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Simplistic, trite and flag waving rubbish, as per usual, from the Aussie media. Anthony Albanese meets with Donald Trump in Washington and cheering from the little people angle erupts downunder. Australian media headlines hail rare minerals deal with Trump. In all likelihood, this will be another deal with American multinationals who won’t pay tax and will screw us on the royalty arrangements. Few jobs will come out of it in this highly mechanised mining sector in the 21C. It may increase our GDP numbers but this will mean diddly squat in actual terms to the vast percentage of our population. Wealthy investors might pop a few bottles of French Champagne over it.
This Is Not Some Great Victory For Ordinary Australians
It is time that we all grew up, downunder, and stopped seeing ourselves as the perpetual little men and women. Low self-esteem, especially on the world stage, has long been an Aussie problem. Isolation, convict roots, and governments that keep us out of the loop can do that. Low expectations around civics leaves us on the periphery and worshipping the shallow trench of sport. Ask yourself why our governments make such bad deals with big companies that see us miss out on tax revenue in the billions? Gas? Why is gas so flaming expensive in the world’s largest LPG gas exporting nation? Why does the PRRT raise such piddling amounts of tax revenue, when the companies extracting the resources are making tens of billions?
“At his National Press Club address, Richard Denniss called out the fossil fuel industry, “in Norway, they tax the fossil fuel industry and they give university education to their kids for free. In Australia, we subsidise the fossil fuel industry and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.” ABC News affirmed Australia Institute research that said the Australian Government collects more money from HECS than it does from the PRRT.”
Albo & Trump The Rare Mineral Deal Realities
You can tell from the media coverage in Oz that this is more about little Australia being in the good books of big bad Trump. The News Corp and Nine Fairfax reports have focused on this angle to the exclusion of anything much else. Australian media headlines hail rare minerals deal with Trump. Wanting to shore up the grossly inequitable AUKUS deal is another open wound in the low self-esteem body politic downunder. Little Australians are forever fearful of their superpower trading partner China. We have been encouraged in this anxiety by America over recent decades.
AUKUS The Worst Deal In History
US corporate power and various administrations have fed the old yellow peril fear that resides in the veins of Anglo-settler nations in the Pacific. In AUKUS we get to pay $368 billion to the US and the Brits, ostensibly, to build us some nuclear powered submarines. In reality, we provide a free base to the Americans and pay for their naval shipyards to increase production without any firm guarantee of Australia actually ending up with any submarines. It has been described as the worst deal in history!
If you play the politics, as Anthony Albanese does so well, you might win the battle, in the short term, but you lose the war in the longer timeframe of what is good for the nation. Albanese inherited the AUKUS deal from the LNP Coalition and Scott Morrison. At the time of its inception, which was never discussed by the Australian people, Albanese backed it to avoid being wedged politically. AUKUS was imposed upon us unilaterally. Once again, the people were left out of the loop on a massively important decision effecting the citizenry. Australians are often treated like children by their governments. This fact feeds the ‘little people’ disempowerment displayed downunder. Australians know that Donald Trump is a dangerous and unstable leader on the world stage. The majority do not approve of his extremist policies both socially and economically. However, according to a new poll by the United States Studies Centre, they back the bully because they see no alternative. We have been groomed to view ourselves as dependent upon the favours of bigger dogs in the fight.
Australian media headlines hail rare minerals deal with Trump. Break out the flags and cheer for the crumbs that may fall our way. We are beggars on the streets of power!
What Price Life?
“Why is everything so expensive now? What price life? Why are we getting poorer? First and foremost, the entire economy is set up to greatly favour owners over all other parts. Investors are owners, of course, and the company executives operate on their behalf. Shareholders are king and everyone else runs a poor second. Thus, profitability is always the prime consideration and profits have to constantly increase to satisfy the shareholders. Plus, executives manipulate the stock price through buybacks to enrich themselves wildly. This is where we get all the billionaires from. Elon Musk is a prominent illustration of this, the richest man in the world.”
R Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; Money Matters; and more titles NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS.
©MidasWord
What Price Life? Robert Sudha Hamilton PDF version
What Price Life?
350 pages PDF version
What Price Life? Why is everything so expensive? Is the new book by Robert Sudha Hamilton. Putting on his economist hat to do justice to explaining the prevailing headwinds we all face in the current climate. It appears that living is becoming prohibitively expensive and this is not happening by accident. There are sections of our population who are hell bent on stealing your lunch or at least making it too bloody pricey. We are supposed to be living in a democracy but it is actually a 2 speed economy. Many of us are getting left behind, when it comes to the wealth stakes. What can we do about it?
