Garbage delete this page not even notes just stream of consciousness

I’m not standing by any of this, because too tired. Haven’t written it properly.

 Next, poverty and charity.

I wonder what life would be like in New Zealand if we decided that we had enough. Not everyone, but so many of us. What if we said [living standards] were enough.

And then started thinking about charitable giving to other nations and peoples, either in cash or in kind. And becoming debt free as a nation.

Now of course we have to deal with the satellite and cell tower nonsense first.

But after that what if we did a Dave Ramsey inspired style thing and started giving charitably to other nations to help them to develop economically. And also paid down our debts. And some of the giving was private, some by charities, and some by the government. Sometimes paying down our debts as individuals and families, and sometimes as the government.

Because I kind of think that our living standards are okay. And they have been for decades. Or were, pre 2020. Not for literally everyone. Now some changes as improvements were always possible in every era. But once we made it possible for people to own their own homes and afford meat for dinner every night, and for everyone to have at least the equivalent of a second hand car. And where virtually everyone if they wanted to could go for an overseas trip maybe at least once in their life time (to something like Australia). That's maybe enough.

If the normal people can live like that. That's enough. And then move on to giving to other nations and becoming debt free.

 

Poverty:

Ummmmm.

Tentatively.

The standard of living for a normal New Zealander (in the past) if you have an ordinary three bedroom weather board house in a normal neighbourhood with a smidge of lawn and a garage. Maybe four bedrooms if you have a bigger family or you have your extended family living with you or boarders. That's fine I think. People don't _need_ to have a seven bedroom house with pillars at the front of it and extensive grounds and gardens with perfectly manicured lawns.

We're in complicated times at the moment, and everything is expensive. But ordinary food like mashed potatoes and lamb chops are fine. And people don't need to have constant access to $39 bottles of Chardonnay (let along $300 bottles of wine).

And clothes should be sturdy and well made. But don't have to be $2800 tailored suits.

And handbags don't have to be $400 and watches don't have to be $10000.

And boats are nice, but they don't have to be $250000 let alone 100 million dollars. And I'm like, a small boat with oars and a small motor can get into the centre of an estuary for some fishing? Or a JetSki that you rent is good enough, or a small sailboat for pleasure is fine.

And my view is that, the standard for living in New Zealand wasn't actually that bad for a lot of people since even the 80s. And I'm actually personally happy with normal houses and normal clothes and normal food. And if for example I had a boat, it would be a pretty modest one, a sailing boat, and I'd probably sell it off after a few years. If you know what I mean.

But the important thing is... when I look at how resources are being used, I would rather that...

Switch directions.

Poverty, it is one of the issues in the world. Mass oppression is bigger, and brain damage and harm is bigger. And mental interference is worse.

But I wonder whether a society that reaches the level of wealth that New Zealand achieved by the late 80s or early 90s could redirect their efforts and finances towards helping to build other nations. Especially other common wealth nations. Because we actually have enough. And I know that I don't speak for everyone. And also, there are very real issues with money being wasted in aid. And also there are massive governance and administration and corruption issues overseas. And even more than that, unrest and instability conflict that might destroy the assets and investment anyway.

But I wonder whether we actually have enough, and that at least in theory we could have been working to simultaneously become debt free as a nation and fight to develop other nations as a nation. And both privately and publicly fund it. At least in theory, it would be really, really nice. And maybe something like 20% of gdp could go towards it.

If you have a house, decent clothes and a car and nice enough food and healthcare and maybe one fun hobby, you've already made it. You've succeeded. It's finished. Don't overthink it.

Let's build other people up. Places like Ecuador, Suriname, Haiti, Yemen, Phillipines, India, parts of the Russian federation, Honduras, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. We have enough. For some places such as Tonga and Samoa, (who are not blessed with enough natural resources and economies of scale and also are way too far away from markets to buy their goods and too far away from places to buy goods and face high import costs) they could just have very, very easy immigration into NZ. Within reason. And we could have lots of long term capital expenditure in their societies by lending them money interest free and building infrastructure. Just as a very specific example. Also, this keeps the Chinese out. I'm not sure what else, but it makes sense time that we spend money helping other peoples to get into a better situation. Development doesn't need to always get bigger or better.

However, we might need to deal with the bogus mind rot cannons and nervous system attack machines first. Before we solve the poverty issues elsewhere. And help them to develop.