All this news about the lack of affordable housing in New Zealand - or housing at all - is followed with calls for more houses to be built. Seems like the obvious solution right?
But the core reason behind this and many other social issues is the inequality in our society. We all, for the most part, abide by the rules that the government legislates and enforces. Those rules benefit some and harm others. The people that benefit the most from these rules - the rich and powerful - have the resources to influence and bend those rules even more in their favour.
We have elections that allow everyone to vote. In order to ensure that the bulk of the electorate do not vote in their own interests, the rich and powerful ensure that all sorts of misinformation gets disseminated throughout the population. And so we end up voting in governments that really only act in the interests of a few, whilst placating the masses enough to avoid complete social breakdown.
But it's easy to see through all of the bullshit when armed with knowledge and the ability to think critically.
One of the most effective myths (that allows the elite to exploit the rest of us) is the belief that the government is restricted in the amount of money it can spend. When you hear a minister saying "we don't have an unlimited amount of money to spend" when discussing health, education, housing or social welfare, they are, quite simply, bullshitting. Aside from the fact that the government is not fiscally constrained, you have to ask the question "Ok, where do the billions come from to build all the new motorways?". The answer: the government simply spends the money! They don't have to "find" the money; they can simply spend it.
Before we can really solve any of these so-called "intractable" problems, we have to dispel this myth.
But the core reason behind this and many other social issues is the inequality in our society. We all, for the most part, abide by the rules that the government legislates and enforces. Those rules benefit some and harm others. The people that benefit the most from these rules - the rich and powerful - have the resources to influence and bend those rules even more in their favour.
We have elections that allow everyone to vote. In order to ensure that the bulk of the electorate do not vote in their own interests, the rich and powerful ensure that all sorts of misinformation gets disseminated throughout the population. And so we end up voting in governments that really only act in the interests of a few, whilst placating the masses enough to avoid complete social breakdown.
But it's easy to see through all of the bullshit when armed with knowledge and the ability to think critically.
One of the most effective myths (that allows the elite to exploit the rest of us) is the belief that the government is restricted in the amount of money it can spend. When you hear a minister saying "we don't have an unlimited amount of money to spend" when discussing health, education, housing or social welfare, they are, quite simply, bullshitting. Aside from the fact that the government is not fiscally constrained, you have to ask the question "Ok, where do the billions come from to build all the new motorways?". The answer: the government simply spends the money! They don't have to "find" the money; they can simply spend it.
Before we can really solve any of these so-called "intractable" problems, we have to dispel this myth.
