We are told by the Liberal Party that the budget surplus is an indicator of the strong economy. However if the surplus/deficit is a measure of the strength of economy what is Australia doing holding strong economic ties with one of the weakest economy in the world (as measured by this standard) namely United Stats of America?
Lets think about it. Getting a surplus budget is a very easy task. All that is required is to stop spending. Government stoped spending on education, health and infrastructure. But can the economy be sustainable without such spending?
Education
We already have skills shortages. The result? What would you do if you knew that the employer cannot replace you? Ask for a pay rise? Well without you the job cannot be done (individual bargaining plays here in your favour). With restriction on emigration it is not easy for the employer to find skills overseas (god forbid the person with the skills might not be a white Christian) Simple economic concept of supply and demand starts playing its role. There is an upward pressure for salary and wages increases and this creates INFLATION which the government promised to keep low.
This is for the lucky ones that do have the required skills. The ones that do not have the skills (and lets be honest with today’s rapidly changing technology your skills will get outdated pretty soon I guess) have to either pay for the training themselves or have their employers pay for it. Result? In the first option you will move to the above category and demand higher pay to recoup your investments in education or the employer will want to recoup their expenses by increasing their prices. In both cases the result is INFLATION.
Well and we where told that this government will keep the inflation low! Didn’t the Reserve Bank of Australia hit that the tax cuts did create inflationary pressures?
Luck of spending on education also marginalizes the unfortunate ones who cannot afford education for many reasons. Some of them could be very productive if given a chance however they are being pushed away to the margin of society. Result could be increase in crime rate. Is Australia going to become again a country of people who have been jailed for stealing bread?
Health
The state of Australian health system is well know to be a disaster. Many call it the Sick system, not only because of its state but also because it is only dealing with the sick having no funds for any proactive actions of maintaining health. OK back to economy. What is the result of having sick people on the street or at work?
There is a lot of easily spreadable diseases. As people cannot afford to see a doctor or have a day of work they walk around you on the streets, in buses and trains, in offices and factories. The chance of you getting what they have increase.
Is this good for the economy? Having sick people at work? How productive can they be? By coming to work they also can make other people sick. The ones at their work place and the ones they meet on the way. How can this be good for the economy?
The concept of user pays should be changed to the beneficiary pays. Having health people on the street is for the benefit of all and as the rich benefit more so they should pay more. Where does all the money from Medicare levy go to? Shouldn’t it be used to fund public health system? And with PM claim that the wages went up by 21% the public health system should receive 21% more funding.
Infrastructure
Without infrastructure spending how can the economy be sustained? Transport, energy, water they became the bloodline of our life and economy. Economic management should look at future to ensure our children and grand children can enjoy at least the same standard of living that we do. Well maybe if you do not have kids you just do not care?
Any one of us can have a budget surplus. It takes about 60 days for a human being to die of starvation. We can easly have a surplus for a month just by not eating. The problem is that we cannot go much longer with this strategy.
I just checked it on the ABS site while the Government is having a surplus Australian domestic saving has been negative since about 2002. Is this good for you the voter?
The other thing we are told is that the economy is growing.
It is true. The economic growth measured by the amount of money that comes into the economy has grown but how much of this growth is a result of good economic management and how much is due to the world economic growth especially in Asia and the strong demand for recourses. he boom in China. Which are the states that enjoyed the biggest growth? WA the state with resources. Mining production growth last year (March to march) was over 11% while agricultural production declined over 22%. Well I was told that digging holes in the ground (I am talking here about mining) lower the water table in the adjusting land. It makes sense. Water likes to stay level. If it is above the hole it will fill it in, it gets pumped out fills in again until it learns its lesson and goes below the hole.
We are just selling out our resource and in the future Government wants to sell uranium. Is that they way you want our economy to grow?
The Government vision for Australians is to become miners for Asia.
We where also told that the average income went up by 21%. Congratulation. My did not. Have Yours?
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