Unemployment

Press, 25 February 1981, Page 20

Unemployment

Sir, — I am shocked and amazed by W. P. Jackson’s statement (February 23) “The old must be persuaded to retire if the young are to find work.” Who will carry out -this “persuading”? Will it apply to a 57-year-ol<i man who has run his own, small business for 30 years? Will an 18-year-old youth fresh out of the education system Which teaches that he has a “right” to everything, take his job over? Jobs are not something that the Government created. Nor did we inherit them from the Maoris. Jobs are there because some individual is willing to pay another a wage so that his private enterprise business may expand. In a free system, a person becomes an employee when he proves .he is capable of doing the work to the standard that the business owner requires, not because he has turned 18 and has a “right” to work. — Yours etc., M. FRANCIS. February 23, 1981. Sir, — The references to the “fascist” character of unbridled “think big” free enterprise are not answered by quoting dictionary definitions. The term “fascist” has come to mean the concentration of economic, and therefore political, power in the hands of the few. “Fascist” is the more emotional and popular version of “corporatist,” which would seem to describe the present Government’s intentions very well.Such intentions serve the interests of capital admirably and must enlarge the stagnant pool of unemployment. The total number. of jobs created by the projected giant enterprises, even at the construction peak, is miserably small in relation to unemployment as a whole. D. J. O’Rourke’s suggested slogan, “Think People,” is a welcome alternative and implies our . reexamination . of the . entire decision making process, which is crucial to the unemployment problem. — Yours, etc., K. FEA. February 23, 1981.