I completely agree! The so-called war on drugs must be one of the biggest epic failures and waste of resources by western governments. Our governments have in fact created this whole drug trade and made instant millionaires out of the drug dealers. I agree 100% with Ron Paul that this needs to stop. Here is another useful link which sums up how I feel about this particular topic: http://down-with-power.com/drugwar.html
Fine let's do that. However the same scumbags i am referring to are also into armed robberies-banks, armored vans, knifings, car-jackings, burglaries, bashings, prostitution, arson etc. Their actions are not always neceseraly (sp) related to drugs. What takes the cake is that they continue planning and executing their crimes behind jail walls. Not to mention they are also the first to play the race and religion card - like that b*tch that falsely accused the police officer of assault, that he removed her headgear........she avoided jail on the technicality that police couldn't prove her identity as her face was covered. Sorry but this is complete and utter BS and evidence of a system that has not only failed but is tailored towards protecting criminals, and foreign ideologies.
Well, generally with these things I think it's helpful to ask why these actions are profitable or why some people find them more profitable than living within the rules. The drug war is a clear case in point so I won't harp on about it. I haven't looked at this really closely so I can't make a solid case for it but I would lean towards things like massively increased cost of living, insane house prices, gap between the rich and poor increasing, etc, etc... Crime looks more and more like a viable alternative for many, because let's face it the system heavily favours a relatively small number of people.
mate - I have absolute understanding and respect for your point of view here. In fact I felt the very same way until a relatively short while back. However, I've recently come to understand a lot more about the so-called drug war and exactly what part the government has played in promoting the drug trade and especially the associated crimes you speak of. Fact is that if there was no drug war then the prices of these drugs would not be even 1% of what they currently are - the drug war is the only thing which has created these artificially sky high prices, and its oonly because of these artificially high prices that drug users have to resort to crime to get the money to support their drug usage... Think about it... Have another look at the link i placed above and especially take a look (via Google) at what Ron Paul has to say about the "war on drugs". He explains this very eloquently... Fact is - whenever government meddles in anything - the price of whatever it's meddling in goes sky high!! And no area has more meddling and misallocation of tax payer resources than the so-called war on drugs! without it, 3/4 of government employees wouldn't have a bluddy job! Government lovers absolutely NEED this war to keep THEMSELVES in business ...
Australia operates under a protectionist regime, meaning much of the market is dominated by protected monopolies or duopolies. Innovation is always slower (and sometimes completely halted) under such environments and it's left to consumer demand to promote activity (but usually delayed as the sentiment has to be born elsewhere). ie We see (insert X country) with advanced technology and demand it locally, but because of the protectionism we are given it slowly and through extortionist pricing models (think broadband and mobile phone tech)
I've lived in both and my overall level of taxation was similar in both (considering income and sales taxes). This is supported by comparisons such as this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates (which shows personal taxation roughly the same in the two countries). However, you point out property taxes are higher here (which didn't affect me as I don't own property in either place). Not having any personal experience to know if that is true or not, I'll take your word on it. You also mention indirect taxes like motor vehicle taxes, fuel etc. So yeah, if you include those, we are probably taxed somewhat higher here (but not out of proportion to our somewhat higher incomes). It's cost of living that's more the killer here rather than tax, I think. Also most of a rego fee is compulsory third party insurance (which goes to a private company, not a government, so calling it taxation is a bit of a stretch). The actual registration FEE itself is roughly comparable between the two countries (higher in Australia, but only slightly). Of course, the merits of having compulsory third party insurance are a separate debate (though it's nice knowing that if some idiot smashes into you and you require hospitalisation, that you won't be out of pocket, even if you and/or they are uninsured). Of course, absolutely. I qualified my statements with an "if" (i.e. higher cost of living IF it's in proportion with wages ... if it's not, then that's bad obviously). Having said that, here is my experience from being a dual citizen and having lived in both places for extended periods of time. Things like clothing are about 2.5x the cost here. Fuel and cars is about 1.5-2.0x; ditto with groceries. Electronics are surprisingly not much more than the US here (it used to be like 2-3x back in the 1990s, but is pretty close these days ). Eating out in a restaurant is about the same too once you include sales tax and tip in the US. Some things are actually more expensive in the US (mobile phone plans for instance ... we have far better low cost and prepaid options than the US). Overall I'd say the cost of living is about double here compared to the US, and wages maybe 1.5x (so yeah, we are getting the worse deal, but not by a massive margin ... try Japan if you want to see real cost of living issues!) Absolutely agree with you 100% on your comments about the drug war and government interference with housing market here BTW.
And yet on average US citizens have far more disposable income than average Australians. It all comes back to cost of living, the union twats will bang on about all the above great things they have managed to squeeze out of government and business all the while the cost of living has gone up faster than any of the above. Don't worry America and Europe are doing their cost of living catch up now with all that printed money. But in the mean time more and more Australian jobs will be lost over seas for ever.
Interesting ... I honestly think it's the opposite. People here in Oz seem to have far more money to spend on discretionary stuff than Americans. That's partly why our prices are higher - the market will bear a higher price because we have more disposable income...? Might just be the people I know though - the Americans I know struggle to get by month by month, but the Australians not so much (and I know roughly equal numbers of each). Your mileage may vary, of course
it depends what you want an economy for... but Australia and Sweden score the highest in about all indicators of quality of life
That reminds me of the Bill Hicks joke about Iraq having the 4th largest standing army in the world - "but there's a hell of a distance to third, once you leave China there's a helluva drop off." I've often wondered whether Oz is a tiny little experimental farm for one of the NWO Illuminati kids to muck about with until he grows up. A bit like a Tonka toy. Hard to break, very resilient, don't need much grey matter to run the place, and if it does break no big deal. Put it on the broken pile with Argentina and the other resource rich fiefdoms that have been pillaged - or trade it when energy starts to cost too much.
