This is a bit of a rant and rave!! Excuse the repetition.
It seems the New Zealand Labour Party is aligning its efforts around
the vision:
A dream of houses, jobs, health care, sustainable growth,
regional development and opportunity for all in education; about equality,
equity, inclusion and fairness.
Underpinning all the above is a renewed protective role for the state
in the lives of citizens that have fallen behind the past three decades.
The current right-wing government demonised the previous
Labour
government’s ideology as a ‘nanny state’. The current government’s ‘free
market’ ideology is based around privatisation, individual choice ( for the wealthy), and business
led efficiency. An ideology premised on the idea that the ‘market’ will sort
things out and wealth will ‘trickle down’ to the benefit all. At the time it was said ‘there was no alternative’- TINA.
It has to be made clear, market forces cannot solve the problems facing us - and indeed have created the inequality that is leading to a range of problems.
There will be no space for a 'Kiwi Dream' for all until we point out the failures of the market forces nightmare which has only rewarded the 'winners'.The neo- liberal ideology needs to be identified and shown to be failing before a new ‘dream’ , vision, or ideology has any chance of capturing the minds and hearts of the voters
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The myths of market forces |
It has to be made clear, market forces cannot solve the problems facing us - and indeed have created the inequality that is leading to a range of problems.
There will be no space for a 'Kiwi Dream' for all until we point out the failures of the market forces nightmare which has only rewarded the 'winners'.The neo- liberal ideology needs to be identified and shown to be failing before a new ‘dream’ , vision, or ideology has any chance of capturing the minds and hearts of the voters
As a result of the 'demonizing' he so called 'nanny state' has been replaced by a ‘big brother’
or 'corporate state', one that benefits the wealthy, the big business
elite and the growing power of international corporates. As a result the ‘rich
have got richer and the poor poorer’. Now that we have had three decades of
‘free market’ ideology it is time to evaluate its
so called 'trickle down' success for all people.
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All too true |
We need to understand the ideology that has underpinned the policies that have been 'normalized' the past
three decades.
We need to challenge the status quo as the neo-liberal ideology has
become accepted as the way things are done.
We need to utilize the same strategy used by Margaret Thatcher,
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Back to the future! |
If this neo-conservative ‘free market’ ideology is not
identified then the status quo will be hard to shift particularly as it is supported
and justified by the business elite and a complicit press and media.
Any opposition has to educate the people to appreciate that the state has
a vital role to ensure all people get a fair deal and that only the state can solve the inequality that has resulted from the failing‘free market’
ideology.
Achieving this new 'Kiwi Dream' has to be accepted as the only way (TINA) to remedy the 'winner loser' gap if all New Zealand
citizens have the opportunity to reach their potential. Only a benevolent state can provide an environment that provides opportunities for all.
Evidence for the failure of market forces need to be shared.
Richard Wilkinson’s short video is a good start. Watching it has the power to make, all but the hardened ‘free market’ converts, feel ashamed about New Zealand’s poor showing compared to other nations.
Richard Wilkinson’s short video is a good start. Watching it has the power to make, all but the hardened ‘free market’ converts, feel ashamed about New Zealand’s poor showing compared to other nations.
Wilkinson's presentation shows that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong.
Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows that inequality, resulting from neo-liberal policies, effects negatively on health,
lifespan, imprisonment, educational achievement , economic growth , social cohesion and trust.
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A lost dream? |
Inequality is harming us all by destroying the social fabric that was once a feature of New Zealand.
It has to be made clear that the current 'market forces' ideology in New Zealand caters for only for the wealthy.
Worse still the values underpinning the market economy has led to the development of divisive attitudes of superiority and inferiority; we have become a society premised on achieving individual status based on consumerism. We are now a judgmental society based on how well off we are - those who are left behind have only themselves to blame.
Worse still the values underpinning the market
The ‘free market’ ideology has had its day. Although it may have had success in the early days it is no longer
viable – the freedom from government regulation has resulted in a growing environmental crisis along with divisive inequality with all its
associated
social problems. Such issues can no longer be ignored.
The growing power of corporate power, as seen in the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement is in conflict with our sovereignty. As well there is the issue of corporate avoidance of paying appropriate taxes resulting in the top 1% owning almost 50% of global wealth.
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Poverty - a major growth area |
The growing power of corporate power, as seen in the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement is in conflict with our sovereignty. As well there is the issue of corporate avoidance of paying appropriate taxes resulting in the top 1% owning almost 50% of global wealth.
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To develop a new story to inspire New Zealanders needs more than talking about a ‘Kiwi Dream’. The destructive aspects of the ‘free market’ need to be identified and its failings made common knowledge before a real alternative can be accepted.
To develop a new story to inspire New Zealanders needs more than talking about a ‘Kiwi Dream’. The destructive aspects of the ‘free market’ need to be identified and its failings made common knowledge before a real alternative can be accepted.
The ‘free market’ ideology has meant less and less state intervention and lower taxes for the rich.
It has meant privatizing public services, contracting them out to private providers. Short term business efficiency is now the model to emulate. Salaries for
executives have reached astronomical figures while for the majority wages have stood still. Many people, employed as independent operators, face a precarious future. As well many people in jobs are now the employed poor, often having to have several jobs to make ends meet.
It has meant privatizing public services, contracting them out to private providers. Short term business efficiency is now the model to emulate. Salaries for
executives have reached astronomical figures while for the majority wages have stood still. Many people, employed as independent operators, face a precarious future. As well many people in jobs are now the employed poor, often having to have several jobs to make ends meet.
Those supportive of market forces driven by self-interest have little sympathy for the less fortunate. The poor are increasingly seen as
responsible for their own poverty; the rich are the new righteous.
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The ‘free market’ was based on a myth of a ‘level playing field’ but the reality is different. We do not start with equal opportunity. Those who fall through the cracks now face an uncaring faceless bureaucracy while the wealthy get away with tax avoidance.
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The ‘free market’ was based on a myth of a ‘level playing field’ but the reality is different. We do not start with equal opportunity. Those who fall through the cracks now face an uncaring faceless bureaucracy while the wealthy get away with tax avoidance.
The ‘Kiwi Dream’ has to be based on ensuring opportunities for
all and this means positive action to assist the less fortunate get a fair
chance. It is longer good enough
to wait for wealthy to ‘trickle down’.
The behaviours of those with a belief in market
forces value individual need above the common good
of society. In contrast those who are aligned behind a new Kiwi Dream place opportunity for all and the need to value the common good as central to their
behaviours. The future cannot be seen as either/or but there needs to be a re balancing - to place equality, equity and fairness as
central.
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Facing up to the problems created by free market thinking is not about being personally critical of opposition politicians but attacking the the
beliefs that underpinning their policies and actions.
We need to make clear that the
current policies have led to a growing rich/poor gap, a demeaning inequality that, if not faced up to, will affect us all. The 'Kiwi Dream' is about protecting and
valuing the common good in the face of private need or self-interested greed; it
about uniting our growing divisive society.
Once the failures of the ‘free market' become obvious only then will their be space for a real alternative – the Kiwi Dream’. A dream where the state plays an important role in creating the conditions and
infra-structure to ensure all people can
contribute to and feel part of the dream.
A real alternative 'dream' with a range
of policies in place to achieve it.
'Before we can usher in the new the old must be put to rest'
Game of Thrones Series 6/10
'Last year's words belong to last years language and next year's words await another voice.And to make an end is to make a beginning'. T. S. Elliot.
A vision/dream/story I like:
We are not just aiming to change the government, we are aiming to change the direction of our country. You can’t change things overnight but, with a Labour Government, New Zealand will be fairer, smarter, greener and more proud of its identity. It will be a New Zealand which, at the end of the day, we will feel much happier to leave to our children.'
David Cunliffe Labour Leader July 2014
Other blogs with the same theme:
Nigel Latta on inequality.
Pope Francis and Thomas Piketty on market forces and inequality
NZ Paradise Lost. Inequality by Max Rashbrooke.
The Myth of the Free Market
Ruth Roger and Me
Moving into a Post Capitalist World : Paul Mason
The End of Capitalism - Lester Thurow
Market forces and Education: Bryan Bruce
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What happened to the trickle down of wealth? |
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