I think I have gone from the right to the left with age..... seeing more and more incompetence and (legal) corruption.....

To be honest I am sick of having governments who solve everything with more nanny state rules, reckless spending, increased taxes and middle class welfare.

Also dis-allusioned with the way governments spend money. It seems most state contracts are really kick backs to large construction companies and the like. Just look at the desal in VIC, or the Myki bungle in VIC.....

Private Public Partnerships as they call them are just ways of gouging the aussie public of hard earned money. It seems things are increasingly geared to protecting and rewarding big business and not the individual australian.

Sometimes I wonder, do we all go to work to support big business, or does business exist for us??? Surely the consumer is king? When the big retailers kicked up a stink about online purchases it made it very clear just what kind of mentality big business has.... "you exist for US".....

Also the economic focus annoys me... flick through Influenza or a copy of the Self Capitalist.... you'll read well researched statistics that countries that focus on the well being (not in a nanny state way, but through providing better services like public transport, health) have a better way of life and are much happier than those countries that spruik the "economy" in every sentence and government policy.

Everything is economics and a commodity.... fkn houses... now that's a joke. Every person deserves the right to own a house / unit etc. But can you imagine how hard that is going to be for your kids and their kids?

It just amazes me how over time people become more accepting of things and the direction in which everything is going....

You only have to do comparitives to 60's, 70's and 80's, like housing for example, a house would cost 2 possibly 3 times your annual income (remember only one person worked back then).... kids spent more time with their mum, weekends spent doing recreational activities, houses simple but enough....

NOW - houses 8 to 10 times annual average income..... people are HAPPY that prices have gone up, feeling it reflects a wealth increase, how ever when they close their position to buy a new house they should realize that every other house has gone up in value, so now they are paying more as well... not only that, the banks and governments have been saying how great this all is, how well things are going, yet people are borrowing more to buy these expensive houses, so banks rip it in through higher interest repayments, state govs get more in stamp duty.... real estate dudes more commission, couples are both working with kids at day care.... but don't worry, things have improved right????

The government, ever so kind to watch over the banks, makes sure imigration is up, foriegn investment into housing is all fine, so property prices don't decline and the balance sheet of banks is good.... god bless them...

I can't imagine explaining the process of life to a kid now....

Well son, you go to uni, get a job, meet a girl, marry, buy a house, pay that off over 25 to 35 years, she goes back to work after popping a couple of kids out, you both fight over finances, never see your kids or spend time with them.... and get to tell this very story to your own kids -welcome to society son :P Who said slavery was dead...

So I guess... I am not so right wing anymore, but also not left... I believe in responsible governance.... what current "western" governments are doing is peddling crack, and justifying the addiction......

Reading that makes me think that left or right we still blame the government!!

doggie said...

Reading that makes me think that left or right we still blame the government!!

I am not the only one blaming goverment (policy):

www.news.com.au/

To quote ANZ's Australian CEO

Governments might want to look at whether the current extent of negative gearing tax breaks are fostering an unhealthy focus on housing as an investment vehicle, thereby compounding affordability issues

And:

He said real estate should not be regarded as speculative investment vehicle but as ''a place to live in, sleep, eat and raise your family''


Now I am not a CEO of a major bank, but somehow arrived at the same conclusion.... mind you, very surprised he is saying it....

What is Gillard doing wrong and why????

doggie said...

Reading that makes me think that left or right we still blame the government!!

I think we've all been thoroughly mislead on the political left/right issue. What's the functional difference between socialism, communism and fascism? I know there are detail differences, but they all play out the same. Do a bit of a compare/contrast on Lenin, Mao, Franco, Hitler, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung and any others you can think of. In each case you have huge government, 1 (or just a small handful of) despot in charge, almost complete loss of rights and freedom, murder of anyone who disagrees with the state and on and on ad nauseum. This is the far left I'm talking about here. The far political right is anarchy. Most modern democracies fall somewhere in between.

As for the Labor/Liberal debate in Oz - is there any discernible difference at all?

at least PK made it entertaining!!

dinsdale said...

doggie said...

Reading that makes me think that left or right we still blame the government!!

As for the Labor/Liberal debate in Oz - is there any discernible difference at all?

No not anymore, I wasnt a Howard supporter but I think he had some idea of what was going on, even tho he didnt have a personality....

dinsdale said...

whippingboy said...
Age, knowledge and first hand experience of the Australian political system has made me a complete cynic.

You and me three!

whippingboy said...
The only thing politcians stand for are themselves.
Ever noticed how many politicians are lawyers (both sides) and are well trained in parasitic practices

You are SOOooo right there. Ever noticed that whoever you vote for a politician always gets in?

Q. How do you tell if a politician is lying?
A. His/her lips are moving.

What is the difference between a Poli & a trampoline?



























You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline

Prawnhead said...

at least PK made it entertaining!!

That was a great period of politics, sort of good cop /bad cop . Hawke being Hawkey and Keating beating the crap out of anyone he didn't like the look of ........Ahhhhh....happy days

Saltydog10 said...

Ive never been so right in my life and it has everything to do with the current government who have made an absolute balls up of everything . Never before have we seen a government mismanage as this one is doing . They will be gone next election but that is still a few years away

I worry for my kids and there futures . We are still very fortunate to live here though .

You are so right, it goes without saying. Also facts. It goes without facts. Its the vibe...


Do you actually have any argument based on facts that backs this up or do you read the SMH or Telegraph?

log man said...

Prawnhead said...

at least PK made it entertaining!!

That was a great period of politics, sort of good cop /bad cop . Hawke being Hawkey and Keating beating the crap out of anyone he didn't like the look of ........Ahhhhh....happy days

On former Labor Prime Minister, Bob Hawke:

"Now listen mate," [to John Browne, Minister of Sport, who was proposing a 110 per cent tax deduction for contributions to a Sports Foundation] "you're not getting 110 per cent. You can forget it. This is a fu%king Boulevard Hotel special, this is. The trouble is we are dealing with a sports junkie here [gesturing towards Bob Hawke]. I go out for a piss and they pull this one on me. Well that's the last time I leave you two alone. From now on, I'm sticking to you two like sh&t to a blanket.

some more entertainment on the link
http://www.webcity.com.au/keating/

FormulaNova said...

Saltydog10 said...

Ive never been so right in my life and it has everything to do with the current government who have made an absolute balls up of everything . Never before have we seen a government mismanage as this one is doing . They will be gone next election but that is still a few years away

I worry for my kids and there futures . We are still very fortunate to live here though .

You are so right, it goes without saying. Also facts. It goes without facts. Its the vibe...


Do you actually have any argument based on facts that backs this up or do you read the SMH or Telegraph?

Or the Herald/sun or The Australian or 3aw or MTR radio or the Bolt report. I've never seen such a barrage of overtly biased one sided screeching.... ever. No, hang on it was nearly as bad, but in a much less sophisticated way just before the Whitlam dismissal in 1975. The problem is that the conservatives in parliament and in the media are plain affronted that they lost the election(please no "we got more votes" whingeing) and are dead set that they're not going to let it stand.

log man said...

How magnificently ironic that if Howard had been re elected Australia would now have a Carbon Tax, seeing it was Coalition policy going to the 2007 election.

What is carbon tax, how much will it cost us, when do we pay it, what does it apply to, who has to pay it, what benefits will paying this tax give us down the track?

If Australians even had a vague understanding of the answers to these questions, maybe more people would be agreeable to a tax on carbon.

As much as I dislike Tony Abbott, I think we need another election.

I just received this sign......

Poodle said...

I just received this sign......

^^^+1^^^
I agree!