This Government Spending Is Crazy!

Dear Scott,

This isn’t going to be very popular, but I am going to say it anyway: as someone who has worked my entire life (I’m 67), I’ve never asked for a handout from the Government and I am a self-funded retiree. I am very annoyed the Government has embarked on this historic and idiotic spending spree. It’s the same old story: the smart savers bail out the no-hopers. I read one economist who suggested we’ll be paying back this debt for the next twenty years. You need to explain this to people. We need to wake up!

Wayne

Hi Wayne,

I agree with you: the Government’s spending will need to be paid back by future generations, either in the form of higher taxes, or fewer public services, or a combination of both.

And I also wholeheartedly believe that the Government should provide a safety net, not a hammock.

However, let’s get one thing clear: you won’t be paying anything back. You’re feet up in the recliner at midday, nodding off with a tax-free pension, you lucky bugger!

So, as a card-carrying worker with at least 30 years left on my punch card, and as a ‘high income earner’ who will pay a lot of tax over that time, let me tell you how I think about it.Three things:

First, I’ve learned not to get emotional about politics.

It’s a waste of energy, and I’d rather channel it into something productive, like financial counselling, or developing a money school program to show the kids of these ‘no-hopers’ (as you callously call them) that they can change their family tree. Now that is something worth getting riled up about!

Second, I’ve learned to compare myself to others and remember how fortunate I am.

I grew up in a caring country community, with loving parents, patient public school teachers and, later, dedicated university lecturers. Contrast this to many of my financial counselling clients, who grew up in public housing, with abusive and drug-addicted parents, and are trapped in an intergenerational cycle of poverty.

Third, look at the consequences.If we stop helping out these ‘no-hopers’, we’ll end up looking something like San Francisco.I was there on a business trip earlier in the year.It’s a beautiful bayside city, with charming trams and cool designer shops.It was an amazing place to visit … from the safe confines of our locked Tesla.

That’s because out the front of these luxury shops were scores of homeless people camping out on the sidewalks.

This is not the Australia I want.Wealth inequality costs society more money in the long run.

It leads to increased crime, overcrowded jails and increased demand for mental health and drug rehabilitation.And if things get really cooked, it can even lead to demagogues like Donald Trump.

My view?

I don’t like government waste, especially when I’m funding it!

Yet honestly, Wayne, would you want your kids, or grandkids, living in any other country?

You and I are wealthy people, living in one of the wealthiest countries on earth.Honestly, how bloody lucky are we?

Scott