16 August 1991. Thought for the Week: "The governance
of men rests fundamentally on controlling their access to food, clothing,
and shelter, and this control is most readily maintained (for the present)
by control of finance, which in the modern world is almost the sole
access to the means of existence which are available in abundance. The
finance (income), which the individual requires for existence is, almost
universally, available only through 'employment', which means that he
must do what he is told to do for the most important part of his existence.
Thus 'full employment' as an over-riding policy (it is common to all
Parties) is a concealed form of slavery. Freedom, on the other hand,
is freedom from this necessity made possible by the technological revolution.
This sheer abundance, however, threatens the position of the controllers
as the absurdity of poverty amidst plenty becomes ever more apparent.
And their answer to this threat is, ultimately, the police-state, to
which the increasing anarchy of 'democracy' is steadily leading."
Dr. B.W. Monahan, in The Problems of Poverty |
KEATING OUSTS KERIN AS LOW-INFLATION HEROFormer Treasurer Paul Keating yesterday claimed a large slice of credit for Australia's drop in inflation." - Herald-Sun, August 12th. Now we know: the credit for Australia's 3.4%
inflation rate is attributable to the Accord and the Keating economic
policies. Paul Keating might just as well, whilst presenting himself
with accolades, be given full credit for Australia's national 10% unemployment!
This low inflation rate, the lowest for X number of years, will put
Australia back in the Big Time. Just watch. The lower interest rates? Probably several reasons: a cautious move by the Reserve Bank to try to lessen the recession, and gently give some stimulus to the economy. Under the rules of the Money Game the Treasurer cannot drop interests rates too low, otherwise that foreign capital will "fly" elsewhere; not to Australia. Paul Keating is unsure concerning Australia's unemployment rate: he's not sure if it will worsen before improvement. We, ourselves, are quite sure. It will worsen before the arrival of any upturn. Paul Keating isn't sure about interest rates, either. They can always be brought down with realistic monetary policies, which the orthodox people would reject; but that's another story. Mr. Keating wants to "lock inflation in", and that will lower interest rates. Will it, indeed? Our scenario is different: we have referred recently to the unemployment/inflation seesaw. It will operate in the future, as always. Unemployment UP/inflation DOWN and vice-versa. Why? Unemployment stems from reduced commercial/industrial activity; and that means reduced cash flows and reduced cash flows mean lower inflation. We say that inflation is a "symptom" of the "normal" operation of our modern finance economic system. We understand it in detail. History will decide who is right, and we claim that history is on our side. Yes, yes, the Communists used to claim that. But they were wrong, weren't they? Property Public confidence is all the go: all must believe that recovery is well under way, now is the time to buy; you may never have this chance again! Buy now. You'll probably be very sorry if you fall for the sales pitch. They don't know anything about the underlying factors steering the economy. Consumption Tax The consumption tax has proved most inflationary in the U.K., Canada, and, more recently, in New Zealand. One sales pitch is that the consumption tax will "gather in" those taxpayers who are now escaping the taxman's net by way of various manipulations understood by clever accountants. Apparently all the loopholes have not been closed off, and probably never can be. The "rationale" seems to be that those smart enough to beat the tax system as it now operates will be "picked off" by the consumption tax on that new Jaguar, the pricey French costume for Madame, those extra bottles of Scotch for that important weekend conference, etc., etc. How about the consumption tax on Joe Smith's more simple needs? It is not enough for Dr. Hewson to claim that less direct income tax will be claimed by the Tax Office: we say the ordinary wage and salary earner will be hit harder than he is being hit now. Mr. Eric Risstrom, of the Taxpayers' Association, has criticised the consumption tax strongly; and he has forgotten more about taxation that Mr. Peter Reith will ever know (Shadow Treasurer)! Next Federal Election |
THE ASIAN INVASION STEPPED UPby David Thompson Comments from ACTU Secretary, Bill Kelty, that Australia will inevitably become an Asian nation also confirm the charge that the ALP and others propose to set policies to see that this occurs. As with republicanism, there is nothing "inevitable" about the Asianisation of Australia in the absence of a policy for this to take place. Kelty and others openly declare this vision for the future of the country, as did Mr. Bill Hayden when he was in Parliament. It is quite acceptable for such people to declare their vision, but it is quite unacceptable that others are bludgeoned into silence with the charge that their vision for the future of the country cannot be declared because it is "racist". THE COLONIAL CRINGE MENTALITY THE MULTICULTURAL PRICE |
In BriefThis letter sent to the Editor of Queensland
Country Life by Mr. J. Lennie, of Toowoomba "Just before the Melbourne CHOGM Conference the Australian Industries Development Association (AIDA) warned that, 'Australians should keep their eyes open to the real motives and substance behind much of the rhetoric of the North-South Dialogue' (Sydney Morning Herald, September 28th, 1981). AIDA pointed out that the lower protection for Australian industries would hand our manufacturing base over to China, Taiwan and Korea. This was mild stuff and made little sense to the man-in-the-street, and no doubt to Rick Farley, but at least it showed a growing awareness of what was in store for Australian industry under Malcolm Fraser's grandiose and un-Australian schemes. "To quote from Mr. Neil Walford, Chairman of
REPCO, 'Under present policies, the basic infrastructure of Australian
manufacturing industry will suffer permanent damage. There will be no
way in which the thousands so caused to be unemployed will ever again
get jobs as long as present policies prevail. The dispersal of skills,
the financial crippling of corporations, the conviction in the minds
of businessmen that never again will they undertake the hazards of manufacture
and the long term dedication it requires, merely to see their life's
work overturned; all this means that the damage will be permanent'...
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A LIFE OF BLISS BEING SWISSThe two letters (below) are taken from The Australian, August 7th "Your article No Time for Rights in a Land of
Wrongs (The Australian 1/8) was possibly the most inappropriate
contribution to the 700 years of the Swiss Confederation. Even Lobbecke's
picture of a cuckoo clock was wrong, as such clocks come from Germany's
Black Forest area. "The crux of the article saying that Swiss citizens'
highest aim is to conform is exactly the opposite of the facts. While
the majority of nations conform and readily hand out personal bank secrets
to governments, the Swiss Government is not allowed to do so because
the Swiss people believe that the right of the individual is more important
than the demands of governments. "The publication of Caroline Sinclair's article on the occasion of Switzerland's 700th anniversary is deplorable. Parochial lampoons are bound to poison the relationship between nations. The article also insults the intelligence of The Australian's readers. "Does the experience of small countries provide any interesting insights? Caroline Sinclair scoffs at Switzerland. She must either believe that the experience of small countries does not warrant a careful analysis or she may not be able to provide this analysis. "In fact, Switzerland and Australia face similar problems. Both countries belong to the rapidly shrinking group of OECD countries that do not belong to a major trading bloc. Membership in the EC (European Community .. O.T.) would threaten the unique Swiss brand of direct democracy and federalism (our emphasis .. O.T.). "How will the Swiss and the Australians deal with their growing international isolation? The Swiss may join the EC within a generation if the EC adopts the democratic traditions of Great Britain, and they may never join if the EC will be governed by an omnipotent bureaucracy. Indeed, the Swiss share Margaret Thatcher's reservations toward the current political institutions of the EC." (Ernst Juerg Weber, Department of Economics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA) |
FROM YOUR WILL BE DONEby Arthur A. Chresby It is legally unchallengeable that the party
system, with its direct and indirect powers of manipulating politicians
and people, has quite illegally striven to drive a wedge between the
people and the final source of all their Constitutional and legal powers,
i.e. the institution of the Monarchy, as a prelude to transferring the
unlimited power of that Monarchy into the hands of the controllers and
manipulators of political parties, including the final party political
control over the Armed Forces of the nation; a control which, at present,
is legally vested in the Queen to ensure that, where directly expressed
to her, the will of the people shall at all times prevail. Note: The power of the State Governors has been virtually destroyed by the Australia Act, which all States signed and ratified, including non-Labor States at that time. We are as sure as we can be that the full reserve powers of the Crown, invested in the Governor General, are still operative. The master plan of the Fabians was, and is, to knock out the power of the Crown at State level, and then, to destroy it at Commonwealth level: it would be very difficult to perform this the other way around!.... O.T. "Over the years the party system has cleverly hidden the fact that the people have the legal freedom at all times to express their will direct to the Queen, no matter what politicians and others may try to claim. "The Queen is the permanent 'government' with a perpetual mandate to govern according to the clearly expressed will of the people. It is obvious, then, that no political party can lawfully occupy the Constitutional seat reserved in perpetuity for the Monarchy, no matter what political scientists, textbook writers, academics, politicians, political parties and other theorists may claim." |