it's a local Oz group that represents the most powerful business leaders in the country (including mega-billionaire Gina Rinehart) promoting ideas to continues the countrie amazing prosperity (under socialist Rudd) that have made it the envy of the world (and mining wealth only accounts for about 8% of the economy with most profits going back to the UK/USA, employing a miniscule staff).

they wrote this with the ITKs of the world in mind (they told me so !):

The Business Council’s “Action Plan for Enduring Prosperity”, we were told yesterday upon its launch, was an Important Document. The BCA had “done the nation a favour”, said The Australian. The Australian Financial Review gave the report extensive coverage. Today, inevitably, it’s dropped out of the media cycle entirely....

Let’s start with the good bits. The BCA makes a strong case for a continuing, substantial immigration program and flexibility for labour on temporary visas (and, in passing, identifies rhetoric on refugees as threat). It stresses the importance of investment in education and training and directly backs — without mentioning the politics of it — Labor’s education funding reforms. It calls for a “shift away from a focus on government subsidies and expenditure, toward a systematic approach to innovation”. It urges governments to fund infrastructure through user charging, especially in transport, and says that the Commonwealth shouldn’t be afraid to use long-term debt to fund infrastructure, a statement of the bleeding obvious but one that’s now almost heretical in Canberra.

It directly calls for an increase to the Newstart allowance (dole) “to ensure a minimum decent standard of living for those temporarily without adequate personal resources”. And it castigates our current, deeply obscure, regulatory processes for foreign investment...etc etc ad finitum ...basically saying that Tories should only be allowed to run corner shops.

We've tried all this hedda - it simply does not work !

We have given the unemployed more and more cash every year - it just keeps them in a life which they find acceptable and encourages more to join them.

With every dole increase the number of dolers increases !

In The Know wrote:
We've tried all this hedda - it simply does not work !

We have given the unemployed more and more cash every year - it just keeps them in a life which they find acceptable and encourages more to join them.

With every dole increase the number of dolers increases !

no you didn't . Blair & Noo Labour sold the farm and the Tories sold off anything else not nailed down.

One big difference is that no bank in Oz has failed in a 100 years and they make stellar record profits because financial controls are so strict.

Blair & Bush dismantled all controls and let the carpetbaggers have free reign.

all you do is blame those at the bottom of the heap for being there.

In The Know wrote:
We've tried all this hedda - it simply does not work !

We have given the unemployed more and more cash every year - it just keeps them in a life which they find acceptable and encourages more to join them.

With every dole increase the number of dolers increases !

When people know that there is a safety net then it is good for the economy. Without a dole that you can live on people would be reluctant to make any large purchases, thinking that they should save all their money rather than buy a new car,sofa or whatever, just in case they lose their job, and in this economy go a long time until they get a new one.

I'm one of the working people that helps to keep you retired people going, so that when you get mugged by a young skinhead you can be patched up by the NHS.

I see you forgot to focus on the main item, hedda !

herr hedda wrote:
temporarily without.

This is not a suggested lifestyle choice /
or an option for the idle /
nor a choice for the thickies !

hedda wrote:

Blair & Bush dismantled all controls and let the carpetbaggers have free reign.

HOORAY ! Hedda(tas) gets it right (for once !).

Yes - NuLoonyLabour let go of ALL the control (during their 3 term government) so there is no one else to blame for the financial mess which ensued.

all you do is blame those at the bottom of the heap for being there.

They can STAY at the bottom of the heap for as long as they want to, Hedda ... we've spent to educate them (and they still cant read or write) ... we've done our bit - why is it OUR fault that they are unemployable (and are not prepared to do anything to make themselves employable)?

If ALL dole were cut off tomorrow - they would "find" a job within a couple of days LOL !

robbiex wrote:
Without a dole that you can live on people would be reluctant to make any large purchases, thinking that they should save all their money rather than buy a new car,sofa or whatever, just in case they lose their job

So we should "give" them money - just so they can buy something from us?
Isn't that the same as just chucking money out the window?

I'm one of the working people that helps to keep you retired people going, so that when you get mugged by a young skinhead you can be patched up by the NHS.

... and we are very grateful !

Are YOU grateful that we paid taxes ALL our lives so that you could have the "safety net" / the education / the free housing / AND the NHS ?

Its because THAT generation built the country so successfully that the country has (so far) been able to afford extravagances like the dole scum that currently drain us.

robbiex wrote:
In The Know wrote:
We've tried all this hedda - it simply does not work !

We have given the unemployed more and more cash every year - it just keeps them in a life which they find acceptable and encourages more to join them.

With every dole increase the number of dolers increases !

When people know that there is a safety net then it is good for the economy. Without a dole that you can live on people would be reluctant to make any large purchases, thinking that they should save all their money rather than buy a new car,sofa or whatever, just in case they lose their job, and in this economy go a long time until they get a new one.

I'm one of the working people that helps to keep you retired people going, so that when you get mugged by a young skinhead you can be patched up by the NHS.

one big reason Oz survived the 2007 meltdown was because mega million socialist KRudd (who came from poverty) gave every social security recipient a grand to spend, spend spend...and it worked and saved whole industries.

social security is an excellent way of re-distributing wealth , after all it flows back to the wealthy and the government.

When ITK speaks of gormless dolers he is confusing social security with a raft of other social problems. Hence his sweeping statements like take the dole away and a few million jobs will appear from no-where (when the opposite would happen- the economy would collapse)

which is why Tories should only ever be in charge of counting the boiled sweets in the corner shop.

hedda wrote:
social security is an excellent way of re-distributing wealth , after all it flows back to the wealthy and the government.

When ITK speaks of gormless dolers he is confusing social security with a raft of other social problems. Hence his sweeping statements like take the dole away and a few million jobs will appear from no-where (when the opposite would happen- the economy would collapse)

More lunacy !

So - we give away money so people can spend it with us.
If we didn't give it away in the first place we would still have it ! - AND maybe the dolers would get off their arses.

In every area when the dole is reduced people "miraculously" stop claiming !

which is why Tories should only ever be in charge of counting the boiled sweets in the corner shop.

.... or saving the UK economy from the loonies (unless we ALL want to live in caves) !

hedda wrote:
one big reason Oz survived the 2007 meltdown was because mega million socialist KRudd (who came from poverty) gave every social security recipient a grand to spend, spend spend...and it worked and saved whole industries.

PS ... we did virtually the same here ... we lifted over a million people out of taxation altogether (giving them loads to spend) - trouble is, they pissed it against a wall (and still didn't pay their bills.

I've noticed there is a direct correlation between the weather and how people react..with the Ozers being basically Brits supplanted into sunshine where they are far less 'depressed' etc etc.

I could only really handle living in the UK and London (which I love) if I could flee to the sunshine every now and then. I reckon if I was broke and down and out in the UK I'd spend all my time in the pub and then riot.

hence,...very complicated social problems involving millions of people have arisen but you are offering simple solutions.

After counting the boiled sweets I want you to find out how many black Jelly Beans there are in the jar on the top shelf.