Tax cuts and separate portions

Post the election, everybody says NZ is a divided country. But where exactly is the faultline that separates citizen from citizen? Pundits have hypothesised at length on TV and in the papers, but it took me just one evening with a gaggle of relatives to see a yawning chasm open up in the middle of the living room between: FAMILIES and DINKS. The cohort divided neatly on issue after issue:

- across the board tax cuts are either "fair" or "inflationary"
- Working for Families "helps out struggling families", but "that was your choice to make, why should I have to pay for it?"
- "my taxes pay for your kids' education", but "my kids' taxes will pay for your retirement!"

The takeaway dinner even became a war prize as those who wanted to place one big order and those who wanted separate portions argued the toss.

Dinkism was once an insignificant and shameful creed. However they have grown precipitately in numbers, the stigma has been cast off and I foresee titanic battles of demography.

Family Health Diary = hypocrisy

Big pharma hates Pharmac because its position as sole procurer for NZ public health gives it huge negotiating power to keep the price of drugs down. However the likes of GSK don't hesitate to participate in the Family Health Diary TV advertising collective. So what's the story, is bulk purchasing in the public interest or not? When's the learned academic paper going to be released?