Join the Discussion - View Single Post - australian politics and little johnny howard

bikeboy · 05-15-2007

Yes, your list is all so true.

It's funny how low-unemployment is being touted, but it's so artificial. Did you know that the unemployment statistic counts you as employed if you worked 1 paid hour during the last month? Add "Work Choices" to that and no wonder the figures are going down, people are being fired and re-hired left, right and centre, but being counted as employed for the whole month.

There's nothing wrong with helping small and large business, but not at the total expense of employees (probably more than 90% of the adult population).

Govt. foreign debt is another thing Howard says he has fixed, but all he's done is sold all our assets. This means that over the long term of say 10-20 years, we will make a net loss. But hey, it buys votes and he'll be long gone, so why should he care?

I could go on for pages about all the misleading he has done to the public, and how much they have bought, but that would be boring and I may have to save other points for later

Instead, I will get to what I think the root of the problem is...

It comes back to what you said, all short term. In the last 12 years or so under Howard, federal politics has been about re-election. Not about the future of the country. Therefore, important issues like environment, health and education have been totally neglected. As far as Howard is concerned, as long as the budget is in surplus and we have 4-4.5% growth in annual GDP, everything is fine. Well it's not, and it's time someone stopped giving a stuff about just being re-elected and actually put forth something truly for our future.

Labor is doing a better job at this but they still have plenty of room for improvement too. Their biggest problem is getting their message across, their IR package for instance looks excellent and will be balanced between employees and employers, I hope they don't change it and I hope the business groups realise it still benefits them.

Not being legally able to sack every worker and re-hire them for 25% less salary and no benefits is good for business, it will encourage careful selection of workers and workplace practice efficiency improvements. Rather than resorting to lay-offs as a first resort like they can now, which doesn't improve the business itself and make it stronger into the future. All it does it reduce workers' perceived (and actual) job security, lowering morale and lowering productivity. The exact opposite of what it was supposed to achieve.

05-15-2007	#4 (permalink)
bikeboy Commentator Join Date: May 2007 Location: Melbourne Posts: 38	Re: australian politics and little johnny howard Yes, your list is all so true. It's funny how low-unemployment is being touted, but it's so artificial. Did you know that the unemployment statistic counts you as employed if you worked 1 paid hour during the last month? Add "Work Choices" to that and no wonder the figures are going down, people are being fired and re-hired left, right and centre, but being counted as employed for the whole month. There's nothing wrong with helping small and large business, but not at the total expense of employees (probably more than 90% of the adult population). Govt. foreign debt is another thing Howard says he has fixed, but all he's done is sold all our assets. This means that over the long term of say 10-20 years, we will make a net loss. But hey, it buys votes and he'll be long gone, so why should he care? I could go on for pages about all the misleading he has done to the public, and how much they have bought, but that would be boring and I may have to save other points for later Instead, I will get to what I think the root of the problem is... It comes back to what you said, all short term. In the last 12 years or so under Howard, federal politics has been about re-election. Not about the future of the country. Therefore, important issues like environment, health and education have been totally neglected. As far as Howard is concerned, as long as the budget is in surplus and we have 4-4.5% growth in annual GDP, everything is fine. Well it's not, and it's time someone stopped giving a stuff about just being re-elected and actually put forth something truly for our future. Labor is doing a better job at this but they still have plenty of room for improvement too. Their biggest problem is getting their message across, their IR package for instance looks excellent and will be balanced between employees and employers, I hope they don't change it and I hope the business groups realise it still benefits them. Not being legally able to sack every worker and re-hire them for 25% less salary and no benefits is good for business, it will encourage careful selection of workers and workplace practice efficiency improvements. Rather than resorting to lay-offs as a first resort like they can now, which doesn't improve the business itself and make it stronger into the future. All it does it reduce workers' perceived (and actual) job security, lowering morale and lowering productivity. The exact opposite of what it was supposed to achieve.