#moralfailure
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Australians Are Really Dumb
Australians are really dumb if you go by their behaviour over the last 20 years. They have bought the whole anti-union narrative spruiked by conservative politicians like John Howard, Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and their ilk. These guys demonised and attempted to criminalise unionists and their ALP mates. The whole anti-Bill Shorten campaign painted Bill as some union crook – for which there was no real evidence. Despite this voters bought it hook, line and sinker. Now, we are where we find ourselves with record low wage growth over decades. Unions stripped of power by laws. Labour hire companies ripping off workers. Workers with bugger all rights. Big companies lording it over little workers with no bargaining power.
Shabby Australians Deserve Qantas
Qantas has finally been pulled up by the High Court of Australia – after the unions took them on and fought their appeal against the wrongful dismissal of 1, 700 baggage handlers during the Covid pandemic. Australians didn’t stand up to Qantas, the Coalition government backed them with billions of tax payer’s money, whilst Virgin went down the gurgler. Australians have become pretty shabby people, sitting back and watching workers being shafted by Corporate Australia and not saying boo.
Alan Joyce has been an absolute disgrace, as Qantas CEO for years and years. Under his leadership this once great company has become a vampire for shareholders. Sucking the life out of long serving staff and treating its customers like shit.
“ "It now stands their actions against these Qantas families as the largest sacking in Australian corporate history that has been found to be illegal," Transport Workers' Union national secretary, Michael Kaine said in the minutes after the landmark verdict was handed down.
"These workers have been put through hell. Their families have been put through hell. Their lives have been dislocated, some of them forever … that's the consequence of this illegal decision.”
- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-14/qantas-workers-high-court-illegally-sacked-twu-compensation-bill/102848854)
Qantas flying off with your money
Joyce Took Australia On A Joy Ride At Our Expense
Australians are only just waking up to the litany of unfair and low life actions taken by the airline’s management and board. Joyce has walked away with $24 million in bonuses, after destroying the culture and reputation of a once mighty business and brand. Australians and Qantas shareholders should hang their heads in shame really. We all sat back and watched the destruction of people’s lives and livelihoods. What for? All for money, of course.
We have very few standards of morality left in this nation, especially after a decade of Coalition governments under the guise of liars like Morrison and leering scumbags like Abbott.
Dirty Deeds Done In Australia
Think about Robodebt and the disgraceful and unlawful scheme of these same jokers. Vulnerable people, wrongly accused of owing thousands of dollars, killed themselves. Ponder on the billions of dollars going to companies like PwC and KPMG, who have been taking the Australian people for a very expensive ride. These are Coalition initiatives and trends massaged and mined for every penny possible. Insider mates getting all the plumb jobs and big government contracts without the normal scrutiny that the public service would be under. Opaque transparency in shady town. Stuart Robert and Alan Tudge have scarpered already to avoid taking any responsibility. Marise Payne has likewise ducked out of the building, just in case people are actually held accountable.
I would not hold your breath, however. Australia is a white collar crime and corruption Mecca. Only poor and powerless people get prosecuted and go to prison.
Neoliberal champions who led us where we find ourselves - ripped off by our own economy!
Governments Need To Get Back In The Game Of Building Things
Will Australians awake from their slumber and pay attention to WTF is going on? Neoliberalism still haunts the halls of power and politics, despite having delivered zero results for the majority of us. The ALP needs to get its head out of its arse and stop playing it safe. The ALP still sucks on the teat of neoliberalist economic beliefs. The housing crisis is a direct result of government neglect in this regard. The market will not take care of everything – that is complete bullshit. Pull your finger out Albo! The housing fund is a cocka-doodle crock of monetary madness.
We need governments to get back in the game of building infrastructure – like houses where the working poor can live. It is an emergency and the market is not going to magic up a shit load of social housing.
Richard Goyder Must Go
Goyder must go, as he has been the enabler in the whole Alan Joyce disaster. Qantas has been accused by the ACCC of selling seats to 10, 000 customers, which had already been cancelled. This could cost the airline a fine of $250 million. Australian must get back to holding Corporate Australia accountable for its actions. The LNP anything goes days are over. Australians would be best served to remember who has led this trashing of our standards. John Howard used to boast about making us all shareholders. Well, the vast majority of Australians are not shareholders but we have been screwed by Corporate Australia. High prices and rising inflation have been caused by a profit-price-spiral. Record profits have been announced by Qantas and the banks. The duopolies and oligopolies means that they can set the prices in most markets. The ACCC has failed us in terms of protecting competition. Our governments have been asleep at the wheel or looking the other way on the back of grift and graft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQKnazRIEc8
Australians Are Not What They Used To Be
Australians are only really arcing up right now because airfares are really expensive. Self-centred shabby Aussies did bugger all when Joyce was sacking airline staff left, right and centre. Neoliberal economics has pervaded the leadership of our nation and gutted things like mateship and social justice. People are just out for what they can get. Scumbags are the new normal downunder. You know unions have done a lot for this country over the journey. Apart from protecting the basic rights of workers, they have been involved in preserving things like our historical buildings, anti-apartheid campaigns against South Africa, fighting for equal pay for Australian women, and getting equal pay for Indigenous workers on cattle stations.
“In January 1965 the North Australian Workers’ Union lodged an application with the Arbitration Commission to delete the provision of the award covering workers at cattle stations that prevented Indigenous workers from gaining equal rights. A campaign of public pressure in support of the claim for wage equality was launched across the country. The Cattle Producers Council submitted a series of racist arguments to the Commission, degrading the contribution of Indigenous workers to the industry.
In March 1966 the commission handed down its decision in favour of equal wages – but in a racist insult to Indigenous workers, deferred this equality until December 1968. Indigenous pastoral workers took action, demanding equality immediately. “
- (https://www.actu.org.au/about-the-actu/history-of-australian-unions)
If you have ever lived or spent some time in regional Australia you will well know the heightened level of racism in these communities. Not everyone, of course, but far more blatant expressions of racism than in the city are frequently voiced. You have to ask yourself why is Queensland, especially in the regional parts so racist and anti-union? A history of blackbirding – the indented servitude or enslavement of First Nations people – exists there. The current folk are the descendants of such people. The Lutheran German migrants and other European migrants are well known to be anti-union on the basis of their experiences in their old countries. They hand these attitudes down to their progeny for better or worse.
Interestingly the polls predict that Queensland and Tasmania will be bastions for the No vote in the October referendum on the voice to parliament for Indigenous Australians. Two states where massacres of First Nations people were prominent in our history.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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#AlanJoyce#Australia#BillShorten#CorporateAustralia#JohnHowrad#LNP#moralfailure#neoliberalism#politics#Qantas#TonyAbbott#unions
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He's So Pleased With Himself! #blacksmith #politicalmemes #mikepence #complicit #sotu #lookwhatimade #toilethumor #facereading #endsjustifythemeans #moralfailure #hypocrite #jesuswept #maker (at United States Capitol Building)
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wow the catholic church hecked up in 1212
Two words: Children's Crusade
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Coalition Responsible For Consulting Crisis
10 years of Liberal/National federal governments stripped the public service of 15, 000 jobs and opened the door for consultants PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte to feast on government contracts to the tune of billions of dollars. Coalition responsible for consulting crisis, as insider mates shuffle jobs between government and the big 4 consultancy/auditing firms to ensure the flow of business and big bucks. Four Corners has revealed the incestuous relationships in the Department of Defence and KPMG via whistleblowers telling their story about what has been going on. Pigs with snouts in the trough comes to mind as an analogy about what has been occurring.
“It has been the Coalition's official benchmark for "responsible management" since 2015; a target that prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison also pursued. More than 15,000 government jobs were abolished as a result.”
- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/has-federal-budget-2021-ended-coalition-war-on-public-servants/100133980)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pduOqZPnqVc
Dishonest & Dodgy Coalition Governments Dealing Billions To Consultants
The lack of transparency is a major issue and questions have to be asked whether this was a deliberate strategy by the Coalition in government. Outsourcing, what has always been the work of government through the public service, means that these consulting firms are not scrutinised to the level government departments usually are. The Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments moved much of their work of government to these private consulting firms. Public funds normally allocated to the trusted public service were diverted to these private companies.
The PwC tax scandal has shown clearly that these firms are not to be trusted with sensitive and confidential government information.
“Former KPMG partner urges royal commission into consulting industry following damning report into PwC scandal”
- (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/06/former-kpmg-partner-urges-royal-commission-into-consulting-industry-following-damning-report-into-pwc-scandal)
“PwC Australia has sacked eight partners, including its former CEO Tom Seymour, over their direct involvement in or knowledge of the tax leak scandal which has engulfed the consulting firm.”
- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-03/asx-markets-business-live-news-july-3/102553582)
Neoliberal Coalition Oversees Erosion Of Ethics & Professional Standards
Overcharging and extending contracts is rife in the consulting sector and via these government contracts they have gone to town. Tens of billions of dollars have been siphoned off into the hands of these firms and their insider mates of the Coalition. Scott Morrison has a lot of questions to answer re-Robodebt and PwC was involved in this illegal debacle as well. It is time that these people were brought to justice and prosecuted.
The erosion of ethics and professional standards has been overseen by the Coalition in power. Screwing the taxpayer out of money and feathering the nest of private individuals has been happening on a very large scale.
“Collins had breached a series of confidentiality agreements made with federal Treasury and the Board of Taxation that gave him access to various consultative forums as a senior partner in the local branch of a global accounting firm. Information obtained during those processes was used to brief local and international tax partners or staff on what the government was doing in specific areas of taxation. It was publicly known that Collins had shared knowledge that he should not have shared, as was the fact that his former firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (now PwC), was given a disciplinary penalty that required it to tighten up training and procedures.”
(https://www.themandarin.com.au/219292-damning-emails-reveal-former-pwc-peter-collins-multiple-breaches/
Liberal Vision Of Australia All About Wealth At Any Cost For The Few
These people at the heart of these big 4 consultancy firms have earned millions of dollars. They live in big houses in exclusive suburbs worth millions of dollars, and they drive very smart cars. Insider trading is illegal and yet these accountants have trod an inside track thanks to their Coalition mates in power. A decade of Coalition governments has overseen the massive expansion of private consultants taking over the public service.
Liberals screwing the Australian people for their own advantage. Profits and avoiding public scrutiny by Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison are at the heart of this betrayal of trust.
“The previous Coalition government spent $20.8bn outsourcing more than a third of public service operations, an audit has found. The federal government released the findings of the Australian public service audit of employment on Saturday, which examined the hiring practices and associated costs of 112 public service agencies, excluding the CSIRO, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and parliamentary departments. It found the equivalent of nearly 54,000 full-time staff were employed as consultants or service providers for the federal government during the 2021-2022 financial year – the equivalent of 37% of the 144,300-employee public service.”
- (Stephanie Convery, The Guardian, 6 May 2023)
Conservative voters in Australia are hoodwinked into voting for the Coalition on the basis of socially conservative policies. Meanwhile, we are all shafted via insider trading for their mates and plum government contracts for wealthy friends in the consultancy business. Hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds being siphoned off into the hands of these dubious individuals. Donald Trump and the Republicans have written the modern rule book for this grifting behaviour in government in recent times. Trump is a hero for these conservatives combining billion dollar grift with authoritarian power to keep any dissenting voices in check.
Look at the list of questionable activities undertaken during the Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments.
- Climate change and global warming – the Coalition has put back Australia at least a couple of decades via their inaction and manipulation of government policies in this space.
- Consultancy Crisis/Gutting the Public Service – tens of billions of dollars going into private hands via overcharging, wasteful practices, and neutering public scrutiny and the voice of the public service.
- Robodebt – the Robodebt scheme was cooked up by Scott Morrison and was illegal, but put into practice anyway. 500, 000 Australians were wrongly accused of owing large amounts of money to the government. People killed themselves in despair over this! A settled class action has cost taxpayers $1.6 billion so far. A Royal Commission was scathing in its condemnation and recommendations for further prosecution against those administering the scheme. Scott Morrison, of course, denies any wrong doing and responsibility for something he instigated.
- Sports Rorts – pork barrelling taken to another level, as Coalition ministers direct spending to swing voter seats in a bid to shore up support for their electoral cause. Australians in Labor seats miss out on investment into their infrastructure because of where they reside and the political bellwether situation.
- Uluru Statement from the Heart – 10 years of Coalition government denied this call from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians for a place at the big table. Whenever Liberal/National governments come to power they invariably dismantle and defund Indigenous bodies and programs, which were established by Labor governments to close the gap. Whether it is politics over concern for First Nations’ people or just out and out racism the end result is the same. Is it any wonder that First Nations’ Australians want a Voice to Parliament written into the Constitution. Peter Dutton is leading the No vote against the Voice in the referendum. The Nationals also oppose it. Mean spirited, racist, and, generally, lacking compassion are all ways to describe this behaviour.
- Housing Crisis - Where has all the social housing in Australia gone? Neoliberal economic policies have given everything over to the private sector and the profit motive. Needy and vulnerable? Tough luck, you're stuffed in Oz these days.
- Corporate Profits Driving Inflation - A concentration of corporate power via takeovers and mergers means that price setting is rife in Australia. Bugger all competition (where and what has the ACCC been up to?) in the banking sector, supermarkets, audit firms, airlines, real estate, mining, energy sector, and everywhere you seek to do business is an oligopoly.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt & Financial Freedom
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#Australia#Coalition#Conultants#FourCorners#KPMG#LiberalParty#moralfailure#Nationals#politics#PwC#Robodebt#ScottMorrison#Trump
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Trump Is A Fake Billionaire
The failure of Donald J Trump to post a bond for the $466 million fraud fine judgement against him has confirmed what many have suspected for some time. Trump is a fake billionaire. He does not have access to this kind of money because his properties are already mortgaged to the hilt. The more concerning matter is the fact that the pretty useless American rules of standing for the highest office in the land have no provision for candidates in massive debt. How stupid is this! Apparently, you can become President of the United States owing huge amounts of money to all and sundry. You can owe hundreds of millions to foreign powers – no problem. The American system is a joke!
Trump As Massive Debtor Free To Run For President
There are so many holes in the way things operate for the most eminent and powerful it is a travesty. Laws of the land are only for poor and powerless people, it seems. Who went to jail over the January 6th insurrection? Oh yeah, the ordinary schmucks. Who didn’t? Donald Trump and the politicians. Election interference? Nobody important has been prosecuted yet. Now, that the elected Republicans are largely made up of totally disreputable individuals the justice system is mute and impotent because the political side of things overrides everything else. Liars in Congress fill the benches everywhere you look. Margorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, and Nancy Mace are indicative of the rot that has set in on the GOP side of things.
“Now consider the Republican brand for the 2024 presidential cycle. Voters’ perceptions of what the party stands for are based on coverage or exposure to Republican officials who generate the most media attention. By that metric, the Grand Old Party’s modern brand is toxic to at least half the electorate.”
(https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3959933-six-faces-of-the-gops-toxic-brand/)
Fake Billionaire Fermenting Further Trouble For America
Politics has long been a circus in the US but it has reached the level of a freak show in 2024. The system no longer functions the way it was designed to do so. Donald Trump is making damn sure of that. Dysfunction breeds the fertile ground for fascism and totalitarian regimes. This is part of the GOP plan for America – the country has been betrayed by its right wing party. A fake billionaire is pulling the strings of the party of big business. Americans vote traditionally for the party and the leader who will make them more money. They buy into the stories told them of the dangers of socialism and helping those less fortunate. Many Americans embrace an iconic narrative around hard-nosed individualism. This is despite the leg-up they get from family and their privileged positions in society.
Voting For A Crook
Voting for a crook appears not to phase many on the Right. Laws do not apply to our guy! This is the motto of the new toxic Republican party. The justice system is fine and good when it is prosecuting our enemies – those lefty liberals. Trump remember, began his time in office in 2016, attacking any media criticism of himself as fake news. He established the muddy swamp of disinformation – a climate where folk do not know what to believe. Putin has done the same in Russia for many years. Muddy the waters and sew confusion is the name of the game. Social media serves this purpose mightily. The fake billionaire sits atop his pile of highly leveraged assets and shouts loudly to the world about his wealth and power.
The Trump Appeal
The appeal of Trump seems to be in the mould of Archie Bunker from the TV sitcom All In The Family. A loud mouthed old white guy spouting off non-stop with entertaining BS. Obviously, a great affection exists for this American archetype in the collective consciousness of the nation. Trump adds some fake billionaire pizazz to the mix – old fat white guy with trophy wife on arm. There is nothing too subtle about his appeal to the American public – he gets their attention and makes them laugh a little by saying outrageous things. Trump mines the politics of grievance by blaming convenient touchstones of ‘the other’ for all their problems. White supremacy get served up again as everyone non-white gets the blame for the evils in the world. Illegal refugees flooding the country cried Trump and the GOP. Gay people and trans folk cop it, of course, for being different. Uppity women are an age old target too. Throw in Jews for good measure. Poisoning the blood of the nation! Everything woke is bad but nobody listening actually knows what the word means – it has become a catch-all pejorative for anything liberal and left leaning.
Trump is a fake billionaire and now owes a further $93 million to Swiss company Chubb. America will not allow someone born outside of America to run for President but it’s fine to be incumbent to a foreign power for lots of money. Where is the independence and agency in that situation? America needs to wake up fast. Trump is destroying the democratic system upon which the republic is based. He has exposed the many holes in the setup. There are already far too many unanswered questions about Trump’s relationship to Vladimir Putin and Russia. America matters to the world and watching it slide into dysfunction and autocracy is abhorrent.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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The Individual’s Right To Private Wealth
It is hard not to reduce the salient difference between those on the Right to those on the Left, as an overt concern with selfishness vs inclusiveness. Republicans in America always back tax cuts for the rich and big business. The LNP Coalition in Australia follow a similar predilection, when it comes to things, as exemplified by the Stage 3 tax cuts. Those on the Right are fed a diet of the individual’s right to private wealth over most other considerations. They see that capitalism is about such things, and are highly suspicious of the welfare state. Their ideological stance is that everyone must make their own way in life with no handouts. However, they have no problem with receiving a leg up from their family if they come from a wealthy background. A level playing field is not high on their list of priorities.
A Right To Lower Taxes & White Neighbourhoods
The message coming from the Right is invariably one of pushing for lower taxes and especially no wealth taxes. They see no problem with playing the game of life from an uneven playing field, economically speaking. They enjoy their advantages in life but do not respect disadvantage for others. It falls to those on the Left, politically speaking, to raise their voices for those disadvantaged by birth or by circumstance within their community. The political game, then becomes Republican and conservative politicians criticising policy measures in government to address disadvantage as wasteful or manifestations of dangerous socialism. This has occurred frequently, like clockwork in the US over many decades. The slaves were freed via Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (the 14th Amendment) back in 1865. However any economic efforts to help those recently liberated black slaves were consistently voted down by the politics of the day, suggesting that any measures would detract from the wealth of white American men. Self-interest has always been a powerful force in America, politically. This is why there remains a large wealth divide between whites and African Americans, still to this day. White supremacists will tell you that it is because African Americans are lazy but this is not true. Rather, they have been locked out economically by racist policies and institutional racism over many decades. Segregation in housing is a clear example of this throughout American cities even to this day. School segregation is another widespread reality in America today, especially in the northern states. When the governments of the day in the 1960’s , 70’s and 80’s tried to do something about it – this was the beginnings of the white Christian Nationalist movement. A big chunk of white America is racist.
The White Right To Complain About Stuff
Donald Trump has not invented racism and white supremacy, no, he being the grifter he is, has only taken advantage of it politically. Trump champions the politics of grievance. White America has never been invaded by another foreign power. Most white Americans do not live in poverty. Their ancestors were not enslaved by other Americans back in the day. Still, they complain loudly when they have little to complain about. Christians complain about their diminishing right to persecute Americans who may be members of the LGBTQIA community in their midst. Christian Nationalists want to control the reproductive rights of all women in America whether they share their beliefs or not. The once slaver states of the Confederacy are almost always at the forefront of these state based attempts to take away the personal freedoms of ordinary Americans. They call them the red states, politically speaking, and with Trump’s crush on Vladimir Putin there may be more in that to see.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Justice Samuel Alito (Majority)
(https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization)
Neoliberalism Is A Proven Economic Failure For The People
The individual’s right to private wealth is high on the agenda of the GOP. Privatising everything that they can see is the main thrust of the Federalist Society’s Project 2025. Government bodies will be put into the hands of the private sector. We know how well neoliberalism has gone for the majority of people over the last 30 years. The trickledown effect has left most of us a hell of a lot worse off than our parent’s generation were. The promises of greater efficiencies have been accompanied by massive profits and payments going to investors and CEO’s. Corruption is never far from the door when regulation is lessened and you let the foxes manage the hen house. Republican voters are either really stupid or they just don’t care, as long as they can get their snouts in the trough too. Corporate America has sent all the manufacturing jobs offshore to cheaper climes. Big business has screwed ordinary Americans in their desperate quest for ever more profits. The GOP is their party. People vote for this party knowing that they are crooks, but in the hope that a crooked boss will spread some largesse their way. It is a pretty dispiriting thing to observe. If you are only ever looking out for yourself, your world is shrinking. Eventually, that will catch up with you and it wont be pretty.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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#American#Coalition#GOP#moralfailure#neoliberalism#politics#power#racism#reproductiverights#stage3taxcuts#Trump#whitesupremacy
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Love Is Not A Bank Loan: The Myths of Money And God
Most people refrain from delving too deeply into history. Some, especially the young, are too busy making their own history or trying to anyway. However, our lives are built on assumptions and often these are the assumptions of others who have gone before us. Yuval Harari calls them myths, the myths that we live by. There are myths which give our lives meaning – the myths of money and of God. Many of us work the live long day in the pursuit of money. Some of us believe in a supernatural, invisible entity that lies at the centre of our universe. What if both of these things have no real tangible substance and are, rather, myths that we live by?
“In a similar vein, money is a fiction that depends on the trust that we collectively put in it. The fact that it is a ‘myth’ has not impeded its usefulness. It has become the most universal and efficient system of mutual trust ever devised, allowing the development of global trade networks and sophisticated modern capitalism.”
(https://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/yuval-noah-harari-on-the-myths-we-need-to-survive/)
Money’s Mythical Status In The Mind’s Of Many
Money, as some of us realise, no longer has a gold standard value. Money, today, is largely numbers on a digital screen. This belief in the value of money is based on trust in a system. An economic system, which involves governments, central banks, commercial banks, businesses, and consumers. Every now and then, things go seriously wrong with our capitalist system and we call these - economic crashes, depressions, and recessions. In those periods, there is a rude awakening for many of us who normally operate unquestioningly within the framework of our states and their structures. Suddenly, there are banks going bust and losing billions of dollars. Perhaps, billions of our money, which in turn causes governments and central banks to rush in and hopefully guarantee our deposits. During the last Global Financial Crisis (GFC) the Federal Reserve in America, their central bank, pumped in (without government approval) $29 trillion to prop up the entire capitalist system. Money, unlike resources, is not a finite thing within nations that have a sovereign currency. They can create as much as they like of the stuff. The only caveat being the inflationary nature of money creation and that is predicated on how that money supply is released into the economy. Quantitative Easing is the name of the game. Money, therefore, is a myth in that it is, in cash form, an IOU from the government that is accepted at most businesses within our nation. Our debit cards issued from commercial banks are even more widely accepted in the current era than cash. There are no pots of gold somewhere backing up this trust system, we all take digital finance on trust. We live our lives running around and working hard in pursuit of this intangible stuff, all based on trust in a story that we subscribe to.
God’s Representative’s Love Of Money
David Graeber, the late David Graeber, wrote an entire tome on money called Debt: The First 5, 000 Years. In that excellent book, Graeber reveals the close affinity between the myths of money and God. Religions historically had a great love of money and hoarded it. This did not always end well, especially during the Dark Ages when there were Vikings about. All that gold and silver in monasteries and churches was overwhelmingly attractive to raiders intent on taking home loads of wealth. Graeber makes the salient point in his big book that human beings have happily operated under debt arrangements between themselves for millennia. He debunks the whole barter system myth so beloved by economists since Adam Smith. Graeber, as an anthropologist, states that there is no archaeological evidence to sustain the belief that barter was the widespread economic system prior to the development of our modern financial economies.
Love Is Not A Bank Loan
I was watching a mini series drama on the ABC recently, called the House of Gods. In this series about Iraqi’s living in Australia and their cultural/religious communities there was a powerful line spoken by one of the characters, which touched me. “Love is not a bank loan; you don’t have to pay it back!” This encapsulates an essential element within Graeber’s book. We have all become so economically defined in the 21C and economics has become our new religion in many ways. Graeber gives an example of an NGO lawyer working with refugees in the UK, who he met at a party, and a snippet from their conversation. He was somewhat stunned by her moralistic attitude toward poor nations and the imperative for them to always pay back loans from the IMF. This inspired him to write the Debt book to discover the roots of our beliefs and attitudes about money, credit and debt.
Primordial Debt Theory & Sin
The role of religion in the emergence of money is shown. The language used within both frameworks with terms like ‘redemption’ and ‘salvation’. The fact that within the precepts of Christianity we are born into a state of sin – of owing God something straight away from birth. Then, in the Lord's prayer, it is written "forgive us of our debts as we forgive those of our debtors." Primordial Debt Theory infuses many religious traditions beyond just Christianity. You can see that many religious scriptures were written with an awareness of the market place and in those terms. It clearly reveals that the word of God is invariably that of human beings and their concerns. These are myths devised to motivate and manipulate certain behaviours. Money and religion have both been used over the journey to control populations of people. Think of the consumer credit rating systems in place around the world today, where scores are kept of your inclination and ability to borrow money and pay it back.
“Primordial debt theory was initially expressed through religion, particularly early Sanskrit texts such as the Vedas and Brahmanas, which suggest that humans are born with a debt to society. This debt is repaid through means such as making sacrifices for the greater good, having children, and offering hospitality to strangers. Governments then assumed guardianship of the primordial debt owed to society for creating us. Debts to society were converted into money through systems of taxes, fines, fees, and penalties for wronging others in some way. In order to finance trade, temple administrators in ancient Mesopotamia invented interest-bearing loans. This led to the practice of giving loans to peasants who would become debt-peons if unable to repay. Debt-peons were forced into perpetual service in the lender’s household. Kings periodically declared amnesties to alleviate this social breakdown caused by indebtedness.”
(https://instaread.co/insights/business-economics-reference/debt-book/lrtqessll3#:~:text=Theideaofprimordialdebt,indefenseofthenation.)
Forgiving Debts Not Popular With Republicans
President Joe Biden has been trying to forgive billions in student debt in the United States but the Republicans keep blocking him by whatever means they can find. SCOTUS being the latest block to this attempt to alleviate such a heavy burden placed upon the young for the rest of their working lives. Americans financialize everything – higher education, health, and the list goes on. The Republicans want to apply this ‘for profit’ mechanism to every aspect of life – with social security firmly in their sights as the next target. More Americans go bankrupt because they cannot meet their medical bills than for any other single reason. Welfare is a dirty word in the mind’s of many conservative Americans, as they have been acculturated to associate this with socialism, weakness, and the evils of communism. In Australia we have universal health insurance provided by the government called Medicare. I do not think that this has proven to be the harbinger of communism or any other evil in our experience. It is a GOP furphy designed to help business make more money and profits out of human life.
Money & Military Power Globally
Economically, the United States rules the roost within the global community of nations. A large part of this is tied to the military might of the US. It spends some $877 billion annually on its military, as of 2022 figures. The power of the US dollar in global markets is without question. The US has military bases in key locations around the world. In Germany, in Japan, in Türkiye, in the UK, Spain, Bahrain, Greenland and 750 military bases in some 80 countries. Graeber has linked this world power domination with the old idea of lesser states paying tribute to more powerful states. Right now, we are seeing the rise of China both economically and militarily. Russia too is flexing its muscles around its borders, in Syria, and in Africa. The economic sanctions against Russia has seen a strengthening of BRIC, an alternative economic bloc involving Brazil, Russia, India and China. These nations want to do business with Russia and its cheaper fossil fuels for their own economic benefit, rather than kow tow to the US and Europe on matters of national security and the integrity of a nation’s borders. Money talks louder to these developing nations and rising powers than any US defined ideas about right and wrong.
A Mother’s Love Is Not A Commercial Exchange
Love is not a bank loan: The myths of money and God. Graeber writes about how we interact with our nearest and dearest in a communistic style. Most of us do not charge interest on loans to family and close friends. Indeed, many of us give freely to these intimates in the spirit of love. Our economic adherence to the rules of finance often stop at the borders of our immediate family. Likewise we expect to receive in times of need in a less commercial manner from those within our most intimate circle. Mothers give unceasingly to their children to nurture them through to adulthood. Most do not expect to be repaid materially for their investment in raising their children. Giving is the theme here. There can be expectations held by parents as to the desired direction their offspring’s lives take but these are not bankable.
Stories Determine Our Behaviours & Understanding
Human beings love stories and most of them are fictional. Ancient historians doubt the veracity of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. It is more likely that he is an invention by interested parties back in the day. There are no primary sources for what this Messiah had to say, as they are all secondary accounts written down long after he is purported to have lived and died. Filter this doubtful body of work, called the Gospels, through two millennia of interpretations, translations, and canonization – and what eventuates are works of invention and reinvention. You would not expect any thing or text to survive intact after such a lengthy and bumpy journey down through the ages. Everything gets recycled to reflect the concerns and interests of the day. It is a matter of how things work in life. Harari calls these things fictions, these myths we invent to make the wheels go around. Some harsher social observers have called them lies but this can be inflammatory.
Authorities Base Their Power On Myths & Fictions
The history of money and economics are full of lies or fictions too. Vested interests simplify things to accentuate their desires and wishes. Most folk do not delve too deeply into the past and the history of things. Even the important things like money and God. 99% of the population accept the stuff they are fed. They believe the assumptions that the systems of control are based upon. Authorities within the state base their power upon the assumptions about what has gone before. The Christian religion in America via Christian Nationalists is flexing its secular muscles at the moment by banning abortions in conservative red states. Even IVF is coming under state scrutiny from Alabama supreme court judges threatening the wrath of God in 2024. Christians are never happy just policing their own bodies they invariably want to police everybody elses too. It is the nature of this religious beast. Roe vs Wade has been overturned by a conservative religious majority on the SCOTUS bench. The world used to look to America as the leading progressive democracy but not so much anymore. The myth of a wrathful God wagging His finger at us, above in the clouds, over our sinful behaviour in the bedroom, is an old fiction. Resurrection is an indelible element within the archetypal religious myth, however. Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a backlash against science, particularly in the US, where they made vaccination and mask wearing ideological points of contention. Nearly a million Americans died from the Coronavirus in the richest nation on earth. This was wildly inconsistent with what happened in other Western nations like Australia. In the same way that a gun related mass murder happens every week or more in the US and the Republicans in office still refuse to tighten gun laws – there is a stubborn refusal to adhere to facts within this expression of the American psyche. It is like they see themselves as bigger than the truth. The myth of the power of the individual over his or her community reigns supreme in America to the detriment of the vulnerable. Often it is school children who are the victims of this horrific gun violence via AR-15 military style assault weapons, which are sold to members of the public. Why would a member of the public need a weapon like this in God’s name? Making money for American big business is more important and carries more weight than public safety in the US.
If we do not question things, we are likely to live apathetic lives. If we do not take the time to delve into what has gone before, we are condemning ourselves to a life of unknowing. Those in charge want more folk who do what they are told. Freedoms only exist if you test them. Investigate your world, rather than complacently acquiescing to everything. Explore the fictions that underpin your life by digging down beyond the superficially accepted stuff.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt & Financial Freedom
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Racist Coalition Weaponizing Immigration
Peter Dutton and the Coalition have been whipping up fear among Australians. Racist Coalition weaponizing immigration by accusing the government of releasing dangerous detainees into the community. It was in actual fact the High Court of Australia that ordered these men who had served their sentences must be released. The frenzy over their release into the community has culminated with Victoria Police wrongly arresting one of the released detainees for sex crimes. Mistaken identity or just white folk paranoia pointing the finger at any Arab looking character?
Dog whistling Dutton does not care what damage he causes to people’s lives. Politics is everything to the very rich landlord Dutton and his party of shrill acolytes.
Dutton Has Been Crying Wolf About The Boats Again
Refugees coming to Australia illegally by boat have been winners for the nasty Tony Abbott and a succession of LNP leaders since John Howard. Peter Dutton is hoping that he can resurrect the xenophobia so beloved of his predecessors. Racist Coalition weaponizing immigration issues is a vote winner in times gone by. Whether Australia has cottoned onto the political chicanery by now, we will have to wait and see. The LNP strategists would be looking to Trump in the US for ideas and inspiration, as little old Australia always does.
“Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has attacked Labor’s immigration record, claiming 105,000 asylum seekers have entered Australia since Anthony Albanese’s government was elected.
This is false. The 105,000 figure relates to the number of asylum seekers in Australia at the end of August 2023. Most were already in the country at the time of the May 2022 federal election.
The majority of asylum seekers currently residing in Australia arrived during the 2013-2022 coalition government.
(https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/dutton-gets-it-wrong-with-labor-asylum-seeker-claim/)
the fear monger!
Peter Dutton The Putin Of Oz
I think, also, that Peter Dutton sees himself as the Putin of Oz, the strongman of Australian politics. Dutton is never afraid to go the low blow in terms of attacking the vulnerable if there are political points to be scored. It is rumoured that Dutton is worth some $300 million from property development and land lording. Wealth makes many people feel inviolable and above reproach – the billionaire syndrome. No wonder he is always championing the propertied classes and the big end of town over ordinary working Australians.
Murdoch’s News Corp Cheering For Dutton & Xenophobic Politics
Murdoch and News Corp are pumping up every news story with as much polarization appeal as possible. They have led the way with their Fox News in America with blatantly one sided reporting helping divide that country to extreme violence. Rupert has said that he is not red or blue but green, as in greenbacks. That is the kind of man he is and thank God he is no longer an Australian. His newspapers and Sky News Australia are, of course, rabidly right wing and pro-Coalition. Objective reporting died and left the room decades ago at News Corp. They are cheer leaders for extreme reactionary conservatives.
Thankfully, younger Australians don’t read newspapers or tune into Rupert’s cable TV offerings. A future without the vituperative BS from Murdoch’s editorial team would be a real blessing.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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US Supreme Court Slow Walks Trump Immunity Claim Appeal & Stay
SCOTUS has virtually guaranteed that Donald Trump will not be tried for election subversion prior to the Presidential election of 2024. US Supreme Court slow walks Trump immunity claim appeal and stay from prosecution. By deciding to take the case it has undermined the unanimous denial of Trump’s claims by the federal court of appeals. The stacking of SCOTUS with conservative GOP aligned justices by Trump is obviously paying benefits. The legal rule of law was really the last hope for America in holding Donald Trump accountable for attempts to subvert the Constitution in 2020. The US is now an international disgrace and no longer can be considered a leading democratic nation.
“The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be tried on criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In a one-page unsigned order, the justices ordered a federal appeals court to continue to keep on hold its ruling rejecting Trump’s claims of immunity from prosecution, and they fast-tracked the case for oral argument in late April.”
(https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/02/supreme-court-takes-up-trump-immunity-appeal/)
Democracy On Death Row Thanks To SCOTUS & Trump
It is a sad day for democratic Americans who believe in the rule of law. Wealth and influence have gazumped both the institutions of democracy and justice in the United States of America. A virtual mob boss and former President has grifted and grafted his way to another contest for the highest office in the land. Even though Trump says the Presidency isn’t an officer of the nation and that any election he doesn’t win is rigged and the result of voter fraud. American democracy is a laughing stock because how can you have a candidate running who shows no respect for the electoral process! Corruption, bullying, and undue influence is so completely prevalent within the Republican Party that it is a one man show. There are no people of integrity or courage anywhere within the GOP. Russian subversion is an everyday occurrence within the Republican Party in this day and age. They have no shame and no real comprehension of how much they have lost the plot.
SCOTUS Delays & Slow Walking Trump Cases
It is patently obvious that former President Trump does not have complete immunity from prosecution for things like subverting the electoral process or murdering opponents. The federal court of appeals ruled unanimously against his appeals on this basis. SCOTUS could have refused to take the case and refused to grant a stay from the ongoing prosecution. That they have chosen to hear the case is all about delaying the trial. The American people deserve to know if the man standing for the Presidency is guilty of these indictments and only a fair trial would have decided this. Now, they will have to go to the polls without clarification on this crucial question.
Clarence & Ginny Thomas & Their Billionaire’s Big Money Influence
Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife Ginny was involved in the Trump camp crimes and yet there is no evidence that Clarence Thomas has recused himself. Exposes have revealed billionaire Harlan Crow showering gifts and money on Clarence Thomas over many years. SCOTUS justices have little to no compunction to behave ethically by law in the US. It is another lack of oversight within the system. In America, if you reach the top you get to do whatever you want, it seems. Hard and fast laws are only for the little people, the poor, and the ordinary schmucks. Billionaires and their circle of friends are immune from prosecution in the US, by the evidence we are now witnessing. This is a republic of elites and oligarchs who sail above the illusion of democratic norms. Democracy is for suckers, according to Trump.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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#ClarenceThomas#democracy#GinnyThomas#GOP#moralfailure#politics#power#presidentialelection#SCOTUS#Trump#US
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Counting Up The Cost Of Coalition Governments
Looking back on recent federal governments in Australia is very revealing. Counting up the cost of Coalition governments to ordinary citizens is somewhat shocking. Peter Dutton and the Coalition government awarded a $400 million contract to a company registered at a beach shack on Kangaroo Island – Paladin. This shady entity had no previous experience running offshore detention centres and the Richardson enquiry revealed a dodgy provenance. Further companies engaged by the Coalition to run these refugee lockups on islands have been exposed to have links to drug dealers and arms running. Much of this happened on Peter Dutton’s watch as Home Affairs minister. Dutton talks tough to the media on border security but his track record is another matter altogether. Dirty deeds done really bloody expensively by shady organisations – would be a fair assessment.
Neoliberal champions who led us where we find ourselves - ripped off by our own economy!
Robodebt The Coalition’s Greatest Shameful Act On Australians
Robodebt – the $1.8 billion and counting cost to Australian tax payers is a Coalition monument to their incompetence and ideological warfare committed on ordinary Australians. This betrayal of the people by government and certain senior public servants in concert with PwC the LNP’s favourite consultancy firm is tantamount to the worst excesses of a totalitarian regime. The public still await someone being held accountable for this travesty which caused some vulnerable Aussies to kill themselves over large sums of money they didn’t owe Centrelink. Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison, Alan Tudge, Stuart Robert, Marise Payne, and Kathryn Campbell should be prosecuted for their senior roles in running and facilitating Robodebt.
Half a million ordinary Australians were falsely accused of owing large amounts of money to Centrelink in the Robodebt betrayal.
Fast Internet NBN Derailed By LNP Coalition Governments
The NBN, this Labor initiative to provide all Australians with fast Internet connections was turned into a shemozzle by Turnbull and the Coalition. What could have taken a few years became decades and never delivered what was promised by the ALP. A common theme running through Liberal Party economic thinking is that everything is too expensive for the majority of Australian citizens. Instead they look after a small coterie of insiders, business leaders, bankers, and their mates whilst everybody else can make do with second best. This is the trickledown effect of neoliberal policies in action. The rich get much richer and the working poor get shafted.
The divide between the wealthy 5% in Australia and the rest has widened considerably following 10 years of Coalition government.
The Snowy 2.0 Billion Dollar White Elephant
Snowy 2.0 has turned into another billion dollar white elephant threatening to delay and derail the energy transformation necessary to meet the challenge of global warming in this country. Incompetence and a lack of listening to experts has bogged down this massive project for years. Another Coalition failure.
Slashing The Public Service & Spending Billions On Consultants Instead
The Morrison, Turnbull, and Abbott Coalition governments systematically slashed the public service and diverted that spending to the private sector. Tens of billions of dollars were spent over the years with PwC, EY, Deloitte, and KPMG. The upshot of this meant less public scrutiny on government and less accountability. The relationship difference between ministers and those in the private sector dependent upon getting these large contracts vs a fearless and without favour civil service is substantial. A decade of damage was done to the Australian public service, which made them more servile and desperate for official acknowledgement. The immoral behaviours witnessed by the likes of senior public servant Kathryn Campbell and others in the Robodebt scheme bears witness to this fact. A defunded public service has lost skills and not kept pace with the demands of technology in the world of modern government. This will have to be rebuilt under Labor governments going forward.
It was vandalism committed by the Coalition on a grand scale.
The Lying Culture Of Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison became internationally known as a liar. The compulsive lying nature of former PM Morrison was a big reason why the Coalition were voted out of office at the last election. It was further revealed that during Covid, Morrison secretly had himself appointed to multiple ministries within the federal government. He became, unbeknown to the Australian public, the Minister for Everything. This was a betrayal of the democratic traditions of the Westminster system under which Australia is governed.
“Richard Crofts writes: As time passes more and more of Morrison’s lying is exposed: the far-right pseudo-Christian claims, the divine right to rule, believing he was chosen by God to lead Australia, the miracle of his election… the list goes on. The hubris he displayed was breathtaking. He told lies when the truth was easier, just because he could — a habit practised over many years and he became a master at it. He could have won gold for Australia in the world lying championship.”
(https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/08/21/scott-morrison-lied-over-and-over/)
“Scott Morrison lies about the economy all the time. He can’t help himself. He tells big lies about transitioning away from fossil fuels and small lies about the role of his office in the way grants are directed to marginal seats. He tells strategic lies about the union movement engaging in “a campaign of extortion” to prevent medical supplies making it to Australia and he tells dumb lies about electric vehicles ruining weekends and even dumber ones denying he said that.
What all his economic lies have in common is that they always serve the interests of his political friends and undermine the legitimacy of his foes. The lies aren’t random. They are carefully selected to help depict what he wants to do as being “good for the economy” and anything he opposes as “destroying jobs” and “burdening future generations”. The rhetorical power of economic language is far greater than the predictive power of any of its models. For a government still seen as the preferred economic manager, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the power of economic language borders on magic. Morrison has persuaded voters we’re broke and that expecting better services would send us over the edge.”
(https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/morrisons-economic-lies/)
Parliament house was a dangerous place for women with all those pissed politicians & staffers wandering about.
Australia, after nearly a decade of Coalition federal governments, had had enough of the lies. The smug, blokey style of the man was an act from beginning to end – there was nothing real about Scott Morrison. He pretended to be a man of the people but in reality saw himself as something much more special. For years, conservative working people were fooled by the Morrison performance and voted for him and his party. Politics is 90% style over substance, unfortunately, and the electorate gets hoodwinked into believing one guy over another. Oftentimes, this is based on superficial looks and mannerisms. Pollies are trained to accentuate certain things by PR experts to make them more popular with voters. Elections are not actually democratic, rather they are popularity contests for these elite candidates. To confuse voters even more these candidates play the anti-elite card in their bag of tricks, because this is another vote winner in Australia in the current political climate.
AUKUS The Submarine Deal That May Sink Australia
Submarines and ship building more broadly exposes the feebleness of our political leaders over decades in Australia. The Defence top job has been a revolving door spinning faster than that churning out PMs in recent times. Procurement of defence hardware is massively expensive in the modern era. Politics plays a big hand here too, as electorates with ship building capabilities demand their time in the sun. The demise of Australian manufacturing over recent decades has diminished our capabilities when it comes to building big projects with high tech elements. Our track record on submarines is a disaster really. We f***** the French over and Morrison’s lies to the President of France will not be forgotten. The national security hawks on the conservative side bang on about the dangers of China but we have left the cupboard bare when it comes to our military presence in the here and now. No new submarines for decades it seems and at a price of some $360 billion – which will only increase substantially, as it always does. Australia, as a middling power, is forever susceptible to the allure of expensive high tech weaponry. Submarines seem to be our weak spot like diamonds are for some women.
University Machinations By Conservative Culture Warriors
The Coalition university policy put ideological cultural war tactics in place by making humanities courses much more expensive than more mindless technical studies. It was done they told us to put a price incentive in place to encourage more higher education students to choose science degrees for the betterment of our job skills in Australia. The evidence now in shows that it was a failure – the numbers don’t lie. It always struck me as a devious and inequitable plan- it was unAustralian! Dumbing down and quietening the young voices on campus, who were invariably anti-authoritarian.
Coalition Economic Policies Now Coming To Fruition
Listening to Angus Taylor speak about the economic troubles Australia faces I am reminded of the saying, “more front than a double decker bus.” This bloke was at the forefront of economic decisions made during a decade of Coalition power. The cost of living crisis, the high energy costs to consumers, the housing shortage pushing up rents – he and his mob were running the show in the lead up to the mess we now face. Economic policies take years to take effect and the LNP were making them over a decade. The lack of action on energy policies and climate change by the Coalition was right up Angus Taylor’s street. The Coalition were a government that did little to confront the challenges Australia faces in the 21C.
We lost a decade on the energy transformation and who knows if that was affordable in the long run. In fact the long run is getting shorter by the day with extreme weather events happening every quarter or so. Floods, fires, floods, fires, and more floods and fires.
Coalition Opposition To Indigenous Voice Referendum
The Coalition in opposition championed the defeat of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Peter Dutton and his National party counterpart led the No Vote at the referendum. Dutton likes to raise the ire of Aussies about Indigenous kids running amok in Alice Springs and Darwin. Send in the army is Pete’s refrain. You never hear anything constructive coming out of the mouth of the Leader of the Oppo. Dutton positions himself as an authoritarian threatening to come down hard on criminals, especially those with darker skin like Arabs and Aborigines. The defender of the status quo is Pete Dutton. Never mind that means disenfranchised people living in communities where there is little work and no infrastructure to support them in doing engaging stuff. Neglecting those on the fringes of society is a recipe for violence and crime. Australia has an 'out of sight is out of mind' attitude toward its Indigenous population.
Everyone is too busy trying to afford a deposit on a million dollar home to worry about anyone else. This is the modern Australia we live in and one largely fashioned by Coalition governments over the journey.
Robert Sudha Hamilton
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Is It Fair For Australian Corporations To Make Record Profits During A Cost Of Living Crisis?
The Australian economic landscape has seen a succession of Australian corporations declaring record profits. The big insurers were the latest, joining the banks, the supermarket duopoly, the airlines, and a host of miners and fossil fuel companies in achieving record profits. Is it fair for Australian corporations to make record profits during a cost of living crisis? Many ordinary citizens are struggling to afford to put food on the table and meet their rent or mortgage payments. High inflation in the local economy has been the given reason but analysis by pundits has revealed that many companies have been price gouging on the back of a lack of competition in the market. This means these companies can set the price and consumers are bereft of power in the equation.
“Australia’s life insurance industry doubled its profits to $1.2bn in the 12 months to 30 June 2023, KPMG’s annual market review reveals. The cost of premiums for individual-advised disability income life policies rose by 10-12 percent, consistent with recent years, as insurers tried to staunch losses and boost profitability.”
(https://kpmg.com/au/en/home/media/press-releases/2023/10/life-insurance-profits-double-premiums-rise-17-october-2023.html)
“Australian private health insurers earned $1.3bn more in surplus from hospital premiums this year compared with two years prior, while returning less money to customers, a new report suggests.”
(Natasha May, 15 Dec 2023, The Guardian)
Profit Raking Australian Companies Price Gouging Amid High Inflation
What kind of country do we live in where it is OK for Australian businesses to profit from the pain of the community during an economic crisis? Rents have been spiralling up and up, which means landlords are doing the same to vulnerable tenants. Many of our elected members of parliament are landlords and derive substantial income from their property portfolios. Several enquiries into price gouging by Coles and Woolworths are underway, as governments and unions seek to understand the state of this massive duopoly and its effects upon the nation. Amid all this the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been steeply raising interest rates on the cash rate in a bid to slow the economy and halt the rise of inflation further. This has been achieved at the cost of much financial stress and the start of job losses throughout the nation.
RBA Offers No Scrutiny On Prices Rises By Australian Businesses
Consumers in Australia are the targets of RBA monetary policy and workers too it seems. There were no warnings from the central bank and its governor about price rises by corporations and businesses. No, warnings were directed at any wage increases and at the economic behaviour of consumers. The RBA is firmly on the side of business, as bankers always are in this economic paradigm. It is a strange state of affairs that those raising the prices, which is of course inflationary, do not come under any public scrutiny. The extreme concentration of market share in the hands of too few corporate entities would, one would think, make this lever a far more effective one to pull than the broad spectrum one of raising interest rates. Monetary policy hurts the poorest and those who can least afford it the most within our economy. Its very design is a socioeconomic political statement about where power resides and with whom.
“AGL's underlying net profit after tax for the six months ended Dec. 31 was A$399 million ($260.11 million), compared with A$87 million a year earlier. According to Jefferies, the consensus estimate was A$311 million.”
(https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/australias-agl-energy-profit-jumps-in-first-half-on-higher-electricity-pricing)
Money Matters More Than People In Australia
The Australian community, after a decade of Coalition neoliberal economic policies, has become inured to a money matters most ethos. The LNP invariably put the business side of things first in any debate about what is most important. The divide between rich and poor has become ever wider on their watch. The user pays rentier economic model keeps taking more from those who can least afford it and redistributes that combined largesse to the super rich. Thus, extra big super profits for banks, insurers, miners, oligopolies, billionaires, and the big end of town. Meanwhile the working poor slide further into desperate straits. Rents are unaffordable in Australian cities and there is a dire shortage of rental stock. Governments stopped building social housing because neoliberal economic thinking told them that the market would take care of things. Well, it bloody didn’t! The rise of short term holiday lets further stripped properties from the long term rental market. Again this is about servicing wealthier Australians for their holiday accommodation at the expense of places for workers to live. Record immigration into Australia has just made the shortage of housing stock much worse.
Corporate Australia A Moral Waste Ground
Ordinary Australians are taking it in the neck and the wallet from the corporations doing business here. Domestically big business is feeding on the need for essentials like food, energy, and shelter costs. Record profits are being made across the board at our very real expense. Since the pandemic, we have sustained a barrage of economic wolves at our doors. Any government assistance from that time has been eaten up and then some by these companies who operate as if it is perfectly OK to raid the savings of the working poor for their record profits during a cost of living crisis. There is no moral high ground in the business world in Australia – it is rapacious and uncaring via its price gouging. You know what it says to me? It tells me that many in Corporate Australia are unscrupulous and very willing to take advantage of people when they are down. It is weak s*** from faceless folk putting the boot into needy Australians like the elderly and the poor. It should be called out for what it really is!
Allan Fells declared that Australian companies have been raising prices well above their own increased costs of doing business.
“The former head of Australia's competition watchdog has urged the federal government to order an in-depth investigation into supermarket profit margins and supply chains, accusing the major chains of "overpricing". “
(https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-23/allan-fels-says-supermarkets-are-overcharging-after-accc-inquiry/103378936)
How About A Conversation About What Is Right & Fair?
Shouldn’t we as a nation and a community be having a discussion about what kind of country we want to live in and how we do business? About whether price gouging during a cost of living crisis is acceptable corporate behaviour in Australia? Is it really necessary for business to have all the advantages in its corner and for we consumers to have none. Capitalism is supposed to be about a free market economy, but what big business does is remove that competition via mergers and takeovers. The ACCC has failed in Australia and that is because our governments have underfunded it and left it yet another toothless tiger incapable of policing the big end of town. Business has bought our politicians by campaign donations and purchased influence at our expense. Political parties are corrupted by these machinations in their fund raising activities. Where is the NACC? The great invisible new federal ICAC has been nowhere to be seen. Our political campaign funding safeguards are completely inadequate.
Australians Short Shrifted By Corporate Australia
We the people are getting short shrift from corporate Australia and our governments. The RBA does nothing but prop up the existing unfair status quo in economic terms. Australia has the greatest corporate concentration of market share in too few hands the world has seen. Our media is owned by Murdoch, Nine Fairfax, and Kerry Stokes. This is why we don’t see too many stories about certain things like corporate control and undue influence because they are in bed with their big advertisers. Unthinking Australians fail to see how they are constantly being manipulated by what they do and don’t see in their news. Pro-Israel news reporting is but one current example of this sway of corporate media and its doctoring of the news. Murdoch’s News Corp is the most blatantly right wing of the lot always beating a climate change denying, extreme conservative, and anti-progressive drum to its viewers. Murdoch mines the politics of grievance to rile up the dominant cohort of entitled white viewers on Sky News Australia and in his newspapers. Famously in America his Fox News is largely responsible for making the extreme polarization between left and right far worse. Profiting by stirring up contention and ill feeling. Fox News was successfully sued nearly a billion dollars for reporting libellous and untrue stuff about the 2020 presidential election in the US. Lies and distortions are the bread and butter of the right wing press around the globe.
Is it fair for Australian corporations to make record profits during a cost of living crisis? The simple answer is no. What are we as a country going to do about it. Will the apathetic Aussie stand up for her or his human rights? Will we demand our governments do more? These supermarket behemoths should be broken up, as should many of the oligopolies and duopolies operating in our economy. Prices must come down! People over profits! The smug Scott Morrison is gone and the Coalition are no longer in power. It is time to make some real changes to undo the economic advantages of the big end of town.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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Trump Ascended To The Highest Office In The Land
Donald Trump has just been fined $354 million for fraudulently lying about his assets and business worth when getting loans from commercial banks. Despite a history of very dodgy behaviour Trump ascended to the highest office in the land. Yes, he is an officer of the United States of America. Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, thanks to property developer dad Fred Trump. He is not a self-made man or the second coming of anything worth waiting for. It seems in America the only law with any real teeth is that of money and civil suits.
“Judge Arthur Engoron ordered the former president and the Trump Organization to pay over $354 million in damages, and bars Trump "from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years," including his namesake company.”
(https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ny-fraud-case-damages-pay-millions-judge-engoron-rcna135283)
The Trump Criminal Indictments So Slow Out Of the Blocks
The criminal indictments Trump is facing have been so tardy in coming from the justice departments that many folk have forgotten about the seriousness of the crimes. The obscuration and lies peddled by the GOP and Fox News have muddied the waters, as so desired by these nefarious organisations. Only money talks in America, which is why it is such a f***** up place. Will the $354 million fine and the $93 million libel suit to E. Jean Carroll put a clamp on the puffed up momentum of Trump to get back into the White House? As an observer of the goings on in Washington and around Trump it is hard not to be discouraged by American justice.
Former President Trump Fined Nearly Half A Billion
The public support for Trump despite his criminal activities does not fill one with hope when it comes to the character of these Americans. Nobody in their right mind could be so blind as to the multiple character failings of Donald Trump over many years. It suggests that win at all costs gazumps the rule of law in the minds of many Americans. It indicates that at least a third of the country are in favour of a white supremacist, blow hard, compulsive liar for their President. It reflects very badly on the state of this nation. Perhaps, these are the death throes of the dirty rotten scoundrels who have inhabited America for far too long. The descendants of slavers and their confederate insurrection. Fat entitled white folk who have held up the global efforts to deal with climate change for their own short term benefit. Parties like the GOP who appeal to voters via the politics of grievance are only holding up progress. Either we move forward and be more inclusive or we all go down with the ship. The time of special benefits for white folk is over. Trump is the champion of all that is wrong with America. This anti-elite stuff is all BS. Who is going to save the world? A bunch of overweight, poorly educated, selfish SOBs? I doubt it.
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An Age Defined Economically
Supposedly we live in an age defined economically, where the dollar worth of everything matters most. Why then are our politicians and their strategists forever focusing attention upon cultural stuff? The war on woke, the attacks on LGBTQI folk, and the endless anti-elite ethos. Every politician and political party wants to stand with the ordinary voter, apparently. Finger pointing at those categorised as elite reinvokes the old class warfare it seems. We the people vs those individuals too superior to represent our interests. These are all manipulations and part and parcel of the politics of grievance.
What Anti-Woke Actually Is
Conservatives vs progressives is another way of understanding these cultural fixations within the political sphere. Older white folk and their endearing attachment to ruling the roost over any newcomers. Why should we change anything to make room at the table for these different folk? This is what the war against woke is really about. Laziness and selfishness. So what if the language and all the infrastructure are designed to exclusively look after our needs! We matter most! Diversity is a bridge too far for many. Inclusion is a foreign concept. Neocons mine this grievance emanating from the dominant cohort for all it's worth at the ballot box. Pandering to dumb selfish people who resent change.
The Politics Of Nostalgia
There never was a golden age when everything was better. This is another manipulation we can call the politics of nostalgia, albeit a false memory of the past – idealised. Older white people who laud their ancestors are prone to this kind of thing. Conservative political parties and politicians like to hold up this distorted mirror as a time machine. Their vision of the nation back then was simpler and good white folk were not bothered by the kind of complicated stuff like diversity we face today. The politics of nostalgia paints a soft focus picture over history, which leaves out the bad bits like people dying of now easily curable diseases and such like. No, things were better back then, my friends! It was our time and it could be again – if you vote for me!
In an age defined economically, we remain very concerned with cultural and social issues. These are much more emotive than merely hip pocket concerns. The conservative parties are invariably in bed with big business and the corporate dollar. They marry these disparate interests, the grievances of white folk about change with the rampant hunger for corporate profitability by big business, in a strange farrago. This mix of fact and fiction is designed to assuage their voters, whilst they are being slowly stripped of their wealth by the rentier economy and its endless array of fees, fines and charges. They blame the progressives and the minorities for making life more expensive. Downward envy is all about punching down upon those weaker rather than confronting the real people who are eating your lunch. This is the 21C.
“The American right wing’s widening fight against what it calls “woke capitalism” is partly driven by fossil fuel interests or industry allies, according to a new report published on Thursday.
Conservatives often use the term “woke capitalism” to refer to environmental, social and corporate governance – or ESG – criteria used to screen investments based on their environmental and social implications.”
(https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/22/rightwing-war-on-woke-capitalism-industry-interests)
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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#American#Australia#moralfailure#necons#politics#politicsofgrievance#politicsofnostalgia#power#progressives#Trump
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America’s Orange Jesus Has Clay Feet
The expression feet of clay is meant to indicate the flawed earthly nature of man. Donald J Trump has always been a most unlikely candidate for saviour and champion of any group. White America and Christian Nationalists have got behind the former president as their guy they are hoping to put back in the White House. Trump is facing multiple criminal and civil indictments in courts across the country. Only the most partisan and cultish among his supporters could fail to recognise the writing on the wall when it comes to Trump’s likely fate. It tells us that America’s orange Jesus has clay feet.
Trump’s Criminal Indictments Long Overdue
The really reprehensible fact of the matter is that Trump has got away with it for so many years prior to this impending time of judgement. It is a damning assessment of the justice system in America and conveys just how the wealthy and powerful evade their comeuppance. The rule of law seems not to apply to the politically savvy and those with deep pockets. The blatant nature of Trump’s crimes demand not only punishment but solutions for the loop holes within the system. I suspect that a key antecedent in all this is the fact Richard Nixon did not got to jail and was pardoned by Ford instead. Powerful people protecting the system and saving face at the expense of real justice.
American Presidential Election In 2024 Under Orange Cloud
The GOP, the Republican party, has morphed into an extremist organisation with no respect for the rule of law when it applies to them. Politicking has tipped over into insurrection and anarchy among their members and supporters. The Democrats are trying to keep the game called democracy going but their opponents no longer play by any rules. The coming 2024 presidential election has Trump the likely GOP candidate still claiming that his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden was the result of election fraud. The Big Lie has been repeatedly debunked by numerous judicial and private enquiries and investigations. There was no voter or election fraud on the scale claimed by Trump. Indeed, Trump has been indicted on criminal charges of election interference for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump is the pot calling the kettle black.
The Agent Orange In America
Perhaps, we should be calling Trump ‘Agent Orange’ rather than any reference to JC because he poisons the very air everywhere he goes. I don’t know about you but I am heartily sick of reading, talking, and writing about Trump. I sometimes try and imagine the last decade without him on the political scene. This gross champion of the ugly American. The kind of folk who are happy to win at whatever the cost and don’t care who gets hurt in the process. MAGA invokes a return to a time of celebrated white supremacy at the expense of the usual suspects and victims. The constant threats from the hard right extremists. Gun violence everywhere. These folk want to bully their way back into power. The Trump coalition of disaffected non-college educated voters, Christian Nationalists, and big business is illogical at its core. Corporate greed has made the lives of working Americans miserable. Big business has screwed ordinary Americans for years, especially through the neoliberal decades since Reagan. Jobs have gone offshore and the financialization of everything has seen the rentier economy emerge. Private equity firms have turned health into a for profit nightmare for the working poor. Neocons blaming liberals and minorities is a deflection from the actual culprits within the economy. The politics of grievance have the Trump cult members dancing to a dishonest tune. Blaming immigrants, blaming woke, and blaming diversity inclusion measures are all BS distractions from the main game. Americans are so ready to eat up the old anti-socialist line, which has been handed down intergenerationally from fathers to sons and mothers to daughters.
The big myth of the individual American, the lone cowboy making his way across the west on his way to success. It is all complete BS!
Dopey working class Americans need to wake up to the reality of what Donald Trump is. A grifter and conman pretending to empathise with their values. A good salesman apes those he is targeting. Billionaires don’t really share the same grievances as the working poor – it’s a sham folks!
America’s orange Jesus has clay feet. Indeed, he soon may well have an orange jumpsuit to go with his fake tan. Trump in prison for the rest of his life – I would like to see that. This may be the last hurrah for the ugly self-entitled American. Watching their hero go down for the count could be the turning point. We can only hope.
“United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain on Tuesday fired back at former President Trump after he called the union leader a “dope” for endorsing President Biden.
Fain doubled down on his support for Biden and drew a stark contrast between Biden’s and Trump’s track records on supporting unions and the working class when asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” about Trump’s latest comments.
“It’s a perfect contrast between the two candidates,” Fain said. “I mean, you have, for the first time in history, a sitting U.S. president joining working-class people, joining the workers on the picket line, standing up with them. And you had Donald Trump, who claims he supports the workers, who calls one of his business owner buddies in a non-union factory, and he goes to this non-union factory and has a rally claiming that he’s there for the union workers and the striking workers.”
“It’s what Trump does best. It’s a rope-a-dope,” Fain continued. “He wants you to look over here while over here, he’s taking everything away. I mean, it’s the divide-and-conquer tactic, and that’s what’s worked for the billionaire class and the corporate class forever.” “
(https://thehill.com/business/4437518-uaw-president-fires-back-after-trump-calls-him-a-dope/)
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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In A Culture Of Complaint They Developed The Politics Of Grievance
America has made its bed and now it has to lie in it. A while ago, expert political strategists worked out that voters engage more fully with the democratic electoral system on an emotive level than a mere rational one. Therefore, they made negative attack ads which painted their candidate’s political opponents as demons. These campaign strategists formulated speeches and oped content full of emotive finger pointing about stuff upsetting sections of the electorate. In a culture of complaint they developed the politics of grievance. This has now culminated with presidential candidate Trump, who lights the bonfire of hate every time he opens his mouth to speak.
Political Strategists Have Mined The Politics Of Grievance
As several expert political pundits have said, the Trump GOP voters love all this noise and nasty furore. They no longer find politics boring! Their guy pushes every statement to the edge of decency and well beyond. These folk don’t care about protocol and etiquette. They don’t care about doing or saying the right thing. To them it is a circus worth a few laughs and hardly deserving their respect. America has no standards. Free speech lets everything rip. Guns kill children on a daily basis. So what! The only sort of standard is a dollar figure in a civil court proceeding.
America The Land Of Lies & Disinformation
Alex Jones tells lies to millions of podcast listeners about a massacre of little children at a school being a faked conspiracy. Sandy Hook. Fake news is a way of life in 21C America. Jones was successfully sued by the parents of the murdered children for millions of dollars. Donald Trump goes around telling tens of millions of people that he was robbed of the 2020 presidential election by voter fraud, despite numerous judicial and private enquiries proving otherwise. How can you have a candidate undermining faith in the electoral system with lies being allowed to do so without being prosecuted? It is crazy. America has no standards. Fox News peddled these election fraud lies and were sued successfully for $700 million by the Dominion company. America is full of lies and disinformation.
Attention Deficit Motor Mouth Culture
Americans talk too much. Perhaps this is the consequence of running off at the mouth – nobody believes a word you have said? The truth gets lost in a web of lies. The facts go missing amid the storm of misinformation. Presidents lying – “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Bill Clinton. Richard Nixon was forced to resign from the presidency after telling so many lies about Watergate. Trump has taken the cake and turned presidential lying into the norm rather than the exception. A large section of the American public are so used to lying by their elected officials that they no longer see it as a bad thing. Better an entertaining lying President than a boring one for their attention deficit psyches fed on a diet of mind numbing TV shows.
The Fall Of A Modern Day Rome
“Americans have reached a point where ignorance, especially of anything related to public policy, is an actual virtue,” he would write in the preface to The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Expertise and Why It Matters, which was published by Oxford last year and quickly became a bestseller. “To reject the advice of experts is to assert autonomy, a way for Americans to insulate their increasingly fragile egos from ever being told they’re wrong about anything.” Further down the page, he would add: “I’m worried.”
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2018/02/death-of-expertise-by-tom-nichols)
Navel gazing American pundits have long predicted the fall of their civilisation. The fall of the American empire viewed in Gibbon like Roman terms. I suppose there are modern parallels with the gladiatorial games attending denizens of Rome addicted to a diet of entertainment and free bread. The Trump cult Americans demand ever more piss and wind from their erstwhile President. If these folk feel disparaged by elites at least they can get their revenge and a few laughs along the way as they watch America crumble and burn before their eyes. Perhaps it is a case of – ‘if I’m not getting what I want I’ll make damned sure nobody else is either!’
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
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#AlexJones#American#cultureofcomplaint#Dominion#fakenews#FoxNews#gundeaths#moralfailure#politics#politicsofgrievance#power#SandyHook#Trump
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