We hear how we cannot afford things like medicare payment increases for doctors, so they increase upfront costs or barr it all together.
We hear how we cannot afford teachers aides to disabled children, let alone proper facilities with schools for them.
We hear how we cannot afford to pay fires & ambo's overtime so stations are closed.
We hear how we cannot afford local emergency dispatchers so every 3 or so months we see deaths due to wrong information
We hear how we can't afford a NDIS
We hear how we cannot afford a duel carriageway national Hwy
We hear how we cannot afford to look after our Soldier's loved ones or even provide adequate care for those maimed
We hear how we cannot afford a national dental scheme
We here how an extra $20 p/week for new start or pensions will send us to the wall
The list is endless when it comes to things that benefit the whole community but we cannot afford.
Then I see this
Quote:Olympics boss demands support despite $100m cash pile
Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has been calling for more taxpayer funding of elite sports at the same time as his organisation sits on a $100 million cash pile, financial accounts show.
In addition to being president of the AOC, Mr Coates is chairman of the related Australian Olympic Foundation, an investment fund helmed by a group of business leaders.
Mr Coates raised the alarm over sports funding in November when he warned Australia's London Olympics medal tally would be reduced because state sports institutes were not getting enough money.
He had previously dismissed as "insulting" a 2009 government report calling for money to be diverted to grass-roots sports.
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And he returned to the theme last week, saying a flood of money for swimming approved in 2010 came too late to salvage Olympic gold at London.
This week Mr Coates blamed the federal government's failure to introduce compulsory school sport in the wake of Australia's disappointing London Olympics campaign.
While the Australian Olympic Foundation was set up in 1996, it began seriously investing after receiving a $88.5 million injection after the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
After paying a $6.3 million cash distribution to the AOC, the fund had $106 million at the end of 2011, down from $115 million the previous year.
The government spends about $170 million a year on elite athletes, with most of the spending focused on Olympic sports.
A high-powered committee headed by former opposition leader John Hewson oversees the Australian Olympic Foundation's investment strategy, which is heavily weighted towards shares and property assets that have been hammered by the US downturn and ongoing economic turmoil in Europe.
In the annual report, filed in April, Mr Coates defended the foundation's strategy, saying it was designed to produce results over the "very long-term".
"Over time these assets can be expected to provide stronger returns and growth than investments in bonds and cash," he said.
Since the Sydney games, the foundation has paid cash distributions of $74 million to the AOC, he said.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/olympics-boss-demands-support-despite-100m-cash-p... Don't even get me started on the fact Doctors/Engineers/teachers etc in fact every university student graduates with a debt, Tafe has been gutted "Because we cant afford it"
Yet athletes get a free ride at the AIS, then go on to earn millions in sponsorship not to mention being worshiped as a god by the Australian community.
But just watch, we'll have the money for them no problem, because a gold medal makes us all "feel good"
Bullsh!t the cost of that medal & what we as a society have forfeited for it
MAKES ME PUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!