GUEST BLOG: Bryan Bruce – Grant Robertson is delivering a $3.5 Billion surplus but there is ” no more money for teachers” says the Minister of Education.
We have the third lowest government debt in the OECD yet Greens co-leader James Shaw advocated the “Fiscal Responsibility” rules both parties signed which pushes already low government debt even lower, while private debt ( I’m talking things like tertiary education debt, household debt credit card debt that kind of thing ) is sky rocketting.
No attempt to close the untaxed wealth loopholes while we continue to tax food ! Something which affects low income families the most.
For all its PR words of “wellbeing” this is a business as usual budget that does nothing to increase the amount of public money for the good of all by making wealthy individuals and companies pay a fairer share of their wealth to the society that allows them to become rich.
(Because you cannot get rich on your own – you need to live in a sociey to do that.)
In short you cannot have ” the politics of kindness” and try to fund it with the economics of selfishness.
That’s why I organised The People’s Budget last Friday.
I asembled some of the sharpest minds in the country and frontline workers to give you the alternative view of how to really run socialy meaningful budget . A view you are not hearing in parliament .
Why? Because they don’t want to upset the wealthy.
What’s wealthy ?
Well the base salary of an MP is $160,024 is more than twice the average salary.
I haven’t done the count recently but in 2017 Stuff reported that “116 of our MPs own or had an interest in 302 properties and more than three quarters boast a portfolio of anywhere between two and 12 properties.”
I’d say that if you own more than once house and you earn double the average salary you should be contributing a hell of a lot more to the “well being ” of the society you are privileged to live in.
You can find The People’s Budget event here:
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
It might actually be a $5B surplus for the year.
An extra billion or two. Of course that does not translate to the extra money also being available in the following year.
But it is easily sufficient to cover a write-off of tertiary debt held by teachers. That involves
1. collecting no more debt repayment by teachers while they work as teachers in New Zealand
2. writing down the debt 10% per annum while they work.
Incentivising them to remain in teaching here.
Easier than that . Just restore parity between a teacher at the top of the basic scale and a backbench MP. Teachers put up with, accepted, derisory increases less than the cost of living or inflation over many years, while MPs had their salaries automatically adjusted by the higher salaries commission without a murmur. And the NZEI and the PPTA need to own their part in this. Go teachers. Stick to your guns – and put the unions on notice as well.
I wonder how many Bunnings flat pack houses, or factory built small homes that can be moved by truck could be built for a few hundred million dollars – for emergency housing.
Perhaps the private sector is spending beyond its means and Robertson needs a surplus to offset that. However I’m only guessing.
You can just imagine the outcry from the right if Robertson went on a spending spree!
So what, Bert ? Labour’s on a roll and can carry this. Nat’s won’t gain much traction by objecting to teachers being better paid. I think it would have generic public support.
Grant needs to put his thinking cap on here and decide whether he represents all NZ’ers, or not. A glorious spree would be totally glorious – Simon would bleat, but everyone’s so used to Simon bleating now that Simon is losing his efficacy – or would be if he had any.
Don’t worry about the Greens – if they were centipedes they’d still be shooting themselves in all of their feet – they do that well, and have left people like me now party-less.
We shouldn’t have any debt. Pay it down or meet the economic hitman the way Greece did.