Chippy’s ‘Let them eat pie’: Bread and Butter but none for hungry children

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Let them eat Pie

The child poverty stats are in and the results are damning.

AAAP reports 120 000 kids are still living in homes who experience material hardship and CPAG once again point out that while they stats are damning, the truth is actually far worse…

“The trouble is, of the almost 9,000 households surveyed in this data, there was no inclusion of our most vulnerable families. Families living in motels and other emergency accommodation, as well as cars and other forms of homelessness were not included,” Prof Emeritus Asher said.

“The real picture is likely to be a lot more grim as anecdotal evidence suggests the numbers of families in these dire situations is on the increase.”

“We also know poverty is a driver of preventable hospitalisations, which is another reason to urgently address child poverty, for the sake of our overburdened health system.”

…the problem is that corporate consultants get in the ear of Governments and convince them to target welfare rather than provide left wing universalism because to fund left wing universalism you need to tax the rich.

Chippy needs boldness if he wants to go beyond Jacinda’s rhetoric.

He needs free lunch and breakfast in every school, he needs public transport, he needs 30% stake in Supermarkets, he needs to implement all the welfare reforms, he needs to implement CPAGs Working For Family Tax Credit, he needs to take GST off food while putting a sugar tax on, he needs the Green’s wealth tax and the Māori Party’s financial transaction tax but most of all he needs courage or else  all his bread and butter policies will never be tasted by the poorest children.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

If all Chippy is offering is ‘let them eat pie’, how different is that from National’s ‘Let them eat cake’?

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Another catastrophic failure by this supposedly caring Government.
    No one can endorse inaction on child poverty.

      • Actually National had far more success than Labour has.
        Trouble is that the majority of the electorate votes on how much politicians emote over issues rather than actual outcomes.
        Adern achieved nothing positive for NZ but by god did she act as if she cared.
        For those of us with sufficient intelligence to see through the crocodile tears it was disgusting.
        For the rest, it seemed like she was a mother bringing them to her bosom.
        However at the end of the day, they have fucked up pretty much everything.

        • Really? I don’t think National we’re even measuring child poverty properly were they? Or was that people in cars? That’s not said in defence of Ardern. I don’t think there is much of a difference.

          • Actually, National measured far more than Labour does.
            Adern dropped a whole bunch of metrics as soon as she got into power because they inconveniently demonstrated how awful she is.
            The trouble is people are to busy focussing on who signals their virtue most rather than who delivers the best results.
            This Labour government has performed far worse than any government in our history and every single metric supports that assertion.
            However whilst people can be proven wrong, their minds cannot be changed.

    • the tragic part of pr/spin is no one belives it anymore it is quite literally pointless….a job creation scheme for the middle classes is the only purpose it serves

    • So when Nat/Act come to power all that consulting money will go to child poverty? First of all you can almost guarantee Nat/Act will have loads of contractors and consultants given they say they will let go a decent chunk of the public sector. Any savings will presumably pay for tax cuts. I think you will find it’s like housing. Both crowds say something but in reality do something different

  2. The problem here is systemic racism… Racism of the paternalistic kind that panders to our brown citizens, set a low bar for them, and makes endless excuses for their intergenerational failure.

  3. These children are living in hardship because the government provided the funding that allowed them to have them in the first place.

    • What is this funding for sperm meets egg? ,,, and how will you forbid pregnancy/offspring when sperm does meet egg?.

      If you are only ‘allowing’ some pregnancy’s/children ,,, then you must be enforcing abortion…Or forbidding sex?.

      Sounds pretty unrealistic,, is it Act policy?.

  4. Nice to see Ardern stepped down before this horrendous report was released, saves us all from a frowny face and head tilt whilst telling us all ‘these are not the figures I have seen’
    (Ours are MUCH better and I will stick with our massaged figures)
    Seems the reason she got into politics (to fix child poverdy) ended up another statistic that grew worse under her 5yrs in charge…..no surprise really!
    Housing/Health/Economy etc etc, the ‘Covid’ excuse is spread so thin to cover up her incompetence it’s transparent! Lol

  5. Yes but why the surprise? Our entire politic is neoliberal. It’s further to the right than Adolf Hitlers hair part. I mean, let that sink in. Roger douglas pulled a super sly combo back in 1984. Firstly, he fucked Labour’s reputation thus obliterating all and any resistance to ze Rright ving’d, unt zen he left Labour and rubbed his little moustache up against the now rising fascist class, the millionaire and billionaire cults, and in the process destroyed our labour force’s resilience and their ability to resist. All the money fetishists needed to do then was to trot out the lobbyist sleaze to nuke the labour laws and fuck the unions and that’s where jimbo Nose Wart bolger fall off the back of the ute mate and swapped yarns with cockies who swallowed the natzo’s instead of spitting. No one cares about hungry children. If you’re neoliberal, hungry kids are a cost burden. An expense. Why the fuck would anyone want to waste good P and whore money on kids for fucks sake. Rather buy new tyres for my second Bentley over there. What have hungry kids ever done for me? Wandering around all gaunt an’ shit. They should get a fuckin’ job like I had to do.
    Poor old Chipps. He, like his supposedly left wing hanky wavers are entirely fucked while they’re on their current pre-election strategic vector. As in they don’t have a strategy. What Hipkins could do is open roger up like a bag of wheat. Get in there and go like fuck. You ever been in a brawl where you know you’ve just got to go flat out or you’re fucked. Well, Hipkins? That’s you son. You not only have to take on the natzo’s but you have to take out your own labour trademark because it’s got roger-stink all over it. No one trusts Labour fully. The new Labour you’re currently trying to manage is still dirty, desperate and dangerous. Most in Labour have more in common with ACT and the natzo’s than old Labour’s righteous values. Otherwise, you’d not have hungry kids now would you?
    I think Hipkins is a good bloke. I think Adern was a good bloke too. It’s just that they were hog tied by roger douglas’s treachery. Roger had six years as Labour’s finance minister to work out a plan of attack and what a plan that was aye little man. Until neoliberalism’s dealt to there will always be hungry kids.
    Neoliberalism. Market forces. Trickle down. User pays. They’re also all terms for fascism.

    • @CB: Last two paragraphs +100.
      They may, or may not wake up one day, but if they do, let’s hope it’s soon.

      And just btw. There is no such thing as good drugs these days. The rot set in when I was late teens. But even after that, every single point of pleasure that you seem orgasmised to has been fucked over. A shame I know
      Save yourself before the hurt. Maybe a little puff before bed if you must, but stuff the rest of it. The grifters managing it all are not too dissimilar from those that’ve fucked the trade you’re in.

      (Oive dun me research)

      • The cadaverous traitor breathes still apparently…

        The fact is monetarism and neo liberalism is deeply embedded in NZ legislation, Public Sector, Parliament and daily life–not an easy thing to “move on” from is hegemony.

        Contracting out, wreckage of manufacturing and working farmers, sell offs of public infrastructure, penetration of state activity by private capital were all planned at the outset by dirty Douglas and his fish and chip club mates.

        Bring on the new political movement to put a stake into Rogernomics for good.

    • CB is that not the Burocrats that are hog tied to Rogernomes policies. In other words labour cannot get any traction trying to change these lineages in the Burocratic dynasties.

    • Grand man, our prose poet. I can’t talk and do a good job in my work.

      You are brilliant with your lateral attack. So glad for you. You do it so much better than me with my linear mind. Disagree about the last two Labour leaders — Tommy boy now was the virilent enemy of Cunliffe. They are saturated in neoliberalism. They know how to move in the waves and the winds of current weather but not in the truth.

      Don’t be kind to anyone, don’t soft-soap anyone. Truth alone matters.
      T

  6. ” ‘let them eat pie’, or cake both of which are now unaffordable for the groups highlighted in this report.

    The embarrassment for Chipkins and Carmel will be fleeting and forgotten quickly.

    Food is now fast becoming a luxury particularly good nutritious food for many in the community and I know of many who now only eat once a day and it consists of toast and two minute noodles with a spaghetti or baked beans and I am one of them existing on the minimum wage.

    We still have austerity policies for all those on poor pay or a benefit and that includes many pensioners who are not part of this report.

    ” he needs courage ”

    No he just needs to pick his supporters and they did that many years ago. The middle class on good salaries and the wealthy who vote Labour thinking they can ease their conscience whenever hand wringing is required by the confronting reports like this one but like the middle class think that will solve the problems of the poor and working poor but won’t agree to change the priorities so that this economy provides and works for all.

    Courage by any politicians and their parties is a nice to have but is now confined to history and finished with the death of Norman Kirk.

    The one prediction I will make is that regardless of a government led by the Nasties or LINO after October these reports will continue to show no improvement and deterioration for many out there that are denied their economic rights to access what others in this country demand because of status and income as their right.

    • Yes Gag. It is not about “taxing the rich more”. It’s about “Who is eating the pie?” There is plenty of tax revenues in this country the problem is wastage, self interested gatekeepers and priorities. It’s like a smorgasboard run by Admin classes who let themselves in at 7 and the great unwashed at 9pm – to clean up the crumbs. Cut the consultants and ditch light rail and give that money to the poor and front line teachers/police/nurses. Problem solved.

    • You need eggs to make pies.
      You need flour to make pies.
      Cream, meat, cheese or veggies for the filling.
      And oven to bake it.

      And sadly Joe and Jane Six Pack NZ can’t afford any of it.

  7. Spot on countryboy – the free-marketeers & Ayn Rand fetishists realized in the late 1970s-early 1980s that they’d never turn National their way while Rob Muldoon had his hand on the wheel, so they figured “Why not turn Labour?” – with the added bonus that screwing the major party of the left would also seismically shift the centre of NZ politics their way too. (National will come around to it, whenever Muldoon falls).

    It was brilliantly effective, until MMP threatened to upset the apple cart with Jim Anderton taking the opportunity to strike out with his vision of what a modern Labour Party could be (and he had that vision to the very end – he was talking about free dental care towards the end of his career, years before the headlines we now see!)

    So it was time to introduce the public – and especially the left – to issues that don’t tackle the economic problem – identity politics, place names, change the flag campaigns, etc etc… yeah.. that should divert attention.

    • lets get this straight rand ponced of her acolytes her entire life and claimed benefits in her old age….if she was true to her own maxims she would have died in a unheated flat.

  8. Common, get real already! Where is the budget? Last year verses this year. Tell us exactly – ins and outs. Tell us exactly who authorized such expenditures. Tell us.

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