Hasbeen,

"....In 2023, with a full 10 years successful prime ministership behind him, we will be able to clear what ever is left of Labors national debt...."

Arf, arf, arf...I hear Hockey's raising the debt ceiling.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/10/18/australian-news/hockeys-lenience-lies-his-debt-ceiling

"While the US has at least temporarily increased its ceiling on the amount of debt the government can accumulate, one of the first things the Abbott government will do when parliament resumes next month, after introducing legislation to repeal the carbon tax, will be to increase the Australian government’s debt ceiling.

The current ceiling in Australia is $300 billion, which is less than 20 per cent of GDP. By way of comparison, the US debt ceiling is around 105 per cent of GDP. People with knowledge on this issue realise that Australia’s gross government debt is tiny, and in fact is so small that Australia has had to get special dispensation from several of the post-global crisis new international banking regulations. These include the Basel III requirements for bank assets and capitalisation because there simply aren’t enough Australian government bonds on issue for the banks and others to hold."

I hear also that Hockey has left Labor's settings exactly as they were.

Have you seen the "budget emergency"...(it seems to be missing)

Tones is a clod of quite impressive proportions.

I thought the "Budget Emergency" was a labour confection of Rudds? That was the reason the interest rates were dropped.
Of course punishing savers and helping spenders is surely the basis, the bedrock and the foundation of Socialism.
Also the SEC went from 13,500 workers to around 3,500, now if that isn't overmanning?
Margaret Thatcher famously said Socialism was OK until you ran out of other peoples money.

I did not mean to offend, Suseonline.

>>Ok Pericles, if myself and the other many thousands of Medibank Private customers are so blind to this conspiracy of ripping us all off...<<

The reality is that the actual services you would use if you had to go into hospital are provided at precisely the same price to all the Funds. That's not to say that all hospitals charge the same - Ramsay Health hospitals have a different tariff to Primary Health Care or Resmed - but they all provide the same service to all the Funds they have arrangements with. Which is usually... all of them.

You will also notice that it is the hospital groups that are creaming it in. All the health funds can do is pass those costs on to the consumer by way of increased premiums.

>>...then which private health fund are you with?<<

Your family circumstances and healthcare needs are bound to be different to mine, so knowing which company I'm with won't help you one bit. The price you pay is made up of the actuarially-determined cost of the services you have selected in the policy - they are all packaged slightly differently, you'll notice - so my policy components are highly unlikely to be the same as you have chosen.

What I can guarantee, though, is that you will get the same level of service from the cheapest policy that covers the bits you need, as you will from the most expensive.

>>I wouldn't be without Private Health cover<<

Nor would I.

>>The days of 'free' health care at public hospitals for those who could afford private health cover should be over.<<

That's a tough one. I'd hate to get to the US situation where they ask for your policy details before they scrape you off the road after an accident. But yes, anything remotely elective should be the sole provenance of private health.

Sorry if I sounded abrupt - I was focussing on the privatization bit, and its likely effect on pricing, rather than commenting on the value of private health insurance itself.

extracted..from..the header/forum
http://enpassant.com.au/2013/10/15/universities-cant-see-the-forrest-for-the-twiggies/

the 9th richest person in Australia.

His wealth is estimated at $3.6 billion,..and most of it comes from his company, Fortescue Metals Group or FMG.

This sort of ‘philanthropy’ is what capitalist megalomaniacs do when they want to buy a form of immortality for themselves and gratitude from the rest of us.

But here’s the funny or not so funny thing, depending on your point of view. According to Laura Tingle in the Australian Financial Review of 17 June 2011:

Forrest has never signed a corporate income tax cheque
for any of the listed companies he has run in the past 16 years.

And FMG has another $700&#8201;million in tax losses
still to bring to account before he will have to do so.

So since 1995 the Great Twiggy’s company FMG has paid no income tax. Not a penny. Now that is philanthropy. And the $65 million will be tax deductible, which means you and I bear the cost at Forrest’s personal marginal income tax rate, i.e. 46.5% of $65 million, or about $30 million.

Maybe we wouldn’t have to rely on the ‘largess’ of parasites like Forrest and his ilk, people who live off the labour of their workers, ..if we actually had a tax system..that got something out of the bludgers.>>

plus no fueltaxes..on their juice..and acorn rent
and avoidance of remediation..plus water theft/wasstage..plus free rail-line/ports..rorts..worrker education..dead corperations run by clever lawyers

are bleeding tthe bleeding loyt of the living dry
bbut the lie is wage..ISNT income..wage =wage..and we got nowage tax

but EVERY cent a corperation gets IS INCOME
yet the mongrels avoid it[cause half our polies
[from..both sides ARE..OR WERE LAWYERS

[and lawyers making laws..is treason

but mate..wouldnt you rather chose
where..your TAX Deductible cash/cache.goes to

private education..even..gets a dollar for dollar extra subsidy..on-top..of the tax credit/income deductible][..tax avoidance]

Herein lies the sheer stupidity of the Neo-liberal ideology.
While acknowledging that Government does have some legitimate function, Neo libs insist that governments must NOT indulge in any profitable ventures, while at the same time constantly barking for lower taxes.
This allows governments just one way of creating the funds necessary to fulfill their necessary function: printing money and encouraging inflation to pay off the debt.
Who complains most loudly about this strategy?
The bloody right whingers.
FACT: no one likes paying taxes.
FACT: democratic governments are elected by POPULAR vote.
FACT: since 1951, the top rate of income tax has dropped from 75% to 47% and will no doubt continue to drop, as the majority are never going to vote for a party that threatens higher taxes (witness recent election).
For decades in NSW the dairy industry worked under a quota system, supplying affordable fresh milk all year round. In 2000, largely for ideological reasons this highly functional system (remember when milk was FREE to primary and infant school kids?) was dismantled, resulting in small farmers (the pillars and mainstays of rural communities) being driven from their land, and consumer prices going UP.
The system WORKED.
The current postal system also WORKS, and provides income (tax alleviation) for a gov. hard pressed to find money any other way.
If it ain't broke, why frig around with it?
If you believe government does have a legitimate function, and you don't like paying taxes, don't like govs racking up debt, don't like inflation, please tell me where the gov is supposed to get the necessary funding from if it isn't allowed to conduct profitable business?
Screw ideology. Why not just go with what works?
Currently the world's most powerful gov. is undergoing a crisis over medical care. The US currently spends more per capita on health than France, yet the WHO ranks France no. 1, and the US at no. 38.
Screw ideology. What works?

grim..what works=govt printing..its own..money
not borrowed..at interest from..bankers[who stole the money system..plus the gold/silver from...our coin..and teeth..

continues at..end

who..via USURY..scape the cream..
into;;their own tax free trust funds..that own..any thing of value[via paper proof..now cyber proof..only..

true govt money is based onthe value..of our estates
[based on the assets worth..[increase..of capital; base..creates its own funds..thus free govt medical..free services etc

govt is CREATED...reason of being..is about service
but now its about revenue raising..from..its poor..and stealing us blind..by selling off our services..for capitalist profit

lately..going in to..take the gold reserves from..building 7..@[911]..cyclone sandy..[more gold lost]../sadman-insane gold got took..then..gadfiffy's gold..etc etc..[loot and plunder has to..stop]

we need govt..to create the money..to..build the asset
to..repair the asset..to hold control..over the value..of its own legal tender..and the business..of lending..interest free

[only coin..is lawful-tender..but by deflating the worth of notes..they stole everything else

govt dont need to borrow nuthin
nor even raise any tax/user pays
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=cec+money+creation+nat+bank
it need merely issue a bond..and govt bond is as good ass gold
[because it holds SUPPOSEDLY..[but by acts of treason..all.our service assets safe from capitalist gain/price rise pain.