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Little Johnny Howard - best PM ever?
Seeing the Libs in action during the week of the big conflab in the capitol reminded me of how much the Libs hate ordinary Australians. They like the white picket fences and proud owners of outer suburban suburbs ( I'm building a project home in the highlands atm and I can tell you they're junk but they hate the poorer lot - factory workers, health care, transport who are powerless were it not for Unions and their power isn't what it was. Susan Ley's sneer that she wasn't gonna sit around talking to Unions their typical attitude and the compression of wages over the last 10 years tells you that they're class warriors wanting a US style society - dog eat dog.
John Howard's family hailed from Northern Ireland, hated Catholics (ironic that he headed a government dominated by them) and loved Empire. Both father and Grandfather went to WW1 together with the very clear purpose of defending England and Empire.
After the war the pair went into the garage business in Undercliff and Canterbury in the infancy of motor car transport. During the Depression and after they would have resented that the Union set wage for a mechanic would have taken a sizeable slice of the weeks profit's and it was during that time that Howard senior joined the New Guard, an anti Communist secret militia that had official covert sanction. The Guard's mission was to keep an eye on the working class given the harsh economic times and the possibility of unrest. Unlike the USA, Conservatives here eschewed Keynesian solutions to the Depression preferring to tighten the belt, as did the Brits. It was a "Hey that's our money you're spending" thing and they meant it - still do.
On the night of the election of the first Menzies' government in 1949, the Howards sat at a backyard bonfire into which they cast the books of petrol ration tickets which, like other forms of rationing, were intended to counter the post war inflation which was sure to come and did, ending with the huge 1960 credit squeeze and its consequences for the less well off. Thus the Howards and those like them could rejoice at their newly unfettered businesses and bugger the rest of yez.
In government Howard set about making greed good. Keating had suggested a Capital Gains tax previous to which, anyone with capital to invest could operate tax free - guess who they were. Keating's proposal factored in long term inflation which meant that those who held a long term investment like a restaurant or a property paid much less than another who made millions on the Exchange overnight, much less. Howard knocked the inflation part to look after those who had been Keating's targets, rich short term guys - the painting, a Paddo terrace buy today, sell tomorrow - kerching!
So, no Capital gain tax to speak of plus a big negative gearing tax break if you invested in property, both of which brought a flood of investment into the housing market creating the mess we have today - the children of most people stuffed for home ownership. It all started with Howard, the anti union legislation, the relaxing of unfair dismissal rules, though in that regard he managed to work a scam for the legal profession by promising to fund, to the tune of $500, preliminary legal advice to a complainant. The lawyer for that nice little earner, would advise that the only recourse was to the Supreme Court and a cost of tens of thousands of dollars well beyond the capacity of Betty, the shop assistant.
These are the people who can sneer at the possibility that something more equitable might be achieved
John Howard's family hailed from Northern Ireland, hated Catholics (ironic that he headed a government dominated by them) and loved Empire. Both father and Grandfather went to WW1 together with the very clear purpose of defending England and Empire.
After the war the pair went into the garage business in Undercliff and Canterbury in the infancy of motor car transport. During the Depression and after they would have resented that the Union set wage for a mechanic would have taken a sizeable slice of the weeks profit's and it was during that time that Howard senior joined the New Guard, an anti Communist secret militia that had official covert sanction. The Guard's mission was to keep an eye on the working class given the harsh economic times and the possibility of unrest. Unlike the USA, Conservatives here eschewed Keynesian solutions to the Depression preferring to tighten the belt, as did the Brits. It was a "Hey that's our money you're spending" thing and they meant it - still do.
On the night of the election of the first Menzies' government in 1949, the Howards sat at a backyard bonfire into which they cast the books of petrol ration tickets which, like other forms of rationing, were intended to counter the post war inflation which was sure to come and did, ending with the huge 1960 credit squeeze and its consequences for the less well off. Thus the Howards and those like them could rejoice at their newly unfettered businesses and bugger the rest of yez.
In government Howard set about making greed good. Keating had suggested a Capital Gains tax previous to which, anyone with capital to invest could operate tax free - guess who they were. Keating's proposal factored in long term inflation which meant that those who held a long term investment like a restaurant or a property paid much less than another who made millions on the Exchange overnight, much less. Howard knocked the inflation part to look after those who had been Keating's targets, rich short term guys - the painting, a Paddo terrace buy today, sell tomorrow - kerching!
So, no Capital gain tax to speak of plus a big negative gearing tax break if you invested in property, both of which brought a flood of investment into the housing market creating the mess we have today - the children of most people stuffed for home ownership. It all started with Howard, the anti union legislation, the relaxing of unfair dismissal rules, though in that regard he managed to work a scam for the legal profession by promising to fund, to the tune of $500, preliminary legal advice to a complainant. The lawyer for that nice little earner, would advise that the only recourse was to the Supreme Court and a cost of tens of thousands of dollars well beyond the capacity of Betty, the shop assistant.
These are the people who can sneer at the possibility that something more equitable might be achieved
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