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The Forum > Article Comments > Towards a more egalitarian Australia > Comments

Towards a more egalitarian Australia : Comments

By Frank Stilwell, published 4/7/2007

Should the gulf between rich and poor in Australia be a matter of public concern?

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Thankfully fdixit, countries normally don't collectively put policies in like this (there are exceptions, of course). And the notion that any country would actually do this should brand that country as a laughing stock.

Col Rouge has summed it up well. I suggest that if you want an idea of what would happen if these policies like these are enacted on a widespread scale, have a read of "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It's a very unpleasant read...
Posted by BN, Thursday, 5 July 2007 2:05:51 PM
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As a matter of fact I did start to read Atlas Shrugged but did not finish it as I found it too obnoxious.
The plain facts are that we are social beings, and massive inequalities in society lead to tragedy.
Just ask Louis XV1 or Czar Nicholas 2.
Posted by fdixit, Thursday, 5 July 2007 3:54:23 PM
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You don't redistribute wealth by increasing taxes.More taxes just means bigger Govt and less productivity.We will all just end up in the poor house with Frank's solutions.
Posted by Arjay, Thursday, 5 July 2007 11:09:44 PM
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Bill Gates would find it easy not to pay taxes in Australia. Kerry Packer found the Australian Government's ATO a joke to the day of his death.

He flaunted the fact that he managed never to pay a cent in tax in his entire life. Further to that, he boasted and gloated that none of his rich friends ever payed tax either.

He hated the arts and loathed Government interference in his private life. Hated the arts and culture, especially the opera.

Some-one had a great laugh when he had a State funeral. Tax payers paid for Kerry Packers funeral. The Government interfered, took the bill, and the funeral was at the Sydney Opera House to see the beast leave the world.

Economists in this country have a perverse sense of humour and if you believe them, see a Doctor. Unless it is unsafe to do so, they may be another bloody terrorist with a map of the airport on the wall. What a stupid country this is turning into. That is, in this Howardesque stage of history.

HG Wells made some horrific predictions on the fate of humanity in the novel "the time machine". The possibility that in an environmental catastrophe, the predator humans and the victim humans evolve into seperate species and one feasts canibalistically on the other.

This is a dramic symbolic idea, but a potent statement of the division of humanity causing 2 seperate worlds: the rich preditors and the poor victims: the cattle. DEMOS already calls us useless primate sheep in his patronising jibberish from his ivory tower. I wonder if he is still human? HG Wells would probably say: not.
Posted by saintfletcher, Friday, 6 July 2007 12:53:35 AM
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fdixit

Whether you found Atlas Shrugged obnoxious or not doesn't detract from the message in the book, even taking into account the spin placed in the story by the author. If you remove property rights, if you deny people who excell the ability to prosper (via your proposed income ceilings) then you're dooming us to a tragedy which leaves the figures you've mentioned a long way behind.

There is no doubt that you're right in that most people are social creatures. But that doesn't mean that economic egalitarianism is anything other than a pipe dream.
Posted by BN, Friday, 6 July 2007 8:33:26 AM
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Australians are not poor. If you want 'poor' then look elsewhere. The "Aussie Battler" and the "working class family" are myths. There are people who have overcommitted themselves on the type of lifestyle they believe they need to lead. Go for a smaller house, smaller car (or no car at all), quit smoking, quit the booze and a few other non-essentials that we have been led to believe are essential and most people could live more than comfortably on their wages, save a bit and lead a healthier lifestyle.
We are being led to believe we are poor. It suits both sides of politics, the union movement and the retail industry.
Posted by Communicat, Friday, 6 July 2007 8:49:40 AM
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