Thanks Robert. It is good to know because the vast majority of Australian voters are disadvantaged and the minority (mainly big business executives) will do well out of it.Thus the budget rests in the hands of the majority of voters. Trouble is that majority does not seem to understand the power it exercises in a democracy. All it takes to change bad budgets is voters prepared to remember for a couple of years and replace the MPs who offended them. Votes rule in democracy. People earning $200k do not have to pay a 50% higher tax rate than companies earning like Westpac's $3.6 billion. But they do need to adopt the slogan "don't complain, campaign". First in marginal electorates. This applies to all parties not just those in government now. They tend to govern for their party members and supporters rather than for the Australian people. Hardly surprising, but voters can over-rule it if they act wisely at elections.

"Well you have to give them points for guts, the same type of guts that Howard showed when he took the very unpopular GST to an election."

Howard did show guts, he stood on what he said what he was going to do and got elected. What a joke to put Abbott on the same pedestal when he lied his absolute tits off to get elected.

Some people here are such glove muppets. Next we'll have him compared to the Dalai Lama in his godliness.

Fairgo.org/ There is no democracy unless there in monetary sovereignty and we no longer have it.

We have a $1600 billion economy with average inflation of 3%.This means that $48 billion created by private banks as debt is depreciating our spending power,unless there is an increase in wages/salaries. So when banks create this money as debt,we lose 3% + another 3% to repay the principal + the interest.

Now we only have 3% growth but the inflationary money is 3% + 3% principal + growth. So 3% growth is totally swamped by inflation created as debt. This is why we need Govt banks. Inflationary money created as debt depreciates our spending power and savings. It would be better that our Govts created this money as debt free infrastructure so we pay less tax. We are being taxed to pay for contrived debt. The banking system creates this money from nothing.

Arjay

'This means that $48 billion created by private banks as debt is depreciating our spending power,unless there is an increase in wages/salaries.'

Unfortunately, the last thing we need, now that we've been forced to compete in a globalised economy (without ever being asked if we wanted to), is an increase in wages/salaries. With all this artificially manufactured growth flowing through to the cost of living and driving up wages and salaries, we're shooting ourselves in our collective foot. We can't go on competing with populations who will work for $4 per hour.

One of the many things that has to be tackled, if we only had a major party willing to do so, is to bring our real estate prices down - because that's where most of our expensive cost of living flows from. The reasons are complex, but it's widely recognised that the main driving factor in our overinflated housing market over the last 20 years has been negative gearing. There is just no two ways about it - negative gearing HAS to go. It's a rort and a rip-off that has done far more harm than good (except for landlord investors).

Once the housing prices are brought down - whether by market forces or getting rid of tax rorts like negative gearing - we have to implement a partial mortgage write-off policy to compensate those who will be left in negative equity.

If this is not implemented at some stage in the next 5-10 years, then the global market will call the shots, and it will be brutal. If (no, when) that happens, we'll really be in deep doo-doo.

Yes Killarney, it will all eventually collapse in an almighty dung heap. Never before in our history have we had so much money printing that is temporally quarantined by this enormous derivative market which is 10 times the GDP of the planet.

The share market will collapse again but this time the money printing ie QE won't save it. I'm reading predictions of a 90% devaluation in the next 2 yrs that won't rebound.

So take control of your super and savings if you can,as our leaders are trying to defy the laws of mathematics and the lessons of history.

http://cecaust.com.au/

Agree with much of your post Killarney, except where you say we can't compete with $4.00 an hour!
Let's look at steel production, i.e?
We who invented the direct reduction method, can make quality steel in one single process
We only need to rail the best iron ore across the continent; China needs to load it from the train, ship it halfway around the world, offload it at a Chinese port, rail it to one of a number of loss making steel mills.
Then process it twice, using relatively expensive coal, and a significantly larger workforce, than the largely automated process we use here, and just once!
Many American firms are relocating back to America, because wages inflation in China is running at around 10%; plus tax breaks and cheap energy at home, makes it cheaper to produce/manufacture there.
We can do even better than that, with a single stand alone expenditure tax, that gives everybody, except those who live off of extreme complexity, a much fairer go!
Even an 18% expenditure tax, is effectively an 11% tax, given it hands back compliance costs, due to the inherent simplicity.
We could also roll out cheaper than coal thorium power stations; and by locating them adjacent to industrial estates, more than halve current energy costs!
Complete that picture with really rapid rail and purpose built roll on roll off ferries, preferably submersible and nuclear powered that swallow whole trains, and we would then posses the lowest manufacture and transportation costs of anywhere in the world, as well as the most efficient!
This combination would have the high tech corporations of the world queuing to relocate here, along with millions of cashed up self funded retirees.
Always providing we get really busy dramatically increasing affordable housing roll outs.
We could get our economic performance back to the fifties, when we were the third wealthiest nation on earth and a creditor one at that, and where even 1% unemployment was considered shameful.
We just need a government, not criminally hogtied, by its on asinine ideology!
Rhrosty.