Friday, November 26, 2010

Alternative Welfare Working Group Report



The Alternative Welfare Working Group has published its report. You can download the full report from http://welfarejustice.org.nz/

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1 comment:

Keith Henderson said...

This letter sent to Listener re its article on WWG
Dear sir
From your article on the Welfare Working Group, the only advice it seems to have come up with is something government MPs have presumably believed since they left primary school, namely that if everyone worked, no-one need live in poverty. This plausible axiom of neo-liberal ideologues is neither more true nor more relevant than such comparable propositions as ‘If everyone had the income of Paula Rebstock, no-one need be poor’ or ‘If the economy was not in recession, everyone could have a job’.
The fact remains that the economy is in recession, meaning that employers find it unprofitable to employ everyone who needs a job. If Paula Webstock knows this, she is not letting on, as it is of obvious relevance. If unaware, she is ill-qualified to offer advice to anyone but an ideologically driven government.
If the government accepts the advice offered, it will have the ironical effect of falsifying the very premise on which that advice is based, as intensified competition in this job market will bring wages down below the poverty line around which they already hover. Knowing the credentials of the WWG, it is impossible not to believe that they know this too, but care more about the profits of employers than they do about the health of working class children.

D.K.Henderson

November 30, 2010 at 11:17 PM

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