Category: Social Issues

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The Pitfalls of Change

The politically correct vigilantes, who populate the media and social media are increasingly acting as judge, jury and executioner. By viciously attacking and hounding people who say things they disagree with, they are ruining careers and destroying lives


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The Mating Game and #MeToo

My parents met during “the dirty thirties,” depression years, when life was tough. They were both teachers in small schools on the prairies. My father was older than my mother, and after a brief courtship they married.


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Child Poverty: Real or Rhetoric?

The Prime Minister says she intends making child poverty a priority for her administration. However, it’s not relative income measures that are needed, but policies to end intergenerational welfare dependency.


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Focus on the Parents

I want Jacinda Ardern to succeed fighting poverty, but I suspect that, like her predecessors, she will fail. Material poverty is the absence of material wealth, and if we are going to solve poverty, we must ensure that all New Zealanders have the ability to create material wealth.


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California, Poverty Capital

California—not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia—has the highest poverty rate in the United States. The question arises as to why California has so many poor people...


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The Dangers of Dependency

Welfare reform requires great care. Of all policy areas, the unintended consequences of getting it wrong can be devastating, especially for children.


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Plans for Benefit Changes Misguided

When a benefit-dependent sole parent refuses to name the father of her children a penalty is incurred. That’s because the state is then unable to recoup any of her benefit from the liable parent.


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Capitalism Under Scrutiny

The country’s new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have claimed that free market capitalism is failing New Zealand. Their comments indicate that they intend blaming areas of government and policy failure on capitalism.


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Major Election Policies Announced

The 2017 election campaign has well and truly started with both the Green Party and New Zealand First launching major policies last weekend.


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Banning Begging

Do you feel safe in your community? It’s a question we often ask ourselves when something happens to trigger our concern. Whether it’s a crime story on the news, being confronted by windscreen washers at a local intersection, or being intimidated by beggars on the street, such incidents can alter our perception of the safety of our local neighbourhood.