Benefits

http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2010/06/11/g-campbell-ministerial-spending-child-poverty/

Kia-ora
Hi
We need to look at the fact that most elderly people are quite comfortably off when the young are struggling. Do we want to do that to our kids. The biggest welfare benefit is still superannuation. Since Muldoon made it an election bribe super has been the elephant in the room nobody talks about. Instead of gold cards a subsidy on public transport for teenagers looking for work, A guaranteed minimum income for children. I get annoyed when people i work with over 65 who are on a good wage crow about receiving super, why should they before they retire? Inflation is a no-no because it decreases the value of monetary investments, but some is beneficial as it also has the effect of transferring capital from those who have a lot to young wage earners. Bernard Hickey talks a lot of rubbish at times but he is right about our failing to help our young people.
Now anyone who wants to come off a benefit faces even greater obstacles in gaining skills. Apprenticeships are almost impossible to get. Entry to tertiary education is being limited. Funding for study is not enough to keep a family and study. Anyone who thinks benefit levels are not an incentive to get work has not had to live on one.
Employers get off very lightly in NZ. No payroll taxes, no 9% super contributions, fire almost at will, cheap immigrants allowed if they cannot get a NZ’r to work for low wages, no rights to strike, Go bankrupt and start another company if it dosn’t work, any twerp can start a company, big pool of unemployed to keep wages down, almost all training paid by taxpayers. WFF so employees can survive on low wages. WFF is actually a subsidy for employers. What more do they want. I suggest that low productivity is due to lack of investment in training and plant rather than anything employees do. We already work more hours than the Japanese we used to feel sorry for.