Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: What about that Welfare Working Group, then?

177 Responses

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  • Sacha, in reply to Petra,

    because you needed a blimmin' haircut to look 'professional'

    Or clothes. Dress for Success is such a good idea. Not sure who does anything similar for men.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I recall the responsible Minister in Shipley's gummint, think it was Katherine Regan, making a similar offer for *one* week. Advocates suggested it might be a better challenge for a beneficiary to handle her weekly Ministerial salary of about $1600 instead.

    I recall thinking how meaningless that was at the time.

    I could survive easily for one week with the food in the closet and the petrol in the car. The dole money would go on the mortgage and... some change in my pocket. It's the 51 weeks after that which would be difficult.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • sally jones, in reply to Petra,

    “A fundamental reassessment of the rights and obligations attached to welfare is needed.”

    Welfare is justified on the basis of the social contract made by free individuals to give up their unlimited freedom and agree to be governed and abide by the rules of the collective, in exchange for its protection and provisions, precisely for people in the event of bad fortune, illness, recession, etc. The contract is decided by people who don't know their own socio-economic status but who do know that in their society the richest 10% own 50% of the productive assets (roughly). Support for those who would otherwise struggle to feed, clothe and house themselves would be the first priority in the contract for those deciding what kind of laws and rights ought to prevail from a more impartial and democratic point of view.
    Effective welfare is therefore the most ethically defensible public provision and should include public health and education. On its own, having just enough cheap food to eat is not enough to ensure the possibility of future prosperity. A just state must provide and protect that possibility for everyone.

    Auckland • Since Sep 2010 • 179 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Petra, in reply to 3410,

    I’m only 4 minutes into it, and I dislike her intensely, already!

    “If people choose not to work…” . Oh, fuck off back to the US, you shallow, thoughtless bint!

    And of course, single parents have always been single parents...no one went on the benefit after having a couple of kids and finding themselves separated or divorced from those they had their children with, under the romantic notion that their relationship would never end. Good grief. Piss off.

    Sally Jones: Amen!


    Also, rich listers hogging teh welfare: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10690977

    *grumpy face*

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Petra, in reply to Sacha,

    Yeah, it'd be great if you could get away with succesfully saying, in an interview, "look, please giz the job, and I swear that after a month or two of earning some proper money, my fashion sense will improve markedly".

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Petra,

    Been there...

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Petra,

    SCF, Equitable Mortgages... they likely won't be the first. I can hear a Coffee Party starting to froth.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Petra,

    I am obviously an evil pinko, but I wonder why it's deemed necessary for us to wear a particular *type* of boring shitty clothing to be 'professional'.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Danielle,

    Oh I've railed against that one for years - the notion that you can judge someone's competence by the fact they're being forced to wear a silly necktie to fit in is positively mediaeval. So glad it's dying out.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Petra,

    Rotorua • Since Mar 2007 • 317 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    I am obviously an evil pinko, but I wonder why it's deemed necessary for us to wear a particular *type* of boring shitty clothing to be 'professional'.

    I'd prefer not to get started on that particular we-do-it-because-we've-always-done-it-if-it-ain't-broke-why-fix-it nonsense. I occassionally have to flick through various professional inductry journals (Actuary Monthly, Lawyers and their Laws NZ Quarterly. The Professional Accountant, etc).

    A re-occurring article is 'Best Dressed'. Which is generally won by.....A man dressed in a suit. That looks like more or less every other suit ever.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    Anyone else wondered how much it's going to cost in *gasp* welfare to support the ECE teachers who're being laid off because National had to pay for tax cuts somehow? There's a serious lack of cause-effect nous going on down there *points vaguely in the direction of the Beehive*

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    Saying that suits all look the same is like saying that pop music all sounds the same. Yes, there's only three chords and you've got to keep it simple, but at the same time, it's a pretty demanding and fascinating form.

    (I should note that dress sense stuff isn't really about money, it's about taste, which is way way more pernicious.)

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Keir Leslie,

    I should note that dress sense stuff isn’t really about money, it’s about taste, which is way way more pernicious.

    Yes. Some of the best*-dressed people I know often clothe themselves in things from op-shops. But that stuff often isn't seen as 'professional'.

    *where 'best' means 'interesting, fun, unique, cute'

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Saying that suits all look the same is like saying that pop music all sounds the same.

    Well, it does if you're not interested in it enough to absorb yourself in the detail. Which is the point here, right?

    But the other point is that pop music is not the only musical genre, but it's the only one you can wear to work. Or something along the lines of a hideously twisted metaphor,,,

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Suits are like commercial radio then..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    More or less.

    Ever tried working on an office wearing a suit that wasn't of an entirely sober and neutral colour and cut? A shade of red, for example? You might be able to get away with a very subdued green, but otherwise, it's black, blue or grey on high rotate all day. When a discussion of 'radical' changes in working fashion is, in effect, reduced to a discussion of pinstripe spacing, excuse me if I have trouble working up any enthusiasm.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Keir Leslie,

    Likewise, ever try to get away with a pop song longer than five minutes? You might get away with six on a good day etc.

    I quite agree it's unfair to make people dress in suits all day long, but I think that saying suits all look the same is basically wilful blindness. The people who wear them can clearly tell the difference, which suggests there's something going on there.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    Keir, I don't disagree that I'm being wilfully blind (deaf?). However, the devil is in the detail, and I just can't work up any enthusiasm for it. Suits are just not something I even bother noticing unless it was (is) compulsary.

    Anyway, since this thread is careering (ahaha) off the rails, here's something to drag it back on topic: Welfare to work in the UK. Coming to New Zealand soon?

    A little googling of A4E and Emma Harrison throws up some interesting reading material.....

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F, in reply to Rich Lock,

    Anyway, since this thread is careering (ahaha) off the rails, here's something to drag it back on topic: Welfare to work in the UK.

    Dear God.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • tatjna,

    My response (closer to old-fashioned rage than numeric analysis and too long for a comment here):

    http://tatjna.livejournal.com/699151.html

    Wellington • Since Dec 2010 • 22 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    Bernie Sanders tells it like it is.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Thanks, Jake. Wow. I so wish there was anyone locally saying that so clearly and forcefully.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to tatjna,

    Actually, Tatjana, you *are* making the case really well. Thank you. As some of your commenters have said, you could easily submit that to a newspaper op-ed page with a smidge of editing. I like this theme:

    Those things are not things that make me better than anyone else. What they do is make me luckier. They make me more employable. They are things that came to me through no effort on my part, and a lot of people out there do not have those things.

    ....

    People are on a benefit long term because there are more people available than there are jobs available. Because NZ's wages have not kept up with inflation and therefore single parents cannot earn enough to pay child care costs so that they can work the hours required by employers. Because New Zealand still has prejudices against people with disabilities, people who are older, people who might get pregnant and people with brown skin. AND BECAUSE THERE AREN'T ENOUGH JOBS TO GO AROUND. And because a lot of the available jobs are only accessible to those who've done the ten or so years of upskilling required while earning minimum wage supplemented by a benefit.

    ...

    Meanwhile, John Key please shut the fuck up. Yes, you were a fatherless child. That's about all you have in common with the children of those dead miners, or the children of the still-alive miners who worked at the now-defunct Pike River Mine. And don't you ever forget that you got your education for free. "Bootstraps", you say? "You too can be like me" you say? Okay, lets see those straps those kids are supposed to pull themselves up by. Because from what I see, they all got cut before these children were even born (but of course, after you benefited from them).

    John Key's family offered him the inherited social capital of the privileged wealthy of Europe (and his mother's father was a leather merchant, speaking of bootstraps). They certainly did it hard during his largely fatherless youth, though as you say propped up by all this nation's state supports so blithely dismantled by neolib nutters from 1984 onwards.

    But the individualistic 'boy from a state house made good' schtick is so much easier to sell. As is blaming each poor person for the failings of social and market structures deliberately designed for the benefit of others.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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