Money, money money , It is a bit of plastic or metal, it is a tool of trade which denotes the honor and trust of mankind- it is not the life blood that sustains you, you sustain you just by your existence and the ethics and morals (some) humans follow, that Rainier is what I mean.
Economics is simple, and NO Governments and their apparatchiks are not the solution-they perpetuate the problem.
It is one thing to lend a helping hand when a fellow man is down on his luck-or in the mist of a disaster- it is another to inculcate any Ideology that he is entitled to it-You only have two arms, and when one is bitten off you learn by your mistake or you loose the other arm. Don’t cry, you were warned.
If it was not for Money and reward for effort, others would take your property by force, or (Legislate) and Tax it (Take it) from you.
Governments were only that Governments- they are not and can not be the Worldly Gods or be the genie in the bottle to grant you your wish at every whim, as some ego’s may well take leave of normality and reality ; think(Existentialism) Karl Marx.
It is that simple, and Post modern economic garble is only to create an illusion it is complicated. 1=1= 2 not 6 as consensus might dictate by Post modern structuralism, for when reality catches up, it’s to late.
Have more faith in you self and help when needed, not surrender you existence to others that lack motivation or ethics and go to any means to deprave you of it.
It is not the Governments Money: It is Mine and Yours and it was stolen by deception . that is the depravity of the situation.

Australian aid to the Philippines has totalled AUD$300 million in the last five years. While we send aid to them, San Miguel, a Philippines based company has paid out $336.5 million to acquire an Australian company, Berri Ltd. San Miguel also acquired National Foods for $1.9 billion. Are we subsidising the rich in the Philippines so that they can buy our companies?

One of the ALP's favourite Indonesian families, the Soehartos, through prudential management of its own household budget and all members of that family having casual second jobs, has squirreled away a reported US$15 billion. All the while we have been sending Indonesia aid. On top of that anyone at Randwick for the 2006 Autumn Carnival need only thrumb through the race book to find some decent horse flesh is owned outright or in partnership by some prominent members of Indonesian society.

Some of these countries could remove themselves from institutionalised aid by adjusting their taxation rates applying to the filthy rich.

Shonga,

Do you have the hots for me? I seem to get a mention in most of your posts lately, no matter what the subject. Have you ever noticed that I never comment on your ravings? This is because I don't mind other people having opinions opposed to mine, as is their right. Perhaps you could try expressing your own opinion and stop thinking that your constant criticims of other people will make a difference to what they think. I, for one, am not the slightest bit interested in your grunting. Perhaps you have no ideas of your own, and the only way you can get started is to attack someone else? In your go at me on another thread, you had to use the comments of two newcomers to launch your spray.

You have caught up with, and passed, Ranier as the no-ideas man and critic of others who merely expresses his indignation of anyone who doesn't hold his views.

Hi Leigh,

First I can assure you that Shonga does not have the hots for you and nor do I. Have you ever considered that this observation of yours may in fact be a deeply suppressed desire / frustration? And thus projection of your own? I’m sure there are thousands of other internet sites you could visit and probably do.

What I and Shonga have in common is an inability to suffer fools who for reasons (only known to god) consider themselves to be armed with the intellectual wiliness to engage with complex social and political issues required - are simply boringly repetitive and impotent. Sheep get fly blown, online opinion has you. We’re just doing our job.

Cheers Matey.

Talk about a complicated issue. Putting other peoples hard earned money into the hands of crooked, corrupt governments is not going to help those who need help most.
While one feels deeply sympathetic to most third world nation's poor, helping presidents and prime mininsters of those nations to get richer is not helping the needy.
Even the UN appears to have dabbled where it should not have been.
Why do we send huge amounts to Indonesia? If they cleared out the corruption ,they would not need aid.
Helping people to stay and survive in their own countries would be better than have them live in refugee camps , this is where the UN should direct their efforts.
A small tax paying country like Australia cannot be made responsible for millions of other countries.

You appear to have illusions of grandeur on top of all your other psychological problems, Ranier. Who appointed you arbiter of right and wrong and judge of who is a “fool”? If you are getting paid for the “job”, you aren’t worth the money.

No, I don’t hang around other internet sites. Most of them are loaded with ratbags like you. Most of the people on this site, irrespective of their thoughts, politely express their own opinions and let others do the same without haranguing them. You and your little mate Shonga are the only blights on OLO. You simply cannot accept that what you think (if the word ‘think’ is not too much of an oxymoron in both your cases) is right and everything else is wrong, even though it is doubtful that either of you completed primary school.

Tell you what. You and the other idiot just keep on abusing me – if that’s what it takes to make you feel half way to being men – and I’ll just ignore you and continue expressing the opinions you so much hate.

In a way, your constant sniping assures me that I am right, and that I am nothing like you two – still in the swamp waiting to evolve.