Dear RaeBee,

I'm absolutely terrified of loosing what we
in this country currently have. Friends of
my mother have recently returned from overseas
and told us that we have an excellent health
system especially for pensioners - with Medicare,
pharmaceuticals, bulk billing.

In Melbourne, the
hospital system is great, and so on. I don't know
how my mother and mother-in-law would survive
if what they currently have access to, would disappear.
Social services are important - and apparently here
in Oz we don't have that much to complain about, compared
with what's available overseas, especially in the US.
That's why we really have to weigh the plus and minuses
come election time. As I said - our family can't afford
to lose what we currently have. Be it health, jobs,
education, or any of the other things we need to survive.

I think we all know the reason for us being in Afghanistan.
However I am coming to the conclusion that we should not have troops on
the ground. We should just turn it into an air to ground war.

If the Taliban take over just destroy anything that looks like it could
be a military training camp.
Intelligence would soon reveal if they were getting back to their old
ways. The women might not like the Taliban to be back, but they should
make their men reject the Taliban.
The women of Greece did something like that once.

An interesting suggestion I heard was that the men coming on the boats
should be given basic military training and sent back to the Afghan
army and let them sort it out themselves. Fat chance !
If they don't like that then why should we stick our heads out ?

Foxy,

Far from piling up the money, labor are piling up the debt that future generations will have to pay.

The biggest threat to the future health system is that order to pay back the huge debts in the future, money will have to be diverted from important issues.

It is not whether the gov spends money, but what it spends it on. What do you want health, or super expensive prefab school buildings?

Dear Shadow Minister,

You're absolutely spot on.

It is what the government spends its money
on that matters. And that was precisely
my point.

We have as a perfect example in the previous
Liberal Government's initiative on spending which
gave us cuts in our health system, run down
schools, run down transport systems, run
down hospitals, and so forth. Yet it spent
in the billions on the so called "Pacific
Solution," and most of the asylum seekers
ended up being recognised as genuine refugees
and ended up residing in Australia. And let's
not forget the spending of our military involvement
in foreign countries.

We seem to forget the world economic crisis
because this country did not have the repercussions
that other countries around the world had.
And spending to fix the disasters left by the
previous government only prepared the country
to survive into the future.

As for the debt incurred... that will be paid back
in due course. But without it Australia would have
been in a disastrous situation, as all world
economists have confirmed. High unemployment,
and unimaginable bankruptcies.

A family has a choice, to rent a house
with no security for the future,
or buy a house, pay it off, and have security.
So too, the government is looking to
the future despite the occasional blunders which
every new government inevitably makes. However
by planning for the future, the government ensures
security for the people.

Foxy >>We of course can do absolutely nothing -
store away the money and let the rich pile it
up.

Why do you adopt the old 'tall poppy' attitude and pick on the rich all the time.Remember, most were not born rich, they became rich.

Now, let's see what the rich do.
First, they take huge risks to start a business, often something that they just feel they can make work. Many also fail!

They then have to gain finance, which generally involves risking thier family home.

From there they create jobs, note the word 'create'. Also remember, the workers take these 'created jobs' without fear of risking thier family home.

They then often repay huge debts and pay huge taxes along the way.

Eventually, a very small percentage of them become rich.

Now, once they become rich they get a big fat ZERO when it comes to financial support and another big fat ZERO by way of a pension, so the underachievers, often the 'tall poppies' can enjoy thier pension.

Now, rather than be praised for thier outstanding efforts, efforts that often create hundreds, perhaps thousands of jobs, they continually get shot down by 'tall poppies'.

Now considering just over half of all tax payers actually pay more in tax than they receive in benefits, i am assumming you label them as 'rich', then consider this.

First they have to pay ALL the hand outs (wasted billions) in many cases and, once they have plugged the leak, they then have to pay all the bills.

Consider that the next time you frown upon someone for being rich, and consider yourself very lucky that they decided to take that risk, because, without them, there would be no health, education, pension or billions to waste in the first place.

Finally, how would you feel if you had paid positive taxes all your life to receive ZERO at the finnish!

Dear rehctub,

I was not referring to individual business
people but actually to big business corporations
who use their wealth to manipulate politicians
and governments and the immense power that they
possess in their own interests with no consideration
for the damage they cause to people and nations.

I wasn't referring to individuals who through hard
work, long hours, personal sacrifice and
extreme determination in the interest of their family
and community achieve wealth. These people give back
to the community. I know, my father was one of these
people. He worked hard all of his life and did not
take anything from anybody. He raised us to do the
same.