I am no expert in economic matters however, even armed with appropriate dictionaries and reference texts, I often find the coherency of some discussions in this place difficult to follow.

I subscribe to the view that a gifted speaker on any particular topic has the ability to reduce even the most complex matters to a simple form such that even an uneducated person may understand.

People who resort to a colourful spray of terms with no substance usually are somewhat unsure of themselves and that about which they speak.

My focus of concern is on the base of the economy based on the principal that every citizen has the right to a minimal share in the worst of times and that that share must provide economic security and a decent standard of living.

The defects in the system as it is have been exploited, by talented players and from some perspectives this is comendable, however, life is not a game of monopoly governed by the law of the jungle with winner take all, at least by some definitions of what constitutes civilised society.

Taxes and regulations are required for a "Safety Net" to safeguard the base. A personal opinion, I do not necessarily, and from an under informed position suggest that pensions need to be raised, but rather that the overall package of necessities that constitute a pensioners lot in the Australian standard need to be regulated such that, after water, food, medicine, housing, bills and legal, minimum savings for growth of say $AU100 out of $AU500 per fortnight is healthily and legally achievable.

If this is refused, with such a relatively small number of people and such a relatively huge GDP, then in reality, we are little better than a 3rd world country, who seem to manage to employ 10's of millions more people for a whole lot less, but when you look inside their houses, well, they have pretty much every thing we have so clearly, something is rotten in the state of Australia and I suspect that Auntie Sam suffers from essentially the same problems.

"socialist obama". sheesh.

no, keith, there's nothing wrong with protesting against obama. i'm not thrilled with him. except in comparison with the cretins and psychopaths who preceded him.

what is wrong is protesting with chintzy symbolism, on a fake issue, backed by a fake news channel, in a whining manner, and because obama is trying to drag america out of the unbelievable swamp created by the crappy administration that the majority of these same protesters supported.

these people can't accept that they lost. how bad did they lose? the republicans were so awful, america was willing to vote for the black guy.

but i know this is hard for you to understand, keith. you're the last remaining guy who thinks the previous president did an oh so wonderful job.

and dumb of me to post at all. clownfish's post gave this absurd movement the exact amount of seriousness it deserved. he he. i said "movement".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/26/2552835.htm?section=justin

Swan quiet on pension speculation ahead of Budget

Posted 2 hours 17 minutes ago
Updated 2 hours 7 minutes ago
Wayne Swan: 'We've recognised that there is a problem with the base rate of pension'

Wayne Swan: 'We've recognised that there is a problem with the base rate of pension' (ABC News: File photo )

The Federal Government has reiterated its promise to increase the age pension, but will not reveal any details ahead of next month's federal Budget.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has refused to respond to speculation the Government will not increase the pension by as much as the expected $30 a week.

Ron Paul now has 91 co-sponsors from Congress who support the auditing of the US Federal Reserve.This is almost 20% of Congress.

This is also important for us.Forget about the Tea Party,the really big revolt is beginning with this audit.The Fed is a private group of banks who own the US currency.They have created this crisis through their fractional reserve banking system whereby 9 times the real productive money can be loaned out thus causing inflation.

It works like this.The US Govt create bonds which are really a promise to repay a loan and give these to the Fed Res.The Federal Reserve create most of this money in their computers then loan the money to the Govt,who rely on this very banking system to distribute through out the economy.However the US Govt have not the power to see where this money has gone or the political relationships that exist between the banks,other corporates and Congress.

The Fed has the real power and is pulling the strings of both the Democrats and Republicans.This is why the Fed must be audited.Ultimately what must happen is that the US Govt,as stipulated by the constitution,must control and issue currency.

Wouldn't you like to counterfeit money then loan it at interest to your Govt? In essence it is stealing since it depreciates people's savings/assets and eventually causes economic collapse.

http://www.ronpaul.com/

Jeez Bushbasher you had me getting excited for a minute thre. I thought you were refering to Clinton and the Congress controlled by Pelosi, Frank Dodd and ...Oh I've forgotten his name. But then you went and spiolled it all by an aspersion about George W. Whose qualifications and record, as I pointed out in a previous thread, you have never ben able to negate.

Tut tut, having to resort to potty humour again ... sigh.

Ah Keith, it was of course your friend George, who appointed Cox
as the chief regulator of the SEC, or as the Americans say,
"the regulator who did not believe in regulation". So Cox appointed
a little old grandma as his chief law enforcer and the rest as we
know is history.

George does have a claim to fame. I can think of no Prez who left
the US economy in such a disasterous state as he did. Quite some
record!