ok… since i have all these foxfire windows open, maybe i’ll just toss up some facts about the australian 2005 budget which was unveiled this past week.
last year at the big budget bro-ha-ha, they announced anyone having a baby gets $3k. some sort of ‘fuck for your country’ policy. one of the big topics during the election last year was how important the family is to AU so you don’t want to raise interest rates b/c they’d all loose their homes.
so very much positioned as big biz friendly but also love those mums & screaming spawn. so i was surprised by the budge reports.
from early media reports, i gathered:
- everyone gets a tax cut!! woo hoo!
- we’re cleaning up welfare & all those people who have been on unemployment for years (none of that 6 months of payments here. you receive less money here but there’s no cut off date EVER).
- single mothers get screwed
- the rich get the biggest tax break
what country am i in???
single mothers will have to get at least a part time job when their kid turns 6 or i think they lose all benefits. maybe i’m wrong about ‘all’. that article talks about how they’ll lose money from the govt under this plan & once they start to earn money, for every dollar they earn, they lose 60c from the govt. the article sez they’ll end up losing money.
a govt (and yes, the same folks were in charge last year) that PAID people to have kids ‘for the country’ are now basically saying they only meant for women to have kids who are in 2 income homes.
a few weeks ago there was some shit hitting the fan when the treasurer guy came out & said they wouldn’t fund IVF for women over… 42 i think it was. maybe something happened that the boys decided to punish the women?
ok… i’m waaaay too sleepy to be typing. so here’s the links.
tax cuts not for everyone (and according to the info i’ll be getting about a dollar more take home per week than i did before. whereas someone making something like 95k will bring home $41 a week more.
disabled and homeless will also have to find jobs just like the moms.
average aussie will get $6 a week more
oh and au is losing in the global market
and someone is as pissed off about the trams as i am
remind me to explain surplus. leadership struggles. 47c & something…