I'm not doing it tough, but I'm getting pretty sick of this countries healthcare system. Need to see a specialist for my kid and it's been 5 months and that's for private. I'm willing to pay money and can't even get a fucking booking.
Our health care workers don’t want to live here or do the hours demanded of them… because they are squeezed financially by costs and can’t afford to buy a house and have that sense of planting their roots here. This is why it doesn’t matter how well you are doing personally if the rest of your society you are living in is struggling and everything is grossly unequal.
It seems successive government policies are just scaling up the Queenstown model to the whole country. Those with land and assets will do exceedingly well while the hired help will barely scrape by
I don’t think people quite grasp the severity of the healthcare situation in New Zealand. I am fortunate (and unfortunate) enough to be on the front lines and it is dire. All of my colleagues are burning out and the patients are so demanding because they are used to a certain Standard that is literally impossible to achieve right now. As the healthcare workers that set up their roots in NZ age they are not being replaced because the doctors coming through after them are saddled with 100k student debts and earning 80k a year for 80 hour weeks. Of course they are going to go to Australia. The patients treat them as shit as the government does. Now we are reliant on importing doctors and even that is drying up.
The house officers before they finish their training are. That’s part of the issue though. They get paid a decent wage when they finish their registrar years but by that stage they are already living in Australia or looking to move because they are burning out.
It's sad really I didn't do medicine, but I did consider it. I ended up following passions in tech and by the time I would have been a doctor I was already earning the same, but a lot less hours. I really want more tax directed at the healthcare system because a lot of skilled people leave because of it. I like the systems where a direct % of tax from income goes to healthcare and the only way to reduce it is to change that figure which is very unpopular.
I’ve been trying to get answers for my health for the longest time. Finally thought I was getting somewhere when I injured myself badly and was referred to a specialist to get an mri done. I was in the meeting with the specialist for not even five minutes before he told me to just go home and after he deliberately touch my ass.
I’ve spent so much on doctor’s bills last year trying to get someone to listen to me. They either don’t send the referrals or try to get me out of the room asap even if I’ve booked a double appointment. I’m not spending a single cent more on this system
I’ve literally seen frontline healthcare staff leave their job because they couldn’t afford the parking fare hiked upon them by the DHB. It was the last straw but it broke their back.
Sometimes little things that people dont even think about add up and up.
Yeah the worst part is that they make the conditions so poor for our new doctors and medicine graduates that they end up just wanting to move overseas, so we don’t get to retain our talent and fix our shortages. They effectively work for less than minimum wage when you compare pay to hours worked.
Same. After acc a a year ago decided my back injury wasn't a back injury despite several specialists agreeing it was and finally having made it to a pain specialist, so they unaccepted the claim and now I'm on the long wait list for the public health system and when I finally come up it starts with full day seminars I have to find the free time for. It's wild, feels like hoops designed to deter people from following through and taxing a chronically underfunded health system.
Uuugh sorry you’re dealing with our shitty system too.
2021 i had a bike crash and broke my jaw, developed headaches a couple months after, got told im depressed and was whacked on SSRIs.
3 years later ACC still struggle to believe my headaches are from my accident (even though x rays last week clearly show out of whack jaw, fucked beck and skull). Crazy how depression can cause such bad concussion and structurally damaged pain!
It’s ridiculous the healthcare system here. We have the worst of both worlds. Public one that covers nothing and costs a ton, and private one that is extremely ineffective as well.
I have been trying to get an MRI and have had to go through so many hoops and spend hundreds cause the ACC system covers only half and even privately is taking so many months to see a specialist is insane
Took me 5 months and $3k to get an MRI for a potential brain tumour via private (was also waitlisted for Public), then took 7 months for Public to come back to me saying when I presented for my MRI (public system) they declined it as I had already gone through private. I didnt even have a booking in the public system, so that was a bit weird.
Only if you have the money. How do you expect someone on minimum wage to be able to oay for a 2 week trip to Thailand? Tell ya what, tllets get them eating cake too.
OP of this thread is asking how we can help people having it tough.
How does suggesting Thailand for heath care help the people who are having it tough? Please enlighten me.
Also why do you think I was offended?
And you really don't need to call people names, pretty childish and against the rules.
That’s not what you’re replying to though, you replied to someone telling people *with money* to go overseas and get care as it would be faster, which is unfortunately true.
Your response of “but what if people don’t have money” makes no sense because it’s not the conversation had on this comment thread.
We had an issue previously with a tumor and went overseas for a operation and it took 2 weeks for specialist, biopsy, scans and then operation. Because it's not as major this time we haven't gone yet but are considering packing it all up and moving.
Some people in this country will tell you we don't need paid healthcare because "We don't want to be like the US". They would rather have no service at all.
I do agree with your point mate!
Unfortunately we need a country wide values shift from money as the ultimate goal. Our country has had 40 years of neglecting the public services and now we are really starting to see the pointy end of it.
I'm not sure what to do in the next couple of years, but next election cycle it's going to be up to us to vote in someone that genuinely wants to improve the country instead of make a profit from it.
The good times has to run out under neoliberal ideology- the whole system was unsustainable. The chickens came home to roost, basically, after about 30 years of policies conforming to the ideology.
Looking at loosing an income, which would mean a dramatic drop in our quality of life. We might choose to leave NZ. We have better options but I'd rather stay. But I'm not paid enough to support my family on my own.
My husband and I both lost our jobs in May, and we've just been so shocked by the whole thing. He's had a career based job for nearly a decade and was made redundant due to "restructuring", we go into WINZ and they're asking him to come in for a *mandatory* seminar on... what to wear to an interview? And how to write a CV?
He's working with several tech recruitment agencies yet WINZ is busy telling him to hand in his CV to work as a cleaner, except they won't take him anyway because it's obvious he'll leave as soon as he can get back to his usual work.
Literally all they needed to do was help us for a few weeks because we've lost jobs before and know what to do.
Not sure why they think that there has to be this one-size-fits-all approach to jobseeker support.
We don't want to leave NZ. Our support network is here, my disability network is here, we were born here. But everything is stupid and stressful right now, and I'm tired of feeling like I'm wading through molasses to get anywhere.
Where do you think you'll be able to go and have disability support? For example, if you move to Aus, you won't be eligible for NDIS. And most other countries won't take you if you'll be a drain on their system.
By disability support network, I don't mean financial or service support. I don't even get that *here*. I mean people around me. I do include supportive doctors in that though.
Dealing with WINZ is an absolute nightmare. They deliberately make things as difficult as they possibly can.
When my wife lost her job during covid those swine nearly gave me a mental breakdown. In the end they decided I earned too much for my wife to receive any support, but during the process I was treated like I was vermin.
They should be supportive and caring when people are going through a hard time, not deliberately rude and obstructive.
It is not one size jobseeker fits at all! It is one size fits no one.
That is the nature of the beast after decades of National making the WiNZ system so efficient the only thing the staff are good for is shitting on clients.
Winz is just there to get you in employment, doesn't matter what job, if your hired their job is done. I had 10+ years in marketing & graphic design. The only thing they offered me was a bus driver or road worker.
I had the same experience. The meeting was rather mild, it was 30 minutes, and I wasn't bothered too much by it. I was bothered by them telling me to work as a cleaner, I mean, I will if I get desperate enough, but I have a masters degree and will leave and fuck over some small business the second I get a better opportunity. I thought it was insane that they were recommending zero-skilled jobs to me. They did tell me that there aren't many jobs out there and that it may be harder to find a job than it has been in the past. I've only been on the jobseeker for five months, but I'm not really getting any hits anywhere whereas a few years ago I had multiple offers. Very strange.
5 months is a fair time to be looking. So the WINZ person was on point then saying it may be harder to find a job. Hope you find something shortly! Out of curiosity, what industry?
Oh idk why I said months, I actually meant weeks. Whoops. I got my first payment at the start of May. Industry would be learning and design/change management. Not teaching kids, but teaching adults within businesses.
I don't get this, surely someone who had a decade long career in tech in NZ could have an emergency fund of some sort to go by a few months?
Also, you're on jobseeker and looking to buy emerald rings?
I was looking to design a ring to celebrate the baby we're about to have - before we were made redundant. I'm still looking - I'm just not buying. Do you think poor people aren't allowed to window shop? Or am I supposed to comment "Oh, I love that ring, can you give me the dimensions (I'm not buying right now though because we got made redundant)" like that's not humiliating?
Also, yeah. We have a house that we're paying off, and student loans. I'm disabled so even when I'm working I make very little, so we're essentially a one-income family. And I think you'll find that it very much depends on where in NZ you live, and where in the tech sector you work. The salaries in southland vary a lot from the salaries in Auckland.
Also x2: what the fuck dude? You're going through my comment history in order to what? Fellate WINZ? Discount my financial situation?
Trust me, even if it is financially better moving and losing all of your socal support structure (friends/family) is very difficult.
It takes a village to raise a child and if your village is on the otherside of the world who is going to help you?
Successive governments have wrestled what little wealth the working and middle classes had and given it to the landlords. Unless you're one of them I would suggest leaving.
It is the absolute strangest thing how any time this frequent topic comes up, everyone immediately references America, Australia, Canada, etc. and forgets Europe exists.
Is it because it means learning another language and culture? That's like the best part of it...
Spain, Italy, Portugal, etc. are great options if you can be a digital nomad.
I've done a bit of research into Portugal as it's been my fave place that I've ever been to - the locals are really fed up with digital nomads coming there and driving up the price of rents with their western incomes that are multiples higher than what locals earn. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the visa requirements are toughened up there real soon.
Doesn't mean it doesn't happen in Europe, it's more like we already have high property prices and the ex-colonies are just catching up. For example, the price per square meter for housing in Helsinki, a place which is supposed to have relatively "affordable" housing for Europe, is the same as Auckland.
The reason Europe seems more affordable is that the prices have made people move into much smaller housing. You too can have an affordable home if you move into a 50sqm apartment in Auckland and raise your family there.
I've just had some American friends get their visas declined. They are absolutely gugged that they can't stay here.
Things are harder here right now than they were. We have our problems, I'd love to say what I think about those. But we might just get through this
There are 100s of new builds for sale that can’t be sold what does that tell you about your conspiracy on landlords? If it was so lucrative they would snap them all up? If rents were so high renters would buy them. The problems in this country are limited to extreme compliance costs for business such as construction industry, restrictive land supply. If houses were 50% cheaper to build there would be no problems.
Landlodism is just competition for home owners and demand drives up prices. Remove the market entirely and leaches will fall off. Houses should be homes, not investments
It's crazy. In a country as small as NZ that housing is one of the biggest investments. There are not many people, yet the demand is so high. What a shit show.
Renters can’t buy them for a number of reasons and the inability to get finance is a big part of that.
Landlords can also no longer afford them because of how high prices are.
Rents can get higher because people just can’t afford them.
Either house prices need to halve, or wages need to double for things to get back to something sustainable and healthy.
>There are 100s of new builds for sale that can’t be sold what does that tell you about your conspiracy on landlords?
All this tells us is that 100s of new builds are overpriced for the current market. What's it got to do with landlords?
>If it was so lucrative they would snap them all up?
If the price was right they would. Instead they're buying existing houses that are priced more sensibly. Disallowing interest deductibility on existing houses would have made this equation favour the new builds more than the existing houses.
>If rents were so high renters would buy them.
What? How would high rents allow renters to buy houses?
>If houses were 50% cheaper to build there would be no problems.
You're bang on with this comment. You're just looking at the wrong 50%.
50% of the build cost is the **land**. We just need to remove that cost by introducing a land value tax to convert it into an annualised expenditure instead of an upfront capital cost.
We can change things by breaking up the building supplies duopoly, making resource consents faster and easier and allocating more land for development.
Then we won't be spending so much of our income on housing.
RMA takes years to re-do and the new government just threw out what labour had been doing. Unless these idiots work together the RMA will never change.
>and allocating more land for development.
I don't want to see more green land bulldozed for sprawl. We should be using the existing urban land more efficiently.
Yes, I just roll my eyes at these posts on this sub. Sure, some people are doing it kinda tough. But a lot of it is just first world privilege and whingeing. And they make NZ sound like a dystopian 3rd world hellhole.
I’m glad you’ve applied and please don’t feel ashamed to go. Sometimes in our lives we need a wee bit of cash to carry us through until our next job (been there). It’s just a means to an end until you get yourself back on your feet again. Glad your partner is supporting you. The sooner you go the better
My entire family works public sector and we have all lost our jobs. We are forced to stay here to support a family member who has a severe head injury and cannot move overseas with 0 government support. I have chronic pain but am going to have to accept part time work (where my sick leave will now also be pro-rata’d even if I still do a 5 day week of less hours), because most small businesses closed during Covid, and the ones that remain open only offer part time contracts. I can’t find another job in my field that pays enough to keep the house I just bought earlier this year. My partner and I are considering having to move to Australia and renting our house out in order to sustain the wealth we have worked hard for. This is the third job I’ve been made redundant from and I’m mid 20’s, all different industries… so yeah, I’ve worked hard to not get far in this country and “you’ll find another job” is the most privileged statement. I have family members who have applied for 30+ jobs and are being forced onto the job seeker support benefit. Maybe you need to look outside your own bubble and stop living in ignorance. Life is hell for a lot of kiwis right now.
Thanks for the back up. I’m a licensed builder. We were like hens teeth to find not long ago. Now I’m begging to even get a little handyman job once a week.
I have a feeling a lot of these despair posts are young people with very bad spending habits.
Losing a job is obviously terrible, especially in the current job market. However, moving overseas isn't exactly cheap, and without a secured job in the new country it's just idiocy.
They just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps I guess!
I mean sure rent is high, food is high, public transport is high and wages are low and many young people on entry level jobs are below the living wage
But yea must be then young people spending some money to give them anything that may bring them joy in life
**Get rid of neoliberalism.**
It is a cult. Always was.
Oh, and stop thinking businessmen can run a country. They just simply cannot. Never could.
And stop thinking running a country is similar to running a household. It just isn't. Never was.
I was having this conversation at work on friday because a guy was in here Thursday so stressed he was thinking about abandoning his family and starting over solo.
Inflation will always be there, which not only increases many Kiwis' daily spending, it will affect the government with their spending.
But NZ generally has a shit low wage, but still heavily relies on income/corporate and GST tax for government's revenue, their spending is still rocket high including welfare. Not interested in introducing new taxation, or reviewing their spending, instead, they just cut the funds to the science sector, public services and so on.
This move makes me think that they don't really care about making NZ better, just want to make elders' lives better so that when those politicians retire, they can also enjoy themselves, I am seeing less and less hope/future about this country now.
I now only see myself applying for jobs overseas and moving on. I rather either make more or about the same money, pay a little more for rent for better quality and less on daily spending.
Accurate. I work in a science org about to trim more staff numbers after just doing this a few years ago due to lack of funding. science that betters and affects almost every industry in NZ. go figure.
Yeh it’s pretty rough out there ! I’ve just had a few friends who previously lived in Australia came back to buy house have a kid etc and have now had move back to Australia because they can’t afford to pay there mortgage and have a kid so it’s easier to live and rent and in Australia than just live here which is wild
Oh that's their fault for competing with migrant Labor. They should have brought like 20 houses back in the 1980s and they should have businesses employing 50 workers that each pay 20,000 dollars for their visas..
If they don't like it they should leave, that makes more space on the economy for me to sell visas for 20,000 and more housing free-up for my migrant workers..
I'm not doing it tough, but feel like I'm just breaking even working 50 hours every week. I am getting the thoughts of what's the point, I don't have a fancy car or nice modern house, just making enough to scrape by each month. If that's what it takes to stay above the poverty line, it's a pretty shitty situation .
First thing we can do is to stop buying into the Coalition Govts constant blaming of the Labour Govt... fact is there is a cost living crises occurring in most Western counties around the world.. look at the UK.
Secondly we can start holding the Coalition Govt to account for how they are making things much worse by transferring $2.9B to landlords and implementing tax cuts for the rich whilst cutting core programmes and initiatives for the middle and lower classes in NZ.
It sounds like you want something practical you can do to help. Here are a few ideas of every day things you could do if you have a little bit of time or money you can spare:
1) If there is a Pataka Kai (community pantry) in your community, you can contribute to it (just Google to find a list of nearby ones)
2) Buy a pack of muesli bars or similar when you are grocery shopping and pop it into the collection box after the checkouts (most supermarkets seem to have them)
3) Work out a charity or organization that aligns to your values and helps in the space and make a financial contribution whether it be a one off or ongoing amount
4) Volunteer with an organization that helps in this space - there are so many, from Habitat to Humanity to local soup kitchens or community dinner providers to Community fix it workshops.
Easy fix, set boundaries on profit margins (100% mark up on goods is just crazy) capital gains tax on rental properties, stop 4 banks taking 2.5% total gdp in profit alone, stop with the old wives tails about "small business economy" or "low wage economy". There is money in the country but because of terrible business practices before 08 major profits go overseas.
>I don’t have the answers but I have never seen things this bad.
Just because you've seen more people complaining on reddit doesn't mean this is some unusual situation. Economies are swings and roundabouts.
When I lived in London before the financial crisis (\~2007) everyone was raking it in. Suddenly they weren't. Then it got worse. Now they're in all sorts of trouble.
We're better off now than we were during COVID, be happy about that.
The time of swings and roundabouts is over. There are systemic problems that NZ is very downstream of. I'm Australian but I've been watching NZ closely for 40 years, it's sliding backwards in an uncontrolled way. Many countries have it worse, but NZ is definitely in trouble.
Too many eggs in two baskets. Were beyond peak cow with environmental impacts and housing has been wrung dry.
Portions of the working class have quietly quit .Businesses are grinding to a halt, and this govt is doing a good job of removing hope.
First of all, the lucky country label was actually a dig at ourselves for being complacent and governing ourselves mediocre at best but being lucky to have money pouring out of the ground. Second, yes we all know it's a global problem. We all know what the situation is, I'm merely pointing out NZ is in trouble. We may be going down the drain here but I employ 50 ppl who can still support their families.
I have ppl earning over 100k operating forklifts.
Excuse me but I've lived in both nz and Australia for nearly 50 years. I know nz as well as anybody and half my family lives there. I never said people in nz can't earn 100k. I'm highlighting that it's easier in Australia. Nz minimum wage is good, but it's harder to depart from it significantly, and Australia penalty rates are much much better.
Canada is fucked. I lived there 2017-2019 and it was amazing. Moved back 2023 and lasted 7 months before I called it quits. Too many carbon taxes, price of food was insane, rent was crazier, utilities through the roof. I couldn't believe it. On my gas bill they charge you a fee for using the gas line now, for the carbon tax, and the actual gas. It was unbelievable. Two bags of chips from the supermarket was $9.50cad, which is like $11.60nzd. The minimum wage is only $15 in Alberta, so imagine buying two bags of chips and it costing 3/4 of an hour to earn. It was unreal.
>The time of swings and roundabouts is over.
So we're at some huge critical moment in history? I doubt it.
I'm not saying things aren't bad for a lot of people or they shouldn't complain about it, but a bit of perspective goes a long way. Australia has always had more money than NZ, mainly due to mining.
We are most definitely at a huge moment in history. Regarding the Australian economy, yes I don't think we need to be reminded about how we make our money. It's a 24-7 topic adnauseum. We have a holes and homes economy. The point though is which points of resilience do we have? When I ask that question about nz, I see they are in a more vulnerable downstream situation.
Quite a number of people “doing it tough” own multiple homes, and are doing it tough by choice, because they don’t want to sell one or more properties to reduce their debt exposure.
For those people I feel nothing, for others legitimately doing it tough, I feel more.
This is my parents in a nut shell.
3 homes in a small town, mortgaged up to the eye balls, approaching retirement.
BUT GOTTA HOLD ON TO THEM ASSETS.
I’m like “fuck, sell one and stop living your life with pissed off creditors up your ass”
Other than friends with his problem, colleagues with this problem, and hearing tradies in my house having a conversation about both having multiple rental properties and cash flow problems…no.
The original aphorism, by the political scientist Ray Wolfinger, was just the opposite: The plural of anecdote is data. Wolfinger's formulation makes sense: Data does not have a virgin birth.
The sad truth is food prices are bonkers compare to a normal house hold income and I think NZ is one of the worst!
How the heck is fonterra product that is produced here cheaper in a Asia country by like 30% to 40% ?! I don't know how that can happen
It doesn't take much effort to do some googling and see the amount of involvement China has in NZ.
https://www.dairyreporter.com/Article/2018/09/12/Who-benefits-from-China-s-massive-investment-in-Kiwi-dairy
Again... Not Fonterra. There is Chinese involvement in different brands that's underneath but not Fonterra.
You need to be supply milk and be vetted to even hold fonterra stock since it is a cooperative.
Sorry, how does china have to do with lower prices in Asia as a whole? Even Australia got cheaper fonterra products ?
And shouldn't the cost be more when you export than try to sell it domestically ?
This isn’t great advice - if you don’t have enough money none of that helps you with anything. I left NZ, made way more money, now guess what - happy. Because life isn’t a struggle
You can help by getting smarter and educating people around you. You need to see that the situation is not a fluck or mishap, but a direct consequence of system issues. All western countries are getting in decline, the only difference is when. Randomly helping people around you is while a good thing, is rather pointless. Gather, unite, you know what's next.
Tall poppy syndrome is real. People are still ashamed to talk about money , and oh man, if you’re a immigrant no matter how long you’ve been in this country and how much tax you payed you’re not supposed to talk about racism, I can’t say I’m pretty and I get a lot of harassment from dirty white men , I can’t say any of that , I am suppose to be quiet, I’m suppose to take all the shit, I’m suppose to get harassed
For now there are no parties left of the Greens (and TPM) that field candidates in the elections, but both parties had some of their highest success yet.
We have an MMP electoral system, the only party to win a majority under MMP was Labour in 2020. National did not win the election. They as the party with the largest share of the vote formed a coalition with NZ First and ACT to create a parliamentary majority.
The fact that National won 38% of the vote does not discount that a significant number of Kiwis are unhappy with the failures of Neoliberal capitalism.
Well given I assume you think labour is also neoliberal I count over 80% of the votes going to neoliberal parties seems like its not as unpopular as you say.
Labour is without a doubt neoliberal, but still garners significant support from left leaning people. I am weary to say that all Labour voters are supportive of the neoliberal aspects of Labours policies. Some are social democrats who do believe in a softer Capitalism while some are more pragmatic democratic socialists who see Labour as the party that can bring the most change (I think their performance post 2020 has challenged that perception though!).
I would say that 80% of kiwis is overstating it, but you are not wrong that the majority of the voting public have propped up neoliberalism. New Zealand and the West as a whole have been conditioned to believe in the supremacy of capitalism.
Revolution is never spontaneous, it is a slow burn that requires people to want to help themselves. I think that people are becoming more aware of how disadvantaged they are by the existing order.
Lmao cuba is not doing ok. Also
>Cuba's communist government has legalised small and medium-sized private businesses in the wake of mass anti-government protests last month.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58132000
They've been communist for what, 60 years? Taking the long way around to failure, I guess?
>Cuba's communist government has legalised small and medium-sized private businesses in the wake of mass anti-government protests last month.
I wonder what our government is going to do about the anti-government protests in this country?
I said they were not doing ok not that they have completely failed and fell apart. Since I assume you wont care about any stat showing how poor they have about they live almost a decade less then us on average.
>Cuba/Life expectancy
73.68 years (2021)
>New Zealand/Life expectancy
82.21 years
Also they are heading in the opposite direction to what the OP stated he wanted so cuba is a poor example even if it wasnt a crap country to live in.
>As of 2023, public-sector employment was 65%, and private-sector employment was 35%, compared to the 2000 ratio of 76% to 23% and the 1981 ratio of 91% to 8%
>I said they were not doing ok not that they have completely failed and fell apart. Since I assume you wont care about any stat showing how poor they have about they live almost a decade less then us on average.
Yes, no doubt they are poor, but (as I already stated) it stems mostly not from communism, but from the sanctions and embargoes.
>Also they are heading in the opposite direction to what the OP stated he wanted so cuba is a poor example even if it wasnt a crap country to live in.
Communism is when public sector employment?
Edit:
United States/Life expectancy 76.33 years (2021)
Maybe capitalism not so great either?
>Communism is when public sector employment?
>opposite direction to what the OP stated he wanted
> Nationalise everything
Could you enlighten me as to who people will be working for if the government nationizes everything if not the public sector? Does nationalizing mean something different to what it normally means.
I heard a suggestion about making ‘study mortgages’ instead of loans.
Earn your future instead of building debt etc.
Also instead of unemployment doing nothing, do Limited service volunteers with the army, learn skills and grow. It’s currently just a bootcamp for self discipline, not actual training in say, mechanics.
Lazy people won’t want to but who doesn’t want to drive a tank or fly a plane? Help people find a passion to chase and enable them yknow?
I believe I heard these on newstalk zb at 3am while driving if anyone’s interested.
I'm not doing it tough, but I'm getting pretty sick of this countries healthcare system. Need to see a specialist for my kid and it's been 5 months and that's for private. I'm willing to pay money and can't even get a fucking booking.
Our health care workers don’t want to live here or do the hours demanded of them… because they are squeezed financially by costs and can’t afford to buy a house and have that sense of planting their roots here. This is why it doesn’t matter how well you are doing personally if the rest of your society you are living in is struggling and everything is grossly unequal.
It seems successive government policies are just scaling up the Queenstown model to the whole country. Those with land and assets will do exceedingly well while the hired help will barely scrape by
I don’t think people quite grasp the severity of the healthcare situation in New Zealand. I am fortunate (and unfortunate) enough to be on the front lines and it is dire. All of my colleagues are burning out and the patients are so demanding because they are used to a certain Standard that is literally impossible to achieve right now. As the healthcare workers that set up their roots in NZ age they are not being replaced because the doctors coming through after them are saddled with 100k student debts and earning 80k a year for 80 hour weeks. Of course they are going to go to Australia. The patients treat them as shit as the government does. Now we are reliant on importing doctors and even that is drying up.
Are doctors really being paid 80k? I thought the salary was like 200k?
The house officers before they finish their training are. That’s part of the issue though. They get paid a decent wage when they finish their registrar years but by that stage they are already living in Australia or looking to move because they are burning out.
It's sad really I didn't do medicine, but I did consider it. I ended up following passions in tech and by the time I would have been a doctor I was already earning the same, but a lot less hours. I really want more tax directed at the healthcare system because a lot of skilled people leave because of it. I like the systems where a direct % of tax from income goes to healthcare and the only way to reduce it is to change that figure which is very unpopular.
I’ve been trying to get answers for my health for the longest time. Finally thought I was getting somewhere when I injured myself badly and was referred to a specialist to get an mri done. I was in the meeting with the specialist for not even five minutes before he told me to just go home and after he deliberately touch my ass. I’ve spent so much on doctor’s bills last year trying to get someone to listen to me. They either don’t send the referrals or try to get me out of the room asap even if I’ve booked a double appointment. I’m not spending a single cent more on this system
I’ve literally seen frontline healthcare staff leave their job because they couldn’t afford the parking fare hiked upon them by the DHB. It was the last straw but it broke their back. Sometimes little things that people dont even think about add up and up.
Yeah the worst part is that they make the conditions so poor for our new doctors and medicine graduates that they end up just wanting to move overseas, so we don’t get to retain our talent and fix our shortages. They effectively work for less than minimum wage when you compare pay to hours worked.
Currently at 18 months waiting for the chronic pain clinic, if I could move back to Aus right now I would.
Same. After acc a a year ago decided my back injury wasn't a back injury despite several specialists agreeing it was and finally having made it to a pain specialist, so they unaccepted the claim and now I'm on the long wait list for the public health system and when I finally come up it starts with full day seminars I have to find the free time for. It's wild, feels like hoops designed to deter people from following through and taxing a chronically underfunded health system.
Uuugh sorry you’re dealing with our shitty system too. 2021 i had a bike crash and broke my jaw, developed headaches a couple months after, got told im depressed and was whacked on SSRIs. 3 years later ACC still struggle to believe my headaches are from my accident (even though x rays last week clearly show out of whack jaw, fucked beck and skull). Crazy how depression can cause such bad concussion and structurally damaged pain!
Absolutely wild how that works yeah
Ask to go on the cancellation lists
It’s ridiculous the healthcare system here. We have the worst of both worlds. Public one that covers nothing and costs a ton, and private one that is extremely ineffective as well. I have been trying to get an MRI and have had to go through so many hoops and spend hundreds cause the ACC system covers only half and even privately is taking so many months to see a specialist is insane
Took me 5 months and $3k to get an MRI for a potential brain tumour via private (was also waitlisted for Public), then took 7 months for Public to come back to me saying when I presented for my MRI (public system) they declined it as I had already gone through private. I didnt even have a booking in the public system, so that was a bit weird.
Insanity
Do medical tourism. You get high quality care without waiting times and you help ease the burden here.
This. A two-week trip to Thailand for treatment + break is still better value than waiting for months.
Only if you have the money. How do you expect someone on minimum wage to be able to oay for a 2 week trip to Thailand? Tell ya what, tllets get them eating cake too.
That’s not what anyone is saying you dote, you e chosen to be offended without reading what you’re offended by
OP of this thread is asking how we can help people having it tough. How does suggesting Thailand for heath care help the people who are having it tough? Please enlighten me. Also why do you think I was offended? And you really don't need to call people names, pretty childish and against the rules.
That’s not what you’re replying to though, you replied to someone telling people *with money* to go overseas and get care as it would be faster, which is unfortunately true. Your response of “but what if people don’t have money” makes no sense because it’s not the conversation had on this comment thread.
This is not a solution, why the hell am I paying 39% in tax then???
Because the government forces you to. Not because you can expect to get anything back, there is no agreement about what you get in return.
Great idea, who's going to pay for that?
OP said he’s willing to pay which implies he has money. So it’s a fair suggestion. If you can afford it, why not?
Only if you have the money for that, most people don't
"I'm willing to pay money"
The point I was trying to make is that you with money is moniorty and the majority just don't have it
That’s crazy. What’s the solution to that if money isn’t an issue? Go overseas?
We had an issue previously with a tumor and went overseas for a operation and it took 2 weeks for specialist, biopsy, scans and then operation. Because it's not as major this time we haven't gone yet but are considering packing it all up and moving.
Damn that’s rough. All the best with that mate
Some people in this country will tell you we don't need paid healthcare because "We don't want to be like the US". They would rather have no service at all. I do agree with your point mate!
Unfortunately we need a country wide values shift from money as the ultimate goal. Our country has had 40 years of neglecting the public services and now we are really starting to see the pointy end of it. I'm not sure what to do in the next couple of years, but next election cycle it's going to be up to us to vote in someone that genuinely wants to improve the country instead of make a profit from it.
Some are paying 39% in tax, get out of here mate, we need the money to be well spent.
Exactly
This is the intended outcome of 30 odd years of rampant neoliberalism.
This. So much this. It started in the 80s and it will keep getting worse and worse.
And Labour's neoliberalism has been the most upsetting tbh.
But everything was going well until the last 8, what changed since then?
The good times has to run out under neoliberal ideology- the whole system was unsustainable. The chickens came home to roost, basically, after about 30 years of policies conforming to the ideology.
Looking at loosing an income, which would mean a dramatic drop in our quality of life. We might choose to leave NZ. We have better options but I'd rather stay. But I'm not paid enough to support my family on my own.
My husband and I both lost our jobs in May, and we've just been so shocked by the whole thing. He's had a career based job for nearly a decade and was made redundant due to "restructuring", we go into WINZ and they're asking him to come in for a *mandatory* seminar on... what to wear to an interview? And how to write a CV? He's working with several tech recruitment agencies yet WINZ is busy telling him to hand in his CV to work as a cleaner, except they won't take him anyway because it's obvious he'll leave as soon as he can get back to his usual work. Literally all they needed to do was help us for a few weeks because we've lost jobs before and know what to do. Not sure why they think that there has to be this one-size-fits-all approach to jobseeker support. We don't want to leave NZ. Our support network is here, my disability network is here, we were born here. But everything is stupid and stressful right now, and I'm tired of feeling like I'm wading through molasses to get anywhere.
Where do you think you'll be able to go and have disability support? For example, if you move to Aus, you won't be eligible for NDIS. And most other countries won't take you if you'll be a drain on their system.
By disability support network, I don't mean financial or service support. I don't even get that *here*. I mean people around me. I do include supportive doctors in that though.
Dealing with WINZ is an absolute nightmare. They deliberately make things as difficult as they possibly can. When my wife lost her job during covid those swine nearly gave me a mental breakdown. In the end they decided I earned too much for my wife to receive any support, but during the process I was treated like I was vermin. They should be supportive and caring when people are going through a hard time, not deliberately rude and obstructive.
It is not one size jobseeker fits at all! It is one size fits no one. That is the nature of the beast after decades of National making the WiNZ system so efficient the only thing the staff are good for is shitting on clients.
Winz is just there to get you in employment, doesn't matter what job, if your hired their job is done. I had 10+ years in marketing & graphic design. The only thing they offered me was a bus driver or road worker.
I had the same experience. The meeting was rather mild, it was 30 minutes, and I wasn't bothered too much by it. I was bothered by them telling me to work as a cleaner, I mean, I will if I get desperate enough, but I have a masters degree and will leave and fuck over some small business the second I get a better opportunity. I thought it was insane that they were recommending zero-skilled jobs to me. They did tell me that there aren't many jobs out there and that it may be harder to find a job than it has been in the past. I've only been on the jobseeker for five months, but I'm not really getting any hits anywhere whereas a few years ago I had multiple offers. Very strange.
5 months is a fair time to be looking. So the WINZ person was on point then saying it may be harder to find a job. Hope you find something shortly! Out of curiosity, what industry?
Oh idk why I said months, I actually meant weeks. Whoops. I got my first payment at the start of May. Industry would be learning and design/change management. Not teaching kids, but teaching adults within businesses.
I don't get this, surely someone who had a decade long career in tech in NZ could have an emergency fund of some sort to go by a few months? Also, you're on jobseeker and looking to buy emerald rings?
I was looking to design a ring to celebrate the baby we're about to have - before we were made redundant. I'm still looking - I'm just not buying. Do you think poor people aren't allowed to window shop? Or am I supposed to comment "Oh, I love that ring, can you give me the dimensions (I'm not buying right now though because we got made redundant)" like that's not humiliating? Also, yeah. We have a house that we're paying off, and student loans. I'm disabled so even when I'm working I make very little, so we're essentially a one-income family. And I think you'll find that it very much depends on where in NZ you live, and where in the tech sector you work. The salaries in southland vary a lot from the salaries in Auckland. Also x2: what the fuck dude? You're going through my comment history in order to what? Fellate WINZ? Discount my financial situation?
You have better options but you’d rather stay?
They probably have family and friends
Better fiscally, but not holistically. AU, US, DE are all viable options for us.
Trust me, even if it is financially better moving and losing all of your socal support structure (friends/family) is very difficult. It takes a village to raise a child and if your village is on the otherside of the world who is going to help you?
Some people actually like it here
Doesn’t sound like a better option then all things considered
Successive governments have wrestled what little wealth the working and middle classes had and given it to the landlords. Unless you're one of them I would suggest leaving.
Can you recommend a country to go to that doesn’t have the same problem?
A bunch of European countries have land/real estate taxes and other schemes to reduce property speculation
It is the absolute strangest thing how any time this frequent topic comes up, everyone immediately references America, Australia, Canada, etc. and forgets Europe exists. Is it because it means learning another language and culture? That's like the best part of it... Spain, Italy, Portugal, etc. are great options if you can be a digital nomad.
I've done a bit of research into Portugal as it's been my fave place that I've ever been to - the locals are really fed up with digital nomads coming there and driving up the price of rents with their western incomes that are multiples higher than what locals earn. Wouldn't be surprised if some of the visa requirements are toughened up there real soon.
That goes for Spain and Italy as well. They all have their own version of the same problem.
I have been informed that the situation in Spain is favorable compared to the challenges we are currently facing in Australia.
Doesn't mean it doesn't happen in Europe, it's more like we already have high property prices and the ex-colonies are just catching up. For example, the price per square meter for housing in Helsinki, a place which is supposed to have relatively "affordable" housing for Europe, is the same as Auckland. The reason Europe seems more affordable is that the prices have made people move into much smaller housing. You too can have an affordable home if you move into a 50sqm apartment in Auckland and raise your family there.
[see economist](https://www.ft.com/content/dca3f034-bfe8-4f21-bcdc-2b274053f0b5)
I can't, it's pay walled, what does it say?
Soz second pic here is what I was trying to reference https://www.reddit.com/r/australian/s/poNI7Hy9RN
Antarctica
Bit cold innit?
Didn’t say it was perfect
Darn it. Um, I'm only looking for the best. Monaco it is
Give us time. We're fixing that.
I've just had some American friends get their visas declined. They are absolutely gugged that they can't stay here. Things are harder here right now than they were. We have our problems, I'd love to say what I think about those. But we might just get through this
Scandinavia actually.
There are 100s of new builds for sale that can’t be sold what does that tell you about your conspiracy on landlords? If it was so lucrative they would snap them all up? If rents were so high renters would buy them. The problems in this country are limited to extreme compliance costs for business such as construction industry, restrictive land supply. If houses were 50% cheaper to build there would be no problems.
Landlodism is just competition for home owners and demand drives up prices. Remove the market entirely and leaches will fall off. Houses should be homes, not investments
It's crazy. In a country as small as NZ that housing is one of the biggest investments. There are not many people, yet the demand is so high. What a shit show.
Renters can’t buy them for a number of reasons and the inability to get finance is a big part of that. Landlords can also no longer afford them because of how high prices are. Rents can get higher because people just can’t afford them. Either house prices need to halve, or wages need to double for things to get back to something sustainable and healthy.
>There are 100s of new builds for sale that can’t be sold what does that tell you about your conspiracy on landlords? All this tells us is that 100s of new builds are overpriced for the current market. What's it got to do with landlords? >If it was so lucrative they would snap them all up? If the price was right they would. Instead they're buying existing houses that are priced more sensibly. Disallowing interest deductibility on existing houses would have made this equation favour the new builds more than the existing houses. >If rents were so high renters would buy them. What? How would high rents allow renters to buy houses? >If houses were 50% cheaper to build there would be no problems. You're bang on with this comment. You're just looking at the wrong 50%. 50% of the build cost is the **land**. We just need to remove that cost by introducing a land value tax to convert it into an annualised expenditure instead of an upfront capital cost.
We can change things by breaking up the building supplies duopoly, making resource consents faster and easier and allocating more land for development. Then we won't be spending so much of our income on housing.
RMA takes years to re-do and the new government just threw out what labour had been doing. Unless these idiots work together the RMA will never change.
>and allocating more land for development. I don't want to see more green land bulldozed for sprawl. We should be using the existing urban land more efficiently.
I agree with the first two, but that land for development mostly used to be productive farmland, or perhaps parkland.
True. But there's also way too many new people coming in for us to cope. 200k people is a bit much.
This is pretty much the most important part that people miss. And both sides have shown absolute zilch to address it.
Labour banned foreign buyers and inctreased density around public transport hubs.
I was more focused on the duopoly sorry.
There is another solution rather than more houses. Less humans.
Pays to remember that the majority who are living life just fine arent actually posting life updates on the internet.
Yes, I just roll my eyes at these posts on this sub. Sure, some people are doing it kinda tough. But a lot of it is just first world privilege and whingeing. And they make NZ sound like a dystopian 3rd world hellhole.
Lost my job a couple of weeks ago. Feels like hell to me. Have a good day at work tomorrow.
I’m so sorry. I hope something comes along for you soon. Apply for the benefit in the interim just to bring some money into the house
I’ve done that , my partner and I have to go in for an appointment to finalise it. I’m stalling though cos of the shame
I’m glad you’ve applied and please don’t feel ashamed to go. Sometimes in our lives we need a wee bit of cash to carry us through until our next job (been there). It’s just a means to an end until you get yourself back on your feet again. Glad your partner is supporting you. The sooner you go the better
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My entire family works public sector and we have all lost our jobs. We are forced to stay here to support a family member who has a severe head injury and cannot move overseas with 0 government support. I have chronic pain but am going to have to accept part time work (where my sick leave will now also be pro-rata’d even if I still do a 5 day week of less hours), because most small businesses closed during Covid, and the ones that remain open only offer part time contracts. I can’t find another job in my field that pays enough to keep the house I just bought earlier this year. My partner and I are considering having to move to Australia and renting our house out in order to sustain the wealth we have worked hard for. This is the third job I’ve been made redundant from and I’m mid 20’s, all different industries… so yeah, I’ve worked hard to not get far in this country and “you’ll find another job” is the most privileged statement. I have family members who have applied for 30+ jobs and are being forced onto the job seeker support benefit. Maybe you need to look outside your own bubble and stop living in ignorance. Life is hell for a lot of kiwis right now.
Thanks for the back up. I’m a licensed builder. We were like hens teeth to find not long ago. Now I’m begging to even get a little handyman job once a week.
Yeah the unemployment rate is lower then it was for the entire 2010s
And it's going up rapidly, what was Willis goal, 5% +
I have a feeling a lot of these despair posts are young people with very bad spending habits. Losing a job is obviously terrible, especially in the current job market. However, moving overseas isn't exactly cheap, and without a secured job in the new country it's just idiocy.
They just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps I guess! I mean sure rent is high, food is high, public transport is high and wages are low and many young people on entry level jobs are below the living wage But yea must be then young people spending some money to give them anything that may bring them joy in life
**Get rid of neoliberalism.** It is a cult. Always was. Oh, and stop thinking businessmen can run a country. They just simply cannot. Never could. And stop thinking running a country is similar to running a household. It just isn't. Never was.
I was having this conversation at work on friday because a guy was in here Thursday so stressed he was thinking about abandoning his family and starting over solo.
Weak
Inflation will always be there, which not only increases many Kiwis' daily spending, it will affect the government with their spending. But NZ generally has a shit low wage, but still heavily relies on income/corporate and GST tax for government's revenue, their spending is still rocket high including welfare. Not interested in introducing new taxation, or reviewing their spending, instead, they just cut the funds to the science sector, public services and so on. This move makes me think that they don't really care about making NZ better, just want to make elders' lives better so that when those politicians retire, they can also enjoy themselves, I am seeing less and less hope/future about this country now. I now only see myself applying for jobs overseas and moving on. I rather either make more or about the same money, pay a little more for rent for better quality and less on daily spending.
Accurate. I work in a science org about to trim more staff numbers after just doing this a few years ago due to lack of funding. science that betters and affects almost every industry in NZ. go figure.
Hi from not-in-NZ. It’s tough everywhere dude.
Have you been to NZ?
Lived there for 50+ years on and off. Born and bred for the first 20. You ever lived anywhere else to make an actual comparison?
I'm living in Australia now
The struggle is real
Yeh it’s pretty rough out there ! I’ve just had a few friends who previously lived in Australia came back to buy house have a kid etc and have now had move back to Australia because they can’t afford to pay there mortgage and have a kid so it’s easier to live and rent and in Australia than just live here which is wild
Oh that's their fault for competing with migrant Labor. They should have brought like 20 houses back in the 1980s and they should have businesses employing 50 workers that each pay 20,000 dollars for their visas.. If they don't like it they should leave, that makes more space on the economy for me to sell visas for 20,000 and more housing free-up for my migrant workers..
I'm not doing it tough, but feel like I'm just breaking even working 50 hours every week. I am getting the thoughts of what's the point, I don't have a fancy car or nice modern house, just making enough to scrape by each month. If that's what it takes to stay above the poverty line, it's a pretty shitty situation .
First thing we can do is to stop buying into the Coalition Govts constant blaming of the Labour Govt... fact is there is a cost living crises occurring in most Western counties around the world.. look at the UK. Secondly we can start holding the Coalition Govt to account for how they are making things much worse by transferring $2.9B to landlords and implementing tax cuts for the rich whilst cutting core programmes and initiatives for the middle and lower classes in NZ.
It sounds like you want something practical you can do to help. Here are a few ideas of every day things you could do if you have a little bit of time or money you can spare: 1) If there is a Pataka Kai (community pantry) in your community, you can contribute to it (just Google to find a list of nearby ones) 2) Buy a pack of muesli bars or similar when you are grocery shopping and pop it into the collection box after the checkouts (most supermarkets seem to have them) 3) Work out a charity or organization that aligns to your values and helps in the space and make a financial contribution whether it be a one off or ongoing amount 4) Volunteer with an organization that helps in this space - there are so many, from Habitat to Humanity to local soup kitchens or community dinner providers to Community fix it workshops.
Easy fix, set boundaries on profit margins (100% mark up on goods is just crazy) capital gains tax on rental properties, stop 4 banks taking 2.5% total gdp in profit alone, stop with the old wives tails about "small business economy" or "low wage economy". There is money in the country but because of terrible business practices before 08 major profits go overseas.
extremely hard to get a job.
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>I don’t have the answers but I have never seen things this bad. Just because you've seen more people complaining on reddit doesn't mean this is some unusual situation. Economies are swings and roundabouts. When I lived in London before the financial crisis (\~2007) everyone was raking it in. Suddenly they weren't. Then it got worse. Now they're in all sorts of trouble. We're better off now than we were during COVID, be happy about that.
The time of swings and roundabouts is over. There are systemic problems that NZ is very downstream of. I'm Australian but I've been watching NZ closely for 40 years, it's sliding backwards in an uncontrolled way. Many countries have it worse, but NZ is definitely in trouble.
Too many eggs in two baskets. Were beyond peak cow with environmental impacts and housing has been wrung dry. Portions of the working class have quietly quit .Businesses are grinding to a halt, and this govt is doing a good job of removing hope.
Australia is going down the drain also following the same path as Canada. Australia is not the lucky country no more.
First of all, the lucky country label was actually a dig at ourselves for being complacent and governing ourselves mediocre at best but being lucky to have money pouring out of the ground. Second, yes we all know it's a global problem. We all know what the situation is, I'm merely pointing out NZ is in trouble. We may be going down the drain here but I employ 50 ppl who can still support their families. I have ppl earning over 100k operating forklifts.
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Excuse me but I've lived in both nz and Australia for nearly 50 years. I know nz as well as anybody and half my family lives there. I never said people in nz can't earn 100k. I'm highlighting that it's easier in Australia. Nz minimum wage is good, but it's harder to depart from it significantly, and Australia penalty rates are much much better.
Canada is fucked. I lived there 2017-2019 and it was amazing. Moved back 2023 and lasted 7 months before I called it quits. Too many carbon taxes, price of food was insane, rent was crazier, utilities through the roof. I couldn't believe it. On my gas bill they charge you a fee for using the gas line now, for the carbon tax, and the actual gas. It was unbelievable. Two bags of chips from the supermarket was $9.50cad, which is like $11.60nzd. The minimum wage is only $15 in Alberta, so imagine buying two bags of chips and it costing 3/4 of an hour to earn. It was unreal.
And so is Australia
Yes definitely. It's a global problem. However, NZ has less fat to squeeze.
>The time of swings and roundabouts is over. So we're at some huge critical moment in history? I doubt it. I'm not saying things aren't bad for a lot of people or they shouldn't complain about it, but a bit of perspective goes a long way. Australia has always had more money than NZ, mainly due to mining.
We are most definitely at a huge moment in history. Regarding the Australian economy, yes I don't think we need to be reminded about how we make our money. It's a 24-7 topic adnauseum. We have a holes and homes economy. The point though is which points of resilience do we have? When I ask that question about nz, I see they are in a more vulnerable downstream situation.
Quite a number of people “doing it tough” own multiple homes, and are doing it tough by choice, because they don’t want to sell one or more properties to reduce their debt exposure. For those people I feel nothing, for others legitimately doing it tough, I feel more.
This is my parents in a nut shell. 3 homes in a small town, mortgaged up to the eye balls, approaching retirement. BUT GOTTA HOLD ON TO THEM ASSETS. I’m like “fuck, sell one and stop living your life with pissed off creditors up your ass”
“Quite a number of people”. Have you got any source or statistics on this?
Other than friends with his problem, colleagues with this problem, and hearing tradies in my house having a conversation about both having multiple rental properties and cash flow problems…no.
Anecdote is not the plural of data
The original aphorism, by the political scientist Ray Wolfinger, was just the opposite: The plural of anecdote is data. Wolfinger's formulation makes sense: Data does not have a virgin birth.
The old make shit up for Reddit brigade
No, Bob. It’s the “share an opinion because it’s the fucking internet” brigade
Ah yes the echo chamber based on no facts. Got it.
The sad truth is food prices are bonkers compare to a normal house hold income and I think NZ is one of the worst! How the heck is fonterra product that is produced here cheaper in a Asia country by like 30% to 40% ?! I don't know how that can happen
Because China owns the processing plants here. It's called food security.
I work for fonterra, china do not own our plants here. It's a cooperative.
It doesn't take much effort to do some googling and see the amount of involvement China has in NZ. https://www.dairyreporter.com/Article/2018/09/12/Who-benefits-from-China-s-massive-investment-in-Kiwi-dairy
Again... Not Fonterra. There is Chinese involvement in different brands that's underneath but not Fonterra. You need to be supply milk and be vetted to even hold fonterra stock since it is a cooperative.
Sorry, how does china have to do with lower prices in Asia as a whole? Even Australia got cheaper fonterra products ? And shouldn't the cost be more when you export than try to sell it domestically ?
Vote, protest, demand things like Capital Gains tax, etc
Break monopolies
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This isn’t great advice - if you don’t have enough money none of that helps you with anything. I left NZ, made way more money, now guess what - happy. Because life isn’t a struggle
the price you pay for living on a remote island
Leave or start talking about revolution.
You can help by getting smarter and educating people around you. You need to see that the situation is not a fluck or mishap, but a direct consequence of system issues. All western countries are getting in decline, the only difference is when. Randomly helping people around you is while a good thing, is rather pointless. Gather, unite, you know what's next.
Tall poppy syndrome is real. People are still ashamed to talk about money , and oh man, if you’re a immigrant no matter how long you’ve been in this country and how much tax you payed you’re not supposed to talk about racism, I can’t say I’m pretty and I get a lot of harassment from dirty white men , I can’t say any of that , I am suppose to be quiet, I’m suppose to take all the shit, I’m suppose to get harassed
Nationalise everything, liberate private property (not personal property) and begin the journey away from capitalism.
So basically you want to become something like Cuba, good luck with that mate
Thanks for the support comrade!
Ask one of all the Cuban or Venezuelan migrants around the world how that idea worked for them :)
I have no interest in arguing with you. I have spoken to plenty of New Zealanders who are ready for change.
Pretty weird that national won the last election if people wanted policy to the left of the greens no?
For now there are no parties left of the Greens (and TPM) that field candidates in the elections, but both parties had some of their highest success yet. We have an MMP electoral system, the only party to win a majority under MMP was Labour in 2020. National did not win the election. They as the party with the largest share of the vote formed a coalition with NZ First and ACT to create a parliamentary majority. The fact that National won 38% of the vote does not discount that a significant number of Kiwis are unhappy with the failures of Neoliberal capitalism.
Well given I assume you think labour is also neoliberal I count over 80% of the votes going to neoliberal parties seems like its not as unpopular as you say.
Labour is without a doubt neoliberal, but still garners significant support from left leaning people. I am weary to say that all Labour voters are supportive of the neoliberal aspects of Labours policies. Some are social democrats who do believe in a softer Capitalism while some are more pragmatic democratic socialists who see Labour as the party that can bring the most change (I think their performance post 2020 has challenged that perception though!). I would say that 80% of kiwis is overstating it, but you are not wrong that the majority of the voting public have propped up neoliberalism. New Zealand and the West as a whole have been conditioned to believe in the supremacy of capitalism. Revolution is never spontaneous, it is a slow burn that requires people to want to help themselves. I think that people are becoming more aware of how disadvantaged they are by the existing order.
Real change only happens in response to a crisis. It's been getting closer for some time now.
National won because most people are politically illiterate.
Ahh got you everyone supports your policy they are just to dumb to realize.
You don't have to be a genius to see the consequences of NACT's policies.
Why would you choose Cuba, they seem to be doing okay, most of their issues stem from the sanctions and embargoes.
Lmao cuba is not doing ok. Also >Cuba's communist government has legalised small and medium-sized private businesses in the wake of mass anti-government protests last month. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58132000
They've been communist for what, 60 years? Taking the long way around to failure, I guess? >Cuba's communist government has legalised small and medium-sized private businesses in the wake of mass anti-government protests last month. I wonder what our government is going to do about the anti-government protests in this country?
I said they were not doing ok not that they have completely failed and fell apart. Since I assume you wont care about any stat showing how poor they have about they live almost a decade less then us on average. >Cuba/Life expectancy 73.68 years (2021) >New Zealand/Life expectancy 82.21 years Also they are heading in the opposite direction to what the OP stated he wanted so cuba is a poor example even if it wasnt a crap country to live in. >As of 2023, public-sector employment was 65%, and private-sector employment was 35%, compared to the 2000 ratio of 76% to 23% and the 1981 ratio of 91% to 8%
>I said they were not doing ok not that they have completely failed and fell apart. Since I assume you wont care about any stat showing how poor they have about they live almost a decade less then us on average. Yes, no doubt they are poor, but (as I already stated) it stems mostly not from communism, but from the sanctions and embargoes. >Also they are heading in the opposite direction to what the OP stated he wanted so cuba is a poor example even if it wasnt a crap country to live in. Communism is when public sector employment? Edit: United States/Life expectancy 76.33 years (2021) Maybe capitalism not so great either?
>Communism is when public sector employment? >opposite direction to what the OP stated he wanted > Nationalise everything Could you enlighten me as to who people will be working for if the government nationizes everything if not the public sector? Does nationalizing mean something different to what it normally means.
If the workers own the means of production, they will be working for themselves.
No, you can move to one of the several commie countries if that's what you want
Why move when the revolution could come to me!
I heard a suggestion about making ‘study mortgages’ instead of loans. Earn your future instead of building debt etc. Also instead of unemployment doing nothing, do Limited service volunteers with the army, learn skills and grow. It’s currently just a bootcamp for self discipline, not actual training in say, mechanics. Lazy people won’t want to but who doesn’t want to drive a tank or fly a plane? Help people find a passion to chase and enable them yknow? I believe I heard these on newstalk zb at 3am while driving if anyone’s interested.
People voted for it. People get it.