The performance of the Australian Labor Party in government

Achievements of the Australian Labor Party in government....read on.

1.. Carbon Tax – “There will be no carbon tax under the Government I lead.”

2.. Nation Broadband Network – $50 billion but no cost-benefit analysis

3.. Building the Education Revolution – The school halls fiasco

4.. Home Insulation Plan (Pink Batts) – Dumped after deaths and injuries

5. Citizens Assembly – Dumped

6.. Cash for Clunkers – Dumped

7.. Hospital Reform – Nothing

8.. Digital set-top boxes – Cheaper at Harvey Norman and now going obsolete

9.. Emissions Trading Scheme – Abandoned

10. Mining Tax – Continuing uncertainty for our miners

11. Livestock export ban to Indonesia – A massive over-reaction that decimated

the cattle industry and transport industry in Northern Australia

12. Detention Centres – Riots & massive cost blow-outs

13. East Timor ‘solution’ – Announced before agreed

14. Malaysia ‘solution’ – Scrapped because Malaysia is not a signatory to UN Human Rights Charter

15. Manus Island ‘solution’ – On the backburner

16.. Computers in Schools – $1.4 billion blow out; less than half delivered

17. Cutting Red Tape – 12,835 new regulations, only 58 repealed

18. Asia Pacific Community – Another expensive Rudd frolic. Going nowhere

19. Green Loans Program – Abandoned. Only 3.5% of promised loans delivered

20. Solar Homes & Communities plan – Shut down after $534 million blow out

21. Green Car Innovation Fund – Abandoned

22. Solar Credits Scheme – Scaled back

23. Green Start Program – Scrapped

24. Retooling for Climate Change Program – Abolished

25. Childcare Centres – Abandoned. 260 promised, only 38 delivered

26. Take a “meat axe”’ to the Public Service – 24,000 more public servants added

27. Murray Darling Basin Plan – back to the drawing board

28. 2020 Summit – Meaningless talkfest

29. Tax Summit – Deferred and downgraded

30. Population Policy – Sets no targets

31. Fuel Watch – Abandoned

32. Grocery Choice – Abandoned

33. $900 Stimulus cheques – Sent to dead people and overseas residents.

The majority spent on flat screen TV's and fast food.

34. Foreign Policy – In turmoil with Kevin (747) Rudd running riot flying around

the world spending more than the US Secretary of State

35. National Schools Solar Program – Closing two years early

36. Solar Hot Water Rebate – Abandoned

37. Oceanic Viking – Caved in

38. GP Super Clinics – 64 promised, only 11 operational

39. Defence Family Healthcare Clinics – 12 promised, none delivered

40. Trade Training Centres – 2650 promised, 70 operational

41. Bid for UN Security Council seat – An expensive Rudd frolic

42.. My School Website – Revamped but problems continue

43. National Curriculum – States in uproar - as they would be

44. Small Business Superannuation Clearing House – 99% of small businesses reject it

45. Indigenous Housing Program – way behind schedule

46. Rudd Bank – Went nowhere

47. Using cheap Chinese fabrics for Defense uniforms – Ditched

48. Innovation Ambassadors Program – junked

49. Six Submarines – none operational

50. Debt limit to be increased to $250 billion and rising – to pay for all of this and much more

Source: Email - much loved

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Extortion in Australia - applied pragmatism

The Australian economy is of course faring well; but that is not to say a moral crisis is not impacting on Australia, as in other democracies. The popular resentment in of course against the major parties. There is of course a lot of angst with business. And to be fair, a great deal of 'big business' does involve some form of extortion. I cannot however bring myself to blame them for their pragmatic idiocy because they don't to be the 'moral agents' that politicians profess to be. After all, politics is 'applied morality'. Politicians enact laws; they decide the relationship between you and your neighbour; and they have a collectivised monopoly on the 'legitimate' use of force. There are types of applied force:

1. Initiation of force - such as forced taxation, subsidies using extorted wealth, unfair imprisonment without trial.

2. Force in defense or as a custodial measure, i.e. When the police protect people, or when govt regulation is intended to protect, as opposed to distorting markets to achieve some desired outcome.

The moral crisis becomes evident in the following article. About 10 years ago, Pat Corrigan and the National Farmers Federation used their collective financial muscle to break the unions who were using their labour union organisation to extort wealth from the shippers and taxpayers. Today, we have a different form of thuggery. We have a group of thugs 'encircling' Canberra. You might say they are there to protest. Well I say, why does a minority or majority matter? The debate should be not about physical extortion, but about the quality of ideas. Why does this become about 'numbers' or 'sacrifice' (as in the case of the protesters time, or the Indian currently on a hunger strike in that failing democracy). The problem with democracy is that its all about the wrong things. Its not about objectivity or ideas; its about the power of money and 'numbers'. We ought to be vetting the ideas of genius; not the thuggery of the mindless extorters who could bother less whether principles apply. They have concrete interests, and its mostly about protecting their previous privileges. Some of them might well be legitimate, but extortion doesn't make them any more righteous.

Globally about 10 democracies are currently in a state of crisis, whether central bank crises, debt crises, civil unrest. The one's I can think of are: UK, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Portugal, USA, Japan and the Middle East. This is quite an array of democracies and authoritarian regimes. I would actually argue that democracy is an authoritarian regime. Why? Two reasons:

1. No objective standard of value - 'numbers, not reason'

2. No personal sovereignty - you are a means to some public (i.e. non-self end)

Any system developed on those terms is a tyranny because you have no choice, and you have no basis to achieve justice or accountability.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Wake up Australia! Gillard must go.

Have you noticed how quickly government goes off track when you have a collectivist running government. Picture this story:

1. Climate change is bad - so need to invest in solar. Huge sums given to fund programs, a great deal of misdirect of money, overpriced panels and installation, and unsustainable subsidies driving taxpayers into the ditch

2. Humanity intrinsic - Need to treat all people with dignity, even if they don't act with dignity. Need to encourage illegal immigration so not to offend sensitive humans with an intrinsic concept of human worth.

3. Climate change is bad - Killing of wild camels to reduce carbon (i.e. methane) emissions.

There is a value system here Australia. But do you think this is a good one. Do you think this is life affirming public policy? I don't think so for several reasons.

1. There is no clear evidence that humanity is detrimentally impacting the climate. This is conjecture at this point, and I'd say the arguments would quickly evaporate if more than 5% of the scientific population used their deductive, critical thinking capacity. Unfortunately, most of them are empiricists, who studied science because they could not make it into economics, or their values were corrupted by a poor education system, or their parents. We are sabotaging the economy, i.e. distorting human decision-making in order to preserve a lie; just as occurred with Vietnam, Iraq, children overboard, etc. Now we are being fed a rationalisation of climate change to kill camels. Next, expect a Liberal govt to use climate change as justification for nuclear. Frankly, I support nuclear, but for the right reasons.

2. The debate is populism: There is no informed debate on these issues. The mob is being manipulated by a Labor government in concert with lobbyists; probably some group inside the ABC who thought this is an issue to drive decision-making. It does not require a conspiracy; it requires an alliance of ignorance.

3. There is no accountability: Smart people are being alienated by a mob who controls government.

The intellectual decay in Australia is remarkable. The Liberals are just better; they are far from satisfactory. Australia - please start electing some Libertarians to at least control the balance of power. Just 10-15 of them, least we descend into anarchy. Frankly, that is probably a good thing. We need civil war as even the Libertarians cannot think. People might need to see the implications of stupidity. I might stay in the Philippines for the next decade. Australia's populism is reaching a new level of stupidity. The same type of stupidity that impacted Europe prior to WWII. Watch a nation be destroyed. It is no paradox that the nation never had it so good. Just 5% of the population produces 75% of exports. The nation never had it so easy. This is why you are all going to hell....well not hell...but a bad place. The looters and thugs are taking over. Gillard is the principal of their school of 'non-thought'.

Great rationalisation. Hopefully the animal & climate greens will cancel each other out. More worrisome is that they might mutate/breed. Fortunately they are so anti-conceptual, they will destroy each other over this concrete political issue, just like the Muslims and Christians in the Middle East. Ok, so they survived. The strategic question is whether they will be sufficiently weakened by their destructive actions. Unfortunately, objective intellectuals are a bit thin on the ground because of our crap education system.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com

Best place in the world

There is no question in my mind that Australia is one of the best countries to live, but it does have some very unappealing elements. The problem I have come to realise is that there is no perfect place, and that you really have to 'create your own paradise'. In a sense, you kind of have to live a life in 'transience' to get what you want. For me, living the life as an expatriate is ultimately the way to live, spending time in each of the best places. The modern creates those opportunities, but sadly the world is not entirely a pleasant place. There are several sordid elements, and it relates to people's values. Those elements are:

1. Arbitrary statutory law - unlike common law its a collectivist tyranny divorced from context, and the government which imposes them; whether we are talking social standards, tax laws (to extort as governments do) or self-serving corruption.

2. Narrow minded, unthinking people with low self esteem, low education who engage in proclamations of their intrinsic or socially-defined worth, irrespective of the facts, which convey a different 'reality' to the rationalisation or feelings they conjure up in their own minds, or which social liberals create for them to spare them any guilt for imposing their arbitrary needs on others.

Australia, and for that matter NZ, have those elements, and of course every country has them. One has to acknowledge that its pretty bad in Australia. My solution is to live in Australia, but to not base your business there if you can. You can set up a company in NZ, as Australia, and get a number of the same benefits, but save the cost. Operating a company in NZ is half the cost as Australia, you don't need a local director (like Australia), then just pay yourself a base-line salary in Australia below the desired tax threshold.

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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com