Cwenmaria, The letter will be one of the thousands of anti-human, computer generated letters that WINZ send out each day to torment the poor and keep them on edge. If they dare try cutting your daughter’s benefit, let us know where the picket line will be, or better yet publish more details so we can complaint bomb them. It’s amazing how quickly they pull their head in when it directly effects their workload. Pestering them until they are sick of you and want you to go away is the only way to deal with them effectively, in my experience. If you get no joy with one person, speak to another and another, (preferably going over the head of each person). Know your rights, ( The best interest of your grandchild is paramount, legally. ) Try not to look at it as begging, (that’s what they want you to think), it isn’t, it’s standing your ground. You must be very proud of your daughter! She is doing a course, AND putting her child first.

It’s comments like that Frank that make one wish they could vote up more than once. The current system has to crash and burn, as it has throughout history when too many people are living in deprivation. I’m picking it will happen sooner rather than later. Incidentally, I was reading an article on “Stuff” about a family in need for Christmas and how the Salvation Army declined them for their assistance program. The “serves you right attitude” was appallingly prevalent in the comments section, it turns the stomach. I sometimes wonder if all opposing comments go unpublished.

Chloe –

+1

If you are referring to income inequality, that statement is factually incorrect. Please refer Figure 1 at http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-social-indicators/Home/Standard%20of%20living/income-inequality.aspx.

This clearly demonstrates that income equality in 2013 was lower than in 1994, 2000-2005, and 2011, 12.

Are you still pushing your mis-representation of that graph, Nehemia?

The only time income inequality dropped significantly was 2004-08, when Working for Families redistributed some wealth. Post 2008, it rose again.

From 2010, After Housing costs appear to flat-line, whilst only Before Housing Costs appears to drop minutely and then flat-lines. If anything, the graph shows the impact on incomes, as housing become more unaffordable. If there is a minute drop – and if the data is accurate – this is most likely attributed to historically low interest rates implemented by the RBNZ.

However, drilling down into the info behind the graph you present, we find this, from the Key Findings;

7 From HES 2011 to HES 2013 the gains from the recovery were shared reasonably evenly across income deciles, but the negative impact of the recession from HES 2009 to HES 2011 was a little greater for lower income deciles (deciles 1 to 6) than for higher ones.

8 As a result, from HES 2009 to 2013 the net change in average incomes for each of the lower 5 deciles was close to zero, whereas there was around a 5% net gain for the top five deciles.

12 In New Zealand the top decile received 8.0 times the income of the bottom decile (after tax and transfers) in 2011. This is average for the OECD, a little lower than Canada and Australia (8.5).

Source: http://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/monitoring/household-income-report/2014/key-findings.doc

Now, here’s the pertinent rebuttal to your “data”;

The data you refer to is the “Household Incomes in New Zealand: Trends in indicators of inequality and hardship 1982 to 2013”, by Bryan Perry.

However, in July, 2014, Perry up-dated his earlier report when errors were detected and publicly revealed. As reported back in February 2014, Treasury had under-estimated the level of children living in poverty, as Bernard Hickey wrote on 28 February;

“Treasury and Statistics said in a joint statement they had double counted accommodation supplements in estimates of household disposable income between 2009 and 2012, which meant incomes were over-estimated by NZ$1.2 billion and the number of children in families earning less than 50% of the median income was under-estimated by 25,000.”

Source: http://www.hivenews.co.nz/articles/400-inequality-data-error-revealed

The Treasury statement acknowledging the errors can be found here: Reserve Bank: Media Statement – Data error prompts process improvements

So Perry’s initial report, and the graph, is flawed.

Curiously, another right-winger tried to pass of the same flawed data several months ago; the habitual liar and ACT propagandist, “Intrinsicvalue”.

Whilst it grabs headlines the purported OECD report is not necessary to confirm that inequality inhibits growth.
Firstly given the paymaster the OECD disclaimer is of no surprise.
Secondly consider the following; Keynes famously said that the use of interest rates to stimulate growth in certain conditions is like pushing on a piece of string. The mirror / implication of this is that in severe downturns demand is a more effective growth stimulator. In reality most of the QE (printing of money) has been to bail out vested interests. If you then consider that where wealth is concentrated a smaller percentage of that wealth will be used in consumption and risk aversion will see the surplus applied to secure assets thus boosting realty and other low risk assets further inhibiting growth.
The best one can say of the “Dear Leader” John key is that he may be a brilliant trader but as all who have worked in the industry know this requires tactical not strategic economic nonce. As for Bookkeeper English let the nom de plume do the talking.
Personally I have come to the view that they are not just incompetent but are committed to an ideology that when stripped to its bare essentials rejects community and compassion and celebrates only the self.

Yeah great conversation starter Chloe, well done. Pleased more people are saying they have had enough of Nat’s policies. If we sack the govt can we cancel their pensions to? It pisses me off that Roger Doug was an MP for ACT, got his superannuation and was already a millionaire, after selling out NZ for neo-liberal economics- Bah! There is no way they should ever have paid him that much, and others that milk the system. Hope u enjoy ur new job and give the students some things to think about and act on, ultimately to make our society more fairer, and our environment and resources looked after.

what about the homeless fool? do they have jobs?

Editors do not proof, sub editors proof. You can teach spelling and grammar, you can’t teach good writing. Speaking of which I was a high school teacher, I got around my issues with spelling there so ill do it at the mag, to.

I did not learn to read and write til I was 8 due to a pretty turbulent childhood, I have always struggled with spelling and grammar. I was hired by the magazine because they felt I would be committed to building platforms for students to have a voice on. I was hired because they know I will go after the establishment fearlessly and not back down, cos I’m for the people and I have no interest in corporate power or toeing the line.

Minnie, you add nothing to the comments section. other than hate, malice and nastiness. I’m flagging you to the editor. Cos you do not open debate you close it down.

Minnie, in all honestly a lot of what you are saying is really offensive, and sure I know I offend people but mostly it is right wingers, poverty deniers and Men’s Rights Activists that I upset, so I’m ok with this. You use language that shames poor people and you make fun of those in desperate situations. Maybe take a step back and have a look at how you speak about people who need compassion not your judgements.

Maybe ask yourself why you hate poor and the working poor so much? (a large percentage of those standing in lines for food parcels do have jobs, they just work for poverty wages aka the minimum wage). You speak about these people, and yes they are people with real emotions and feelings, with hopes and dreams, like they are vermin, they aren’t. They live and breath just like you do. I’m sorry you feel like you have to put other people down to raise yourself up.

I will look at what Rodney Hide has to say, I read both right wing and left wing perspectives. However let us pretend just for a moment the OECD report turns out to be built on false information or just wrong. It still wouldn’t change the reality that Aotearoa has never been so unequal. You only have to talk to community workers and those on the frontlines such as mental health workers or women working at women’s refuge to know how desperate some peoples situations have gotten since National took power.

The thing is as a political writer, a lot of my time is taken up simply going out on the streets and into communities to just talk with people. I believe storytelling is a radical form of political testimony. It can give shape to whole communities and it can connect us. There are thousands of people living in Aotearoa below the poverty line, they are hungry and our government is denying them the basics of life, like full bellies and a warm dry roof over their heads.

We do not talk about love and compassion enough in politics. People deserve to feel loved by their government. they deserve to know their current shitty situation is not their fault, poverty is by design.

There is plenty of wealth in Aotearoa, people can see it just not on their own pockets.

John key keeps telling poor and the working poor to work harder. Mean while he is off to Hawaii for his holidays. One could almost say telling people to work harder is like telling people to eat cake, it doesn’t solve anything.