged by the earthquakes! So why weren’t they Mr Key and Brownlee? Whey isn’t there emergency housing available for people in dire need?
So if there have always been people living in cars we shouldn’t be concerned? Was it Nick Smith’s arrival in parliament that started this issue? Because a problem exists before you, you have no reason to do something about it? What planet do these donkeys live on? Planet Koch? The kingdom of Dick Quax? Why and how so little heart, so little soul? Do they not listen to music or something? How could anybody be so careless, especially with such power to change. We continue disappointed in our government, while others continue to suffer needlessly due to the ignorance of those with cribs in Hawaii and their mates. (insert angry emoji here)
[…] https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/05/20/the-housing-crisis-is-a-class-war/?utm_content=bufferba00f&… […]
The only housing the Natz care about, is their own, especially if things start getting uncomfortable for them . . .
“as Che Guevara constantly drilled into his people , do not ! … alienate the peasants – or in this case – the majority who do not wish to see violence … the methods used vary with the culture and the country… in NZ’s case ,…use the existing system and the ‘ slow drip on the rock ‘ method to effect change is the optimum.”
Pfft, and what happened to Guevara? I’m with Castro, he knew how to deal with parasites.
Of course the selling off of state houses is an act of class war.
But the act of building them by the First Labour Government was also an act of class war. The bosses had to concede welfare reforms to ensure the workers were fit for exploitation and to stabilise the economy. These soon gave way to co-opting workers to fight in the Second world war.
Therefore Labourite welfarism was not an end to class war since depression and war proved that class war was alive as workers were forced to kill one another to defend their capitalist bosses.
Nor was the postwar boom the end of class war as it could not have happened without the wartime destruction which restored the conditions for a return to profits – the replacement of old inefficient plant and machinery with new technology and increased workers exploitation.
It follows that the end of the post-war boom in the early 70s was not the return of class war, merely its new form. The Keynesians were routed and the neo-liberals set about using the state to redirect welfare concessions back to profits. Privatising public assets is a part of this.
Capitalism is inherently violent. Depression kills and when workers resist they are killed. Wars to defend capitalism kill. The state is defined as the repository of ruling class violence. Strikes are met with strike breakers. Revolution is meet with fascism. There can be no class peace while there is class war. Class war is a zero-sum game. Only one class can win.
The working class is the great majority, it does not need to use violence other than to resist the violence used against it. The best example of this truth is the period from 1917 to 1921 in Russia when violence was initiated by the Tsarist regime and the imperialist ruling classes to smash the revolution. They all decided that the real class enemy was the Soviet state. The workers state stopped fighting Germany on the side of Britain and France and signed a peace treaty. It then had to mobilise the Red Army against an invasion of imperialist troops and Tsarist forces on 7 separate fronts.
Its easy to see which class retains it power to exploit by violence and which class must use violence to defend its resistance to exploitation and oppression.
What about WINZ and their Principal Health Advisor Dr David Bratt misleading and misinforming GPs signing Work Capacity Medical Certificates for WINZ clients with wrongly interpreted or intentionally falsified “scientific” evidence, to influence them to not sign sick and disabled off as being unable to work?
https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2015/vol-128-no-1425-20-november-2015/6729
“Is the statement that if a person is off work for 70 days the chance of ever getting back to work is 35% justified?”
“The statements are being used to support statements like: “Urgent action is required if a person is not back at work within a matter of weeks. If a person is not back at work within three weeks urgent attention is needed”11 even though the data is for time after an initial 10 days off work.
The incorrect statements about the chance of ever getting back to work are being presented to general practitioners (GPs) continuing medical education conferences in the context certifying people as unfit for work, together with statements like the ‘benefit’ is “an addictive debilitating drug with significant adverse effects to both the patient and their family (whānau)”.13 They are being presented to GPs in the context of assisting patients to safely stay at work or return to work early.4 These appear to be encouraging GPs to assess injured and unwell patients as having capacity for work and not issuing medical certificates for work incapacity. This could result in the cessation of welfare benefits or injury compensation. When these patients lack the capacity to work, they could experience increased financial hardship. For example, people might move from injury compensation to an unemployment benefit, and those without benefit entitlements to no income. There are also consequential beneficiaries of these income shifts. For example, reductions in government expenditure have been associated with reductions in taxation. Reductions in injury compensation for work-related injuries could result in reductions of employer levies/premiums for workers’ compensation and consequential increases in dividends to the owners of businesses.”
I wish people would bother to read this, as this is the kind of info Dr Bratt has spread through his bizarre presentations, misinforming doctors, rehab professionals, yes the wider public (through media interviews and reports).
He is not fit for his job and should be sacked immediately, but MSD seem to think this unproffessional and unethical conduct by their senior advisor is quite ok:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/GP%20CME/Friday/C1%201515%20Bratt-Hawker.pdf
(see slide 22 and 23 for instance)
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/BO%2012%20830am%20David%20Bratt%20Benefit%20were%20a%20Drug%20V2.pdf
(see slides 18 and 19)
This is how this government lets the advisors its departments and Ministers use get away with misrepresenting science and statistical information, to off-load sick and disabled off benefits.
It is CRIMINAL I reckon.
More on that here:
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/msd-and-dr-david-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-claiming-worklessness-causes-poor-health/
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/msd-dr-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-on-worklessness-and-health-post-09-08-15.pdf
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” -John F Kennedy,
And we know what happened to him for saying that (amongst other things, like “Let’s not escalate military operations in Vietnam” and “Let’s investigate the Federal Reserve”): assassinated by ‘the gang’.
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/89101-those-who-make-peaceful-revolution-impossible-will-make-violent-revolution.
Do you think its true that the national party publicity guys have been warned off?
A relationship includes people thinking someone is in a relationship.
Yup. At WINZ, if someone “thinks” your in a relationship, then legally you are!
Its time the homeless camped outside their local nats office, or home. And if one happens to near JKs home or electorate office, camp there. His body gaurds can’t do anything about it, as one is on PUBLIC land
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