The rising cost of living will be a feature of the election campaign. The median real wage has dropped substantially under the National government.
The rising cost of living will be a feature of the election campaign. The median real wage has dropped substantially under the National government.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 13th, 2011 at 8:13 pm and is filed under family, finance, GST, inequality, Inflation, minimum wage, wages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
What’s Labour going to do about this again?
Things have been tough for many families for 4+ years now. remember when petrol was $2.18/l in 07 with a regional tax looming? mortgage rates @10.4% now around 6% for floating?
One huge change in the budget from a DINKY to baby is the cost of nappies, now in the example above I imagine that there is some increase with the increased size in nappies. Best day financially for a young family? the day that this beautiful child is toilet trained!!!;-)
And that many indicators e.g. CPI etc do not include all costs many exclude interest changes. So as we watched interest rates increase by 3-4% 4 years ago that hit many households by reducing their disposable income in the range of $80-$200/week.
It never has been easy but unlike what the stats say things are getting exceeding tougher out there, yet the Res Bank works off the stats, stats and those damn lies !!
Ordinary cheese? I can’t even afford cheese at all!
She is out of touch. 
bin inn has make your own cheese kits spud. Might need some milk though, or that plastic stuff they put in the sliced stuff?
Milk has just gone up again
I think I’ll ration it, but thanks for the tip.
So a young couple who used to be earning 100k together now have a baby and are struggling to get by on one income? That’s more to do with their situation than any cost of living rise.
What parents in past generations haven’t done that and struggled for a few years? And when the child is old enough the mother can go back to work and earn 2 incomes again.
Children make you financially poor. Which is why you have to save before you have them and why it’s nice to have parents to contribute.
This young lady talked about their “lifestyle”, well their lifestyle has changed. You cannot expect to live as comfortable financial lifestyle as single childless people or better established married coupled when you have just had kids. They are a costly choice to make, and yes with obvious advantages later of course.
I agree that the cost of living has shot up higher than wages. Only an idiot would argue otherwise as it is quite obvious even the last time I was back in NZ in November. And GST increases prices more than the cost of the GST as retailers see it as an opportunity to increase prices but worldwide food prices are increasing.
In most countries it means people respond by eating less.
Reality is that New Zealanders expect a certain standard of living and they now cannot afford it because prices worldwide from faster developing nations are squeezing them. The question is what are they going to do about it? Respond by earning more money and being productive? Or bleating for more welfare?
Why do the media not show the effect on beneficiaries like the unemployed, sickness and invalid beneficiaries. They are the ones who are finding it the hardest to survive at the moment.
I would like to see Labour acknowledge beneficiaries leading up to the election. This didnt happen last time.
“Reality is that New Zealanders expect a certain standard of living and they now cannot afford it because prices worldwide from faster developing nations are squeezing them. The question is what are they going to do about it? Respond by earning more money and being productive? Or bleating for more welfare?”
Or move to a country that actually cares about its average citizens (Aussie). The worse thing is that Key etc dont seem to care, if they actually showed some compassion and said they are trying to make things better instead of saying well youll just have to tighten your belt.
Well peoples belts only have so many holes, and many are fast getting to the point of not being able to tighten them any further.
I agree that people who don’t “get” that having a child changes their lifestyle (financially amongst other things) bewilder me.
“Respond by earning more money and being productive?” yes, well, that assumes two things;
1. they are not currently working as hard/wisely (productively) as they can ; and
2. they can find a job that pays them more.
As long as we have a backward looking government, blinkered by mining and asset sales as the only two ways to achieve what CK suggests, what hope us? NZ has always been an innovative country, we sell ourselves short to look back not forward for answers. “Aspirational” turns out to just be a hot button word polled and tested by PR companies and passed on to the PM. For 2.5 years it has meant nothing tangible.
Goff goes on about the rich getting tax cuts, who are the rich? Please give me a figure in salary terms of what Labour class as rich.
@CK- there are no bleepin jobs to earn more.
@Tinkerbell – hell yes, great idea!
)
(You’ve made me so happy that I’m gunna clap around every sick fairy I see
@waterboy – agreed
@Tracey – you have put it so well
@ Vince – don’t worry dude most people don’t fall into that category.
Vince do you agree with the PM that those who earn $13 an hour only have themselves to blame for not making the “right” choices?
A society without compassion is nothing more than a gladiatorial arena
You need to get your figures right
The single pension is $340.00 per week If she is getting less she need to look her tax rate and switch her secondary tax rate from the pension to her job;
She could for this exercise give herself a budget of $340
and then it would be valid
tracey, no I don’t, but you haven’t answered the question I asked or maybe you have….. $13 plus a hour is rich?
No, $13 an hour is less than what Labour wants the minimum wage to be!
!
Vince everyone earning under about $110k and spending their income is worse off in real terms over the last twelve months.
My definition of rich is somewhere between there and someone who got a $1k/week tax cut and was $100k wealthier each week last year – after their bills were paid.
@Trevor – just how many qualify for the $1k/week tax cut and what would raising their taxes add to the coffers? I cant help but think you are being a little injudicious with the facts in the hope of swaying jealous voters who for whatever reason have not been as successful. The numbers will be very small but it would be nice to see you live up to the standards young Hipkins is suggesting you will set.
Trevor – I am confused a family with a sole income of $100k is rich, yet a double income family each earning $50-$99k each are not as they fall below your cutoff mark?
This is where govts get it wrong by in one case viewing income on an individual basis yet a family can earn far INXS of this income are not be noticed. This is at least where some have at least approached the idea with a wider view of income in regard to govt assistance.
This narrow band between poor and rich. Is for me your largest issue when referring to rich. A so called rich peson 1/2′s their income (reduces by $50k)say in the case above and then they are in need and being used as a case of hardship. The same issue is applicable with our tax rates very narrow bands between those with little income to the top bracket