Just a few thoughts regarding the budget situation. Although I do think Abbott and Co have spun the state of our national finances by calling it a budget emergency or crisis, I am quite happy to concede that the national financial situation does need to be addressed. Im not persuaded that there is nothing whatsoever to be concerned about by comparisons to other countries. I dont think the degree to which other nations are up to their necks in debt is particularly relevant. Living beyond ones means is a recipe for disaster whether it applies to a household or a nation. But the means the Liberals are contemplating employing to bring the budget back into surplus is utterly appalling. It has rightly been called cruel, unjust, draconian and just plain stupid. It is what happens when a group of people are ideologically driven. They believe in a set of rigid propositions that never touch base with everyday reality. Has it not occurred to them that depriving young people of ANY income for six months at a time will inevitably result in a huge desperation-driven escalation of crime, that quite apart from causing an additional avalanche of suffering, will be very expensive in increased police and cost of locking people up. And this is just one example. No matter which way you look at it their policies are appallingly bad. Labour by contrast basically have decent humane values as do the Greens. How good their approach to our financial situation is remains to be seen. But really our whole system of so-called democracy is fatally flawed because it is so fundamentally adversarial. They prattle on about parliament being a contest of ideas but if it were merely this, if ideas were simply impartially assessed, then it would be a cooperative enterprise. Clearly it is not. It is a constant unproductive ego-driven shit fight in which grown men and women frequently behave like spoiled brats. Humanity faces many many problems and what is required to creatively find solutions is for people to pool their ideas and resources and work cooperatively. Rather than simply backing one side or another this is what we should be advocating. It really is time that governing a nation was clearly distinguished from backing a football team.
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 05:47:58 +0000
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