Kevin Rudd wants to continue to encourage Australians to spend their way out of the current recessionary conditions. For the sake of the health and well being of the majority of Australians, the free handout of $900 for every taxpayer currently hitting bank accounts should not be spent. The conspicuous consumption that prevailed during the last few years, whereby many maximised their credit cards and mortgages has been dealt a mortal blow. The greedy consumer syndrome died in 2008 when the full ramifications of the flood of toxic debt became apparent and many billions in wealth were destroyed forever.
Everyone, including Kevin Rudd, has to face a new non consumption growth era. An era in which many of us will have to re-learn, and much of the generation born from the late 1960’s onwards, will have to learn for the first time, how to live with less and reduce spending on luxuries. We all need a roof over our heads, food and transport options, as well as some pleasurable activities, to ensure that life is enjoyable. Consumption growth for sake of increasing the wealth of business and ensuring many of us have too many debt has adverse impacts on the environment as well as our own health.
Although we are called the Lucky Country, it is clearly apparent that many Australians are facing significant health and financial problems. Often there is a link between these two, exacerbated by working long hours, too much leverage of our assets, weight problems, excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption, gambling and family breakdowns.
There appears to be only one solution to save ourselves and, in the longer term, our planet. That is, to deleverage our assets, cut consumption, spend less time shopping and working. The more Kevin Rudd encourages the cradle to grave welfare expectations, the more likely people will not consider making the hard decisions to live within their means and be independent of handouts. Once the hard decisions have been made, much of the stress of day to day living is removed, allowing people to focus on the everyday pleasures of life.
Kevin Rudd should encourage everyone to follow the 4 Rs principles for restoring quality back into our lives, rather than to continue spending to provide instant gratification. The 4 big Rs to restore life balance are Reduction, Recycling, Restoration and Recreation.
Reduction - spending, consumption, smoking, drinking, debt and working hours.
Recycling - use what you have for its lifetime instead of dispensing with in a few months.
Restoration - returning to a basic life style. For e.g., is there a real need for latest plasma TV?
Recreation - spending time on pleasurable low-cost activities with family and friends.
Kevin Rudd needs to offer leadership and encouragement for lifestyle changes necessary to restore the health and happiness of everyone and extending the life of our planet.
For example, the current Medicare levy of 1.5% could be returned to taxpayers as an annual tax rebate of 1% if, say, total Medicare claims for the year were under $100. An extra annual penalty of 1% could be added for those who claim over $2,000. This carrot and stick approach may help people focus on looking after themselves, rather than always putting their hands out for more Government assistance. Most Australians do not want to increasingly continue to rely on Government and it about time a new agenda was set at our Federal level.
More government handouts perpetuate the process of reliance on the State and although providing short term help, will not offer the long term solutions to enable the necessary adjustment for our population to face the new economic reality. Rome was not built in a day and only by beginning this change process will the Federal Government start to get people acting and thinking that they have options other than relying on handouts.
