We I for one Killarney am not a retired old gentleman, I have some 17 years before I turn 70 and, as a butcher, although not at the moment, I will return one day as my skills won't be my knife anymore, they will be my will to succeed, my personal touch and my love of the trade. I will leave the hard yards to the young ones so although I don't have to, working till 70 won't bother me.

You say...Why is it fine and dandy that 40% of the annual super contribution budget ($30 billion) goes straight into the retirement funds of the top 6% of earners?

I'm guessing because they earn more and super is a percentage of their income, is that a problem, because just remember, they receive NOTHING yet support almost 70% of the population. If only people would appreciate that.

...Explain to me what is so ‘sustainable’ about the fact that for every $1 billion we spend on tax concessions for super saves less than $200 million off the age pension budget.

Again, I'm guessing, but perhaps it's the fact that people haven't clicked to the fact that super is there to replace the pension, or at least the lion share of it. Trouble is, people see it as spending money, spend it, then expect the pension. Sorry, it doesn't work that way, it can't work that way.

...Explain to me how people over 55 are going to be able to ‘sustain’ (that wretched word again) themselves when they are laid off, considering their long-term jobless rate (i.e. out of work for more than a year) is over 40%.

I know this one, it's called skills. They are available but it may cut in to ones recreational time.

Finally, to your final rant, everyone is provided with an equal opportunity to fail. Some of us just choose not to.

Hi Killarney,

I like your 1000 reasons for not getting off your arse. Some of the wealthiest Australians came from poor backgrounds.

They did not accept your excuses and just got on with bettering themselves and their employees as they grew their businesses.

You can take great comfort from the fact that you have so many reasons why you are a failure.

You can also lean heavily on those who do what you cannot, and generate the wealth created by others upon which you depend.

Having a parasitic relationship with others is fine when we have progressive governments who support your greed. In the end the government and public sentiment changes and you get left where you deserve to be, on the expense side of economics

rechtub

'I'm guessing because they earn more and super is a percentage of their income, is that a problem, because just remember, they receive NOTHING'

They receive 40% of the $30 billion super contribution! The other 94% receive the other 60%. And those who are on casual and temp labour or are unemployed/underemployed or homemakers and carers get nothing or next to nothing at all.

The whole superannuation scheme is grotesquely unfair and wasteful - but it's provided a nice cosy little investment rort for the government and finance industries.

'perhaps it's the fact that people haven't clicked to the fact that super is there to replace the pension'

No. That's the propaganda piece, which has nothing to do with the facts. The government and taxpayers would have been much better off using the hundreds of billions wasted in taxpayer-funded super contributions to build a sovereign wealth fund to finance a government superannuation/pension scheme. It would have cost us far less and covered EVERYONE, instead of letting so many people fall through the cracks while overcompensating the permanently employed and those who already earn so much they don't even NEED super.

But of course, in the neoliberal-mad 80s, such a 'socialist' option was out of the question and would have made us a pariah in the global financial community. It was never about 'replacing the pension'; it was about PRIVATISING the pension.

spindoc

'Some of the wealthiest Australians came from poor backgrounds.'

But MOST of the poorest Australians came from poor backgrounds.

And MOST of the richest Australians came from rich backgrounds

I started full time employment at 14 & I still have two years to go before retement age. I don't think my body would let me keep on working beyond that age.
I am tired & I have given enough both volutary & involuntary, mostly the latter by way of being robbed, conned & simply discriminated against.
Anyone asking me to forfeit the last few years of some sort of quality life had better think again.
The young bloke I spoke with the other day simply cannot understand when I said to him that people should retire after so many years of working , not at some predetermined age. He reckons he should not have to make up for the years if he happened to choose to go travelling for a few years & he should be entitled to a pension when he reaches retirement age not by the number os years worked. That's the attitude & it must not be allowed to snowball.

Coming up. The elderly eating catfood, living in slums, dying from the cold, ending up in hospital because they didnt have the $7+ to see the doctor, depression, suicide, homelessness and fear.

What sort of scum is this LIEberal party that they could do this to people?