Showing posts with label wages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wages. Show all posts

People on Newstart Cannot Afford Rent - Welfare

Australians on welfare do not have enough to pay rent even with the $67 week assistance. They land a position which is generally part-time, however they find that they are still in hardship. Transport costs are at least $20 a day. Centrelink is now stopping payments when the unemployed do the smallest thing wrong in their work applications. They are ending up living on the streets. +
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Australian electric car Ace

Guaranteed Minimum Income is Fairyland Stuff

SOCIOLOGY
Many in Australia are calling for a guaranteed minimum wage whether a person earns it or not. If a low paid job for say 30 hours a week is below this minimum then the state will top it up. This sounds fair at first instance, but there is the problem of government income to pay for this and the world economic environment that thrives on low wages.
Guaranteed income in Australia
If every country in the world did it, the system would be viable. Unfortunately, humans are greed driven. We are nice to each other. This in only to a degree, however. Man is torn between egalitarianism and competition. The Star Trek world where only those who want to work abandon their sloth and actually go to work is far off in the future.

When I was young the dole was quite high. It was meant for times between jobs to maintain family income. Indeed, in England those who paid more tax got a higher rate of unemployment. This was definitely not egalitarian. The Australian benefit has fallen way behind the cost of living - the lowest in the OECD. It is only food money now. Forget putting a roof over you're head. It can't be done, unless you are female with eight dependent children.

The question has also been made about voting rights. If you have no abode you do not have the right to receive unemployment benefits nor can you vote in elections. The marginalized get more marginalized.

Paul Keating, ironically a Labor politician, brought in compulsory superannuation with the aim of virtually eliminating the old age pension. This concept has gone by the board now with a series of conservative governments messing around with the rules to reduce accumulation of capital for retirement. The idea of allowing drawing of superannuation to purchase houses was an idea to 'feel the waters". It was quietly dumped.

There has always been a pool of very poor people to fuel economic growth. They are essentially needed for manual or repetitive tasks to generate income for the already rich. The poor do drive the world economy even today. If this pool did not exist, consumers would have to pay a higher price for goods. It would make for a better world to live in.
 Sociology by Ty Buchanan 
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Privatization Is Not the Answer for Government

Australia is going down the same road as the British by privatizing public resources. There is a major problem with this economic theory. That is, that once resource are sold and the money is used to pay off debt it cannot be sold again. When railways, electricity and water are privatized they are no longer under public control. Ordinary people are at the mercy of private enterprise who have been shown to continually increase charges beyond what citizens can bear.

This is the cold reality of what the future will be like. Politicians of the right have put faith in private enterprise for a century or more. The trickle down benefits of wealth are shown to be completely wrong. The riches of nations is still being consolidated into fewer hands. The poorer are poorer still. Despite consumer goods being widespread, very few can afford a Ferrari. Millionaires have been superseded by billionaires. And the these consumers of all things monetary still want more.

When services are outsourced to the private sector there is one significant effect - wages and conditions get worse for lower-paid workers. Casual and part-time employment becomes the norm. The Premier of Queensland is stripping the public sector of "unneeded" departments. This has personally affected me. My son was dismissed after more than ten years of loyal service when his department was closed. Now the state government has to pay enormous costs to private industry to obtain these necessary service and the debt has not been reduced.

Like the nonexistent trickle down effect it is faith not economics. Some things still need to be kept in public hands. Are we going to have toll roads everywhere with road taxes payable to private companies? This will definitely not happen. Water supply is too important to be privatised. It is best handled by councils as local monopolies. The present experiment of having separate bodies manage water will fail in the end. It will go back to councils.
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Politics by Ty Buchanan
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High Wage Rate a Problem for Australia

The overseas economic crisis is changing the perception of wage rates in Australia. Over recent months the Aussie dollar has fallen in value.  It helps exporters. The retail sector has also been calling for the dollar to be intentionally weakened. This is odd considering Australian consumers are heavily "addicted' to imports, so prices will probably rise in the shops.

There will be an election in September. Any color of government will have to cut back on spending. This will mean higher unemployment. Therefore, despite inflation steadily rising there will be downward pressure on wages. There is already a glut of people seeking employment in the vegetable and fruit picking industry.

When you go shopping a distinct feel of recession is in the air. With many buying online, the shops are almost devoid of shoppers. The lowest income earners have just been given a 2.6 per cent pay rise. This was done to redistribute income. Higher unemployment will prevent future artificial tinkering with the economy.

Australian wages are already too high when compared internationally. We have the highest rates of any developed country. The minimum wage is more than twice that of the US. Within Australia things have been much worse. The minimum wage today is 44 per cent of average full-time earnings. This compares to 50 per cent a decade ago. However, it is still very high.

It has been claimed that letting wages fall and redistributing wealth via welfare payments is a better idea. This of course depends on whether government can collect enough in taxes to have the money to do this. Even this though has been "damned" by some saying welfare reduces the drive to find work.
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