WHO IS REALLY STEALING AUSTRALIANS’ WELFARE? (THE REAL WELFARE BILL!)

There was Treasurer Joe Hockey at Question Time in parliament today, still glorying in the fact that his government has abolished the mining tax!

Joe, please understand this: the economic rents of our natural resources and government-granted privileges are a SURPLUS in the production process. They are not part of wages or profits, but are a community-created surplus.

As such, economic rents do not belong as a bonus to mining companies over and above their profits, or to landholders, or to those who have licenses to the electromagnetic spectrum, etc.  They belong, equally, to all Australians and are therefore the natural source of revenue.

To the extent that we do not capture these and other economic rents–and it is vast–those who are permitted to privatise and monopolise them are existing parasitically on Australians’ welfare.

These rent-seekers are the leaners, Joe: workers and businesses are the lifters.

Get rid of welfare for the rentier class, Joe, because the welfare system is much more than the $150 billion you talk about.  Taxing workers and business into penury and unemployment–as the tax regime encourages property bubbles–has generated economic depression in Australia.

But you haven’t a clue about rentier parasites, do you, Joe?  Nor does your boss.