He agrees with Matt McCarten that successive governments have shown no concern for the poor and downtrodden.

"The transformation of New Zealand society from one in which Jack was every bit as good as his master, and Jack's children had every opportunity to succeed, has occurred in just two generations."

Hide says this change has not been caused by just one policy, "but rather through a multitude of interlocking policies."

In his opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald, Hide gives a lists of nine factors which he says " are just a small sample of how government stomps on the poor and blocks upward mobility."

He says a total policy reversal won't return New Zealand to the egalitarian society it once was.

"That's because two generations of bad policy have embedded an underclass. The problem is now cultural, not political."

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: Zimbio