Obviously the first people who will take a wages cut will be politicians.

The productivity of an MP must be close to zero, or they have negative productivity.

Indeed, the country has been operating for nearly 4 months without a government, (and it could go for 6 months), for no noticeable loss to the country or disadvantage to the country.

I believe many of the problems in this country can be attributed to decisions made by politicians, and if politicians are taken out of any loop, then the country has less problems.

So a wages cut to politicians should be undertaken, as well as a reduction in the number of politicians in the country.

Employment is not an issue, as an immediate cut to immigration will immediately improve the unemployment figures, as well as improve every other aspect of life in Australia.

It is now a time of making a choice between: -

1/ Looking after our young and creating a future for them.

2/ Continuing with the unsustainable rate of immigration.

LOL Tombee
Economic "laws" are more like the godbotherers fairy stories than anything real like gravity or thermodynamics.
Show me a single economic "law" that equates with reality and ill show you some pork in flight.
Economic "laws" are conceived by the wealthy, for the wealthy and for no other reason than to enrich the wealthy at everybody elses expense.

Laws of economics.... I like the Pizza law.

As other have noted the good senator is light on detail/facts. Luxembourg has a higher minimum wage then us and the highest GDP in the world over $100K. however those facts don't help our youth unemployment problem.
It seems there still is enough voters in N.S.W. that can't successfully identify the liberal party on their ballot paper.

Well, apart from Tombee, you have all given the Senator a good talking to, right down to the abusive 'ultra-right' crap that gets hung on anybody who upsets the comrades. I think he makes sense, as usual. I don't agree with him on every little thing he says, but I am glad both he and Senator Day remain in the Senate, as two of the very few experienced men of business and economics in the entire parliament. As Tombee intimates, you are raving if you think employers can pay more than a job is worth to them.

ttbn

If you want to get economic about it, labor costs are usually a small part of total costs to a company.

Labor costs may only be 25% of overall total costs to a company.

So if wages were reduced by 50%, it would only cut total costs by about 12%.

But if you were to cut wages by 50%, many people would not be able to survive, and would have to rely on government housing, government health systems, government education systems, and as they do it in america, government food stamps.

It is estimated that the american Walmart and McDonalds are being subsidised by the american taxpayer by nearly $153 billion a year, because these companies pay their employees very little, and they rely on the taxpayer to keep their employees alive.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-high-public-cost-of-low-wages/

Far better to increase productivity, which often means reducing the number of employees.

Most companies seem to be going about increasing productivity through automation and computerization, and unfortunately through offshoring etc.

Either way, there is no need to increase the population, and absolutely no need for immigration.

Unless you want more and more people on the dole in the future.

ttbn,

You miss the point. Instead of reducing the minimum wage to a level where a job currently not worth doing becomes worth doing, it's better to create economic conditions where more jobs are with doing despite our high minimum wage.

Having more cross benchers in the Senate is generally a good thing, and David's previously proven himself to be a force for good despite his dismal understanding of economics (which is shared by Senator Day).

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Cobber,

I think they knew who he was this time. I expect a lot of them chose to elect him instead of the Liberal Party because they disliked Turnbull so much.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

mikk,

It's not that simple. Most economic laws are the result of studying the evidence, are descriptive, and don't favour the wealthy over everyone else. But they tend to be ignored by politicians and the media in favour of dubious conjecture (most of which doesn't even have "economic law" status) which most people think equates to economic responsibility.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

interactive,

Immigration increases the demand for workers as well as the supply of them. We don't need to cut our rate of immigration to create a future for our existing citizens. In fact we could easily increase it. We just have to stop pretending that we can't afford the necessary infrastructure.

Australia has a government, even if you haven't noticed it in the last 4 months!