I personally think he lost because they ran a hopeless campaign. But it is more than possible that he floated a couple of ideas that the voter simply could not stomach.
Nuclear makes sense. Working from home hinders productivity. But the voter is always right and being a voter beats logic.
Will the voter be right here on superannuation? Are there enough New Zealanders who have landed on the simple truth that 65-years-old, as a pension age, is no longer sensible, nor affordable?
$28 billion is the bill each year, and growing. That seems worse now because we are broke. But even in good times it’s a stunning amount of money.
National will take it to the vote next year. They may be saved from themselves by NZ First, if they are still in the mix, because it will be a bottom line.
But we reach the interesting point where logic and emotion collide.
For many, superannuation is untouchable. It’s a lifetime's worth of work. "i paid my taxes" they say, even though that line isn't actually real because we spent your taxes years ago and then borrowed a bit more to keep the lights on.
65-years-old is the new 50-years-old and, post-Covid, older workers have never been in more demand. The days of being out to pasture are increasingly gone. 65-years-old is not old.
Imagine a day where you enter the workforce knowing you need to take care of yourself. Yes, if you strike trouble the pension is a welfare payment, not an entitlement.
But we either have to change the narrative and mindset from entitlement to welfare, or we need to up the age. In upping the age over time, even giving years worth of notice, it's still a very big call.
It underlines our desire for free stuff, or perceived free stuff. Once you set a precedent with money it is fantastically hard to undo.
But Luxon, apparently, is keen to give it a crack. He calls it a no brainer.
First clue - there aren't many who think it’s a no brainer. Labour learnt the hard way over the capital gains tax.
Luxon may be about to learn something similar.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
Will the voter be right here on superannuation? Are there enough New Zealanders who have landed on the simple truth that 65-years-old, as a pension age, is no longer sensible, nor affordable?
$28 billion is the bill each year, and growing. That seems worse now because we are broke. But even in good times it’s a stunning amount of money.
National will take it to the vote next year. They may be saved from themselves by NZ First, if they are still in the mix, because it will be a bottom line.
But we reach the interesting point where logic and emotion collide.
For many, superannuation is untouchable. It’s a lifetime's worth of work. "i paid my taxes" they say, even though that line isn't actually real because we spent your taxes years ago and then borrowed a bit more to keep the lights on.
65-years-old is the new 50-years-old and, post-Covid, older workers have never been in more demand. The days of being out to pasture are increasingly gone. 65-years-old is not old.
Imagine a day where you enter the workforce knowing you need to take care of yourself. Yes, if you strike trouble the pension is a welfare payment, not an entitlement.
But we either have to change the narrative and mindset from entitlement to welfare, or we need to up the age. In upping the age over time, even giving years worth of notice, it's still a very big call.
It underlines our desire for free stuff, or perceived free stuff. Once you set a precedent with money it is fantastically hard to undo.
But Luxon, apparently, is keen to give it a crack. He calls it a no brainer.
First clue - there aren't many who think it’s a no brainer. Labour learnt the hard way over the capital gains tax.
Luxon may be about to learn something similar.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
11 comments:
Screwing with the pension will be Nationals downfall.
It’s easy to say we can’t afford it so push out the age of entitlement. The problem is pushing the age out solves nothing. The govt wastes way too much of our taxpayer dollars on total crap.
The argument goes that age pension entitlement has increased in Uk, Australia etc, so we must do the same. How about Denmark aged 70? Does that sound reasonable?
I think not.
Imagine being a builder age 70 or a brick layer or painter, up and down ladders all day.
The politicians waste our money and will continue to waste our money. Their solution is to push the cost onto the worker instead of getting the spending under control.
quote
'Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.'
mike hosking is a white collar desk jocky-a lot of 'us' are not, we've worn ourselves out and are 'not the new 50 year olds' of the past.
In our entitlement society, far too few NZers are now financially or economically literate. The hand outs are expected to be eternal.... so logically, if the voters refuse necessary change, the reality check will come and will be draconian.
The Coalition only have to sell the picture that for the sake of NZ the introduction is based around only a 2 month a year extension to 67 will take 12 years. The message has to be TWELVE YEARS AWAY.
Here’s the solution.
Every politician, news presenter and radio host go and do a full days labour on a work site.
See how the tune changes when you tell them they have to do that until 65.
Walk a mile in those shoes, then comment.
Load of deluded twaddle Mike. By 65 i had fullblown osteo arthritis. A disease i inherited. I worked as a teacher after 50 years and in my early 60's i was NOT physically capable of meeting the challenges . 65 is not the new 50. Get over yourself. I have always been a volunteer worker. I also owned my own business for 18 years and raised three educated contributing citizens, No one paid me to do that. so unlike you I don't have pots of money. And given my family's contribution to the economy of NZ i am owed a pension. The rich like you can bugger off and get their grubby paws off our entitlement NOT a BENEFIT.
Right - but the fact that any change at all is met with hysterics is the telling factor. The Maori knee-jerk reaction was to give super at age 57 to this ethnic group.
Of course certain professional activities need special exemptions due to their physical stress. This is normal.
Luxon picking a battle, what a joke. He makes Starmer look strong and principled.
Unfortunately the whole superannuation issue runs far deeper than simple economics. It strikes at the heart of society, at what it means to be truly human. How we treat our old people and our children, the most vulnerable among us, defines our society. If we expect that our elderly are simply a burden that the State has a responsibility to look after, we will deserve everything in life that we are going to get. As the next generation, it is our responsibility to take care of our seniors - not the State’s. People need to take direct care of their parents, the way it is done in much poorer countries than our own, but where family bonds are all-important. The culture of materialism and greed, feminism (which has been partly responsible for the destruction of the family unit) and policies from Govt aimed at atomising society rather than congealing it - all this has combined to leave our elderly poor, vulnerable and lonely. Whether or not they are entitled to a superannuation payment is a detail that ignores the bigger picture.
We pay our taxes to the government to manage to benefit us and build the infrastructure . For the 50 or so years that we work the government has the use of of OUR money. Superannuation is our right. The incompetent management of the economy does not excuse the overpaid half wits in Wellington from their idiocy. No question they work for us and they bloody well owe us.Send the drongos down there to Singapore to learn how a profitable superannuation scheme works. Thanks to Michael Cullen we still have a superfund worth saving.
NZ first country in the world to pay the old age pension. Learn your history people. What if you haven't any children? don't own a home/ haven't got supportive family? How utterly backward to demand families support their aged members. We are not that country . Way past time the volunteer work of the aged was given a monetary value.National have always been a miserable parsimonious lot! of course all the politicians will be sure to get a nice fat pension for themselves. And they wonder why we don't respect them.
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