Much has been made of Luxon’s tough love from the angry Dad routine from last weeks State off the Nation.
What much of that commentary missed however, was the reason why Luxon was bashing beneficiaries.
Put aside the deceitful way National are misusing the numbers and data to create fictional bludgers they can slay for their angry reactionary rump voter base.
Put said the counter productive outcomes these sanctions generate.
And put aside the social carnage throwing tens of thousands off welfare and kicked out of State Houses will generate.
Why did Luxon have to bash the beneficiaries with such frisson?
The reason Luxon is bashing the shit out of beneficiaries was because National Party minders are panicking that his weak insipid leadership to date alongside his week in, week out, week in, week out, week in, week out, week in, week out, week in, week out, weak in, weak out getting torn to pieces by Seymour and Winston is making him look weak.
Luxon bashed the bennies because he is weak and the narrative shapers are desperate to convince you he’s strong.
The truth is, he’s the weakest Prime Minister we’ve ever had!
Geoffrey Palmer aside of course.
Luxon had to butch up and do the angry dad routine against the only group he can beat up – the disabled and beneficiaries.
This is an act of desperation by Luxon and here’s the reason why…
…Luxon is weak, he’s bashing beneficiaries because they can’t fight back!
This is the very personification of political weakness, miss-using numbers to justify beating up on the vulnerable right after robbing the disabled of $2300 per year and pushing 13 000 kids into poverty!!!
That the entire political punditry class can’t see the insincerity of this speech and the purpose of it really tells you something about how group think works in action.
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If work was driving cars, asking long term beneficiaries to get jobs or face sanctions is like forcing them into a car and telling them they have to drive Auckland to Hamilton four times a day, five times a week.
All you’re going to end up with is a lot of crashes and even poorer, more disillusioned and disenfranchised to spit on.
A fraction of the effort spent on white collar financial crimes would net substantially more revenue for the crown than picking on people unable to compete in a rat race they are ill equipped to even compete in… But then with less slush money to go around, party donations might dry up a little, and that’ll never do, right?
Touche!
A fraction of the effort spent on white collar financial crimes would net substantially more revenue for the crown than picking on people unable to compete in a rat race they are ill equipped to even compete in… But then with less slush money to go around, party donations might dry up a little, and that’ll never do, right?
Correction:
‘picking on people unable to survive a rat race they are ill equipped to even compete in’
Both major parties — and particularly the Tories — have so little to offer working people (i.e. 80%+ of the electorate) that they will forever be plagued by high levels of unpopularity.
The only way to keep the ideological show on the road — that is, total adherence to Reaganomics and the Wolfowitz Doctrine — is to bombard the public with high levels of divisive (and often false) propaganda. “Don’t blame your rulers, blame your fellow workers, and intimidate them into submission” is the message.
The simple fact that Douglas and Richardson lowered wages, by deliberately re-introducing mass, non-frictional unemployment — and after it had been totally abolished for nearly half a century — also must be censored forever by the monopoly press, as it would totally expose the dishonesty of today’s politicians.
I remember Minto saying we could have a government that says ‘every one will have a 40 hr full-time job with sufficient money that you can live on it’ and once that is implemented then and only then we will get rid of the unemployment benefit.
Let’s face it – it is possible to do, I can think of many many things that need doing in Otautahi, we could actually have our two rivers clean, and if you think they are clean go and have a look at the river by the Tanneries complex.
Jacinda may have been popular but will go down as one PM with the most unfulfilled potential for real change.
Not sure about that Trevor.
But she did say it would be transformational and it was a billion miles away from that and will remain like that under Chris Hipkins.
As has been said many times, Labour is afraid of its own shadow.
I want them to pack up and leave town, there are one or two who could join the Greens or Te Pati Maori who are the future of Aotearoa.
What does that deflection have to do with Luxon? The only thing Luxon is doing is going backwards
It’s a sad day then when Luxon is so far behind Jacinda in terms of leadership.
Photo sums him up nicely.
Beneficiaries have always been one of National’s pet hates. I know from experience when Paula Bennett was Minister and I was on the dole. She had a golden opportunity to clean up the culture at Work and Income. To this day it is still a wasteful government agency that treats its clients with contempt and the best thing that could happen is a complete overhaul or abolition of the monstrosity.
Luxon is simply continuing a war on beneficiaries that has been going on since Ruth Richardson declared war in 1991 with her Mother of all Bungles.
He talks like 1993. Business owners would be looking sideways at him. This is how he wants NZ business to behave, is it? No vision, no plan, no subsidies, no support, no training, no new investment, no expansion, just lower incomes and fire at will when required – endless contraction? That’s business? No business operates like that. None that want to stay in business. Tough love = never had any idea, never will.
National’s policy for the last 40 years, why don’t they pursue white collar crme and tax evasion? Self fulfilling question really, this sector are their mates, their sort of people, it’s far easier to bash a defenseless beneficiary. A number of years ago the number 2 in the IRS quoted figures of monies recovered from benefit fraud was 80 million dollars and estimated tax evasion was 3 billion dollars, yet the IRS was not really putting alot of effort in pursuing the tax evaders. Makes you wonder why more effort is exerted to collect from tax evasion.
I’d put David Lange up there with weak prime ministers, considering he pretty much rolled over for Roger Douglas. But let’s face it, Luxon’s arose between two thorns, and both thorns have a lot more political nous than he’s ever had. Particularly Winston, who’s got more sheer political rat cunning in his little finger than Luxon’s ever had.
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