Here come the benefit sanctions as unemployment bites
Number of benefits cut more than doubles in a year
The number of benefits that were cut more than doubled in the September quarter compared with the same time last year, mainly because of missed appointments.
Quarterly data from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) shows the number of sanctions issued in the latest quarter rose 133% to 14,409, compared with 6177 in 2023.
The drop of inflation followed by OCR cuts have been seized upon by the Government as proof positive their borrowing of billions in tax cuts, landlord tax breaks and slashing of public services shows NZ is right on Track, but we are seeing the social cost of crashing the Economy for home owners.
A record nearly 400,000 people are on some form of benefit – almost the same proportion of the population as after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).
Despite spending more than Labour did, this Government borrowed for tax cuts while underfunding public services – this is austerity without calling it austerity!
The number of benefits cut in the September quarter rose 133% to 14,409, mainly due to missed appointments – how does harassing beneficiaries like this help the economy?
The number of Kiwis leaving NZ for Australia are at new records – wouldn’t working from home, 4 day weeks and 8 week holidays be a better way to keep workers with better conditions than competing for wages we can’t afford?
We are punishing the poor, wrecking the working classes and gutting the middle class while handing huge amounts of money to their donor class.
We will see carnage in our community as the enormity of the looming unemployment disaster unfolds.
The only solution from this Government is build bigger prisons.
We are about to push desperate people into even more desperation.
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The CoC Govt., RB and capital of course, want structural unemployment to put downward pressure on wages and bake in a low wage economy. This is enforced by mass sackings and union busting. The Pulp mills and Meat plant where many hundreds of jobs were ended, could have been supported–as per Rio Tinto aluminium and the Tobacco Industry!
Two logical flaws here are surely–capitalists presumably need customers, and reduced purchasing power will not assist this, plus…a social one…unemployment is created on purpose, then the poor sods without work are sadistically punished and harassed by the very agencies meant to assist them.
So…what do the CoC fuckwits think will be the outcome of stressed, destitute people living in cars, or considering topping themselves on farms or the suburbs because they cannot pay the mortgage? You guessed it–petty crime, car theft, random violence, aggressive begging, shoplifting, homelessness…
We need a revived Unemployed Workers Rights movement, Peoples Centres providing practical support and a new left political leadership .
In 1990 Kiwi voters jumped from the Rogernomics frying pan into the Ruthenasia fire. Ruth Richardson did pretty much what Nicola Willis is doing now.
In 2023 Kiwi voters……… ..( I will stop here because anyone can see where this is going).
If insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results this means that we are, collectively, porangi, nuts, bonkers, round the bend, crazy, doolally, whacko, troppo, magnoona, loco, demented.
I am too old and exhausted to do anything now but I urge young people to try and organise a political movement to break out of this neoliberal prison.
Notice I say political movement because if you form a political party and vote it into parliament it seems to inevitably be captured by corporate power.
Underwriting private builders who make a profit with my taxes while kicking beneficiaries in the guts bunch of cunts.
What you write is all true yet the Labour party still can’t come up with a reason for us to support them. While most of the readers think that all religion is a waste of space Daniel 11:40-45 has the king of the south losing power in the end times as the king of the north takes control. Following the practice of using scripture to explain scripture the king of the north is apostate religion (think the dark ages) and the king of the south is atheism (or right and left) so don’t be surprised when another church state power arrives to control us. There will also be a revival of spiritualism since seeing is believing for most people and they will be deceived because of that
For all their success they dont seem very popular. A wide range of people seem to find what they are doing perplexing. Give them enough rope and hopefully only 2 more years to go. We need to resist a four year term to the full extent possible.