The Aussies are doing well now but it hasn't always been that way. Right now one of their big sources of wealth are metals exports to China but the demand and prices are starting to decline. So you could soon have a goverment that promises a lot more than they can deliver.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
You could...But you don't... You have a government that is doing quite well...
Canada is not doing bad either...And in spite of the usual "I have a friend who doesn't like their health care system" mainly irrelevant anecdotal evidence, the population loves having the RIGHT to health care. (It should not be a "privilege" for the wealthy.)
That little girl's view of the sociopolitical economy is very cute. When she is 70 and her country looks like ours...will she let the kiddies of that time pay for all her goodies like we do. Does she understand how such a society requires taking advantage of other countries, we could explain it to her, it is how we operate, we are just further down the road she is on.
High min wage, I feel bad for all the unskilled workers with no jobs that the min wage was designed to help. Or perhaps they have mandated employment for everyone, the only thing that makes min wages work....just like the ACA needs the mandate to work.
I wonder when we are going to fix our min wage by requiring everyone be employed.
I have a close friend who lives in Australia. She has been trying to become an American for many years now. If you knew the truth about the economy and how it works there then you would know why many people would gladly trade life in Australia for America.
Australia just lowered it's income tax rates last year- but the new rate is still very high. On an modest income of 80K, an individual will pay $17,547.00 just in income taxes- and that's the new lower rate. Then there is an additional 1.5% medicare tax- so another $1,200 for that.
Australia also has a 10% "goods and services" sales tax on anything you buy- food, clothing etc. Then on top of that there are very steep fuel taxes. Then there are the land taxes- say you own a house worth 250K- you would pay about $5,275.00 per year in property taxes.
There are many other taxes in Ausi land that I have not mentioned here- and they keep going up and up as the state scrambles to pay for the massive welfare state. My friend screwed up while she was working here in Colorado and over-stayed her visa, and now she has to wait several years before she can try to come back- she was very sad to have to leave.
About 70% of the citizens of Australia do not work- they collect money from the government- sound familiar? Only about 30% of Australians actually work- they support the other 70%. The number of working individuals falls every year as the producers get tired of supporting the looter society.
This is why my friend wants to leave and come here for a better life, it gets harder and harder for an honest person to keep what she earns- unfortunately we are doing the same thing to ourselves here in America. Europe has the same kind of problems, why we would want to be like them is beyond me!
Here's a wiki quote about the "goods and services tax" in Australia....
Critics have argued that the GST is a regressive tax, which has a more pronounced effect on lower income earners, meaning that the tax consumes a higher proportion of their income, compared to those earning large incomes.
The preceding months before the GST became active saw a spike in consumption as consumers rushed to purchase goods that they perceived would be substantially more expensive with the GST. Once the tax came into effect, consumer consumption and economic growth declined such that by the first fiscal quarter of 2001, the Australian economy recorded negative economic growth for the first time in more than 10 years.[8] The Government was criticised by small business owners over the increased administrative responsibilities of submitting Business Activity Statements (BAS) on a quarterly basis to the Australian Taxation Office.[9]
A study commissioned by the Curtin University of Technology, Perth in 2000 argued that the introduction of the GST would negatively impact the real estate market as it would add up to 8 percent to the cost of new homes and reduce demand by about 12 percent.
She's NOT a little girl but thanks for trying to marginalize her.
She looks well under 30 to me. Meets my qualifications for little girl from an economic perspective. She has had very few years to not only experience economics, but to learn about it, research it and try different models, etc. She has likely not lived through multiple economic cycles or lived under numerous different economic systems. I bet she has never run a business with employees. I bet she gets most of her info from the media in her state that, if it is like ours, is highly influenced by the state. I bet she is middle class. I bet I could be wrong about a few of these things and still make my point.
You always belittle me by not responding the meat of my posts. You communicate with poor posters, kinda belittling to others. You used that stupid girl's face for a week or two as your avitar (I just had to say that).
And this is the 285bound courthouse, we don't talk issues or respond directly, what we do is belittle, I learned how to do it better by hanging here. We are focused on not solving a damn thing and making sure that we get to the future civil war as soon as possible. Where have you been?
