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Saturday, 8 March, 2008RELATED CONTENT
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Should welfare payments be cut to rein in inflation? Should welfare payments be cut to rein in inflation?
COMMENTS
First [1][2] Lastwhere's the money? governments have been cutting health, welfare and every other item ever since I can remember, yet the booming economy and inflated oil prices see them collect more revenue than ever, So where does it all go? Spending money on defence is one of those items, we don't DEFEND anything, we attack for the US and it's only ally, we pay more than almost any country in the world for a tiny piece of land when this counrty has more land available than any other,.. and then we got to make more cuts to the welfare payments cuase we can't have them get something for nothing, when the big oil and mining companies boom from OUR assets in the ground???
By giving more to people to spend this is helping to increase inflation and the Supermarket can charge more because people can afford more, then when the RBA raises rates to combat this inflation the people on the bottom will complain their mortgage is increasing like they are right now.
I recommend stop voting until they listen. Without people voting, they have no legitimacy. Without legitimacy, they cant govern.
If the Australian government cut the Center Link payments to the Elderly and the Unemployed people there will be a rise in crimes and it will cost 10 times more money to prevent crimes than what Center Link gives to the Elderly and the Unmeployed. I am sure that the Roman Catholic Church, the Muslims, the Italian Mafia and the Honk Kong drug lords will welcome with open arms the Elderly and the Unemployed who lost their Center Link payments because the Australian government lost interest in helping poor people. The result will be chaos and civil war, Religion war, Gang war. It will be futile to keep the peace. Who knows the Australian Vietnam Veterans and the soldiers who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan my turn against the Australian government and the Labor Party will not longer be allow to rule Australia ever again. The Prime Minister of Australia Mr Rudd and the members of the Labor Party and the rich and those who have a job are behaving just like Saddam Hussein.
Australia has a budget of around $90 billion for welfare, $40 billion for health, and $20 billion for defence. It is easy to see that welfare costs the country a small fortune. It is fair to want to cut some costs from this massive budget but in my view I think the entire system of welfare payments needs to be examined and brought up to date because it is not addressing real issues anymore. Wanting to take money away from some of the hardest hit (carers) is stupid, and for some retired pensioners it would be unfair as well. Yet we also know that some pensioners are living very comfortably with the Veterans Affairs gold card etc. and don't need a bonus that was by and large a something introduced by Howard as a vote grabber. Also during Howard's term he pushed a lot of people off the dole and onto disability pensions to make the unemployment figures smaller. I know a number of these people who in some cases have very quite wealthy parents and the disability pension has just helped these people become alcoholics, serious drug abusers and long term cases that have no easy way to get back into the work force. Those that make the effort to find work face serious deterrents to do so by having their pensions immediately reduced or cut, government housing rents suddenly rising etc etc. It seems that the system doesn't want to understand that these people need serious support to get off a pension and be redirected away from welfare. Most I know don't think it is worth the effort, and so continue to develop negative life-styles that are limited to what they receive in payments and are therefore stuck in a continuing poverty cycle. Some I know never think of working ever again because they have lost all motivation to do so. I my opinion all this is wrong because we are just cultivating a group of completely dependent people with very control over their life potential.
The rich are LAUGHING at this so called booming economy while the poor are getting screwed over by EVERYONE, Centrelink is more facist than Hitler, Labor is in bed with BIG BUSINESS from day one, investors get a tax break to build cheaper rental for instance? Why not release more land get the land prices to a normal level, but no, let the MEGA banks make profits no matter what happens to the economy. Labor is pro boss, pro big money, pro warmongers, wasted time having elections when all parties only look after the rich.
The outrageous bribes offered by governments are the problem, not the solution. Every time the Government puts its hand in our pocket to seize money to pay us a bribe it wastes multi-millions of dollars. Hundreds of bureaucrats to administer clumsy schemes, waste as people buy stuff they don't need. Prices increase as people are bribed with rebates to buy a tank, solar power, you name it. The government should get out of our pockets and again trust people to make good choices.
We voted for labour because we thought they protect the poor, but it came up that Howard was more symathetic to the poor that the Labour party. Mr. Rudd, you already lost 2 votes in the next election
How can anyone believe the elderly are creating inflation. The present inflation in the Australian economy is a result of housing speculation and out of control spending on consumer products, as a result of a younger generation desperately aspiring to the rich class. With the majority of housing sales involving "SALE BY AUCTION" and a middle class hungry for a quick return of profit, such recklessness has resulted in total alteration to what can be termed "NORMAL AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC SCALING". Thus with such swift alteration to the "NORMAL" way Australians spent (Basically the wisdom of the Elder Generation), such a fiscal glitch has created inflationary pressure on the domestic economy. How can The NEW AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT, now bring down inflation, by punishing those people, who were not responsible for cause of the problem. Of course, food inflation is a result of both the drought, and the stupidity of the global economy, where Australia is now obliged to export in order to qualify as a member of the World Trade Organisation. This is why China and India, which are not able to grow enough food to feed themselves, exports food. What a sham the situation is in Australia, where a country, which is able to grow more food than required by the domestic economy, now exports too much produce. Basically the profits overseas are too much to resist. The World Trade Organization, is a joke, and the submission of the Australian population to give up control of food production to large corporations, an even bigger joke, resulting in Australians not even having the right to control inflation of food goods in their own country. Has anyone ever wondered what happened to all the American, Asian and European financial houses (Investment Banks), which entered the Australian housing market 10 years ago. Well, for those who do not even understand what I have asked, let me tell you. After these international speculators, created the beginnings of housing inflation, and pushed prices up 100%, and all Australians were sucked in, they sold their assets, and left the country. They also left the mess they created to the Ausies to clean up. It makes you wonder if Australia has any rights to be governed by its own people. In my personal view, the new STOCK MARKET generation, and that other species which owns 4 to 6 investment properties, as naive as they are, basically they are prostitutes, with no convictions for what is good for the majority. Maybe I'm too harsh, but on my last visit, I thought I was living in Ausamerica. Are the Australian people really going to allow the Labour Government punish the elderly for evil deeds performed by the younger class?
Under no circumstances should welfare payments to the Elderly and Carers be cut. However there should be more accountability in regards to unemployment benefits. This would be the best place to start if welfare payments were to be on the receiving end of cutbacks. However if the Rudd government are serious about reining in inflation they should consider not carrying out their promised tax cuts later in the year and use that money to A) Improve Australia's crap health system and/or B) Addressing environmental issues across Australia, starting with the Murray/Darling system.