on 20-01-2015 10:51 PM
The government buys houses and rents them out to people at a discounted rate and the tax payer has to carry this burden.
Why is this so? Governments should not be buying houses!
I'm sorry but we should not have government housing!
Complete waste money!
All government housing should be sold to private sector!
The millions of dollars raised from the sale will build better roads, freeways, hospitals.
Governments should govern NOT buy houses for people to live in!
The job of government is to govern not babysit people!
***** Dear State Governments **** Please SELL ALL GOVERNMENT HOUSES !!! ****
on 21-01-2015 12:14 AM
It has been said that the measure of a civilisation is how it treats its poor and disadvantaged citizens.
What would you do? have them starve and shiver, exposed to the elements?
Also, our cynical free enterprise economic system demands and requires that there be a large pool of unemployed (and therefore, poor) people in society to maintain a downward pressure on wages and the inflation rate, which in turn, maximizes the profit margins for those who own the means of production.
It is a system which is designed to trickle-up money and wealth away from the poor and into the pockets of those who already have so much.
You know what the private sector would do. You have seen it in action; every time you open a letter (bill) from your electricity or water supplier.
The following is from an old (2013) article, but it is instructive, all the same.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart had Aus$7 billion (US$6.8 billion) wiped off her fortune in the past year but remains Australia's wealthiest person, an annual rich list showed Wednesday.
Rinehart, heiress to an iron ore prospecting empire built in Australia's resources-rich west, led the respected BRW Rich 200 list for a third year in a row with a personal fortune of Aus$22.02 billion.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/gina-rinehart-australias-richest-person_n_3316897.html
Ms Rinehart, on her own, out of her own pocket, could afford to pay for housing for all of the homeless people in Australia. and she wouldn't even notice the change to the weight in her pockets.
And, she is only one of many wealthy Australians who could afford to do this. and yet they don't.
I think the "private sector" already has enough of our money, don't you? and it's about time they gave some back.
on 21-01-2015 12:21 AM
Yes, and the tenants can sleep in their cars, including deserted mothers and their children.
Hold on....according to Jolly Joe .the poor don't have cars do they?
on 21-01-2015 12:36 AM
on 21-01-2015 12:48 AM
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: ... Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Matthew 25:28
LNP policy even in antiquity?
on 21-01-2015 01:01 AM
that doesnt sound australian
on 21-01-2015 01:02 AM
@iapetus_rocks wrote:For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: ... Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Matthew 25:28
LNP policy even in antiquity?
I can't kudo that because I haven't read the bible but it sounds about right.
A good quote from twitter today.
HeyJoe Hockey. How much would a former PM's parliamentary perks cost the taxpayer if he were to live to be 150?
21-01-2015 01:41 AM - edited 21-01-2015 01:44 AM
That is one area where taxes are supposed to be spent on.
Private rents $450 p.w. for an avg 3 bedroom house - how can someone on a low income/benefit afford that?
All government housing should be sold to private sector! That doesn't usually end well either for the Govt/Taxpayers. Sell it for a pittance, private owner waits 6 months and resells it for a huge profit.. millions in some cases with apartment blocks.
Result Govt didn't get much $$, public housing sold and those tenants have nowhere to live.
on 21-01-2015 01:57 AM
No one on social security benefits or even on minimum wage can afford that.
Even people earning $1,000 per week would be hard pressed to make ends meet and still pay their rent on time.
It used to be that people on low income would club together and rent a house and all chip in their fair share to pay the rent.
I once lived in a house in Sydney with eight other people. Big house in Gladesville within sight of the bridge. I forget how much the rent was.
It's the only way that poor people can afford to rent a decent house. . . share with as many others as can be comfortably accommodated.
21-01-2015 02:02 AM - edited 21-01-2015 02:05 AM
We couldn't afford to run the hot water heater. But, the house was 2 stories and the bathroom was on the upper floor, so the sun shone hot on the water pipe leading up to the bathroom and it was possible to take a quick shower before the water ran cold.