i'm not a political person at all, but seriously it shits me when people are ignorant and pretty much throw common sense out the door when it comes to election time. i was thinking about this last night, and i find it funny how a few people here that have said they support john howard and the liberals - the reasons that they're giving are just flat out repeated off the tv ads and mailouts that have been going around. i dont care who anyone votes for, but at least rattle of some reasons that you've given thought to, rather than rattle off verbatim what their advertising is saying.
first up if we were less wrapped around america's little finger i'm sure we'd likely have less trouble to get ourselves into. there are plenty of other countries that survive quite well without being up america's ass, why do we need to do it?
do you even know what you're talking about when you're ranting on about unions? will unions even effect you? do you even know if it will be good or bad? does your industry even have a union? or are you just complaining about them because you are told to? are you even at all aware that there are unions around right now? do you even know what they do? personally sometimes i thought they were a help to workers and sometimes i thought they were a bit of a time waster. pretty much like most other things.. there is good and bad that comes with it. unions have nothing to do with the government, they're all to do with the people.. and if the people support a union or create a union, then guess what, you have unions regardless of which party is in power. saying that union bosses are going to be 70% of the people elected into parliament (according to a liberal pamphlet i have here) is probably the biggest load of rubbish i've heard.. have a look at all the candidates for each seat and tell me if they're a union boss..
and the tax cuts and shit for everyone, and the comment 'how can the liberal be looking after the high paid people when they're taxing them 45c in a dollar?' have a look at how the tax system works for a minute, it might be 45c in a dollar, but it all works out roughly the same in the end, and you know what? the big guys can afford it. i'm sure you'd be complaining to no end if the people earning $200k were also getting taxed on 30c or maybe less. how will you build an economy if you're not taxing people in relation to what they earn? the only reason your taxes have come down is because of the gst.. the more you spend, the more money comes in through gst, if the government make you think you're earning heaps more by giving you an extra $6 a week your pay packet, you're going to spend more money and they reap the benefits in gst.. not to mention the way the prices of everyday items have inflated over the last few years.. the higher the cost of things, the more gst comes in. the howard government have been throwing money at everyone over the last few years.. be it in little tax cuts, or the $3000 baby bonus.. he's buying votes, pure and simple.. but look, his current tax cuts are offering what? $33 more in the average persons bank every week by 2010? wtf are you going to be able to buy of any real use for $33 in 2010? oh a lunch or something sure.. but what about fuel, it'll more expensive, everything will be more expensive, your $33 is going to be worth jack shit.
oh also.. one last thing before i go.. the government has no control over interest rates! its the reserve bank of australia.. do you all remember last election when howard said 'i promise interest rates will no increase under a liberal government' he flat out made a promise he could not keep because he had no control over it, and guess what, interest rates went up within months of him being re-elected. but everyone believed him. any person with a basic understanding of how interest rates work knew that he couldn't do anything to keep them low. there is going to be another interest rates rise right in the middle of the election campaign though, around the first week of november, i reckon that'll hit howard hard because of the promise he made in the last election.
eugh.. if you're going to support someone/a party and argue your stance, at least show you've put some thought into it instead of blindly following what you're told to do.