government handouts in Australia

[tonyc1]

Yeah, it's an obamanation, isn't it?

You're quick!

Tony.

[HorsehairBraider]

With the tough economic times, our government has taken a bit of a different approach to the problem, they are giving money to the people not the big companies. Before xmas all families with kids receive $1000 per child as well as pensioners and carers. The reason being, if the general public have money, they will spend it, thus helping businesses across the country..i personally bought a new lounge suite. The government has just announced another round of handouts, due in march/april...$950 per household with income under $80,000 and $950 per child for families. This means i will get $2850 for my family, bring the total to $4850 that i will have received They have also offered large rebates for home insulation for low income earners so their power bills will be reduced. There are other projects similar to this but i cant remember them all at this time.

How does this compare to other countries efforts in these hard times? Do you think this is a good approach to the problems at hand?

How does my country compare? Well, in my country (the USA) traditionally this money has been handed out to corporations. The idea is the corporations will hand it out to their workers; what actually happens is, they hand it to the top 2% or so of their CEOs etc. These are the guys who already make as much in one year as "bonus pay" as I am likely to make in my entire lifetime. What the heck do they need all this money for?! Just how many homes, cars etc do these people need? However that is just how it's done.

Giving it back to the taxpayer is a good idea, I think.... It's your money, you earned it, why should they give it to someone else? It does not make sense, to me, to give it to someone else, especially someone who does not need it. But I am just a horsehair braider.

Rewarding people for being energy efficient strikes me as an excellent idea. We need to solve the energy problem globally. There are children coming after us, I guess I am crazy but I think we should think of them.

Is it a good approach? Well, I don't know. It has not been tried here, so hard to say. It's worth a try though. We've been doing it the other way for years, and that has not helped. Why not try something different? After all, the definition of "stupid" is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results. But, you know, I am just a horsehair braider. So who knows.

[TrooperChuck]

If President Obama gets his "stimulus" package passed we will spend about 900 BILLION dollars to help big corporations, government pork projects, and somewhere along the way... the "little guy".

The problem is, WE DON'T HAVE 900 BILLION DOLLARS!

So, where will we get this money? There is no such thing as "free money". It has to come from someone. In this case, the USA will borrow the money from other countries. Japan, China, the UK and others. What happens when these loans come due? Who will be paying off those loans? Our children and grand children!

My other question is, "What happens if the USA can't pay off the loans?" What will China take from us if we can't pay these loans?

Instead of borrowing money from countries that probably don't have our best interests in mind, why don't we let people KEEP more of the money they already make? Cut the "Little Guy's" taxes, and he ends up with more money in his pocket. That money gets spent, thereby allowing businesses large AND small to employ people. Those employees, in turn, spend their money, and the whole thing perpetuates itself.

Cut taxes. Allow people to keep more of their money. Seems pretty simple to me... Unfortunately, our current President and the Democratic Party don't believe in this. So... Let's borrow more money from China! We'll let our children worry about paying it off.

[skipj]

i personally bought a new lounge suite.

If we did that in the US, we would probably only be helping China's economy cause that's where almost everything we buy is made. And I don't mean Walmart either. The last coffee maker made in the US is supposed to be Bunn but when I looked, the box said "assembled in Canada from improrted parts."

SkipJ

[$$hobby]

I guess its better then giving it to the bankers/CEOs/Political friends.

it would be interesting to see how it works out for you all.

[Art]

The Fed has been steadily pumping cheap money into the economy, which is by and far the best way to stimulate the economy. It will work, it just takes a little time, sometimes more than a little, to get the engine going again. This stimulus plan is just a big Red Herring, it may get the credit when we come out of all of this, but it is basically just an "opportunity" to spend on political projects, it really won't help the economy, just increase the debt.

Art

[TwinOaks]

Back in the early '90s, a well known brothel called "The Mustang Ranch" was confiscated by the government for tax evasion. Instead of closing it, the government kept it open (remember, it's legal in Nevada). Within just a short time, they had to sell it because it wasn't making any money.

Now, we're faced with a slow economy called a 'recession', and we're trusting the same government that couldn't make money with a brothel to fix it.

Does anyone need anymore explanation?

Back to Leatheroo's question: No, I don't think the bailouts are a good idea. Government controlled everything has been tried before and it's failed...several times. The companies that are "too big to fail" NEED TO FAIL. It makes room for entrepeneurs to grow their businesses. All the same, I'll take whatever money they tell me I have to, because I'll have to pay the taxes on it whether I take it or not.

(This has been rephrased to keep it family friendly)

Edited February 6, 2009 by TwinOaks

[Jordan]

The talking heads think that most Americans are morons and they can't comprehend anything so they do whatever they want. It's like the guy whose job it is to press the button that screws up your life just when you think you see the light at the end of the tunnel, now they have a guy that presses the make money appear out of thin air button so the rich stay rich. Now they want to track people with black helicopters for buying an adult beverage in utah. Hah hows that for the saying that paranoia strikes deep in the heart of man! They already put chips in cows pretty soon the mark of the beast will be on everyone forehead. Seriously though something is very wrong or some accountants are really in denial when everything is tanking but visa and mastercard are showing a profit! Bailout bad, reduced taxes good I don't know. What I do know is I can not pay all of my bills and the financial whizzes will not bail me out of anything! Seems to me the goverment is making the same errors that contributed to the great depression throwing made up money and a bunch of greedy sob's who need to suffer the consequences for thier actions. Who really needs corporations that are supposedly to big or to important to fail. The shiek that holds a controlling intrest in Citi should have to sell a couple of his yatchs like everyone else! But wait..... they are going to buy a new jet and rename yankee stadium to the tune of 440 million taxpayer dollars? OH Well, enough of my jibberish I better get back to some agressive leather pounding.

[MADMAX22]

The talking heads think that most Americans are morons and they can't comprehend anything so they do whatever they want. It's like the guy whose job it is to press the button that screws up your life just when you think you see the light at the end of the tunnel, now they have a guy that presses the make money appear out of thin air button so the rich stay rich. Now they want to track people with black helicopters for buying an adult beverage in utah. Hah hows that for the saying that paranoia strikes deep in the heart of man! They already put chips in cows pretty soon the mark of the beast will be on everyone forehead. Seriously though something is very wrong or some accountants are really in denial when everything is tanking but visa and mastercard are showing a profit! Bailout bad, reduced taxes good I don't know. What I do know is I can not pay all of my bills and the financial whizzes will not bail me out of anything! Seems to me the goverment is making the same errors that contributed to the great depression throwing made up money and a bunch of greedy sob's who need to suffer the consequences for thier actions. Who really needs corporations that are supposedly to big or to important to fail. The shiek that holds a controlling intrest in Citi should have to sell a couple of his yatchs like everyone else! But wait..... they are going to buy a new jet and rename yankee stadium to the tune of 440 million taxpayer dollars? OH Well, enough of my jibberish I better get back to some agressive leather pounding.

Your very right, if the company couldnt have enough strength to survive the beginning of the recession (not even a few months into it) then what makes anyone think they are good enough to deserve our well vested tax dollars. They should be treated just like everyone else and you know what they will fail, and in there place a new company or few or hundred will rise and well go thru the process of weeding out the ones that cant hack it. The ones that make it will hopefully have learned from the ones that failed and well have a better company providing a better product then we had before.

Oh and how many leather workers got a bail out. Did any of you guys fly to congress in personel jets and ask for a handout because its so tough.

O.T. I heard that Aussie just banned world of warcraft, most may not know what it is but its a online game. Apparently aussie government is getting really controlly as of late. Im sorry for you guys as well. Sounds like your losing all of your priveledges as well.

[tonyc1]

Your very right, if the company couldnt have enough strength to survive the beginning of the recession (not even a few months into it) then what makes anyone think they are good enough to deserve our well vested tax dollars. They should be treated just like everyone else and you know what they will fail, and in there place a new company or few or hundred will rise and well go thru the process of weeding out the ones that cant hack it. The ones that make it will hopefully have learned from the ones that failed and well have a better company providing a better product then we had before.

Oh and how many leather workers got a bail out. Did any of you guys fly to congress in personel jets and ask for a handout because its so tough.

O.T. I heard that Aussie just banned world of warcraft, most may not know what it is but its a online game. Apparently aussie government is getting really controlly as of late. Im sorry for you guys as well. Sounds like your losing all of your priveledges as well.

I've never heard of Warcraft!