Welfare reform in a recession: More urgent, not less

Two good pieces at Muriel Newman’s NZCPR site this morning, including the welcome news that she’s discovered Ayn Rand,

A High Priority Promise
23 March 2009
Muriel Newman
In the seventies, the famous writer and philosopher Ayn Rand described the pervasive danger of the welfare state… She could have been writing about New Zealand today. Driven by power-seeking politicians, the welfare safety net has been manipulated over the years to the point where instead of alleviating hardship, it is creating unimaginable harm to some recipients, and widespread damage to society and the economy as a whole.... More >>>

Welfare Reform in a Recession
22 March 2009
Lindsay Mitchell
During a recent radio interview I was asked, is this a bad time to be talking about reforming welfare? No, I replied with little hesitation. There is no bad time to be trying to reform welfare… If increasing resources are going to be needed for unemployed people [however], an effort to reduce dependency on other benefits is doubly urgent... More>>>