tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post9186539491051861998..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: It’s Time To Stop Subsidising New Zealand’s Least Efficient Employers.Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-38940928738177871792018-06-23T23:39:03.262+12:002018-06-23T23:39:03.262+12:00Very sorry for my out of context 'modern media...Very sorry for my out of context 'modern media' fiery comments above this column. Easy enough to fire up, not so easy to build something. Though still don't understand your seeming arguments against this government between the election and its formation.sumsuchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133092096534660472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-63665419255418489032018-06-13T07:42:01.636+12:002018-06-13T07:42:01.636+12:00https://www.vox.com/2014/4/18/5624310/martin-gilen...https://www.vox.com/2014/4/18/5624310/martin-gilens-testing-theories-of-american-politics-explained<br />An interesting study. And I wouldn't be surprised if it applied to New Zealand.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-59072265614098428372018-06-13T07:06:01.895+12:002018-06-13T07:06:01.895+12:00I think working for families was a sop to the midd...I think working for families was a sop to the middle classes, some of whom were finding it difficult to manage on their salaries. These are articulate people who tend to vote. I remember an article in the Dom. Post about it years ago. They interviewed a very middle-class woman who was asking why they couldn't manage on whatever they made. And it wasn't necessarily the bottom of the pay scale either. I think we received it for about a year, and we were by no means at the bottom of the pay scale that time. It was just that we had a family. Something about which I was told "Kids don't cost that much." – You know who you are.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-18638321713190514882018-06-12T19:33:01.583+12:002018-06-12T19:33:01.583+12:00Unfortunately Working for Families has become a ba...Unfortunately Working for Families has become a back door subsidy for employers paying low wages. I think the government probably looked at the projected increased costs of it and realised that increasing wages at the bottom of the pay scale was the only way they could avoid a massive blow out in the cost of Working for Families. The Accommodation Supplement that a lot of low income New Zealanders now get is also another back door subsidy, but instead of employers it's for the landlords.Steve Alfredsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-6458222231621104562018-06-12T16:36:09.947+12:002018-06-12T16:36:09.947+12:00Chris
I largely agree with you But I have a sus...Chris<br /><br />I largely agree with you But I have a suspicion that "Working for Families" played a significant role in keeping our economy more buoyant than most during the worst of the GFC.<br /><br />Is there someone out there with genuine knowledge who can confirm or deny this proposition?Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-66899486503590683782018-06-12T16:32:10.326+12:002018-06-12T16:32:10.326+12:00Regrettably, the Labour-led government of Helen Cl...<i>Regrettably, the Labour-led government of Helen Clark and Michael Cullen failed to reverse National’s low-wage strategy. Not only did they decline to restore the trade unions to anything like their former strength, but they augmented National’s low-wage strategy by introducing “Working For Families” which was nothing more nor less than a massive wage-subsidy to New Zealand’s worst employers, </i><br /><br />To my mind, the working for families thing was partly an attempt to return to the old structured, tiered wage rates which I think had a code of F for family, and went from F1 to F5 with a drop in the weekly PAYE as the family grew up to a finite five? <br /><br />What would have been intelligent, if it is possible coming from the upwardly striving nouveau riche, would have been to have made parenting, caring and volunteering the equivalent of paid work. And if being done reasonably well, such people had some advantage from Working for Families or some stand-alone payment. But higher-class Labour wanted to break its ties with the proles, and they weren't sure about the plebs either.greywarblernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-61036567585835572992018-06-12T16:15:52.697+12:002018-06-12T16:15:52.697+12:00If Labour was a 'true' labour party repres...If Labour was a 'true' labour party representing the working class then Helen Clarke's government would have immediately repealed the employment contracts act. They didn't and this Labour led coalition won't either. I wish there was an alternative party to vote for on the left who represent the working class. (Not the Greens, they hate the working class)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-3665195113455842232018-06-12T15:43:05.688+12:002018-06-12T15:43:05.688+12:00I have a real problem with the lack of collective ...I have a real problem with the lack of collective bargaining; it has enabled well placed individuals to capture excessive amounts of remuneration.<br /><br /> In the private sector because of the dominance of huge corporations CEOs are rarely anything other than mandarins who extract value. They don't create value in the way the owner of a start up or small business has to. Therein lies an issue, wealth extraction is of itself of no value to the whole economy.<br /><br />Worse still our public sector mandarins think they are highly valuable, and consist the head of an overpaid managerial and consultant class. Again no value creation. It is played by you and me through tax.<br /><br />I want the equation flattened, distribute the money equitably and allow only those who create real value for the rest of us to benefit above this.Nick Jnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-12558733158727542022018-06-12T13:40:11.659+12:002018-06-12T13:40:11.659+12:00Incidentally,Incidentally, and just as a matter of...Incidentally,Incidentally, and just as a matter of interest though vaguely relevant, Varoufakis' second book about his attempted negotiations with the EU was on Amazon at about five dollars something yesterday. Kindle edition only. Might be worth a look if you have a Kindle or at least the app. I thought it was worth a punt at the price.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-81982139400823148272018-06-12T09:25:08.258+12:002018-06-12T09:25:08.258+12:00It seems that everything that is said, promised an...It seems that everything that is said, promised and advanced as envisaged by government and leaders is revealed as lies and hypocrisy or stupid wrongheadedness from the determinedly ignorant, or academically brainwashed from higher education specialising in passing on the current received wisdom, and only that line of thought. That's a joined-up sentence from a simple person which, I consider, expresses the essence of volumes of words of explanation and study.greywarblernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-77734366618545232342018-06-11T15:39:01.591+12:002018-06-11T15:39:01.591+12:00Geez Chris – it's like waiting for a bus. Noth...Geez Chris – it's like waiting for a bus. Nothing happens for ages and they all come along at once.:)<br /><br />True indeed they did all this. And they did it while promising us a high skill high wage economy. If that's not the epitome of hypocrisy, I don't know what is. It's like a lot of things – like education – we know what works, we have examples of it working overseas, and we either ignore them or follow countries where it hasn't worked simply for reasons of ideology. Whatever happened to pragmatism? Depressing.Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.com