Worzels World -  Just thought I’d ask…

 

Where exactly is the black stump? And what, if anything, is on the other side of it? If dogs have such good hearing why do they have to bark so loudly? And how do they get the Teflon to stick to the frying pan? The answers to these questions may be of interest but they are not necessarily that important.

There are other questions to which there must be answers but it seems that no-one wants to tell. For instance, 96 per cent of New Zealand’s production is exported yet we pay global prices for the 4 per cent left behind. Others consume 24 times as much of what New Zealand makes than we do yet our national debt continues to climb. How is this possible? 

Maori emigrated here and sustained themselves for hundreds of years. Early European settlers arrived, knew they were on to a good thing, and carved out good lives in a near virgin land. Some made fortunes in forestry, gold mining and farming. The majority though were content to simply make a living in an egalitarian land of plenty, a country mercifully free of false inequalities engendered by class distinctions, political status, wealth and the Industrial Revolution. They did so without current advanced technology  What did they do that we have stopped doing? What did they know that we have forgotten? We are a small population occupying a temperate and fertile Pacific island country   unequalled anywhere for our range of climate, soils and vegetation. New Zealand has – and still does – excel at producing what are the basic ingredients for life. 

These are food, shelter and clothing. We grow enough timber to house many times our population. There are literally acres of logs stacked up at the ports of Whangarei waiting to be shipped elsewhere. We shear enough sheep and skin or pluck enough possums to produce sufficient high quality warm clothing for ourselves and countless others. We produce beef, poultry, eggs, lamb, venison and a broad range of fruit and vegies in quantities and of a quality unequalled anywhere else on the globe. Why then do we have homeless people living on city streets and others subsisting below the poverty line? Why do we hear of outbreaks of Third World-type diseases or of children arriving at school without sufficient nutrition? Could somebody please explain how we have managed this? The national debt clock is now over $100 billion and climbing. Can someone – anyone – explain why? Politicians routinely tell us (usually every election cycle) they have solutions. Could one of them please explain why, in such a rich and fertile land, this type of poverty exists?

t is a fact that over the last 100 years the overall tax take has steadily increased while the provision of services by the state has steadily decreased. Can anyone explain to me where all these extra resources taken from the people by the state are going? In the 1980s Prebble, Douglas and other economic whiz-kids embarked on a programme of privatisation. This programme was continued by both Labour and National governments until there was nothing left to sell. We were promised prosperity through privatisation yet it has only resulted in greater poverty and higher levels of debt. 

Where did all the money go? Why haven’t Prebble, Douglas, Clark and Key been tried for treason and hung? As it happens I know the answer to this one: The Clark led Labour Government – possibly seeing the writing on the wall – repealed the  treason laws. Sadly the politicians and economists who waxed loud and long about the benefits of corporatism are strangely silent when it comes to answering these questions. Yet answers there must be. Realistically I don’t expect a truthful answer anytime soon. And while I am waiting I’ll just have to put up with my loudly barking dog and be thankful that for breakfast I can eat the best free range eggs this side of the black stump on sliced bread and they wont get stuck on the frying pan.

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Politicians routinely tell us (usually every election cycle) they have solutions. Could one of them please explain why, in such a rich and fertile land, this type of poverty exists?

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