Tag Archives: Poverty

Corporations, Economics, Housing, Money

Another week of neoliberal economics – (and who cares about the poor?) – from the Daily Blog

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From the Daily Blog in NZ, a thought provoking look at the world of economics where policy fallout on human populations is of no particular importance. Discussing also the incentives (are there any?) for mothers to leave their babies in day care and take up paid employment. Many are apparently worse off for working full time.
Capitalism is not about free competitive choices among people who are reasonably equal in their buying and selling of economic power, it is about concentrating capital, concentrating economic power in very few hands using that power to trash everyone who gets in their way. (David Korten)

By   /   August 29, 2015
“In the world of economics there are no crises, no gender issues, no growing inequality, no precariat hanging on in a fragile labour market by their toenails. No families ‘choosing’ to be cold and sick so they can pay the rent, no mothers  sent to jail for infringing 19th century rules,  no children spluttering up sputum from 3rd world diseases because our  housing is so bad ,no inconvenient  hungry students with enormous debt ….
mansion-411128_1280Thus it was this week on Monday at the 13th annual economists breakfast  at the Heritage hotel in Auckland…

Economists after economist pontificated on whether interest rates and exchange  rates are going up or down and why and the virtues of quantitative easing that didn’t happen soon enough, apparently, except in the US.  Never a mention of fiscal policy, except the bad effects of increase in GST in Japan…
…of course, there was no mention by the economists of high rates of poverty, , casualisation, low pay and uncertain hours, rampant speculative activity in real estate and growing inequality, even though the IMF and the OECD are regularly warning of the dangers…

When the inevitable downturn produces higher unemployment, more foodbank demand, foreclosures and poor-330395_1280widespread mental illness, who asks or cares whether the economic system works for low and middle income people and their children?”

“

cancer, EMFs, Health, Smart Meters

How Smart Meters Are Harmful, Raise Costs and Invade Privacy

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From Natural News, a short video clip that explains in a nutshell what is wrong about having a Smart Meter in your home … particularly of note are the health effects. You can also follow the links to sign up to their free EMF summit.

Raising costs is a significant issue, as if the health ones weren’t enough with Smart Meters (aka Advanced Meters here in NZ)

A Genesis Smart Meter
A Genesis Smart Meter
elderly-woman-228955_1280
Elderly struggling to keep warm

… I know of two people locally whose power bills are inexplicably & astronomically high. An elderly pensioner who has a scantily used electric heater, is in a one bedroom flat and is paying $300 per month. Another I know uses no heater at all and pays $200 per month. Both with Smart Meters. And another with no Smart Meter, similar sized flat, heater going most days, most of the day, $200-230 per month. This is not right no matter what way you look at it. We noted here recently that elderly NZ folks were staying in bed all day to keep warm. And yet the powercos offer no other explanation I’ve found other than pre Smart Meter you were getting cheap power because the meter wasn’t measuring it properly. Shame on them. These elderly people built the cruisy world these predators live in and they are riding rough shod over the top of them. They are too polite to switch power companies or insist on some answers. Watch for a further post on this matter.Check out more information on the site for links to help and advice on avoiding a Smart Meter, or what to do if you already have one. Your best education on this issue is to watch the award winning documentary ‘Take Back Your Power’ at their website. If you are in the Rangitikei I can lend you a copy to watch.   (EnvirowatchRangitikei)

The man who speaks on the clip is Farren Landers of healthyhomesenvironmental.com

“Join us at http://EMFsummit.com to learn all about Smart meters, how they raise your electrical costs, invade privacy and emit harmful EMF radiation. This expert interview series will help you understand the dangers of electromagnetic radiation and what you can do to protect yourself and your family.

It seems we are asleep and unaware of the international roll out of Smart meters. Women are calling Farren Lander in tears as their children are getting sick from the Smart meters on the home.

Farren calls it residential espionage. Smart meters are used to collect data about your personal and private activities. They are used to cut off your power and more.

On the EMF summit you can watch world class experts in the field of EMF radiation”

Watch the video here:

http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=4BAD322E2C6218DA8DE6E2FBBA440A8E

Corporations, Health, Smart Meters

With escalating electricity bills, some of our elderly are struggling to keep warm!

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This article from Stuff.co.nz illustrates that our elderly are staying in bed to keep warm and avoid turning on heaters, citing some bills of $500!  The article here does explore possible reasons for escalating power bills and offers assistance and advice for those who are struggling. As a matter of interest however, smart meters are known to escalate power bills so if any of your loved ones are suffering in this way, you could be a little proactive on their behalf and check out if this is the reason. I know of a pensioner in a tiny one b/r flat who barely has her oil heater on, who is getting $300 power bills! (Mine is $200, same scenario, with heater on most days in winter … no smart meter, I got it removed when some power companies were removing them). Another person I know, their bill, AFTER the SM installation (nothing else changed re consumption, appliances or anything) …  escalated from $400 to $1000, I elderly-woman-228955_1280 kid you not. The Take Back Your Power website documents all this kind of info, and locally to NZ, the stopsmartmeters nz. website. Just saying as this is often the cause of higher bills although power companies deny it. If you get the chip removed from them (you may need to find a power company that will do it, shop around) the bills could go down or at least you’ll have eliminated that ticky box. I know that sometimes it is just high usage, but in some cases it is the meter.

I do feel for the elderly, this is not right they are cold in winter because of predatory power companies. Contact Energy in the year to June 30, produced a 17.6 per cent increase in net profit of $234 million. They appear to be doing fine, however we should be looking after our old people not ripping them off. These are the ones who did the hard yards in their younger years … so we should be looking after them in their older years. They built the society we have today that is quickly disappearing thanks to corporate sell outs. Vis a vis the current disappearance of our State Housing stock.

“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”
~ Mahatma Ghandi

To check if Smart Meters are the cause of high electricity costs, for further info on Smart Meters in NZ and for other links go to: https://envirowatchrangitikei.wordpress.com/smart-meters/ It’s recommended you watch Take Back Your Power, the award winning documentary by Josh del Sol. You can watch it at their website, or I have a copy available for loan to folks in the Rangitikei. Believe me, all you need to know about Smart Meters is in this documentary.

You can read Stuff’s article here at the link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/70459781/elderly-staying-in-bed-to-avoid-turning-the-heater-on

Corporations, Food, Money, News

On Queen’s Birthday weekend … 8 facts about the Queen that may surprise you

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Since it’s Queen’s Birthday this weekend (not her official birthday which is 21st April) here are a few pertinent facts you may like to ponder:

  1. Elizabeth_II_greets_NASA_GSFC_employees,_May_8,_2007_editQueen Elizabeth is the largest landowner on earth; she has legal ownership of over one sixth of the planet’s surface. The Commonwealth, including Britain, occupies 9,900 mill acres of the earth’s 36,000 mill acres.
  2. in the UK the Queen is the sole legal owner of all land. Everyone else has either of the following forms of tenure:  (a) freehold defined as ‘an interest in an estate in land, in fee simple.’ (a medieval term for the sum paid to represent the fact that freehold was actually a tenancy and that the monarch was the ultimate landowner). (b) Leasehold, an interest in an estate in land, in fee simple, for a term of years’.
  3. The corporation called ‘NZ’ (your country Kiwis) is registered as owned by the Queen, on the Securities & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) website, Washington DC.
  4. During WW2 11 million acres of land was seized by the British Govt., with minimal and in some cases no compensation paid.
  5. In the UK, Australia, Canada, NZ and anywhere else there are Crown lands, the relevant Govts can seize land without compensation, acting in the Queen’s name … they can also use the Royal Prerogative (feudal powers) to do the same, beyond the reach of parliaments.
  6. The Queen owns as a private person, about 637,000 acres with a value of over $9,200 million.
  7. For nearly 10,000 years of known history, those claiming ownership of land on the planet has been between 0.2% and 3% of the population, whilst the remaining 97-99% owned nothing. The land owners exclude the majority from owning any by crafting their own land laws and perpetuating the fallacy that land is scarce because there are too many people on the planet.
  8. If all the land on the planet was divvied up equally to all (this calculates roughly to one tenth of an urban acre or two of rural) poverty could be eliminated.

From ‘Who Owns the World’ by Kevin Cahill and Rob McMahon

Corporations, Food, Recycle

10 FLOORING FOOD WASTE FACTS

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From an interesting UK site called ‘This is Rubbish’ (TiR) ….  TiR is a voluntary group started in 2009 that: 

“aims to communicate the preventable scale of food wasted in the UK, through policy research, community and arts led public events.”

They have compiled some fascinating facts and figures. Did you know for instance, that:

1. “It’s estimated that 30 – 50% of food is waste globally. 1

2. 18 – 20 million tones of food is wasted annually in the UK. 2

3. Assuming that in the UK and US 25% of food is wasted, 10% of GHG emissions from these countries come from food that is discarded. 3 ”  

(Note: follow links to article for references cited).

I’ve noticed many food outlets will donate their unsold food at the end of the day to charities who quickly pass them on to those folks they know are in need. I recall during the ’90s collecting weekly a car boot load of bread from a local supermarket for that purpose. Another area I lived in (NZ’s beautiful Bay of Plenty) local growers left two large bins of ‘seconds’ from their Kiwifruit harvests free for the taking, which ended up in homes or as stock feed. Brilliant. Then there are the folks I’ve seen recently on FB who have swap stands or free stands near their gardens to dispose of surplus and feed people who are struggling financially … equally as brilliant. If you have a fruit tree that produces more than you can use, consider placing boxes of it at your front gate for passers by to take. Sharing is caring. Your generosity will return to you. I assure you.

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Then closer to home, was my dear Dad who grew an enormous vegetable garden and gave most of it away … serving two purposes … he loved gardening and growing things … and also enjoyed the buzz he got from helping others. Not only did he give the produce away, he also made pickles, relishes, jams and preserves, much of which he also gave away. Having lived through a Depression and a World War he knew the art of survival and making the most what he had. Like many in his era, his shed was chock full of odds and ends to fix stuff with … that was the era that preceded our current ‘throw away’ society. Perhaps this is where the ‘throw-away-the-food’ mentality comes from? Seriously, the fix-it thing is what could drastically cut back the rubbish and recycling problem that is growing into magnanimous proportions … a topic for another post.

I confess I’m guilty of waste at times although I’ve cut that back and am more mindful of using leftovers creatively instead of biffing them. Did you know for instance, you can make apple cider vinegar or apple jelly from apple peels and cores? ? Or that you can make pickle or relish from water melon rinds?

I have a friend who said as a child they had a cook up of all the left overs one night a week. (Only what was edible of course). I guess this may (or may not?) go down well with the creative chefs however … in the bigger picture we who eat well on the planet are actually the minority. This alone causes me to be very thankful for the food I do have, and more mindful of the need to not waste it. And last but not least, to use what I save in all of this, to feed a hungry child elsewhere on the planet. We may one day need the same generosity ourselves. Our current political regime here in NZ is forgetting that fact. Something to think about.

 Read more about TiR’s fantastic site HERE

Read their food waste article HERE