Global Melt down

It is not a big surprise that the world secondary markets - the stock exchange - is going into melt down.  

Watching the debate over the United States Debt Crisis; listening to the speeches from the Republicans; and then watching Europe and the borrow, borrow and borrow for growth, growth and more growth.  

It is also distressing to see the obsession of the right wing politicians, that appear to stress the rich should pay as little tax as possible, and that middle class salary earner should pay for all services and benefits, not to mention the costs of infrastructure. 

These same politicians also stress that benefits, pensions and schemes to support the poor should be cut, cut and cut.  This includes community education and early childhood programmes that are cut regardless of the evidence that these contribute significantly to the well-being of our society and are part of social and cultural capital.

When will we (our society) come to realised that there must be an alternative economic theory that is about well-being, social, environmental, environmental and cultural well-being not just about economic growth and consumer spending.

At least some economists are now questioning the theory that said “the rich should not pay tax, their role is to stimulate the economy.  That stimulation is meant to be buying goods and services, keep businesses turning over and employ people. 

 

So why are there so many people becoming unemployed and why is it that the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer?

Maybe it is time we really looked at tax and who pays it and why and what are the outcomes for society?  

I like the New Zealand Labour and Green Party’s call for a capital gains tax, seems to be a way to get around tax avoidance.  Tax avoidance has never been against the law, but it certainly is not a way to encourage an equal society.

It is also time we looked seriously at the value of social and cultural capital and use opportunity cost economics to measure there value.

Maybe a few more of us should be calling for Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI) for all our central and local government agencies.

These indicators would certainly produce different priorities for spending and tax raising. 

Funding for programmes for the under 5 year olds and to stimulate adult learning, particularly though community education would have priority over huge expressways – or as the national government call them “ roads of national significance.

Prisons don't work

More and more I am convinced that there is very little reason for our society to have prisons at all. 


Certainly not the kind of 'lock them up and throw away key' type of prison.   


We have prisons to make us feel safe. We have them because we believe that imprisonment is a deterrent and that before we commit a crime we will say to ourselves.  "I can't to that I will go to prison, rather than I will not get caught, I am drunk I don't care." .  


The other reason we have prisons is to punish people for doing things that are an inconvenience, threaten our property or person or  break a law or rule of our society.


But in reality we imprison people who commit crimes when under the influence of drugs and alcohol (about 80% of those in prison), have killed in a state of mental illness usually a close relative or friend.   We also have an ability to put in prison people who have intellectual disability and are suffering from a mental illness. We also imprison for crimes committed using or misusing cars.


Once in prison we do not provide drug or alcohol rehabilitation courses, (prison population nearly 9000, courses for about 400). 

We don't treat the prisoners with mental illness. We just take away liberty and put people in inhumane environments, with people who are unlikely to provide the needs for rehabilitation, or to encourage positive reintegration into society.   We do provide a few course to teach people to read and write, and for a very few provide for health needs.


I do agree that some people do need to be kept away from society and locked away, but the prison is not the place. We closed the Psychiatric Institutions, we stopped having publically funded places for residential drug and alcohol treatment and we have placed almost all those who have intellectual disability in the community.


So what should we do?    Well first search for the reasons for offending and then look at those who are rehabilitated successfully and see what works.   We should give those who offend a way to find themselves, stop being addicted, find out how to cope with life, find a way to get a job or more often find a legal way to get an income.  Also how to express themselves both creatively and by learning to read and communicate.
  

When the big institutions were being closed we talked about providing:

1. positive employment of time
2. shelter and food
3. friendships and a place to go and feel accepted.

The creative spaces or arts spaces that were set up when these institutions were closed did provide the postive employment of time and provided friendships and a place to go and feel accepted, they also enabled the individuals to express themselves creatively.  Sadly these amazing places lack funding or struggle to get the support from governments.   While there are still some in New Zealand the Creative Spaces in other countries are not getting funding.    These places are much cheaper than hospitals or prisons.   


Alternatives to prison are always cheaper, society must have a mind change and not demand prisons.   They don't work as rehabilitation and they don't work as a deterrent.

Gap between rich and poor

This week we have seen the publication of the rich list and it is noted that the rich are, according to the press, 20% richer than last year.   

We also note that the poor are poorer.  Wages increases were under 2% and for many no increase at all, regardless of the large increases in the prices of commodities and services.

We also hear that the US debt crisis solution included NO new taxes and NO plugging of the anomalies in the tax system.  We know that the rich can go on paying little or, in the case of some of the very rich New Zealander's, pay no tax - we know that it is legal to put monies into trusts and to make capital gains not income and thus avoid tax with the help of accountants.     

What does this say for us as a society?  Is there anything we can do to make our own country one where children don't go to school without breakfast?  

We should have a country where families can afford to have a home of their own, but also were the very rich CEO don't earn 40% to 60% more than their rank and file employees.


Maybe we should think a bit more about where we buy our goods and services and use people power to change the climate of the economy, every time you buy groceries at the supermarket or petrol at the service station, how much of the cost goes to the CEO and Directors of corporations.   

Maybe we could shop at co-operatives, encourage and support the not-for-profit sector, buy from markets and use local services. 

We could buy free trade goods and we should, if we buy and sell shares in companies, try to influence company policies and see more ethical pay rates.   

What do you think?

United States Debt Crisis

One has to wonder about the United States and their politicians, well at least they eventually did get a sort of agreement - even if a crazy compromise.    

Agreement to cuts to spending, but no increases in taxes.    Madness.

The widening gap between rich and poor and the way the Republicans will not even allow the tax loop holes to be plugged just doesn't make sense to me.  This appears to me to be a recipe for violence and depression.

The Spirit Level (see previous post) authors would point out that this is absolutely hopeless decision for a society.   

One has to ask why a country would cut benefits and make the poor even poorer in a rich country that encourages wealth.    

The big costs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and as throughout history the poor pay, both in their lives and in their taxes.   Why should I be surprised?

If countries that are unequal have more violence, bad health, increased mental health issue, obesity, larger prison populations and isolation with loneliness, then why make the separation much larger?  


That is a question for the Rebublicans and the Tea Party???

  

The Spirit Level - Why Equality is Better for Everyone

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett have provided a really interesting must read book about Unequal societies like New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom and United States.

This book examines issues like Poverty, Life Expectancy, Obesity, Violence, Prisons, Educational Performance, Sustainability and importantly the way the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.    

Interesting are the charts and statistics showing with inequality health and community also breaks down and that the health statistics for the unequal societies are not as good as the more equal societies.   The chapter on Prisons is particularly good.   Sadly the more unequal the more we put people in prisons.   It also shows how prisons don't work in any terms of rehabilitation.

The book asks us to look at priorities.   Community, interactions between people, social capital and taxes.    

I would also like us to look at greed.  Who needs $400 million dollars?  The way an extremely rich New Zealand business man won a court case which basically was because he didn't want to pay $4 million dollars tax is a sad reflection of our system.   He believed that his advisors had restructured his businesses wrongly and that restructuring has cost him more tax.  He won against his accountants and they have to pay him that $4 million.  Come on Capital gains tax.

Cultural Capital and Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI)

More approprate measures for society are the new Genuine Progress Indicators rather than Gross National Product.    It is highly possible that as you look at these indicators you will see that social, environmental, economic and cultural well-being measurements will show how society can develop in a sustainable way, rather than always looking at economic growth.   The world can not keep growing - that is not sustainable.

Cultural Capital

This is an book for people working in Local government.   It explains how to use cultural capital for economic growth and to provide a creative community.   A free PDF copy can be downloaded from www.pseconsultancy.com