FOOL'S GOLD

Australians are just beginning to discover the
economic gains made during the past decade are
illusory. The dollars jingling in their pockets
are not enough to even cover most of the
population's day to day costs. Selling their souls
for 30 pieces of silver has not paid the economic
dividends they expected.

A small group has done extremely well from the
privatisation of State assets, but the majority is
beginning to find out the extra dollars in their
pockets have been bought at the expense of their
personal security. The biggest losses are those
Australians who have had to sacrifice their lives
on the altar of Mammon to meet their day to day
expenses. Forcing people to personally pay for
education, healthcare and their retirement has put
a huge burden on the backs of many people who now
have to rely on themselves to buy services which
had previously been provided by the State through
taxation revenue.

The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax
(GST) shifted the burden of taxation from the rich
to the poor. The inability and unwillingness of
this government to pass legislation to ensure the
corporate sector paid more than voluntary
taxation, was the single most important reason the
GST was introduced.

The economic miracle of the past decade is both
illusory and costly. Illusory because it has
shifted the burden of providing essential services
from the State to the individual, and costly
because this seismic shift has been bought at the
expense of wage earners and social security
beneficiaries. Fool's gold is fool's gold,
irrespective of how you try to dress it up.

.oOo.