Tuesday, May 10

We've come back to rain and it seems to be set in.  The ground is saturated and mowing is off the agenda for the time being.  It was Jamie's birthday today - lunch at Hogs Breath is a good way to celebrate.  

Q&A was a revelation last night.  The star was a battler from Geelong who questioned the ethics of giving tax cuts to people who earn over $80000 while people like him on the minimum wage get nothing.  The Minister for Small Business showed her insensitive side by waffling on about balance and economic direction without even acknowledging the struggles someone like Duncan deals with on a daily basis.  She compounded her lack of empathy by crowing about a Toorak coffee shop owner who has bought a $6000 toaster and can write off the tax in just 12 months.  Apparently, this will enable her to employ more people.  And pigs might fly. 

I was delighted to hear that someone had organised a crowd-funding effort to raise $6000 to buy Duncan a gold-plated toaster too.  In fact they raised $10000 in a few hours.  

The other foot-in-the-mouth guest was someone from the Industry Council who sneered at Duncan, saying, 'Well, if you're on the minimum wage, you wouldn't pay much tax anyway.'  Duncan's reply was, ' I pay tax every time I go to the supermarket or get in my car.'

The best question of the night came from a well-spoken woman who queried why the government sticks with the totally-discredited trickle-down economic theory, and continually spouts the rubbish that giving concessions to the wealthy encourages more employment.  All the evidence is that the only outcome of pandering to the wealthy is that the gap between rich and poor is widening.  Is that the sort of world we want to live in?