I feel for you, you have my sympathies.
While you were at school and university, property prices skyrocketed and so did rents, energy prices and living costs. Compounding your problem is double digit youth unemployment and even higher underemployment. Those fortunate enough to find a decent job found that their salary gets tax deducted from it and 12% gets deducted for their retirement. With the remaining bit that lands in their bank account they find that whatever they buy has company tax and GST tax included in the price, they pay for petrol and find more taxes included in that price (GST and fuel excise tax), the same with tobacco and alcohol. If they are fortunate to have a bit left over and invest it, they soon discover that government taxes the income they earn on it and then if they sell it for a profit, they must pay capital gains tax on it but if they sell for a loss, they can’t offset that loss against any of their income.
Unfortunately, that’s not the least of it. Many took up large student loans to acquire knowledge that they could now get almost for free and find themselves doing jobs that are way below their skill level or are working at a far more senior level than the pay they’re getting. Many would like to settle down, find a spouse or other life partner, buy a home, and start a family – but how the hell can they afford it? How do they save for the ‘deposit’ when they are being taxed to the eyeballs? And even those who can afford the deposit, perhaps gifted it by their parents, question the wisdom of taking the plunge and buying, when they see that the world is on the cusp of the biggest social and economic upheaval since at least the industrial revolution or the impact of the Younger Dryas and realise that our government and main opposition have no plan for getting us through it. None!
The problems you face today are largely due to government decisions. A major reason for the increase in property prices was reducing interest rates, but these have been increasing over the past 5 years and there has not been a corresponding drop in prices. That’s because of immigration and inflation. Both government decisions and so are the taxes and excise duties. In addition to that you find that government has borrowed about $1 trillion dollars that you, your generation, will be saddled with, you’ll have to pay the interest and one day repay the loans. What have government to show for that money, what have they bought or built that adds value to your life, that will improve the quality of your life? That’s right, basically bugger all! A trillion dollars wasted!
Put that into perspective, if $1 represented 1 second in our history, how for back your 1 trillion seconds go? It goes back to before, well before, the Roman and Greek empires, and even before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which occurred about 26,500 to 19,000 years ago. That’s the amount of debt our government has accumulated over the past 20 years and put the responsibility of repaying and paying interest on to you. And what has government built or bought to show for it? Nothing!
If that debt were to be refinanced today (at an interest rate of about 5%), our taxes will need to pay the interest in it of about $50 billion a year. That money could otherwise be spent on lots of more worthwhile things.
And then you look to the future and wonder what that holds for you. Is government making the right decisions to improve your well-being or are they doing the opposite? Will the other team be any better? Do they have the right policies to improve the quality of your life? Can you trust them to do what they say they’ll do? I wouldn’t be surprised if you answered all four questions in the negative.
The question is what to do about it! Do you leave for greener pastures as many millions around the world have done over the past century, or do you just go with the flow, accepting whatever happens or do you get politically active and change government?
If you prefer to change government, what do you change it to? What ideology is best for you – communist, socialist, capitalist or some mixture of them? Do you want to be ruled or do you want to be treated like an adult capable of making your own decisions? Do you want to make your own life choices or do you want government to make those for you? Do you want to be independent or subjugated? Do you want public servants to treat you with respect or to regard you as inferior.
History shows that communism leads to the common people being equally poor, very poor, and top bureaucrats being more equal than others; that socialism leads to common people becoming poorer; and that capitalism leads to common people becoming more prosperous.
It is also true that the meaning of communism and capitalism have been misconstrued.
Russia under Stalin was not true communism. Karl Marx’s utopian objective contemplates government dissolving, not being necessary. Under Stalin, government had full control, it was all powerful. Any potential opposition or dissenting voices were eliminated. The critical mistake Marx made was planning to achieve his communist objective through socialism. Why so – because once people have power, which they get under socialism, they want more power and will do whatever is needed to retain that power, and the more power they get the more brutally they exercise it and the more ruthlessly they protect that power.
Capitalism has been misconstrued by equating it with big business and their ‘fat cat’ executives exploiting ordinary folk in their pursuit of bigger salaries and bonuses. This is not the result of capitalism, but of a mixed economic system – with private ownership, a government that can grant favours, and big business funding politicians and political parties with the expectation of winning favours such as subsidies, grants, interest-free loans and protection from foreign and local competition.
The economic and political system that is most beneficial to ordinary folk and their small businesses, is a free market one that protects individual liberties and has a small government focussed on its core objective of protecting its people from attack and protecting their property from theft and damage. Some social welfare is necessary but should be confined to those unable to work. This restriction is however predicated on government ensuring that there are suitable jobs and business opportunities for those seeking work. So, it is essential that government policies lead to the creation of such job and business opportunities. No economic system has been as successful in this regard than a free-market economy.
Since no major political party in Australia is offering anything similar, Classic Liberals Australia has been established to offer the system of government the people of Australia desperately need – but may not yet realise they need it.
Review the Classic Liberals Australia website and consider its ‘DNA’ and policies against the others. You are unlikely to agree with everything, but if it is more agreeable to you than the others, join us in our struggle for a better and more prosperous country.