(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

Oh, National's just going from strength to strength this week! In a spirited attempt to wrest the title of "most moronic National Party spokesperson of the month" from Bill English, Tony Ryall today revealed that the National Party would remove the restrictions which prevent GPs from charging whatever they like for their services. The cap was instituted by the Labour Government, as part of a deal which included increased funding for health services from the gvt. Ryall said that GP costs were not a priority for New Zealand voters. Most tellingly, according to 3 News, this policy is not in National's publicly available health policy brochure/manifesto/whatever.

These repeated slip-ups demonstrate that the National Party is not being honest with voters - or is choosing not to divulge what their real plans are should they be elected. When considering who to vote for next year, remember this stuff, guys. This is still the same party that raised state housing rents to market prices and slashed welfare payments in the 90s: this is the party that wants to give you a tax cut, but doesn't want to take care of the needs of every person in the country. This is the party whose answer to everything is "the market will take care of it." That's what John Key said today when asked whether he thought GP's prices would rise if National removed the cap. The proverbial market will apparently take care of your rents, your wages, your job, your education, your health.

Of course, the same market will guarantee privileged access to health and education to the wealthy, and happily forget people who can't afford to pay.

I'd rather pay taxes.

Meanwhile, the keywords for this new icon are "har har BULLSHIT."

Comments

[maudlinrose.livejournal.com]

... I really fucking hate the phrase "the market". It's not a place; it's a concept, and the concept is not without flaw. And the idea that we the people should exist in some kind of thrall to the economy and market forces is disgusting.

I've got a rant about taxes coming up, I think. Politics: grr. And, yet, politics: fascinating.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

... I really fucking hate the phrase "the market".

Oh my god me too. I've taken a bunch of ethics classes and normally three of four times a term we get into the kind of issue where economic policy is discussed (most recently, for example, in the context of public health care) and the market ALWAYS comes up and I ALWAYS end up repeating myself and I ALWAYS get pissed off, but yeah, the market sucks.

[maudlinrose.livejournal.com]

It's just such a cheap way of saying "I don't know" when asked "how will people whose current incomes suggest that they would not be able to access X privately at current prices do so, should they need X?" And I know I'm preaching to the converted, here, but. BUT. ARG, WOE, ETC.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

as far as I'm concerned, it's his way of saying "yes, poor people will struggle, but I think they're dumb enough not to understand the way the market privileges the wealthy, so I'm going to gloss over like so."

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAH LOOK AT THE STUPID.

No, seriously. How can they possibly think that policy will play well with anyone except the very rich?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Oh, they didn't - which is why the policy wasn't in their public discussion document. Ryall let it slip at press conference.

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

I'm sincerely tempted to, like, send the guy flowers or something.

[kuril.livejournal.com]

In the US, rent increases every year is a sure bet.

I'll be surprised if the depressed housing prices actually have an impact (i.e., cheaper houses mean less demand for apartments, therefore cheaper rents -- but I don't think it actually works that way!) We'll see.

National is the total suck.

[kuril.livejournal.com]

oh "state housing rents" -- not the same as I was talking about (I think; is it subsidized housing for qualifying people?).

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I mean, in general, rent increases every year. State housing is owned by the gvt, I believe, and yes, rented to people who qualify. An interesting factoid is that the last time the Nats brought state housing rent up to be equal with non-subsidised housing, child poverty in NZ tripled (source (http://labellementeuse.livejournal.com/130454.html)).

Your comments about house vs apartment are interesting - apartments/flats are very uncommon in new zealand and most of them are flash inner-city apartments. The ones that aren't flash are probably big blocks of state housing.

[botrytis.livejournal.com]

In order to afford tax cuts (etc), you have to find the money elsewhere. Either you borrow it, or you cut other expenditure.

It's not that hard a concept, but it seems that a lot of people like to forget about it - or make the hopeful assumption that the expenditure cuts won't impact them.

My biggest problem with John Key is that he comes across as a member of that group who say "Look what I did! You can too!" and seemingly have some sort of vision impairment that prevents them from seeing the people who tried for a similar career or life path and didn't make it to the same dizzying height that they did.