RAM, a grassroots people's movement, has released it's TEN COMMANDMENTS for the election campaign. These demands will be "common sense" to many grassroots people. All of the demands undermine the market.RAM will be standing a full list of candidates for the party vote and will be contesting a number of electoral seats. RAM's membership has soared to over 3,000, making it one of the 5 biggest parties by membership in the country.
Because Labour & National are political twins (the LabNats) a vote for RAM will be a vote for a grassroots alternative to their market policies.
TEN COMMANDMENTS
1 Remove GST tax from all our food.
2 $2,000 ‘baby bonus’ to every mum.
3 Lift minimum wage to $15 an hour.
4 Offer first-home buyers a 3% interest state loan.
5 Free lunches in schools serving poor areas.
6 Free tertiary education plus a student living allowance.
7 Free & frequent public transport in our main cities.
8 Offer cheap solar panels to homeowners.
9 Restore to workers their free right to strike.
10 Enshrine the Treaty of Waitangi in a new constitution to guarantee the mutual rights of Maori & non-Maori.
An A5 leaflet has been produced for mass distribution. If you would like copies of the leaflet email RAM chair Grant Morgan grantmorgan@paradise.net
Go to RAM's website http://www.ram.org.nz/ for PDF files of RAM's popular "GST-off-food" petition and RAM membership forms. To join RAM is $1 for three years.
Other news and information relating to RAM can be found on the UNITYblog sidebar.
1 comment:
1 Remove GST tax from all our food.
Yes, and don't stop there, take it off everything.
2 $2,000 ‘baby bonus’ to every mum.
Not sure why anyone would want to do this. It provides the wrong incentives to have children. And who pays for it?
3 Lift minimum wage to $15 an hour.
At the cost of increased youth unemployment and businesses moving offshore. Very short sighted. The best way for workers to raise their wages and retain job security is by lifting productivity.
4 Offer first-home buyers a 3% interest state loan.
Subsidised by whom?
5 Free lunches in schools serving poor areas.
No such thing as a free lunch. Who decides what's in the lunch? What if the kids reject the food and cause a riot? And who pays for it?
6 Free tertiary education plus a student living allowance.
Paid for by whom? How high is the living allowance? I would probably be taking a pay cut if I moved from my job into further tertiary education.
7 Free & frequent public transport in our main cities.
Which encourages people to live in cities.
8 Offer cheap solar panels to homeowners.
They are ugly and deface the landscape. How much carbon is used in their manufacture? Are they full of toxic elements? How long do they last? Will we have rubbish tips full of solar panels after five years?
9 Restore to workers their free right to strike.
Agreed, employment is a two way street and no-one should be a slave. Just as when half your income is confiscated by the state, you are in semi-slavery.
10 Enshrine the Treaty of Waitangi in a new constitution to guarantee the mutual rights of Maori & non-Maori.
The Treaty does not emphasise individual rights so not sure how that will protect New Zealanders. A constitution based on the U.S. version would be better.
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