Please, good people of Wanganui, by all means look to support viable schemes for our town, but in this case I humbly suggest you keep your money in your pockets. Too much has been lost already. There are enterprises and charities doing good work that could put some money towards actual effective outcomes.
ROBERT JAUNAY
Whanganui
German example
The former editor for the Financial Times, Eamonn Fingleton, recently wrote in Forbes magazine that, regarding Germany, "we could learn from the world's most respected economy". In their highly regulated housing market, prices have not formed any bubbles. In fact, prices have remained flat and stable for decades.
As even the conservative IMF has been begging the National-led Government to install a capital gains tax, Germany has a 25 per cent capital gains tax plus 5.5 per cent solidarity surcharge (and family homes are not exempted, as has been proposed here). They also have a 3.5-6 per cent sales tax targeting homes. Additionally, the upper income tax bracket is 45 per cent (as opposed to 33 per cent here) but the poor and middle class are better protected.
In spite of all the Trump-like blather here about taxes supposedly "hurting the economy", Germany remains one of the world's strongest economies. They don't sell off their public homes en masse, either.
One can't help homelessness, child poverty and declining health and education scores by simply belt-tightening and the neoliberal mantra of "thinking smarter" with less. A decent society, in fact, costs money and NZ remains the cheapest spending nation in the OECD per GDP with results that match.
The Nats, in spite of a growing economy, continue the race to the bottom for the lower half of society with right-wing economic policies. Most other parties have been evasive on economics.
On the face of it, the Opportunities Party has some interesting ideas, but their tax reform policy page PDF still has nothing specific on income tax nor the regressive GST tax. Although they praise the German housing policy, they have paradoxically used opposing right-wing Chicago school solutions of flat taxes that hurt the poor and middle class, a small UBI while abolishing benefits and opposing the CGT.
Only the Greens, unfairly painted by some in the media as economically naive, appear to be, in fact, the opposite. The Greens on housing, as with most other vital issues, are now by far the most financially responsible of all viable parties.
BRIT BUNKLEY
Whanganui
Why so many?
"Why are so many Maori misbehaving and in prison?" asks Tom Pittams. Perhaps Tom could tell us why so many Pakeha New Zealanders are misbehaving and not in prison. Investigators have discovered that when a white and a Maori commit similar crimes, the Maori is four times more likely to go to prison (tinyurl.com/racistcourts).
Is this because whites have more more social status and more wealth? One hundred and sixty years ago, the majority of New Zealand prison inmates were Irish, because the English army had invaded Ireland and stolen their land, and in consequence my Irish ancestors were destitute, with no home ownership, little education, poor health and a tendency to heavy drinking and violence, while at the same time, in the heart of Maoridom on the Waikato plains, townships were full of well-educated, hard-working, prosperous and law-abiding Christian Maori.
Then the English armies attacked the Waikato Maori and took all their land from them. In other parts of New Zealand there was similar land theft and consequent impoverishment, anger and violent behaviour. For many families, this has persisted from one generation to the next. Has Mr Pittams not seen the movie Once Were Warriors?
JOHN ARCHER
Ohakune
Slippery slope
David Bennett makes some very good points about abortion and Christians.
Clearly, all Christians have to be opposed to abortion simply by being Christian. Christians are also supposed to care, and very many do, about all those involved in abortion -- mothers, fathers, children, doctors, nurses, etc. What is surprising is how many people there are who don't care about any of them.
There is nothing beneficial about abortion for any of the people involved, yet many people support this horrific practice. I think David pointed to the real issue when he said: "It can become a slippery slope of getting rid of other human life simply because that life is perceived as valueless."
Human lives that are deemed valueless are often those that get in the way of our own comfort, whether that is an unborn child, a solo parent, someone with a disability, someone elderly, or someone terminally ill. We, as a caring society, should embrace and support these people. Instead, we make excuses and find ways to stop them from impacting our lives and comfort.
K A BENFELL
Gonville
