Who said this forum is biased against the lazy Lefties ? From the horse's mouth comes the Commo union solution.



Australia Needs A Maximum Wage To Improve The Lives Of Working People. Tinkering at the edges of our economy is no longer enough.
Paul Bastian National Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union 13/04/2017 7:11 AM AEST | Updated 6 hours ago




Australia’s two richest people now own more wealth than the poorest 20 percent of the entire country’s population.

Countless column inches have been dedicated to the breakdown of our political equilibrium over the past 12 months. But should we really be that surprised?

Last year, you're likely to have received the smallest pay increase in three decades. You could be one of the millions of people forced to abandon the Australian dream of owning your own home. You might also be one of the 700,000 retail or hospitality workers who just had their Sunday penalty rates cut.

All this, while Australia's two richest people now own more wealth than the poorest 20 percent of the entire country's population. Meanwhile, the top 20 percent of households receive half the country's income, while the bottom 20 percent brings in just four percent.

These statistics point to a growing divide between rich and poor in Australia. The rich are getting richer and working people aren't getting their fair share. And unlike wealth, inequality does trickle down. Money that is hoarded by the rich is money that can't be spent in our schools, our hospitals, on the most vulnerable in our society.

Why should working people bear the brunt of cost-cutting measures in a society that is so manifestly skewed against them?
Unsurprisingly, successive Liberal governments have done nothing to address this. Opportunities to implement corporate tax reform that could help close the wealth gap have been ignored. Negative gearing remains in place, pushing home ownership out of reach for many. And meanwhile, year after year we see attacks on working people: threats to penalty rates, cuts to Medicare, and the gutting of frontline welfare services -- all done in the name of the bottom line.

Why should working people bear the brunt of cost-cutting measures in a society that is so manifestly skewed against them?

If the Government is serious about improving our country's economy, bold and fair economic reform is needed.

Many options are on the table. We've heard talk of Labor introducing a Buffett Rule, to force the highest income earners to pay a minimum rate of tax. This would add $2.5 billion to the budget bottom line and tackle inequality head-on.


Tim Ayres, AMWU NSW State Secretary, recently argued for a universal inheritance tax that would fund a one-off capital grant for every citizen at the age of 25.

There are other options too.

Capping the incomes of the ultra rich by mandating a maximum wage would directly improve the lives of working people. Lawrence J Hanley, International President of the Amalgamated Transit Union, argues for a maximum wage system that would tie the income of an employee to that of their boss.

Bold, brave, and effective economic policies are there for the taking -- cutting corporate excesses by capping income would be a good start.
Under this system, Gina Rinehart's income, for example, could be limited to no more than 100 times the wage of her lowest-paid worker. If she wanted to give herself a pay rise, then that worker would receive an equivalent rise, and so on up the ladder of the company.

American ice-cream moguls Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield ran with a similar ratio system at their company, Ben and Jerry's, for 16 years. Until Ben retired in 1995, no employee's pay exceeded five times that of an entry-level employee. When asked about his company's pay scale, Greenfield said: "If you open up the mind, the opportunity to address both profits and social conditions are limitless."

The fight against inequality is complicated. Tinkering at the edges of our economy is no longer enough. Bold, brave, and effective economic policies are there for the taking -- cutting corporate excesses by capping income would be a good start.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/paul-bastian/australia-needs-a-maximum-wage-to-...

You never know, but ScoMo might be providing a buffet dinner at the BUDGET speech ? It would certainly be a vote winner for the poor.

juliar wrote on Apr 13^th, 2017 at 1:52pm:


What a winner you are liar. What do you do for kicks, go out on the street and bash a pensioner? 

The rich are getting richer - the poor get the picture:

Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Apr 14^th, 2017 at 1:13pm:



Yes - the rich should pay more tax.
The top 5 people in Australia have more money than about 6 million people who live here -
it's not fair.
Gina is one of them.

Sir lastnail wrote on Apr 14^th, 2017 at 11:33pm:



Good thinking, Ninety-Nine - but remember Grappler's Theory of Flow-Through Of Black Cash - 'black cash' (not Pat or Johnny, that's their cousin Ngunnawunya Cash) is taken back into the taxation cycle the moment it is spent.

The problems begin when 'black cash' is NOT spent, but is offshored or stashed somewhere - in this case, as you say, in investment housing, but also in many other ways, such as buying stuff and having nice holidays etc, much the same as the Big Cheeses do it. 

Chinese would seem to be in the perfect position to offshore, for the simple reason that their Yen For Cash is satisfied in some Chinese bank, and thus repayments go there and not here - another drain on the local economy.

Trying to find standards by which Chinese banks lend money for investment in property here is fruitless - obviously a no go zone by one side or the other or possibly both - however:-

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/robert-gottliebsen/why-dodgy-ch...

Just a cut and paste here from that article:-

"Along with lower interest rates, the Chinese money exodus has caused a big rise in global real estate values and a substantial fall in China’s foreign exchange reserves."

Mind you - this is journalese, so may not have evidence to support the views expressed - no links are offered, just opinion.

Dnarever wrote on Apr 15^th, 2017 at 7:36am:


No they don't understand.  Just a front to claim they are worried about while doing the opposite.

juliar wrote on Apr 13^th, 2017 at 1:40pm:



About the most stupid thing you will read in a long long time.


Why this person was given any 'column inches' is beyond me.