This is a guest blog post by John Wood who lives in Darlington, Australia. It is excerpted by permission from a longer piece by John: "Financial Sustainability: Staying Solvent in an Insolvent World." I believe the responsibility for our economic welfare is ours. Not our neighbours. Not our employers. Not our communities. No; not our families. Especially not the Government's! As the second decade of the new millennium begins, many seem blind to this law of life. Shifting the burden of responsibility for our financial welfare, in full or in part, to someone else, increasingly to the state, has become so prevalent that there are few if any in Australia who are not receiving some form of government assistance, handout, pension, subsidy, tax break, grant, benefit or concession. We are all part of the problem as we are of the solution. There are those amongst us who are sick and disabled and unable to care for themselves and should and must be provided with food, clothing, shelter, transportation and community if we are to be a compassionate society. But that said, way too many who do not fall into this unfortunate category, and who can care for themselves, are being suckled by the state to varying levels. Governments, because they want to be re-elected, are terrified that we will not accept and/or handle well the drop in our respective standards of living which will inevitably occur when the economic corrections fully manifest. Whether as a result of the positive intentions of a sound government to assist rectifying the imbalances in our economy (there are zero indications of this being likely in Australia), or if there remains no stomach for taking those decisions then the correction will occur when a critical mass of bubbles burst. This process cannot be stopped and it is time for us to stop kidding ourselves it can be manipulated forever by Governments and Central Bankers. Unfortunately in Australia, as seems to be the case the world over, whoever wins government is the party that has convinced the majority that they will best take responsibility for our individual, collective and corporate welfare. They have reassured the voter that their specific benefits will continue with the promise, or at least the hint, of more to come but implicit; “with our party, you are in safer, wiser, more prudent hands.” Time and again we are complicit in electing the laws of life illiterate but media appealing to govern, and thus moved with each election ever closer to the day of financial reckoning when we will wake up in the middle of a financial pickle of unprecedented proportions. There is no political party in Australia that I know of with sound money credentials. None! Without common sense money understanding, having enlightened social, environmental, health and educational policies are all ultimately in vain. We must have them to sustain ourselves in a total sense but the big bucks they cost are being squandered in wasteful welfare. All parties demonstrate a commitment to ever increasing taxpayer funded financial liabilities and through those policies to increasing deficits and eventual economic collapse. You see; expenditure cannot exceed income. It is not possible no matter how much we wish it were otherwise. Even countries finish up broke when the country’s costs exceeds its income. And the end result: people destitute, desperate and determined to do anything to feed and care for their family. That is the societal climate for the emergence of powerful leaders promising the world but providing totalitarian regimes in exchange. History shows us this is what happens. These autocrats emerge from either the left or right of politics in such bleak times. So there we have it: worldwide; expenditure is exceeding income at individual, family, business and government levels. Australia is galloping in that direction having squandered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the Chinese driven commodities boom (bubble) to set aside and save hundreds of billions of dollars or more for the rainy days ahead when real needs for welfare are likely to be enormous--widespread needs of the like most of us have never experienced. But the coffers will be empty. The societal consequences, as touched on earlier, will be dire.
Who is Responsible for our Economic Welfare?
Who is Responsible for our Economic Welfare?
Who is Responsible for our Economic Welfare?
This is a guest blog post by John Wood who lives in Darlington, Australia. It is excerpted by permission from a longer piece by John: "Financial Sustainability: Staying Solvent in an Insolvent World." I believe the responsibility for our economic welfare is ours. Not our neighbours. Not our employers. Not our communities. No; not our families. Especially not the Government's! As the second decade of the new millennium begins, many seem blind to this law of life. Shifting the burden of responsibility for our financial welfare, in full or in part, to someone else, increasingly to the state, has become so prevalent that there are few if any in Australia who are not receiving some form of government assistance, handout, pension, subsidy, tax break, grant, benefit or concession. We are all part of the problem as we are of the solution. There are those amongst us who are sick and disabled and unable to care for themselves and should and must be provided with food, clothing, shelter, transportation and community if we are to be a compassionate society. But that said, way too many who do not fall into this unfortunate category, and who can care for themselves, are being suckled by the state to varying levels. Governments, because they want to be re-elected, are terrified that we will not accept and/or handle well the drop in our respective standards of living which will inevitably occur when the economic corrections fully manifest. Whether as a result of the positive intentions of a sound government to assist rectifying the imbalances in our economy (there are zero indications of this being likely in Australia), or if there remains no stomach for taking those decisions then the correction will occur when a critical mass of bubbles burst. This process cannot be stopped and it is time for us to stop kidding ourselves it can be manipulated forever by Governments and Central Bankers. Unfortunately in Australia, as seems to be the case the world over, whoever wins government is the party that has convinced the majority that they will best take responsibility for our individual, collective and corporate welfare. They have reassured the voter that their specific benefits will continue with the promise, or at least the hint, of more to come but implicit; “with our party, you are in safer, wiser, more prudent hands.” Time and again we are complicit in electing the laws of life illiterate but media appealing to govern, and thus moved with each election ever closer to the day of financial reckoning when we will wake up in the middle of a financial pickle of unprecedented proportions. There is no political party in Australia that I know of with sound money credentials. None! Without common sense money understanding, having enlightened social, environmental, health and educational policies are all ultimately in vain. We must have them to sustain ourselves in a total sense but the big bucks they cost are being squandered in wasteful welfare. All parties demonstrate a commitment to ever increasing taxpayer funded financial liabilities and through those policies to increasing deficits and eventual economic collapse. You see; expenditure cannot exceed income. It is not possible no matter how much we wish it were otherwise. Even countries finish up broke when the country’s costs exceeds its income. And the end result: people destitute, desperate and determined to do anything to feed and care for their family. That is the societal climate for the emergence of powerful leaders promising the world but providing totalitarian regimes in exchange. History shows us this is what happens. These autocrats emerge from either the left or right of politics in such bleak times. So there we have it: worldwide; expenditure is exceeding income at individual, family, business and government levels. Australia is galloping in that direction having squandered the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the Chinese driven commodities boom (bubble) to set aside and save hundreds of billions of dollars or more for the rainy days ahead when real needs for welfare are likely to be enormous--widespread needs of the like most of us have never experienced. But the coffers will be empty. The societal consequences, as touched on earlier, will be dire.