Obviously there is both an upside and a downside to living in New Zealand. All developed and developing countries are forced to operate under the same global capitalist system, which is under near absolute control of multinational corporations, via the WTO, the Global Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and other free trade treaties and the draconian financial policies enforced by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. New Zealand is no exception and has many of the major economic and social problems other developed countries are experiencing. In a few areas, New Zealand has adopted some of the worst aspects of global capitalism, which results in uniquely negative consequences for the New Zealand public. However, for the most part, Kiwis retain their commitment to the “democratic socialism” they brought here from Europe. This, in my view, results in a society and culture that tends to be far more humane than is found in the US.

Nevertheless, as a capitalist industrialized nation, New Zealand shares a number of pernicious social problems found in all modern capitalist countries:

• Worsening income equality – only 9% of Kiwis have incomes above $70,000 ($53,000 in US dollars), whereas nearly one third earn less than $14,000 ($10,5000 US).
• Irrational and blind adherence to a continuous economic growth paradigm. In a small country like New Zealand, this has much more serious impact, in terms of toxic soil and water contamination and habitat destruction due to mining and aggressive dairy expansion. Over the past two decades, the majority of New Zealand’s picturesque waterways have become unsuitable for swimming owing to farm effluent and fertilizer run-off.
• Slow uptake of renewable energy production (owing nonexistent finance capital or government subsidies)
• Slow uptake of growth management (sprawl prevention strategies) essential to the development of cost effective public transportation and food and water security.
• Slow uptake of the food miles concept, owing to an economy that is totally reliant on tourism and exports (that sells dairy products, lamb and beef to China to survive).
• Heavy mainstream media emphasize on stereotypical female roles, resulting in massive pressure on New Zealand women to look young, thin and sexually attractive. Fortunately cosmetic surgery is still much less common here than in the US – there simply aren’t enough Kiwis who can afford it.
• Massive household debt (150% of disposable income – largely owing to chronic low wages).
• Factory shut-downs and movement of well-paid union and manufacturing jobs to overseas sweat shops.
• Diets which are excessively dependent on foreign food imports, as opposed to more sustainable reliance on locally and regionally produced food in season.
• Factory farming of pigs and chickens, which have to be fed antibiotics daily, as the cramped quarters cause a large number of animals to be diseased. Owing to heavy, sustained Green Party lobbying, sow stalls have been banned as of 2015. Nevertheless, thanks to the high prevalence of battery hen operations in New Zealand (and constant exposure of chickens to feces), a high proportion of fresh chicken sold in supermarkets is contaminated with salmonella and/or campylobacter (which is destroyed by freezing but not cooking). Both organisms cause food poisoning in humans. New Zealand enjoys the highest per capita incidence of campylobacter infection in the world.

Sow stalls

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