Those of you who have watched my documentary, The Food Crisis, will know that when it was released a month before the election, I presented some of the reasons why the cost of living was climbing. These included:
1. The fact that we are geographically isolated from the rest of the world, meaning it costs a lot to get goods in and out of our country.
2. We don’t produce oil, so we have to import fossil fuels to transport goods around our nation.
3. Most of our iconic food brands, such as Watties and Chelsea Sugar, are now owned by large overseas companies.
4. The ongoing war in Ukraine, which is reducing world wheat and oil supplies.
5. The effect of the Covid lockdowns – especially in China, our largest market.
6. Our lack of large cooperative food stores, such as are found in Italy.
The way our monetary policy works to the advantage of the haves.
While we can’t alter the remoteness of our geography, the war in Ukraine, or China’s domestic policies, I argued there are some things we could do about issues 2 and 3 by taking some radical political steps that neither of the major parties were even thinking of doing then, or now.
Since our cost of living is influenced by the international price of oil, I suggested we could reduce our dependence on trucks to transport our goods and return to coastal shipping and rail for a lot of it, thereby reducing our oil consumption.
We could also recognise that the neoliberal economic reforms, instigated by Labour in 1984 and put on steroids by National in the 1990s, have been a disaster, and start returning to a situation where government (i.e., the people) is much more involved in the marketplace. It could, for example, offer competitive mortgage loans for housing instead of allowing large overseas banks and financial institutions free reign over them.
Whatever you think of such suggestions, the fact is that while National, Act and New Zealand First all knew there was nothing they could do about the massive overseas factors that influence our economy, they nevertheless put the rising cost of living at the front and centre of their campaigns. Why? Because making ends meet is what worries most of us most of the time and a lot of people think it’s all the government’s fault that it is so difficult.
The cost of living is currently a major concern for American voters as they approach their Presidential elections in November. If anything will get convicted felon Donald Trump elected, it will be the angry and misguided belief that somehow he can magically halt the process that has made New York the most expensive city in the world in which to live.
While I in no way want to diminish how hard it is for a lot of Kiwis to make ends meet in our low wage economy, I did take a quick look this morning at the NZ cost of living compared the that of the USA.
While the USA is a huge country compared to us, for what it’s worth their cost of living appears to be 7.8% higher than ours.
For a full and interesting list of items such as the cost of milk and cheese in NZ versus costs in other countries, try doing some comparisons using
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/
If you would like to watch my documentary, The Food Crisis, you can access it at the following sites:
Sky Open
https://www.skygo.co.nz/show/mac_sh_140574
Or at the New York Festivals site, where it won a Silver Award.
https://tvfilm.newyorkfestivals.com/Winners/WinnerDetailsNew/cb10e7fc-120a-484d-b1f0-05b4b8bba484
Good work Bryan and the suggestion re: transportation would be excellent were it not that The Troika are totally committed to road transportation at any cost. The real problem is the lack of vision by both major parties ever since the 80's. The Green Party who advocate for such solutions are cast as nut jobs, by all unthinking fools, out to wreck NZ.
Missing from your list is the cost of climate change and the resulting increase in nYural disasters.