Shock jock fantasy land vs reality
Image courtesy of 2gb.com
Recently I’ve started listening regularly but sparingly to Alan
Jones, Steve Price and Ray Hadley. All out of the 2GB stable. All
willing unquestioning extensions of the Liberal Party’s PR machine.
Why would I do such a thing, especially when it has the tendency to make me feel ill at times?
Over the last few years I have grown increasingly worried that the
Australian electorate isn’t as informed as they should be when it comes
to matters of policy, politics and especially economics.
I have come to the conclusion this is in large part due to shock
jocks like Jones, Price and Hadley and the deliberately skewed view of
the world they present.
For years I’ve been reading the cavalcade of conservative columnists
in the News Corp Australia stable. I refuse to pay for News Corp
Australia publications anymore but nonetheless I know what these
columnists write and how they state their case.
I’m also all too aware of Gina Rinehart’s pet television project The Bolt Report and the content of that show.
I wasn’t however aware of what was being said by conservative shock jocks to their captive audiences on a daily basis.
It’s safe to say I am now fully aware and I must say I have no idea why they are paid so much money.
It’s nothing but puerile, immature, self-congratulatory rubbish from “goodies and baddies” fantasy land.
Not sure what else I should have expected given the quality of all other conservative commentary.
I have been listening to them for a while with Tony Abbott in
government and I must say it is interesting to hear how they are
handling it now the shoe is on the other foot.
Their man’s in The Lodge. The people haven’t taken to him and accepted him as their personal saviour.
I’m sure there is an element of resentment towards Australia because they feel this wasn’t the way it was meant to be.
The rest of us do however live in the real world.
The world where Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey are taking a sledgehammer
to workers with significant increases in taxes, cuts to the pension,
cuts to support payments and welfare as well as unnecessarily punitive
and harsh changes around their eligibility requirements and structure.
Broken promises and lies aplenty.
Tony Abbott ran around for years – backed by his conservative
columnist cheer squad – claiming carbon pricing was causing the sky to
fall in and hurting everyday Australians with increases in cost of
living.
Now he’s in government and slugging pensioners, families, students
and the least well off among us as a result of his lies and broken
promises we’re expected to just accept it and, as some callers to 2GB
put it, stop “whinging”?
Everyday Australians are distressed by what these changes will mean
for them and their families. Many will have thousands of dollars ripped
from their budgets overnight.
If people have the nerve to question what this means for their
family’s future, and how they will get by, they are told by Hockey not
to think about themselves but what’s in “the good of the nation”.
Any cries of “Joeliar” on the Alan Jones show? Nope.
Instead we get the good old “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” and wall to wall remarks about “heavy lifting”.
Why did Abbott break his promises?
Well there’s a “debt and deficit disaster” don’t you know?
This wouldn’t happen to be the same “debt and deficit disaster” you were claiming before the election would it Abbott?
The numbers in the Pre-election Fiscal Outlook (PEFO) were fully known to Abbott and Hockey when they made their commitments.
The question to them should be: were they ever going to keep their commitments?
There is no “debt and deficit disaster”. It’s a focus grouped scare
campaign to make people accept tough cuts to their way of life.
Taking an axe to your voters by scaring them into submission? You’re all class as usual Abbott.
This government just isn’t being upfront with you.
That’s right. They’re lying.
Good old Phoney Tony.
We came through the GFC unscathed due to a stimulus package that has
been applauded by the IMF, OECD and the World Bank as well as Nobel
Prize winning economists.
We took on debt to avoid recession when our revenue fell off a cliff.
If not for these steps we would have gone into recession, like the
rest of the world. Unemployment would have skyrocketed and we would
still be struggling out of it as we speak.
Ironically, had action not been taken it can easily be surmised that
our debt position would be worse than it is now and revenue would have
been impacted for longer.
Australia’s debt to GDP is in the bottom third of developed nations.
We have around trend growth, low inflation and low unemployment.
You don’t get to make up your own facts Abbott.
This is the reality and it’s what makes the savage cuts and obsession
with surplus at all costs harmful and a risk to our economy if such
recklessness continues.
Why have the $130B of subsidies and concessions for big business and the well off not been touched Hockey?
Where’s their “heavy lifting”?
A symbolic temporary 3 year 2% tax on those earning over $180,000.
A breach of faith no question, but piddling compared to the whack on the unsuspecting ordinary Australian.
Abbott has frozen federal politicians pay for 12 months. What a trooper. An effective 2.4% cut.
Meanwhile, we’re all told to just accept the entire restructuring of our social safety net permanently.
For a government, surplus is obviously preferable to deficit but not at all costs.
Not at the expense of the people who voted for this government and trusted the specific commitments they made.
Not when it’s based on fear, lies and deceit around our budgetary position.
That’s called blind ideology; and boy doesn’t that term fit this government like a glove?
The issue with the current situation is we take nowhere near enough revenue.
The answer isn’t to just keep attacking the worker’s way of life and cutting taxes.
The answer is to ask those who have more to pay more.
A start would be looking at tax loopholes, concessions and subsidies.
As stated earlier, a whopping $130B of them being paid out every single
year.
Why? We can’t afford them anymore. I doubt we ever could.
Cuts to these expenses would go a long way to fixing our structural issues in the Budget.
Our debt can be paid back over time without causing massive damage to the community.
We don’t need the shock and awe approach to government, nor do we deserve it.
Nothing about this Budget is “fair”.
Abbott and Hockey seem to think if they repeat their condescending lines enough we’ll accept them.
It’s not going to happen. People are angry. They want answers. Honest answers.
A lady rang up 2GB recently and said she was worried we were heading the way of Greece due to the “debt and deficit disaster”.
A clearly laughable scenario when our economic situation is placed next to Greece’s at the peak of crisis.
It’s incredible that some people are so misinformed they are scared into blind adherence to conservatism.
It’s time we all pushed back against the lies about our economy,
because if we don’t who knows what damage these economic vandals will
do?
Matthew has a political opinion segment that streams live at 9:30am every Saturday at thetruthaboutisrael.tumblr.com
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