remove the things that make people fail,
Armchair Critic,
Exactly, make those on the public purse realise that many of them are literally & morally overpaid in return for exactly what ?
Don't you think such a tactic would bring us closer to any sort of competitiveness internationally ?
Surely, even you must see that many of our Middle income earners are failing us !

This article sounds straight out of "Atlas Shrugged" and the 20th Century Motor Company.

Many of the issues of poverty and homelessness in British culture go back to wrongs done 2000 years ago when the land was taken from the peasants. This was done on the basis of maximizing the utility of the land- there was some basis for this perhaps- for defense of the nation- but it was still perhaps wrongly implemented.

This created poverty and homelessness that still exists today.

The harnessing of the resources by organizations led incrementally to the industrial revolution and the benefits of mass markets. There is some irony here as the church was often the beneficiary of this resource grab and later the crown- however in the modern age they've become symbols of traditionalism and the protectors of culture.

You could argue that the benefits of the industrial revolution were "good". The embodiment of the industrial revolution brought with it the principles of Global Liberalism. Free to do what you want- individualism. Which led to mass population growth and damage to the environment and the Earth.

Once population reaches a threshold the see-saw shifts and "population requires industrialism" rather than "industrialism requires population".

As someone once said- technology enslaves but it's done in the name of freedom.

You could argue that mass population is no longer necessary to maintain the benefits of the industrial revolution and national security.

Population reduction would enable the land to be returned to the peasants and right the wrongs of history- then poverty would no longer exist.

There would still be inequality but it would be better- as there would be a built in safety net in the system.

Teach them how to harness capitalism!? Like in the slums of Calcutta/Manilla or any one of entrenched endemic postcode povety traps right here in arguably, the potentially, wealthiest country in the world?

If we wanted to give those on the bottom a hand up rather than the endless lip service to an idea. We could promote embrace and prosper cooperative capitalism using the same money we're using now simply to support recurrent spending, the stock market and COE's bonuses.

You know, we couldn't find the money to save the car industry/the footwear and textile industry! Had the hand out for foreign investors to buy this and that/the family farm/iconic industries.

But when the pandemic hit, had no prob finding hundreds of billons to pour into a virtuaal bottomless pit! And saw this huge prumped priming liquidity push the stock market through the roof, plus record profits and with them huge executive bonuses!

Anyone who knows how to succeed in business, knows you need proper capitalisation and competent management.

Those missing one or the other wind up in the jaws of the rat. Given what we have here, is not fair go capitalism but rat eat rat individualism.

One realls when we were the third wealthiest nation on the planet and a creditor one at that. A time when CEO's salaries never ever exceeded 30 multiples of the lowest-paid worker and parliamentary salaries were nothing to write home about. And co-ops were all the go!

And where the longest serving PM, left office not owning his own home. And the rest of the parliament passed the hat around and bought Sir Robert Menzies, one.

Some folk who clearly don't have a clue need to button it up or try talking from a little higher up!

If let to them the streets would be lined with coffee shops, door openers, sex workers and folk cooking rice and fish on the sidewalks or just pushing illicit drugs on to gormless kids. Well folks, that's what rat eat rat capitalism looks like, when that's all you have! Harness it, why dontcha!
Alan B.

Why is the lowest paid worker the lowest paid worker?
Armchair Critic,
Because the highest paid are squeezing for every Cent in their favour.
Why are the highest paid getting so much /
Because of their Domino effect structure, that's why !

Some good ideas here. Something has to be done to end the increasingly unequal situation of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The privileged - those on high incomes - are getting far too much for what they do while others - essential workers doing hard jobs - are getting too little.

Liked the idea of paying double Newstart for people to do public works.

Another major problem is the excessive cost of housing brought about by conservative government policies that have encouraged speculation in real estate for the past 15 or more years

To solve all of these problems will require more not less government interventions. I suggest:
- End negative gearing on established homes and take away preferential treatment of capital gains and tax item as ordinary income.
- Increase state owned low cost housing
- Increase top tax rates and no more tax breaks for the rich
- End the plundering of the economy by corporate and government elites by mandating that no-one including CEO's can earn more than the Prime Minister.
- Make any company tax breaks dependent on the number of people they employ so the money saved by rationalizing the amount the elites are paid would go into more jobs.

The minimum wage should be regarded not as a form of charity, but as the minimum value of work done here. A higher minimum wage encourages automation, boosting productivity. Ensuring sufficient jobs are available should be a higher priority, but there are better ways of ensuring sufficient jobs are available than keeping wages low.

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Canem,
>Many of the issues of poverty and homelessness in British culture go back to
>wrongs done 2000 years ago when the land was taken from the peasants.
ITYM 200 years ago. And the claim's rather dubious, as the problem of poverty was taken very seriously in the 20th century, and homelessness is usually the result of unaddressed mental health issues, not mere poverty.