Leyonhjelm - Pensions are charity

[Newtosilver]

If they are working within the laws good for them, whats wrong with a person doing that?
Corporations pay as little tax as possible and claim funding where possible.
Im sure most people claim every cent they come at tax time.
I fail to see the difference here.

Its hypocrisy, plain and simple. Its ok for corporations, but as soon as pensioners work within the laws to maximise their wellbeing then suddenly they are evil old scum. This is what happens when the ubiquitous entitlement mentality of middle class Australians is combined with petty greed and a total lack of compassion.

That post just hit me like a sledge hammer between the eyes...... That sums up the attitude exactly big corporations are being hardly done by and they are like gods. Old people? Turtle them the turtles........

I sit here actually laughing, these "old people" who actually are they? They are your parents, Uncles and Aunts, family and your favourite teacher when you were at school. Now it is like "turtle them they can die they are a pain in the butt" "I want to put in a pool and get a new BMW because my other one is 2 years old. Old people........ Turtle them lets just take them for a drive out along a dirt track and prop them up beside a tree.

 

[SpacePete]

Who said it's ok for corporations? I don't agree with many of their loopholes. This thread is riddled with straw man arguments.

Maybe you could address my posts here SilverPete: http://forums.silverstackers.com/message-773680.html#p773680

Banks shares have risen just as drastically as house prices, perhaps you can explain why the person who has decided to rent and retire with a swag of shares instead of a house should be penalised?

I am not saying they should give up their home. I'm not saying they shouldn't claim all legal tax or government benefits. I am saying the rules should be changed with welfare received during life repaid from estate assets.

I apologise if I have misunderstood your argument, but I have seen too many older people suffer.

 

[Stoic Phoenix]

If as a people we are looking to reduce government spending maybe we should cast our gaze at the ineptitude of many people in the public service and the waste of money and resources by their departments.

Is debating reducing excessive spending by the government the arguement here ?

Leyonhjelm in my opinion shows he is a weak man attacking a weaker target...how about speaking up and being active about govt waste and closing loopholes exploited by corporations rather than taking cheap shots at pensioners

 

[Big A.D.]

Leyonhjelm in my opinion shows he is a weak man attacking a weaker target...

Uh, he's talking about rich Baby Boomers who, collectively (with their somewhat poorer peers), have the numbers to control the political agenda in this country.

As you can see from this graph from the ABS, the grey bars for all age groups over the age of 50 are longer than the blue lines. That represents the increase in the number of older people between 1994 and 2014.

Source: www.abs.gov.au

You can see that generation getting older where they were represented in the longer blue bars in the under 50s age brackets twenty years ago.

This is a simpler illustration of the problem:

Source: www.macrobusiness.com.au

Since (too) many people act in their own self interest, a large group of reasonably wealthy people eligible for great retirement perks creates the problem: if they don't want to give them up, they have the political clout to ensure they don't have to.

And that part of living in a democracy is fine until there isn't enough money to keep funding all those generous perks and tax breaks.

Leyonhjelm isn't attacking a weak target at all. He's attacking a comparatively rich and powerful target and saying there aren't enough resources to give cash and concession to those people who don't really need them.