Give to the poor, as long as they live far away
Have you ever noticed how there are people who on one hand are willing to pour their hearts out when confronted with images of poor starving third world children, yet on the other hand curse and damn the poor in their own town or city?
Charity may begin at home, but aslong as it is out of sight, out of mind…
The current National Government won last years general election on the promise of tax cuts. These tax cuts are to come in on 1 April. However, those who are going to benefit the most from the tax cuts are the rich. Economic commentators have already pointed out that if the tax cuts were to act as an economic stimulus then it should be given to those likely to spend it. The rich are generally inclined to save the tax cuts, where as the less fortunate would spend it just to help cover living expenses.
Realising the folly of the April tax cuts, Prime Minister John Key has asked the rich to give their tax cuts to charities. Of course the better solution would’ve been to redirect the tax cuts straight to the poor rather than hoping the rich will donate it. National realise that option would’ve been a political nightmare, because tax cuts is what they campaigned on, after criticising the previous Labour Government.
But the Prime Minister has included his Public Relations spin to it saying he wants to create a culture of giving like the one he experienced in his time in Amelika / America. But the American culture of giving is based on the fact that the State does not provide a safety net or public welfare, as the Niu Sila / New Zealand Government does. The health care system in the US is appalling, education favours the rich and the gap between rich and poor is enormous.
Furthermore, the American givers receive larger tax rebates than here in Niu Sila, pointing not a culture of “giving”, but a culture of “giving because you get some back”. That’s not the type of culture of giving many New Zealanders would agree with.
So pulling back PM John Key’s spin, we are still left with his plea for the rich to give to the poor. The PM is a millionaire after making his money as a merchant banker, so he can rightly point to the large amounts he donates to charities. But even his actions can be critiqued.
The PM is also a Member of Parliament for the largely rural electorate of Hobsonville. The previous Government had earmarked a 167ha site in Hobsonville, which was previously used as an Airforce Airbase, for housing development to ease the land pressures in the growing Aukilani metropolitan city. It was intended to be an intense housing development with a mixture of housing catering to high and low income earners, including 500 State houses. It was one of the most well-planned comprehensive developments in Niu Sila history.
But PM John Key promised before the election that no State houses would be built in his back yard. And today, reports came out confirming that the Hobsonville development has no plans for State houses, at all. Not only does this smack of elitism and arrogance, it goes against his PR spun image of being a centrist, a pragmatic person who goes against ideologies and picks what works. Here was a prime opportunity to create a neighbourhood that has learnt from the planning mistakes of the past, and forms a cohesive society with a mixture of all peoples of all incomes and all ethnicities. Now it’s just another rich man’s suburb.
So while he urges the rich like himself to give to the poor, it’s as long as they aren’t his neighbours.
Out of sight, out of mind…