Disillusionment

SINCE arriving in New Zealand in 1979, I have watched with increasing desperation and disillusionment a country that promoted itself as democratic, caring and good for all, change under cynical, neoliberal economic monetarist policies. Put at its simplest , this involves squeezing the poor to funnel money to the rich (see Noam Chomsky on American monetarist policies). I think New Zealand should be ashamed of the increasing poverty and homelessness,as the National government sings the praises of its growing economy.

There is a great deal of cynicism in the trumpeting of recent statements by Bill English, of money for this and that. If it was always there how come it was not spent to begin to deal with these problems? No money, of course, for the hospital in that den of socialists, Dunedin, just a suggestion of a privatepublic scheme — (let them pay for their healthcare). There seems to be no recognition that these policies and the resulting poverty and homelessness leads inevitably to more crime and drug use.

Drugs and alcohol do, after all, give some relief from the misery of poverty and hopelessness. Many underfed children, with poor health, have little chance of a rosy future, and are more likely turn to criminality. Of course, three strikes, more prisons. The total ignorance of these policies defies belief. Anyone who watched the programmes of the Phil Silva’s longitudinal study are clear, that a bad start, hunger, neglect, homelessness, parents with not infrequently undiagnosed mental health problems, e.g. depression, from their own deprived childhood, with no energy left to properly love their children are hardly likely to do good job, which is not to blame them.

How can anyone realistically vote National when there are such huge holes in their policies, which will simply lead to more problems as cited above?

Margaret Bannister

Dunedin