So, this week I've been talking to my inner-city, lefty, latte sipping mates about the budget (as you do). It's unanimous that it's is an utter disgrace and should be resisted at all costs. My more moderate pals, who only follow the mainstream media (sporadically at best), have been quoting back all the mainstream excuses to me, 'It's not that bad, other budgets have been worse, the rich are going to pay more taxes than before, we have to do this, there's a budget emergency.....' But I've been setting them straight. If Hockey and his pals read any books (other than Mein Kampf and The Fountainhead of course) they would see what they are doing is trying to restore society to Dickensian times. I'm sure they'd secretly adore a return to the 'good old days' when the rich were rich and the poor tugged their forelocks and called them 'Gov'ner' if they didn't want a jolly good thrashing.
What do they think will actually happen if young people can't get access to unemployment benefits or any other kind of support for up to 6 months? Sure, some will be able to rely on family support, but what of all the others? What will happen when single mothers can't find a job and can't pay the rent? What do they do? Live in their cars and send their children to scavenge for food in rubbish dumps? Do they really want hordes of urchins roaming the streets, Artful Dodger-style, living under bridges, picking a pocket or two? Perhaps once the privatized prisons are all full, we will see prison hulks (orange life boats?) in Port Phillip Bay. We can ship the poor off to privately run gulags in PNG! That would be great for the share price of Transfield (ker ching!). But seriously, have they really thought this through to its logical conclusion? I seriously doubt it.
What exactly are these people thinking? The scary thing is their ideas are based on the 19th century social-Darwinist doctrine of 'survival of the fittest' (The Origin of Species being another book it's unlikely any of them have actually read). Of course they (the wealthy) identify themselves as the 'fittest' and everyone else as 'lesser' and a bit of a nuisance quite frankly. Never mind Dickens, it's more like ancient Rome with its division between citizens and slaves. If they had read any history, they would know this is a zero sum game; in the end nobody wins. Rome was brought to its knees by a series of slave revolts, just when it was overextending its reach and over-spending on its military. Fortunately however, we have a senate that contains a few readers, and has declared it will not pass this budget in its current form. It's going to be important to keep public pressure on them to make sure they hear loudly and clearly from the people that we will not stand for this folly.
And because you've got to laugh or you'll go mad, here's a clip from another social Darwinist you may find amusing. Even he is not happy with Abbott it seems.
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