Aotearoa / New Zealand

I think we rely too much on expecting people to dig themselves out of a hole they were born into, and not enough on government intervention. But unfortunately we don't have a good path to change anything.

I think I've talked about this before but I would love for us to do a (probably) world first trial where we pay everyone in the country with residency or citizenship a UBI, probably set at the level of a single person on superannuation (as I think this is the highest "benefit" style payment). Then adjust tax rates so that working people are taxed more to balance the extra money to basically make it the same. Then stop paying superannuation or benefits. Basically, set up a UBI but most people get no more or less than they get now. The important thing being the no strings attached money, so you can go and start a business or study or get an apprenticeship knowing that money is always there and you don't have to lie to WINZ to get it.

Other things I'd like to see are a very widespread government state house programme. Build heaps of new houses, so there are enough houses for everyone and then keep going, so increasing population is covered and any surplus houses mean people can move out of old cold places into nicer newer ones, removing the old cold ones from the housing stock. This would reduce demand on the health system, and create a proper housing market not driven by a lack of housing. It would also cause the rentals that politicians (or their donors) own to fall in value, so it's unlikely to happen.

Another thing is to stop throwing people into prison. The data shows the more people you throw into prison the more criminals you create, and the crime rate only falls short term. I'd like to see a more rehabilitative approach, where we don't put non-violent criminals in prison (especially young ones) and instead help them to get back on track. Prison leads to some pretty terrible financial outcomes locking people in poverty, so unless we have a firm reason to lock someone up I don't think we should. Instead we should spent that $150k per prisoner per year on rehabilitation programmes that happen out of prison.

These are only some things that come to mind to help pull people out of poverty, and they are all government interventions. The problem is the amount of people on the top of the pyramid who have a vested interest in keeping the system the way it is.

ETA: Dentists! I can't believe I forgot dentists. There are massive societal health benefits in having healthy teeth (one reason we have free dentists for under 18s), we should be extending dental care way past 18, and preferably bringing them into the public system.