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The Forum > Article Comments > After the Melbourne crackdown: rebuilding the ‘We are the 99 per cent’ movement > Comments

After the Melbourne crackdown: rebuilding the ‘We are the 99 per cent’ movement : Comments

By Tristan Ewins, published 27/10/2011

Social movement against neo-liberalism need to be broad and tolerant.

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It's been well over 40 years since my Uni Days with its heady left wing demos and Anti- Vietnam Marches.

Yet, I feel in a time loop with this Writer, only the Names have changed .The rhetoric is unchanged ,absorbed with the same blind belief that we had then and. I assume, they do now.

We had Soul then and are not Fools nowadays.( If you don't get it, look up the Quote )

Welcome to the 1960s, Tristan
Posted by Aspley, Thursday, 27 October 2011 11:34:16 AM
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Jon J, pity they don't have "like" buttons here. Good point.
Posted by bitey, Thursday, 27 October 2011 12:32:12 PM
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Tristan

You've got quite a bit wrong there. Company tax rates are the same now as they were in 2000-01. The personal tax rates have, in fact, been falling through the adjustment of tax brackets, over several years (the sequence ended only in the last budget, I think). Look back over the past six or seven budgets. The ATO site will also be able to tell you about past rates. Also look at the last compliance enforcement statement by the ATO and their efforts to collect tax from major companies.

The dividend imputation system was brought in by Keating in order to end many of the rorts which you are complaining about, and eliminated severe distortions in the system. Doubt if it favoured anyone overall. Being able to owe shares is an advantage of being rich but has nothing to do with the tax system. Keating stated the super system not Howard - but your argument has some relevence in super. Not a lot but some.

The bit about billions of resource dollars flowing overseas is left wing fantasy. Look up the stuff on where the resources tax debate finished up, and bear in mind that such taxes have been in place for decades. They didn't start with Rudd's proposals.

As for this statement "natural public monopolies again - as these have no incentive to rip off consumers".. Bbbwwwhahahah! Tristan you are an innocent. To take one example, the old Telstra had its monopoly taken of it for very good reasons, and no one was sorry to see it go. Maybe you should read up on that one too..
Posted by Curmudgeon, Thursday, 27 October 2011 1:03:40 PM
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Given the failures of almost every socialist experiment world wide from the 70s and 80s, I would have thought the lesson would have been learnt that over taxing the rich very seldom improves the lot of the poor. The super taxes simply meant the rich moved their money and/or themselves oversea along with their entrepreneurial spirit.

Since the 80s whilst the income gap has increased, the real income after inflation of the lowest earning bracket has also seen a dramatic increase, so while the highest earning have benefited the most, the lowest have not been left behind.

The occupy movement has no idea of what it really wants, and it would appear that most of them are there so that they can be seen to be green.
Posted by Shadow Minister, Thursday, 27 October 2011 3:03:16 PM
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The only green bit is that little spot right behind the ears. Copycat agenda, dun nothing but cause disruption, and a lot of garbage. Telstra was a pain for a lot of years to the consumer, but paid well for the govt; Telstra's shares still have not made what they were sold for. A sure thing was the bribe.
Posted by 579, Thursday, 27 October 2011 3:24:58 PM
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Shadow Minister; You talk of 'the failure of socialist experiments' and condemn more robust regimes of taxation.

But surely Sweden, Holland and Denmark show an alternative is possible; with these nations experiencing relative prosperity compared with other countries - regardless of very robust welfare states.

On the other hand the United States is in a lot of trouble.

In reality different 'models' can 'work' in different ways. It depends what your aims are and what your criteria are. And it depends what your values are.

For me: I want everyone to share fairly in the benefits of prosperity.

And I want a genuine democracy - with political, social and economic citizenship.

The US is still the most powerful nation in the world. And yet it has almost 10% unemployment, and high levels of inequality, poverty, homelessness.

How do we measure 'economic success'?
Posted by Tristan Ewins, Thursday, 27 October 2011 6:18:04 PM
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