What it costs you to hold down your job

Discussion in 'Markets & Economies' started by Nugget, Jun 6, 2013.

  1. bordsilver

    bordsilver Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Technically it comes out of their wages (as does lots of other things like air conditioning, milk, pot plants etc).
     
  2. Lunardragon

    Lunardragon Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    anyway.. back to the topic...

    it may cost arms and legs at the current economic condition to hold down your job.

    It is part of human nature.

    The more you earn the more you demand for a better lifestyle. As a result, the higher expenditures we face to fulfill those needs. And once you stand on this level, it is very hard to go back to the level you used to be. It is not impossible though.

    I recalled back to my childhood, we were happy just to play cards, sand, soldier figurines, hide and seek, run around, mostly cheap non-battery operated toys. Take a look now......
     
  3. Lunardragon

    Lunardragon Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    in this context, not necessary.

    Employers will determine whether their staff require one judging from their role of duties.
     
  4. Chillidog

    Chillidog New Member Silver Stacker

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    When I was a tradie in Sydney, I used to amaze me the money the boys would spend on smoko and lunch.
    Typical day for them.
    Start at 6.00 usually no breakfast bar a few cigies
    Smoko= two bacon and egg rolls $9.00
    Large coffee $4.50
    Bottle of coke $2.50
    Lunch= hamburgers and chips $10
    Coffee $4.50
    Coke $2.50
    Packet of cigarettes $12.00
    So $31 per day x 5 = $155
    The laborers were on roughly $450 take home.
    No wonder they can't afford a car.
    After rent and transport nothing left.
    No wonder people go on the dole. $350 per week no outgoings like above.
     
  5. Yippe-Ki-Ya

    Yippe-Ki-Ya New Member

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    Interestingly very little of these bona fide expenses are tax deductable!
    This simply adds more impetus to the moral argument against the income tax.. which is a fraud perpetrated by govenment which in effect makes each and every citizen a SLAVE of the government.

    In reality, not only is income tax on a human being's TIME worked reprehensible, but it's also unlawful.

    However, the government gets away with it by changing the definition of what words like "person" actually mean when they wrote up their tax statutes.
    This results in people truly believing that they have no option but to pay income tax, when this is not the case.

    They (government) really are no better than the mafia...
     
  6. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    That's the operating cost, but what would the total economic cost be if everyone drove private cars instead? (Or didn't drive private cars because they couldn't afford the car and or the running costs).

    If people are paying $22 a day for lunch and two coffees already, what would the cost be if their baristas and sandwich makers were also paying $240/week in petrol and parking?
     
  7. Jislizard

    Jislizard Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Maybe a public coffee system would be in order so you only had to pay for 20% of the cost of the coffee and the other 80% was paid for out of taxes from people who were not drinking it.

    I walk to work anyway, one of the things we had to do was make a decision, we could work as locums and travel anywhere around the country for wages of about $60 an hour or we could get a job in the hospital at the end of the road and get paid $35 an hour. We decided that it made more sense to work close to home so we didn't have to use the car much and so we never had to use public transport again.

    Just spent the last two weeks travelling down to Brisbane for Jury Duty. They pay for public transport but not for parking so I used pubilc transport. It was always on time and I got seats all the way there and back, only cost about $6 a ticket each way. No complaints about the service or the cost but I wouldn't want to have to do it every day, I will stick to the lower paying job and enjoy the lifestyle.
     
  8. Ouch

    Ouch Active Member

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    If Ben works for the Queensland Government, he might be out of a job soon and be thankful for the money he's going to save!

    Queensland government to outsource IT services
     
  9. AngloSaxon

    AngloSaxon Active Member

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    I took buses for the first 10 years of my adult life. I detest them. I value the freedom my car gives me in terms of flexibility, comfort and loud music that can never be even thought of with public transport. It's a cost I gladly pay.

    Professionally I need to take a car to visit client sites and if I end up working late.

    Thanks for Bordsilver for that excellent analysis of the true costs of public transport. I have an example to add: I've learned recently that the much lauded 'light rail' tram system in Sydney needs two (2) conductors at most times of the day, per tram. Having only one conductor per tram just leads to massive fare evasion. So with the driver that is three protected public sector union employees per tram essentially servicing the casino crowd and preventing freeloaders on the rest of the network. And local politicians wants to roll out these fare evasion and tree lopping trams into the rest of the CBD and beyond? What is this costing us?
     
  10. mmm....shiney!

    mmm....shiney! Administrator Staff Member Silver Stacker

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    I would never trust computer technology to anyone named Ben.


    :p
     
  11. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Less than the cost of congestion from private cars. It's been studied to death since before the cute little shuttle we have at the moment was opened in 1997.

    Again, it comes back to how much it costs not to do something. For example, the cycle-ways everyone loves to bitch about return $3 in economic benefits for every dollar that gets spent on them (which isn't really that surprising when you consider traffic congestion costs Sydney's economy about $5 billion a year).
     
  12. Byron

    Byron Guest

    Trains for the new northwest rail link in Sydney are to be driverless. First in Oz.

    Union is already up in arms, claiming it is dangerous to have computers running trains.

    True? Human or computer error more likely in accidents?
     
  13. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Driver-less trains have been around since the 60s.

    The union argument is complete rubbish.

    Seriously, trains operate in a known environment. They start, travel exactly 1,348.6m to the station, stop, wait for 45 seconds, start, travel exactly 3,958.3m to the next station, stop, etc, etc.

    There are kids out there who could build and program this sort of system using Lego.
     
  14. willrocks

    willrocks Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    But what if someone's on the tracks? Or a tree ... etc
     
  15. Big A.D.

    Big A.D. Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    LIDAR.

    Google is allowed to have an autonomous car drive itself around on public roads in three U.S. states. We're talking about a train that either goes forwards or backwards.
     
  16. hiho

    hiho Active Member Silver Stacker

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    thank fuck for silver stackers
     
  17. AngloSaxon

    AngloSaxon Active Member

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    You neglected to quote me on this:

    I pay in rego, stamp duty, petrol duties, GST on top of those duties. Money spent to provide me with roads is also spent on the trucks that bring me my food.

    Plus the maintenance, parts, unit cost of petrol not including the tax on it is all spent in the real economy. I'm good friends with my mechanic, and have a good relationship with my Repco. A far cry from all the tax spent on public transport executive salaries and the hundreds of millions spent on rail network enlargement studies that produced absolutely nothing. To me that is dead money, as far removed from the real economy as taking my currency and blending it and adding to the garden compost.
     
  18. Kawa

    Kawa New Member

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    I spent 1700 last year on Tolls.

    Three or Four good suits every two years will cost 3-4 K.

    However thats nothing to what a teenager son costs.It is incredible.Couple of car crashes and speeding tickets tops it up as well.
     
  19. wrcmad

    wrcmad Well-Known Member Silver Stacker

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    Sound like he's having a good go at it then!
    Reminds me of my youth.... but my old man would have just laughed at the thought of paying my way for being a di%&head. :lol:
     
  20. Ernster

    Ernster New Member

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    "Ben" is an idiot.

    Why would you get a job 55KM away.
    Why would you drive to work if you have to pay for parking.
    Why would you spend $22 a day on food/coffees
    Why would you buy coffee in the first place! There's free coffee at work.

    The job is not the problem, it's all "Ben".
     

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