The Australian Federal budget was released today, and as expected, the media is picking through it trying to create some drama, by singling out the "winners and losers" without recognizing that everyone loses.
Everyone loves a handout.
300 dollars rebate for energy costs.
This was one of the "headline" returns, but all this really is is kicking the can a little further down the road. If they really wanted to give Australians a rebate on energy costs, they would have increased the taxes on the "supernormal profits" that the energy companies have been making, driving the cost of living crisis even harder.
Handouts are not free money, they are future tax costs and while popular for those who get them, the fact is that most of that money is going to just end up back in the same pockets again, except with a slight difference. It is like paying a credit card off with a credit card, because essentially nothing has really changed, except being further indebted.
When governments take debt, they are taking it "on behalf" of the population. The government is never liable, the obligation lays solely on the taxpayers. However, this debt is money that doesn't exist yet, but it will exist in the future, except it won't be worth as much. So, what that debt is doing, is creating money out of thin air to give to the corporations and investors now, even though that money doesn't exist yet, and puts it into their pockets now, at a value higher than it will be valued at in the future. But then, the taxpayer will be paying interest on it to cover the future devaluation, but it will be paid at a higher rate than the devaluation will be, meaning that there is a continual skimming of the value by the lender, which happens to be largely owned by the group of investors who were the ones who first got paid that thin air money in the first place.
Handouts might feel like a win, but it is putting even more money in the pockets of the people who are already profiting, to inflate their profits even higher. But worse than that, because it is on debt, we the taxpayer are going to pay even more to them for the privilege of feeling like we are getting something back.
Scam.
It is essentially forcing more of our money (assuming we are all taxpayers) into the hands of the wealthiest corporations and people, without us actually getting anything for it. Just look at the "energy rebate" which is meant to ease the burden of the energy companies making record profits. They aren't offering anything more, there is no more service or better quality electricity or fuel, it just means that their price increases have been a success, because not only have we been forced to pay the higher price, there is no penalty for their price gouge.
Tax breaks for clean tech corporations, no incentive to buy
ENVIRONMENT
- $13.7bn in production tax breaks for green hydrogen/processed critical minerals
- $1bn for solar panel production
- $566m over 10 years to map what is under our soil and seabed
- $520m to deepen net-zero trade/engagement with our region
- $519.1m for farmers for drought preparation
- $330m to big business for decarbonisation
- $625m to help rural communities cut emissions/prep for climate change
The children are our future
EDUCATION
- $3bn worth of HECS debt wiped for 3m+ Australians, backdated to July 1, 2023
- $319.50 a week for eligible teaching students on mandatory placements from July 2025
- $350m for fee-free uni-ready courses.
- $90m for 20,000 new fee-free TAFE and VET places and pre-apprenticeships
- $6.5m for trial of age verification tech to stop young people seeing porn/violent content online
Oh no... I meant war is our future
DEFENCE
- $101.8m to create industrial workforce for next-gen military programs
- $5.7bn boost over four years; $50.3bn over a decade
- $1bn to accelerate long-range strike capabilities
- $11.1bn for navy’s new surface combat fleet
- $14-18bn to bolster northern bases/support Indo-Pacific security
- $7bn-$10bn for 26 army landing craft
- $53bn-$63bn for AUKUS nuclear-powered subs
- $100m for Ukraine
As you can see, "defense" is going to be one of the areas where those corporations will be sucking tax money from over the next years. This is happening globally. Defense is like an insatiable blackhole, sucking continually into it under the guise that it is there to keep us safe. The only ideologies and causes of war, centers around money and power. War is the game of power played by the minority authoritarians, funded by the masses.
All of these "budgets" are really just a game of smoke and mirrors, moving resources around in ways that will maximize the profits of the already wealthy a little more. It is all meaningless in the grand scheme of things for the individuals, other than that we are going to be on the hook for it when the game inevitably fails, because the economy is built to fail. Nothing a government can do will stop the economy from failing eventually, because no matter what they do, a car with a broken engine doesn't run, no matter how much fuel you pour into it.
It is just money.
Our money. Wasted time and time again.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Man, if you haven't, read the book Sapiens. (I just read a fat chunk of it the other day.) It's only mildly biological and had some fun philosophical hypotheses. One of which stated that the power of humans is that we are able to come up with powerful fictions. Money, government, religion, and the like. The importance of this was connecting multiple people together.
The fictions that connect us are plentiful indeed - even at the personal level we tell ourselves stories to keep us going, to keep us connected. The challenge comes when we keep a story alive and act on it, even though it is doing us harm.
For sure. The intersubjectivity of belief in fictitious stories are far too large for one person to change. It's crazy to believe that people aren't much different than our ape cousins in small numbers, but there's almost an exponential effect when we congregate. Crazier to think that what makes us "special" are delusions.
They don't already have some form of content filtering in place to protect kids in schools? That's like the first thing I have to do. Even if nothing else works, our pipeline to the Internet needs to be filtered.
You'd think... Also, there was a funny thing from about a decade ago where they spent something like 100M developing a filter, and at the public release, it took a 12 year old 10 minutes to circumvent :D
Well yeah kids are always going to find a way around, but we have federal laws that require us to at least try. We can actually lose our funding if we don't have something in place.
I generally don't trust the government with the money because there are too many ways to give money to their friends. Even if it trickles down to us, it's probably diluted by then and the people with power or their friends have taken their part of the money.
The trickle down only goes so far, as most is taken at the top. And then, that trickle ends up going back to the top as we spend it at the corporations anyway. And because they always want more, we will continually have our own needs crushed - "live with less"
We had had about $5 rebate for natural gas consumption for one year, but it ended this month as they said it had put a burden on goverment :)
What did you do with your $5? :)
At least, we didn't pay any gas bill in last summer :)
My question is usually that when the government takes a loan which will be in favor or because of the citizens, who will pay it back?
Still the government
Right?
Governments have no money of their own - it is always money taken from citizens.
😂😂😂 without recognizing that everyone loses 😂😂
I believe military budget is really high for most countries. I do agree that more money is needed in education, but the bullying of Russia and China are not really helping, and is making it difficult for most countries to lower their military budget.
This really grinds my fucking gears. Keeping the populace safe is one thing, but waging war overseas to claim other people's resources is something else completely. It is reprehensible behavior.
And the saddest part is there is no way out. Might makes right, and we are literally arming our government to be able to keep us paying its bills forever. Get me out of here!
I have to disagree with the sentiment expressed here. While it's true that media often sensationalizes aspects of government budgets, characterizing them as purely divisive "winners and losers," I don't believe it's accurate to say that everyone loses. Government budgets, though complex and subject to criticism, often represent an attempt to address a variety of needs and priorities within society.
Regarding the issue of handouts and rebates, it's important to recognize that these measures can have tangible benefits for individuals and families, particularly those facing financial hardship. While it's true that government spending often involves future tax costs, these investments can also stimulate economic growth and provide essential support to those in need.
Furthermore, the assertion that government debt is solely shouldered by taxpayers overlooks the broader economic context. Government borrowing can play a crucial role in financing public services, infrastructure projects, and social programs that benefit society as a whole. Additionally, the notion that debt necessarily leads to future devaluation and wealth transfer to corporations oversimplifies a complex economic reality.
While it's important to scrutinize government spending and hold policymakers accountable, it's equally important to acknowledge the potential positive impact of public investments. Education, healthcare, infrastructure, and social services are all areas where government spending can have significant long-term benefits for society.
Ultimately, while government budgets may not be perfect and are subject to criticism, they represent an important tool for addressing societal needs and promoting economic prosperity. Viewing them solely through a lens of cynicism and distrust overlooks the potential for positive change and progress.