Upsy Daisy and all that

 Well, we're back in partial lockdown again. L3 for Auckland, which is like most of the rest of the world is in, and L2 for the rest of us which is basically a restriction of gathering sizes and trying to maintain social distance. 

It's really worrying. It turns out that a case caught by a worker in an airport facility has transmitted through the community up there, not hugely, but then two of those people who turned out to be positive had done shifts in their respective jobs at Kmart and KFC. So suddenly the likelihood of a huge outbreak just appeared out of the blue, as they do. Their workplaces tell me everything we need to know about why they did this.

These people live in South Auckland, which is high in low income families, many of whom are paying almost their entire income to greedy landlords. Not turning up for work is inconceivable. Years of being treated like a number and paid minimum wage will have resulted in any messages from management, even if they are giving them out, being seen as suspicious. Who cares about the greater good when you can't see the end of the week yourself.

This is where we've got to. Last week I drove out to my sister's and took a less direct route, driving past where my aunt and her family lived in a state house enclave that held maybe 200 two storey family homes. The buildings were well past their use-by date by this century but I had forgotten that the cleared land had been sold off and turned into private residences. Multiply this many times and it's no wonder that three ex hotels in Wellington are now emergency housing, a situation so spectacularly unsuitable I just can't EVEN.

And it gets worse and worse. House prices are sky rocketing here, because they can. So, rents are following suit. Does it matter if the landlord bought the place ten years ago for half the price? Apparently not. Apparently it's not illegal to charge a rent based on today's value thus benefitting from the housing market, then also selling at today's value, which is technically double dipping.

I'm so disgusted by where neo-liberalism has gotten us. I know that the search is on to find out where the virus originated but I'm pretty sure the PROBLEM of the virus originated and is perpetuated by the ever increasing gap between the haves and have nots. 

And this is why two people who went to work instead of staying home is not a story of selfishness on their part, but a story of them being at the whim of a huge chain of selfishness of global proportions.