After being on Centrelink payments - we are lucky to live in a country with such material abundance that these payments exist. Many countries have nothing. ...for a few months = the market is sending you a message, your skills are not employable where you live, its time to move. ...doesn't pay enough = you are saying working people should be forced at the barrel of a gun to give you more of their money. No thank you. Only $460 per fortnight is just not enough = more barrel of a gun requested by you. My mum had to pay = my mother chose to pay, she is generous and deserves thanks and repayment. I know they want people working = do you want to work? There are many jobs going across this country. I employ 10 people and often find it difficult to get new employees. ...they have screwed it all down - if you asked me, unemployed people would get nothing. Why provide payment for people to not work. Economic insanity. Here is the message for you from Mr Market - move to where there is work. Accept a job in any field that will pay for your skills. Work hard at that job, arrive early, stay late, do extra. Likely you will then receive promotion and pay rises. Once you are employed, you can work on building your skills. Get a second job. Enrol in a TAFE course to learn skills in demanded occupations. Then decide where you else might like to work, while still working in your current job. Save and build financial reserves.
By abundance I think you really mean theft from working people? In countries that have no welfare, income taxes are typically a lot less. Some Asian countries I've lived in have income tax at 10%. The cost of living is also much cheaper. And, no, the wages weren't less than Australia. They were a lot more when you factor in income tax.
Yes of course I mean theft from working people. Surely you already picked up that theme from my post, eg barrel of the gun comments? I just didn't want the entire post to be negative.
" Get a second job" Fond memories of 6 years in the early days of the Victorian TAB. Straight from the bank to the TAB every week night to do 'the trots'. Home about 11.30 each night after a 8.30AM start in the bank. All day saturday! OC
No malice intended... but I have never had a problem making money... good money... with no high school education, no trade, no degree, no profession... and I am a very disadvantaged immigrant since I am from the USA, I had to pay nearly $6000 for the privilege to live here with my wife and children... I run 2 businesses, work security, studying for a Degree in Nursing to become an registered nurse, re-qualifying as an emergency medical technician and there are a few other things I may have forgotten... and I trade physical metals privately and through the forum. I started working one day a week at a farmers market nearly 3 years ago for $90 a day(about 9 hours) and all the veggies I needed to feed my family for a week, that 'job', now business today employs my wife, 2 sons, and gives me a residual income that lets me study full-time. But at the time the farmer could not find anyone who saw the value of $90 in hand and a few crates of veggies. By working that one day, I dropped the family grocery bill by $450 per fortnight, that was approx. $900 pretax per fortnight I did not have to earn and gave my family an amazing diet of fresh, organic fruit and veg. So my $90 day was worth to about $500 to me. Not a bad day's wages. And the farmer was not losing anything since most of the produce I took was the leftovers that were headed to the compost pile. We blanched, bottled, preserved and froze all the surplus and what was little value to others became great value to us. By seeing value where no one else did and taking initiative, I have grown this job into a business that gives my wife a weeks wage for 2 days of work, my sons make more in 6 hours than their mates do working all week at KFC or McDonalds, and our family grocery bill is now around $125 per week for a family of 6 people including 3 growing boys, pays the cost of our vehicles, computers, mobiles, and etc. This is one example of making the best with what you have and building on it. And by grabbing these types of opportunities and running with them, I have not had to work a 40hour week in nearly 20 years and am financially independent, as in I could live for the next 12 months without having an income, but that will never happen as I am always busy doing what I want to do and making money while doing it. It is all about living in your means and making the hard choices, example... we own a very nice Tarago van which is 22 years old in nearly immaculate condition that cost me all of $3800 cash, while friends of ours bought a 'new' one, well... a 2008 model... because it was below their dignity to drive an old van... for $38,000... and our van hauls the same amount of people, goes just fast, gets nearly as good fuel economy, has all the mod cons including air conditioning(Wow!!) just like their 'new' Tarago, and our van is one better with full-time 4WD(here we come snow), but without the car loan. Oh, and that is the most expensive vehicle I have ever bought in Australia as I love old Falcon wagons for $1000, cheap, tough, economical, and easy to fix. Not mention all of our clothes come from Vinnies, we live in a 'poor' neighbourhood, most of our technology(TV's, video games, stereos, computers) is scavenged off the side of the road during council clean-ups. And if you really want to find out what hitting the bottom of the barrel is like when there is no bottom... try living in the USA where you do not have Centrelink, Medicare, Parenting Payment, Family Tax Benefit... I rolled the dice on a business nearly 20 years ago which ended up leaving me with $400 in my pocket and $40,000 owed in legal fees along with a wife that was 7 months pregnant and a two year old son... no house, no money, no Centrelink, no Medicare, nothing... and had to start all over from scratch including paying the $15,000 in medical expenses for our second son's birth. That is what is is like to live in 'Paradise'. So honestly, you get little or no sympathy from me.
Silver Pauper, Why did you emigrate from the USA to Australia, and why you consider yourself to be a "very disadvantaged immigrant since I am from the USA"?
Guys I live in a semi rural bush location that's 20minutes from suburbs....I'm a motorbike rider and I can tell you they're no cheaper to run than a $4000 car like I also have......Centrelink make me search for three jobs minmum per week all done on internet, that's cost minimum $70 per month....Then theres all the phone calls and job appointments to go to so you burn fuel in your car to get there too....Then they turn around and say they don't actually need anyone straight away.....I just waited a whole week to here back about a great job but the managers wont employ anyone new because the ceconomy is so bad at the moment...... I'm telling you guys now that the Liberals will change the economy and there will be more jobs available soon...... Also, i'm a Diesel Mechanic by trade and that's a hard job to do......I've actually been out of the trade for ten years....I'm now going back on the tools and am just waiting until Monday to here about two new jobs....They keep telling me I should be able to start soon then they go change it all.
Unlike most of the immigrants of today, from 'poor countries' or the Commonwealth, being from the USA meant that I had no benefits(Medicare, etc) for 12 months, I could not work for 12 months, my wife and children(all Australian citizens) could not receive any benefits for 6 months, and I had to put up enough money to ensure that we would not be a taxpayer burden for 24 months, so essentially living expenses for 2 years. Along with the fact that none of my industry credentials or training(paramedic and construction) were of any use, so I had no trade, no profession, no degree, and since I was a high school dropout, no HSC, which meant I was not going to walk into a job with a decent wage. Oh, and for a period of 36 months I would have to pay for any workplace training, continued education, higher education out of my own pocket. Sometimes I wonder if I should have waited a few years and came over on a boat...
Its too late now I've been out of it for too long..... Never should have left it in the first place. I just think Labor have screwed it all down way too hard....Some people don't even have any qualifications at all...... We ALL have to remember the Aussie economy isn't good at the moment and times are very tough.....I don't know if it all Labors fault or just partially but what I do know is there are some people doing it very hard at the moment....Especially in remote areas where they need to burn petrol to get anywhere......The gov. don't give you extra just because you live in the bush or out of town and I think its bloody wrong to be honest.
The main themes in this thread seem to be: 1) work for some meagre fiat 2) if i suffered so should others Every generation should live better than the last, but it looks like lack of sympathy and social misery in perpetuation.
TheEnd, I am going to be brutal, but you are not trying hard enough... diesel mechanic! You are a diesel mechanic... I am sure there a few tradies, farmers, truckies, heavy equipment operators that you know or could learn to know that you would give you some work. If you came to me and said, "Hey, Silver Pauper, I see you got two dirty cars that need a detail and serviced, what do you think if you get the oil, filters and etc, I will give both of your cars a detail and a full service in exchange for a tank of fuel in my car"? My reply would be, "Absolutely!" Then you may notice that I have 3 tractors on the farm(which I do) that need some TLC and a service and you offer to do the same to the tractors in exchange for $100 toward your rego. How soon can you start? Now you may think, but I am giving my time away for nothing... well... you are not... sure you may be working for $5 per hour, but what else do you have to do? Sit at home on the computer and whinge about your life on Silverstackers? Let's see how this little scenario plays out... You did a great job on my cars and tractors and you have told me that you are trying to get the money together for your rego... well... my delivery van needs a service and TLC... so maybe another $50 for a half-a-days work? Again you simply astound me with your workmanship and attention to detail, so I call my neighbor John who has 4 tractors(which he does) and tell him about you and that you are trying to scratch some money together for rego. On my reference, John lets you service and cleanup his tractors, another $100 maybe... now think who else might John tell about the great job you did on his tractors? But then the story gets really interesting... the fuel pump on my big tractor packs it in and I call my diesel mechanic and he tells me that he is not going to be able to get my tractor fixed for a few days because he is too busy. I need my tractor fixed now as I have potatoes that need to be in the ground yesterday. But, hey! Isn't TheEnd a diesel mechanic, and he was looking for work, so I bet he could fix the tractor today and since he did such a great job servicing my tractors, let's give him ring! So I ring you and say I will pay you the going hourly wage rate of a diesel mechanic which is $25hr, if you can fix my tractor today. Of course you can fix my tractor, you come over straightaway, pull the pump, source a new pump, refit it and again you are professional and your workmanship is stellar, even though you tell me that it may take you a little longer since you may not have all the tools you need, to which I will reply what do you need and how much, Oh, some silly spanner that is proprietary to Ford/New Holland and costs $120, to which I reply, get it and I will pay for it. In the end, I am happy because I am planting potatoes and you have made a couple of hundred dollars and I have saved a few dollars because my usual diesel mechanic charges me $80hr. So happens that while I am on the tractor planting potatoes, John calls me and asks to borrow my ute because the waterpump packed it up on his ute and he needs to go to Sydney and pick-up a couple thousand seedlings. Of course, he can borrow my ute, but since you did such a great job on my tractor, I say, hey, remember TheEnd who serviced our tractors, give him a ring because he is great mechanic and will be able to have your ute back on the road as soon as possible. And John rings you to fix his ute. And, of course, you do a top-notch job once again, to John's delight and mine. And then a friend of John's who owns a big civil works firm with a dozen machines and half-dozen tip trucks, mentions he is looking to hire a good diesel mechanic, and guess who John will recommend him to ring? And the same day, my usual diesel mechanic tells me over a beer at the pub that it has been impossible for him to find a reliable and conscientious mechanic, and wonders if I know any of any good mechanics? So all the while you are working 'for cheap', you are building relationships and networks of people that can open doors and provide opportunities that will never be advertised in the paper, on the internet, or in Centrelink. All the above story could actually happen to you if you make it happen. But no one is going to hand it to you. Stop expecting the world to give you anything, blaming it on the economy, the government, because you are exactly why this nation is in trouble. Poor little sheeple.... Centrelink does not pay you enough and the government owes you a job! And you call yourself a stacker?
Silver pauper I apoligise, As of Monday I will be doing my best to find any job.....I'm lucky I have a trade certificate....what worries me is the poor guys that don't. Anyways i'm over Centrelink and the whole scheme I think its wrong, i'm moving on now.
Its Australia .... not Australialalaland SP .... "Now you may think, but I am giving my time away for nothing... well... you are not... sure you may be working for $5 per hour, but what else do you have to do?" "You did a great job on my cars and tractors and you have told me that you are trying to get the money together for your rego... well... my delivery van needs a service and TLC... so maybe another $50 for a half-a-days work?" "Again you simply astound me with your workmanship and attention to detail, so I call my neighbor" And before you know it you are the village idiot ... because word gets around ....
