More About That $25bn Surplus
Too much tax + too few services = $25bn surplus
A storm of letters in the "Sydney Morning Herald" (here) about the larger than expected surplus in the Australian budget revealed last week. The citizens are not happy and typical of the comments are:
"Gee, all that surplus and my husband has to go on a waiting list of six months to have his broken tooth looked at by the government-run dental program. Yup, the economy is doing it for us."
and
"It is time for the Federal Government to rebuild our wealth industries and begin investing in sustainable employment to avoid crippling tax rates and economic recessions brought about by an ageing population."
The last comment, in particular, I find fascinating in so far as it reveals just how prevalent is the thinking that government somehow has the answers! This when the evidence shows just what a failure government has been when it meddles in the economy and gets involved in things it has no competence or right to be in (basically anything outside law and order and defence).
People are getting sick and tired of being over taxed and not having much to show for it. However, the penny hasn't dropped yet that our current form of government is itself the problem. It can't be fixed, it needs to be radically reformed and power handed back to the people.
On a different topic, yet another example of the "Tyranny of the Majority" that mis-representative democracy creates. In the UK, the Labour government is about to go ahead and ban fox-hunting. Now, this is a pretty emotional subject, but a rational look at the issue shows that this isn't really an animal welfare issue, but a political issue. Essentially, the rights of a minority group (who, unfortunately for them, are predominantly white and middle class) are being trampled on because of political expediency. This might seem a minor issue, but it's just one more example of how individual liberties are being attacked by meddling and oppressive governments.
A storm of letters in the "Sydney Morning Herald" (here) about the larger than expected surplus in the Australian budget revealed last week. The citizens are not happy and typical of the comments are:
"Gee, all that surplus and my husband has to go on a waiting list of six months to have his broken tooth looked at by the government-run dental program. Yup, the economy is doing it for us."
and
"It is time for the Federal Government to rebuild our wealth industries and begin investing in sustainable employment to avoid crippling tax rates and economic recessions brought about by an ageing population."
The last comment, in particular, I find fascinating in so far as it reveals just how prevalent is the thinking that government somehow has the answers! This when the evidence shows just what a failure government has been when it meddles in the economy and gets involved in things it has no competence or right to be in (basically anything outside law and order and defence).
People are getting sick and tired of being over taxed and not having much to show for it. However, the penny hasn't dropped yet that our current form of government is itself the problem. It can't be fixed, it needs to be radically reformed and power handed back to the people.
On a different topic, yet another example of the "Tyranny of the Majority" that mis-representative democracy creates. In the UK, the Labour government is about to go ahead and ban fox-hunting. Now, this is a pretty emotional subject, but a rational look at the issue shows that this isn't really an animal welfare issue, but a political issue. Essentially, the rights of a minority group (who, unfortunately for them, are predominantly white and middle class) are being trampled on because of political expediency. This might seem a minor issue, but it's just one more example of how individual liberties are being attacked by meddling and oppressive governments.
posted by Kevin Francis at
8:52 am
