Making Ends Meet. Not

As single person living on the unemployment benefit you couldn't run a car and you couldn't own a pet; your social life would be severely restricted and you'd be pushing it to have a phone. You'd be living in a society where you're bombarded with images of people living the high life, and you'd be subject to a climate of beneficiary bashing. After a while your mental health would suffer, but you'd be unable to afford treatment for that or any other kind of illness. When John Key was growing up in a benefit-dependent household, NZ was a much more equal society and the emotional and social toll of being on the bottom of the heap was much less.

It's a pity Key and his government are set on pulling up the ladder on those who would like to follow after him. National Standards is just one policy of many that penalises the poor.

Now, that said - can't you just hear all those free-market bloggers screaming - 'get over it', 'quit your whining', 'it's their choice to be poor' etc etc. And isn't there an American film recently that says 'Greed is good - and now it's legal.' But it's not impossible to turn the tables on this - and pray god we can, before we get to the inevitable conclusion of greed, cruelty and selfishness: civil unrest.