This has gone beyond ridiculous. It's time to allow beneficiaries to select the social service agency we want to manage our case. Fully funded, independently of WINZ, and with the same access to MSD systems they have.

Or, as I've said before, wipe the steaming remains of WINZ from the face of the earth, hand over benefits payments to IRD ("reverse taxation"), and move work brokers etc back to an employment service with no responsibility for benefit payments.

#PolicyNZ #SocialWelfare #WINZ #IRD

"More than a million people are affected by the cuts. The worst hit are 20-24 year olds on the dole. Their benefit drops by 25%, to $108 a week. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $235 in 2025.

Sickness beneficiaries under 25 lose 20% of their income, down to $130 a week. $282 in today's money."

#TobyManhire, 2025

https://thespinoff.co.nz/podcasts/juggernaut

Sound familiar? So far NatACT First have come for 100% of 18-19 year olds' dole. But ...

(1/?)

#podcasts #TheSpinoff #Juggernaut #SocialWelfare

A welfare ministry expert panel has broadly approved a draft revision to the reduction rate for basic welfare payments, following a Supreme Court ruling that found the government's cuts to welfare benefits unlawful. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/11/17/japan/welfare-payments-smaller-reduction/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #japanesecourts #socialwelfare #poverty #mhlw

Looks like NatACT First are backing down on some of their beneficiary bashing. From a September update I just found in my email;

"We’re making changes to the traffic light system from 20 October 2025. We’re introducing Report Job Search and Upskilling activities for some clients at red. This is instead of having your benefit reduced."

Also I thought they were canning the winter energy payment, but seems not;

"Winter Energy Payment will re-start on 1 May 2026."

#NZPolitics #SocialWelfare

Political parties in Japan have pledged in their campaigning for the July 20 Upper House election to reduce social security premiums, which have been rising due to the aging population and higher prices. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/09/japan/politics/wages-election-focus/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #politics #2025upperhouseelection #wages#nursingcare #aging #dpp #ldp #cdp #nipponishinnokai #socialwelfare

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the government's cuts to welfare benefits between 2013 and 2015 were unlawful, marking a significant victory for welfare recipients. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/06/27/japan/crime-legal/welfare-benefits-cuts-ruled-unlawful/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #socialwelfare #japanesecourts #poverty

"... this is actually going to cost the government more money. Because, you take away the [equal pay protections], this will lead to higher welfare payment. It will lead to more accommodation supplement. It will lead to higher Working For Families payments. It will lead to a lower tax take, which will cost the Crown money."

#CraigRennie, 2025

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/pat-brittenden/episodes/BHN-Brooke-Van-Velden-cancels-Equal-Pay-Act--Chris-Hipkins-on-Erica-Stanfords-emails--Luxon-ban-on-under-16s-on-social-media-e32evtg

(1/?)

#NZPolitics#EqualPay#PublicFinances#SocialWelfare

My half-baked deep thought of the weekend:

Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem should be renamed Arrow's Context-Sensitivity Theorem, and re-interpreted as saying a social choice function that neglects context leads to dictators.

I say this because the axiom of independence from irrelevant alternatives--one of the assumptions behind the theorem--states that a social choice function should be such that the relationship between A and B is not changed once a new alternative C is introduced. Unpacked, this means the choice function should be insensitive to any context C might bring with it.

Arrow's theorem essentially says that a social choice function satisfying this and a couple other axioms leads to dictators (meaning, one individual's preferences dictate the social choice function's preferences, overruling everyone else involved in the choice who might disagree). Hence the re-interpretation: neglecting context in social choice leads to dictators.

#economics #SocialWelfare #SocialChoice #WelfareEconomics #DecisionTheory #ArrowsTheorem