A Day In The Life Of Madness: the writing is on the wall you know; some just choose not to read it.

Conservative and evangelical Australian PM Scott ‘SmugMo’ Morrison today said he would push through $30 billion in tax cuts that predominately benefit the highest income earners, aka tax cuts for the rich –the top 20% of taxpayers will get 91% of the benefit, and the top 10% will get 52% of the benefit.

“We’re always focused on how we can give it back to them {the taxpayer} and lower taxes,” he said.

However, “cutting taxes for already wealthy Australians will undermine the long-term strength of our public services, like healthcare and education, while doing very little to stimulate economic growth,” said Ben Oquist, executive director of The Australia Institute.

“Tax is an investment in our society. Those calling for tax cuts today will be calling for service cuts in the future,” said Oquist.

Interestingly, Dr Hewson, a former leader of Morrison’s political party, has released a statement to back the Australia Institute where he warns tax cuts alone won’t help the nation exit the recession.

“The Liberal National Party naively hope tax cuts are good politics, but they won’t be as they increase inequality and fail to ensure job security and increasing wages with our economy still struggling to exit recession,’’ he said.

The Australia Institute’s campaign against the fast-tracking of those tax cuts is also being backed by the Australian Council of Social Services that warned more tax cuts now means cuts to hospitals and schools later.

“More tax cuts today mean service cuts tomorrow,’’ Cassandra Goldie, CEO of ACOSS, said.

Former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank Stephen Grenville, said the answer was more government spending, not tax cuts.

“We’ll need substantial stimulus for an extended period. Cutting top-rate income tax would be a weak stimulus which undermines the equitable and progressive tax structure we‘ll need when the COVID crisis is over,’’ he warned.

All this in a month where the government flagged billing the dead aged poor for their time in care, and the ongoing royal commission into the aged care sector which hears almost daily evidence of abuse and neglect.

What is fucking wrong with politics??

What is the madness of these people making the decisions??

Also today it was revealed that more than 3000 Australian millionaires have been receiving the JobSeeker payment (the dole, the unemployment benefit).

The bizarre situation is the result of the decision to suspend the assets test six months ago as thousands of Australians were forced onto the dole queue.

But the act of generosity also allowed thousands of millionaires with substantial cash and assets to legally claim the $1115 fortnightly payment.

New figures reveal that a stunning 3,600 millionaires did just that, rushing to claim unemployment benefits after the asset test was waived.

Because the family home is not included in the asset test, that means 3600 people with cash or assets including cars, boats and holiday houses exceeding $1 million were on welfare.

Also today, new research by Oxfam reveals the richest one per cent of people in the world are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the poorest half of the world’s population.

Highlighting an ever-widening “carbon inequality”, the analysis said the growth rate of the one percent’s emissions was three times that of the poorest half of humanity. 

“It’s not just that extreme economic inequality is divisive in our societies, it’s not just that it slows the rate of poverty reduction,” said Tim Gore, head of Oxfam policy, advocacy and research. 

“But there is also a third cost which is that it depletes the carbon budget solely for the purpose of the already affluent growing their consumption.”

Mr Gore said governments must put the twin challenges of climate change and inequality at the heart of any Covid-19 recovery plan.

There is no chance of that.

The rich have an entitlement mentality, and you are under attack.

The system is broken.

It can’t be fixed.

We need a new plan, now.

Former Australian PM Keating proposes billing the aged poor for their care when they die!

Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating says the cost of aged care should be met by a loan model, where the aged are extended a loan to pay for their care and the costs are recovered from each individual’s estate.

The scheme, which Mr Keating put to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Assurance on Monday morning, departs from his previous advocacy for a national insurance model funded by an employer directed levy, similar to the superannuation scheme that he designed as treasurer.

When superannuation was first conceived in the late 1980s, there were 6.5 people between the ages of 15 and 65 supporting every one person above 65. There are now 3.7 people supporting every person over the age of 65 and the figure is predicted to fall to three by 2040.

The Royal Commission is examining the funding, financing and prudential regulation of the sector.

Counsel assisting Peter Gray QC said in his opening remarks there were some “surprising features” in the existing arrangements, including that home-care packages were not required to report what goods and services they were providing with government subsidies, which amount to $2.5 billion per year.

Meanwhile, residential care providers, which receive about $7.5 billion in care subsidies, do not adequately report how that money is used and what profit or loss is made. They are not required to disclose what proportion is spent on management fees or rent or to maintain a particular level of staffing.

In the spirit of Mr Keating’s neoliberal plan, I further propose that all children in orphanages and foster care also be subject to the loan model, and that when the child turns 15, or leaves care, they are presented a bill for that cost, which they can pay off over the following 20 years.

The points of Mr Keating’s argument perfectly fit this proposed model extension, and indeed in sentiment, it is wholly consistent.

The obvious question is: while you may not be aged, while you may not be an orphan or in foster care, do you recognize his pig-people thinking?

200 of the richest Australians pay NO income tax. Corporations with millions and hundreds of millions of dollars in profit pay less tax than I do.

In the neoliberal society,  of feudal capitalism and increasing wealth inequality, of tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts for corporations, justified by lies, it rejects the idea that all should pay according to their capacity, and it takes away our ability to pay for aged care, to pay for orphanages.

The new Social Contract is devoid of compassion and fairness, and a clear threat to the future.