Yeah, I think the payments were a huge knee jerk reaction and inspired by panic. I know of people who were claiming money they probably shouldn't have. I remember the Harvey Norman thing. Old Gerry getting rich from people using the government handouts to buy stuff online, meaning he had no one serving customers on the ground. Double dipping.
I agree. Sadly though, I think greed is well and truly cemented in our culture. I think people want money because they think if they don't get it someone else will then they will never be able to get any more of it ever again. It's a real primal thing I reckon. Like, if one tribe found a dead buffalo they'll do all they can to preserve it and make it last as long as possible before sharing it with another.
The other thing is, this money that these massive corporations make, what happens to it? What is the good of it sitting in some account of a corporation? What human or group of humans even benefit from that other than CEO's getting a bum pat? Shareholders, I guess?
I reckon that's a good idea about GST. You can tell they're desperate to reel in whatever they can because they've come down so hard on vapes and are raising the cigarette excise by 5% at the same time. Apparently they've lost 5 billion in cigarette exise since disposable vapes showed up. The vape ban is not about health...
We will never ever end poverty while ever money, as we know it, exists. Things are too far gone. I think people who work hard should be rewarded. If someone wants to work 90 hours a week to have nice things, good for them. Likewise if people want to work 20 hours a week and make enough to cover bills and spend the rest of their time hiking up mountains and meditating by a creek, good. But the gap between the well off and the not so well off is fuckin' sickening and it's only getting wider and wider. I think we should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing our greed to let it get so bad.
I'm not economist either but as a small business owner I can see small businesses are suffering the most. The big corporations will survive, because everyone needs the basic essentials. People are cutting back their daily/weekly coffees, the amount of times they eat out and sadly they are also cutting back on health care. Fortunately my business has steady, but it's not as busy as it was a year ago.
The other issue was that people were claiming money they didn't need. As a business who was hands off during the 2 lock downs (7 weeks and then 5 weeks) I was grateful for the support with the Job Keeper payment and then the ACT government small business grants. BUT, with the grant, businesses who were losing 30% received the same amount of money as businesses who lost 100%. I heard of businesses flunking numbers or closing for a couple of days so that they were eligible to claim the grant. As soon as I was back at work, I stopped claiming assistance. We saw the airlines lay off their staff but then were able to pay their CEO bonuses, or Harvey Norman was reported in the news making one of their best profits yet they claimed job keeper for their staff.
How much money do we really need? How much stuff do we need? Why is the world revolving around profits and what will make the most money, as opposed to what to provide our best lives.
I think that increasing GST would have been a better solution than increasing interest rates. By increasing GST, everyone is paying extra, not just the home owners/investors and the profits are more balanced to and not just to the big chains and the banks.
One of the goals for the world health organisation is to have no poverty and I just can't see that happening ever. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor and the middle class people either end up below the poverty line or as you said work ridiculous hours just to stay afloat.
Yep, we definitely are. Much less takeaway.
Yeah, I think the payments were a huge knee jerk reaction and inspired by panic. I know of people who were claiming money they probably shouldn't have. I remember the Harvey Norman thing. Old Gerry getting rich from people using the government handouts to buy stuff online, meaning he had no one serving customers on the ground. Double dipping.
I agree. Sadly though, I think greed is well and truly cemented in our culture. I think people want money because they think if they don't get it someone else will then they will never be able to get any more of it ever again. It's a real primal thing I reckon. Like, if one tribe found a dead buffalo they'll do all they can to preserve it and make it last as long as possible before sharing it with another.
The other thing is, this money that these massive corporations make, what happens to it? What is the good of it sitting in some account of a corporation? What human or group of humans even benefit from that other than CEO's getting a bum pat? Shareholders, I guess?
I reckon that's a good idea about GST. You can tell they're desperate to reel in whatever they can because they've come down so hard on vapes and are raising the cigarette excise by 5% at the same time. Apparently they've lost 5 billion in cigarette exise since disposable vapes showed up. The vape ban is not about health...
We will never ever end poverty while ever money, as we know it, exists. Things are too far gone. I think people who work hard should be rewarded. If someone wants to work 90 hours a week to have nice things, good for them. Likewise if people want to work 20 hours a week and make enough to cover bills and spend the rest of their time hiking up mountains and meditating by a creek, good. But the gap between the well off and the not so well off is fuckin' sickening and it's only getting wider and wider. I think we should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing our greed to let it get so bad.
I'm not economist either but as a small business owner I can see small businesses are suffering the most. The big corporations will survive, because everyone needs the basic essentials. People are cutting back their daily/weekly coffees, the amount of times they eat out and sadly they are also cutting back on health care. Fortunately my business has steady, but it's not as busy as it was a year ago.
The other issue was that people were claiming money they didn't need. As a business who was hands off during the 2 lock downs (7 weeks and then 5 weeks) I was grateful for the support with the Job Keeper payment and then the ACT government small business grants. BUT, with the grant, businesses who were losing 30% received the same amount of money as businesses who lost 100%. I heard of businesses flunking numbers or closing for a couple of days so that they were eligible to claim the grant. As soon as I was back at work, I stopped claiming assistance. We saw the airlines lay off their staff but then were able to pay their CEO bonuses, or Harvey Norman was reported in the news making one of their best profits yet they claimed job keeper for their staff.
How much money do we really need? How much stuff do we need? Why is the world revolving around profits and what will make the most money, as opposed to what to provide our best lives.
I think that increasing GST would have been a better solution than increasing interest rates. By increasing GST, everyone is paying extra, not just the home owners/investors and the profits are more balanced to and not just to the big chains and the banks.
One of the goals for the world health organisation is to have no poverty and I just can't see that happening ever. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor and the middle class people either end up below the poverty line or as you said work ridiculous hours just to stay afloat.
Our economy isn't failing. Interest rates still near historic lows.