It strikes me as extraordinary that as soon as the Albanese government does something to restore some fairness to the superannuation system by reducing the tax breaks for multi-millionaires – the Coalition comes after them. We have a trillion dollar national debt and we can no longer afford to give such generous tax breaks to the very wealthy. The media seize on this to generate some interest in the politics and we are right back in the adversarial, us against them, culture wars. It is a bad joke and a further sign of the endemic problem with our society and the fourth estate.
The Media & Their Commitment To Truth
In America, we have Rupert Murdoch the owner of Fox News admitting that his network promoted lies and misinformation not to offend their right wing audience. His network put money ahead of reporting the truth in its presentation of false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election. I suppose, at least, he was upfront about it. The corporate media here in Australia and everywhere are doing this to some degree all the time. Usually, it is looking after their advertisers and sponsors editorially, either by omission or by presenting advertorial as the news.
Superannuation, Taxation & the National Debt
The wealthy in Australia have a very loud voice, with the conservative media championing their interests whenever they can. The corporate media in Australia, the Murdoch press and the Nine Fairfax group, seem to jump on anything vaguely left of centre as a socialistic attack on the fabric of Australia. The top end of town beat the drum and their aspirational minions jump up and down. How are we going to deal with our ballooning debt, when large corporations minimise their tax more and more each year? Some people have hundreds of millions stashed away in their super. Tax avoidance is a real problem in this country.
How Rich People Think
Rich people think that they are winning the game of life. Life is all about how much money you can accrue and how much stuff you can own – according to capitalism anyway. The thinking goes like this, “Hey, I am winning the game, nobody get to penalise the winner with subtractions like taxation. Kerry Packer told us that paying tax is for dumb people because governments don’t spend it right! This message is engraved on the soul’s of the wealthy in this country. They consider it their God given right to luxuriate in wealth and stash every penny away for their families. Many of these folks don’t give a shit about the poor, in fact, they reckon they deserve their lives on struggle street. They vote for the Coalition on this basis because they know the Libs will back their bank balances over any bullshit about fairness or such rot.
How Dare They Touch My Golden Nest Egg
The political spectrum is split over the basic idea of some that private property means that their intention is all about looking out for their interests and that the social contract is a minor concern on the fringes of their lives. Those on the conservative side want the game to be played on this basis. This means, in reality, that services would be at a bare minimum because taxes would be so low or non-existent. The libertarian wants minimal intervention in the free market. Australia does not operate in this fashion, which is why we have had such things as Medicare and social services for our citizens. Superannuation was, like most constructive government policies, a Labor initiative, this one from Hawke and Keating. It has been distorted by successive governments to become a tax haven for the super wealthy stashing away hundreds of millions of dollars. The parlous state of the Australian economy can no longer afford to support such largesse for the rich.
Fairness to the superannuation system is essential to restoring a scheme that was established to help Australians afford a dignified retirement. It was never about the very wealthy living it up at the expense of the Australian economy. We need to stop this culture of tax minimisation and avoidance or we are going to end up like the United States of America. There, the super-rich live on the backs of the working poor. A nation built on the back of slavery has not moved that far from their economic roots. They celebrate their billionaires, even though, the economic system via the GOP’s policies manipulates every aspect of life to feather the nest of corporate wealth. There, the violence and gun deaths permeate the whole of this rotten society. Stupid is as stupid does. The Coalition and Tony Abbott tried to take us there by introducing privatised higher education. Student loans in America run into the trillions.
The privatisation of energy utilities has seen the price for gas and electricity continually rise, despite the promises to the contrary by these governments at the time. They have developed serious wealth for a few insiders and corporate mates. The privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has seen it become a banking giant. CBA declared a half yearly record profit of $5.1 billion, as interest rate rises fuel its bottom line at the expense of home loan owners. Qantas despite being privatised, still received billions of dollars in government handouts during the pandemic. This allowed them to lay off thousands of workers, who they have and will not reinstate. A litany of complaints about poor service did not stop Qantas from achieving a half yearly profit of $1.6 billion. Inflation in Australia is being driven by corporate price gouging, according to economists at the Australia Institute and figures they have revealed to support this contention. Superannuation is not a tax free, private bank for the wealthy to park their money and assets until they reach maturity. It was designed to help ordinary Australians.
©House Therapy