Eagle,"Safety nets" is political spin for "freeloading" and...

Eagle,

"Safety nets" is political spin for "freeloading" and "handouts".

Australia was built upon a culture of freeloading. That is what brought about the rise of Unionization and the Labour party in Australia.

Unions are all about freeloading. Minimum wage is not a safety net. The dole is not a safety net. A "safety net" is something that you use *in extreme circumstances* when you "fall" until you "get up". Something that one relies on permanently is not a "safety net".

The top 2 economic tools of the Labour party are Minimum wage and the Dole. They create unemployment through the minimum wage, and then subsidize the unemployed through the dole. The spending power of all of these non-productive people just serves to cause inflation. Without the minimum wage in place, the market will hit an equilibrium wage anyway, and in *real dollar* terms (i.e. how many hours of work it costs to buy a day's basic feed) it will probably not change all that much, since the dollar will be more scarce, and there will be more overall production through more workers active in the economy. So what does the Labour party serve? Self delusion is good and all if they can keep it to themselves, but this is to the scale that it impacts 20 million people (as inflation is felt by all of us). You might just want to re-assess what you believe about your party.

I voted Rudd last elections, and have no regrets about it. I voted him because it was the most effective way to get rid of Peter Costello, not because Labour offer anything to anyone.