FORGET the lucky country - Australia has been branded the land of the great, big rip-

[mcnews]

Well you should have known better than to tar any easily stereotyped minority with the same brush. Good on ya for manning up.
The vast majority of frigging losers I see are born and bred Aussies blaming everyone but themselves for their tales of woe.
By far the most people I see having a red hot go doing crappy poor paying jobs to try and get themselves and their families ahead are recent immigrants.
(of course you won't read anything like that in The Herald Sun or Daily Telegraph etc. though...)

[gtfpv]

well going back to my post i put immigrants in with the poor the bludgers, the single parents, the sick etc . i did not mean to tar them all with the same brush . but usually atr sometime or another all these people get a fair go and opportunity , and can move across the class society that we have here , as we all can , thats my point . we all have the opportunity to be looked after and go up or down . i seperated the middle class because they are the majority , and most of them stay where they are >as payers of the needy .
my take on australia being the lucky country , basically means a roof over your head ,food in your belly, access to medicine and health care ,the opportunity to work , or not . no matter who you are , where your doing it tough or not . ( its a broad range ) i have only travelled little overseas , i dont know if anywhere else in the world has all these opportunities in the one basket .
i do know that western nations have have higher rates of stress depression and anxiety , than most other places around the world but that is another topic .
in a way though , i would like to be in a country where material wealth did not matter , and have more time along with all my friends do to socialise and just enjoy company , something you cant really do here as the norm over the long term if you wish , because even if you have that view and time , all your friends wont over the long term . and thats where we arent the lucky country . weighing that up against no home, or help if your life takes a fall out , is a debate yet to be looked at .

[cowboy]

I have lived and worked in nearly 20 countries in my life. Australia is, on average a lot more expensive to live in than anywhere I've been. It is also a far better quality of life which is why I keep coming back.

I do get mad though on some things. I wanted an ARB air locker for my landcruiser a while ago, an aussie made product. I could buy it in the states and ship it over here for $200 cheaper than I could buy it here. That's just rubbish.

[Windsor220]

Mining sector hasn't helped. So many people working there earning massive salaries has bumped the average wage right up. I think its something like 65k here in Perth now. The problem is most aren't earning over that so its deceiving. Doesn't stop everyone putting their prices up to cash in.

[HLC]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Mining sector hasn't helped. So many people working there earning massive salaries has bumped the average wage right up. I think its something like 65k here in Perth now. The problem is most aren't earning over that so its deceiving. Doesn't stop everyone putting their prices up to cash in.

Agreed. Everything over here is bloody dear, and these young mining guys splash cash like its nothing! Anyone on that 'average' salary or less hurts!

Also, avg salary in the mining sector is 109k!

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by HLC

Agreed. Everything over here is bloody dear, and these young mining guys splash cash like its nothing! Anyone on that 'average' salary or less hurts!

Also, avg salary in the mining sector is 109k!

The thing is all these young guys are just throwing most of their money away. I only earn a bit over 50k atm but have my own unit by myself in a good location and live comfortably. Currently organising a hoilday to the US. Half of the FIFO guys I know have gone out and bought themself a brand new SS ute which will be worth nothing in a few years and the rest on alcohol. If they have managed to buy a house its some newly built thing in the middle of no where. The reason most of them are up there is they wouldn't be able to survive on a lower wage.

[Pedro]

Just dropped in on this lively thread. Have to comment on an earlier post regarding retail mark-ups. I was a jewellery wholesaler supplying to independants and the chains and department stores. Their mark-ups varied from 120% to 800%. e.g. a home brand watch landed here from China at $5 selling for $49.95. (The Chinese can make a gents analogue watch on a metal bracelet for USD$1.50)

[Uncle Niceguy]

u can hardly call this place a first world country when over 90% of ppl on the street are single mums driving there kids away from a house with domestic violence or abusive households (read husbands) this is true fact and u can search the ABS urself.

[Bluepower]

I love Australia, proud to be an Aussie, and i wouldn't trade it for anything.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by Bluepower

I love Australia, proud to be an Aussie, and i wouldn't trade it for anything.

Agreed its a great country, there is always room for improvement but I would rather be here than anywhere else.

As for being a rip off, some of it has to do with wages (our wages are high but then in turn would anyone be willing to accept a pay cut to get goods cheaper - or do you just expect everyone else to take a pay cut?) Other elements have to do with our location and the fact we have a small population mass which adds to costs and thirdly and finally our levels of governement add to the costs (either by tax or legislation)

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by eb-fairmont

u can hardly call this place a first world country when over 90% of ppl on the street are single mums driving there kids away from a house with domestic violence or abusive households (read husbands) this is true fact and u can search the ABS urself.

Given that the ABS shows that 22% of families are single parent families, the availability of housing for the majority of these cases, and the social work going towards helping women in this situation, this is a gross assumption.

Saying this isn't a first world country based on this is also a gross assumption. At least here women (and men) in these situations can leave. In third world countries the women don't have the right to leave, don't have the right to a pension if their husband/spouse buggers off and leaves them with the kids, and no right to child support.
Keep stuff in perspective.

[Rangas GTP]

Julia Gillard is amongst the highest paid prime ministers in the world. Now that is crap value for money!

The " Lucky Country " is long gone, It is now the "Greedy Country"

[Road Games]

Nothing more to say really ..

I'm working in a hot stinking job and i have made 200 new friends in 5 days..

Australia ROCKS !!

[aumexican]

As much as I love Australia and I lived in most states and territories it took a move overseas to realize Australia is not the country it once was.
I was overseas 20 years ago and was glad to be home, but this time I'm in no hurry to come home.

My dollar goes a lot further, we travel widely, I am more valued in my employment (but then I worked for Qantas), my children are color blind to other races and cultures and the children's education is better in some areas (My wife was an Australian trained primary secondary teacher having taught in most states).

Australia was the lucky country and still is for a few (miners), once it is dug up then what?

I want to invest more in Australia but due to excessive taxes as an overseas resident it is not worth it. what type of government taxes me more to invest in my home country as a non-resident than if I reside in the country, don't they want the investment.

All in all I will eventually retire to Australia as it is home but I will get out regularly to stretch my dollar further and get away from the mindless babying society that Australia has become.
If someone wants to do something stupid and kill themselves let them

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by aumexican

As much as I love Australia and I lived in most states and territories it took a move overseas to realize Australia is not the country it once was.
I was overseas 20 years ago and was glad to be home, but this time I'm in no hurry to come home.

My dollar goes a lot further, we travel widely, I am more valued in my employment (but then I worked for Qantas), my children are color blind to other races and cultures and the children's education is better in some areas (My wife was an Australian trained primary secondary teacher having taught in most states).

Australia was the lucky country and still is for a few (miners), once it is dug up then what?

I want to invest more in Australia but due to excessive taxes as an overseas resident it is not worth it. what type of government taxes me more to invest in my home country as a non-resident than if I reside in the country, don't they want the investment.

All in all I will eventually retire to Australia as it is home but I will get out regularly to stretch my dollar further and get away from the mindless babying society that Australia has become.
If someone wants to do something stupid and kill themselves let them

enjoy your time elsewhere

lol

cheers

lucky miner

[z80]

Originally Posted by aumexican

As much as I love Australia and I lived in most states and territories it took a move overseas to realize Australia is not the country it once was.
I was overseas 20 years ago and was glad to be home, but this time I'm in no hurry to come home.

My dollar goes a lot further, we travel widely, I am more valued in my employment (but then I worked for Qantas), my children are color blind to other races and cultures and the children's education is better in some areas (My wife was an Australian trained primary secondary teacher having taught in most states).

Australia was the lucky country and still is for a few (miners), once it is dug up then what?

I want to invest more in Australia but due to excessive taxes as an overseas resident it is not worth it. what type of government taxes me more to invest in my home country as a non-resident than if I reside in the country, don't they want the investment.

All in all I will eventually retire to Australia as it is home but I will get out regularly to stretch my dollar further and get away from the mindless babying society that Australia has become.
If someone wants to do something stupid and kill themselves let them

You call Hong Kong home now and think Australia is a poor place to live because it is taxing it's people?

You are kidding...right?

At least we don't live in filth, squalor and opression.

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by z80

You call Hong Kong home now and think Australia is a poor place to live because it is taxing it's people?

You are kidding...right?

At least we don't live in filth, squalor and opression.

we are oppressed, by the government sucking huge amounts of the money we work hard for.

i read somewhere that most people work 5 months of the year just for the government, in taxes, fees etc etc etc. just because you can go out and get smashed on the weekend and wake up next to something that makes you chew your arm off, does not mean you are not oppressed.

50c + taken out of every litre of petrol to the government? greed and theft.

and yes some people do live in squalor, look beyond what you read in news.com. some of it is their own fault, some of it isnt.

fitlh? well, we are naturally a relatively clean society.

[mcnews]

Don't the figures also show that if you are married with kids earning 60k a year you effectively pay no tax as direct subsidies and shcooling for your children etc. etc. means that you get more money back than you pay from all taxes....

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by mcnews

Don't the figures also show that if you are married with kids earning 60k a year you effectively pay no tax as direct subsidies and shcooling for your children etc. etc. means that you get more money back than you pay from all taxes....

where did you hear this????

60k / 52 weeks = 1153.84

1153 pw current tax table $239 pw in tax - take home pay becomes 914

$80 pw petrol? 39.64c of every litre goes to the government.

current petrol cost lets say 1.30 = 61 litres? you pay $24 or there abouts to the government out of every tank.

239 + 24 = 263 pw

now , just basing it on this, not putting in council rates, water, electricity fees, levies, stamp duty, WHATEVER ELSE

1153.84 / 5 day working week = 232.60

you work a day and a half just for the government based on personal tax, and some petrol......

like i said, thats just based on two things the government sucks out of us.

[whitesoarer]

Originally Posted by ltd_on20s

we are oppressed, by the government sucking huge amounts of the money we work hard for.

#whitewhine

[raptorv8]

Originally Posted by ltd_on20s

we are oppressed, by the government sucking huge amounts of the money we work hard for.

i read somewhere that most people work 5 months of the year just for the government, in taxes, fees etc etc etc. just because you can go out and get smashed on the weekend and wake up next to something that makes you chew your arm off, does not mean you are not oppressed.

50c + taken out of every litre of petrol to the government? greed and theft.

and yes some people do live in squalor, look beyond what you read in news.com. some of it is their own fault, some of it isnt.

fitlh? well, we are naturally a relatively clean society.

The usual cry of someone who doesnt want to better themselves, the government is holding me back i thought the same as a teenager growing up in a relatively poor family who struggled to get by, now all us kids are grown up and have made changes for the better and not relied on everyone to make our lives for us.

With this horrible oppressive government I have been able to retire at 35, indulge in all my hobbies, start a family all without going anywhere near the mining sector and nothing but hard work.

Sick of people who ***** and complain about oppression yet have no idea what it really means, go live under the taliban as a woman that was oppression, being a woman in Saudi Arabia that is oppression, only an idiot would compare Australia to that.

Get out there and have a real go.

[Jim Goose]

because people know, deep down, there is something inherently wrong with our economic/ governmental system.

Its not just the USA with that feeling.... one finds a lot of people out there who know things are going wrong and finally realise that it doesnt matter which side of politics is in power, it simply wont get better. Its a bit like the line from the Matrix... you know something is wrong but you cant quite put your finger on it.

[charles_wif_xf]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Its not just the USA with that feeling.... one finds a lot of people out there who know things are going wrong and finally realise that it doesnt matter which side of politics is in power, it simply wont get better. Its a bit like the line from the Matrix... you know something is wrong but you cant quite put your finger on it.

Very well put Jim. In my experience, that 'lot' you mention, is actually a pretty small percentage of the population. 'Most everyone else are either too busy becoming rich at the expense of others and the environment or are too lazy and slovenly to know any better. Ignorance is rife and until that small minority of people that are waking up grows and reaches that critical mass point, govco and its real shareholders will do as they please with the money they fleece off us.

Just ask yourselves this question: Why does a government need taxation when it produces the nations currency? The answer isn't as straightforward as you might think...

[z80]

Originally Posted by charles_wif_xf

Just ask yourselves this question: Why does a government need taxation when it produces the nations currency? The answer isn't as straightforward as you might think...

Hmmm...global conspicacy theory now is it?

Your statement can be answered by a year 11 economics student..

How about you ask yourself this equally inept question?

If the govt can print as much money as it wants,

why does it bother taxxing you?

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by z80

Hmmm...global conspicacy theory now is it?

Your statement can be answered by a year 11 economics student..

How about you ask yourself this equally inept question?

If the govt can print as much money as it wants,

why does it bother taxxing you?

because paper money is a lie.

Paper money is only a representation of the our wealth. If you print more paper that doesn't mean our wealth increases, it makes the paper worth less.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation

[MITCHAY]

I'd rather have 1st world problems than 3rd world ones. It's funny how much we complain and I'm even guilty myself at times.

Everyone wants thousands more than what we get and wonder why things cost so much here. You can not have both.

To put things in perspective my manager is always coming back to the office with tons of food everyday.

It turns out it is for his girlfriend who would only get half a cup a rice a day while doing 16 hrs worth of hard work and would get beaten if she was caught eating a bug that happened to crawl on pass.

I can not imagine how hard that would be and so it really gives some perspective.

[charles_wif_xf]

My statement can't be answered by a Yr11 economics student (unless of course the student is well versed in the fraud that is fractional reserve banking).

Taxation is a form of control and a means to keep people for lack of a better term, a slave to the system. A true government of the people, by the people and for the people would be an institution that is many orders of magnitude smaller than the behemoth that we have today. It would be there to provide the essential services needed and that is it (hospitals, sanitation, water, power).

It would also be the entity creating the nations currency (not the banks via aforementioned fractional reserve banking). The currency would be backed by the economic output and labor of the nation (read: manufacturing and agriculture), not backed by hot air from the buffoons in Parliament. As the creators of the currency, they would be able to create enough so that this limited government could deliver the essential services without having to go cap in hand to the people.

[ltd_on20s]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ltd_on20s
you have not heard a word i said. either that or you can't read.

I for one tried reading your posts but they are way too long and lack structure.

Fair enough, I’ll try to fix that

Quote:
Originally Posted by ltd_on20s
i said if we are going to be taxed to this level, then social services such as education and health should be free. all of it. schools, higher education etc..

You seriously believe that and yet you claim to be a successful business man?

Without a shadow of a doubt. These are social obligations. Even gaddafi gave this to his people.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ltd_on20s
health care from someone on the street to someone who has millions should all be in the same line for health care..

But you would complain about the attendant increase required in the Medicare levy...would you not say that you were being raped by the govt again?


Why would we need an increase in the levy? We already subsidise private health with taxpayer money! In 1999 the government subsidised private health (that’s private companies) to the tune of 1.5 billion dollars, or about 4% of the overall budget. Do you know how many people can be treated for 1.5 billion dollars in the public system? How much do you think the subsidy is now in todays dollars? The subsidy made roughly 220,000 people take up private health. It saved $96 million in the public sector, but gave 1.5 billion to private companies. Regardless of the cost, you want private health, you pay for it. Not the taxpayer.


Quote:
Originally Posted by ltd_on20s
you do realise that all road taxes, fee's rego's etc etc could be potentially 40% cheaper and they would still have more then enough money for all road infrastructure in the country?.

Prove it if you can?

South Australia made 100 million just from from speed camera’s.

In 2007, Australians paid 583 billion in personal tax, not including company taxes, fees, levies, charges, fines, petrol tax etc etc. JUST personal tax. In QLD, the road budget is 5.4 billion. In NSW, the road budget is 5.4 billion. Even if we say every single state and territory was 5.4 billion, the entire countrys road budget is 43 billion.

The governmet makes roughly 8 billion plus a year just from fuel tax alone This does not include the tax from royalties, or the the PRRT (Petroleum Resource Rent Tax) or Company tax.

"Analysing the nation’s tax returns, the data revealed Australian workers paid more than $583 billion in tax in 2007-08, an increase of more than 9 per cent on the previous year."

numbers dont add up do they? any private individual who fudged his books the same way the government does would be jailed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ltd_on20s
this whole apathetic "meh" attitude is why they get away with what they get away with.

Feel free to elaborate on what steps you are taking, (apart from complaining on forums), to change the entire Australian economy to your apparently more equitable, and totally free system of social equality?

Good question. I doubt I would ever be elected in any form based on my convictions.
Bring all troops ho
me. it’s cost us over 20 billion dollars for two wars we should even be in. let them sort out their own issues.

If your going to allow gay marriage in a secular state, you have to allow polygamy.

Genuine, 100% thieves should have a three strikes rule, by the third strike a hand should come off.

Genuine 100 % proven rapists should never see light of day.

Remember, this is 100% proven, beyond any doubt, not balance of probabilities

If your going to tax motorists through the nose, we should have the best roads in the world. Distance is a killer here in Australia, and nothing less then dual lane carriageways across the continent should be considered, plus higher speed limits.

And peg the dollar to gold. That’s the only true way of having a currency that can’t be cheated.

There is a hundred other things as well, but you get my drift.

[Work Horse]

Originally Posted by ltd_on20s

There is a hundred other things as well, but you get my drift.

Yes...

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by ltd_on20s

Bring all troops ho
me. it’s cost us over 20 billion dollars for two wars we should even be in. let them sort out their own issues.

sorry that should be "shoud'nt" even be in.