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AusPoliGaf |Early 2016 Election| - the government's term has been... Shortened

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C_P4EXzXsAEwRII.jpg

I only find two things surprising there, that some abstainers decided to vote for Le Pen in round 2 and that the NDA block broke so evenly.
 

danm999

Member
That's actually pretty funny now I think of it. AHCA is basically "let them eat cake" in health care bill form and Turnbull, whose party is fighting off accusations of wanting to guy Medicare?

Really not the best optics, especially after your previous cabinet smoked cigars after pushing their budget through.

Just run ads of sympathetic Americans talking about the horrors of losing their coverage because of rape or something then cut to Turnbull and Trump in suits and bow ties and Turnbull congratulating Trump.
 

Shaneus

Member
Just run ads of sympathetic Americans talking about the horrors of losing their coverage because of rape or something then cut to Turnbull and Trump in suits and bow ties and Turnbull congratulating Trump.
I saw someone tweet this picture alongside Turnbull and Trump sitting with each other:
step_brothers_film_job_interview.jpg

Too appropriate.
 

Quasar

Member
Cory's suffering from Media Attention Deficit Disorder (MADD) now that he is on the crossbench.

What Cory doesn't realise is that the story was whether the maverick sentator was going to try and bring down the government from within not what he actually said. Now that he's on his own, no one but the angry ranty white man radio/TV actually give a shit about him.

No need to worry Cory, people will pay attention once it comes to getting that dogs breakfast of a budget through.
 

I'll go with:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

At least Shorten copped to the mistake. Social media adds don't get the same level of internal scrutiny, a print/TV add wouldn't have gotten that far. Though someone in the ALP is getting their arse kicked right about now.

For all the talk of Melenchon voters going to FN very few did. I wonder what percentage of Bernie Busters voted Trump? Probably the closest comparison I can think of.
 

hirokazu

Member
The intent of the ad was to target true blue Aussie battlers who feel their jobs are being threatened by immigrants though, so the demographic in the ad is spot on. It's also not a surprise given the intent that they completely overlooked the fact that it wouldn't fly with other Australians.
 

Fredescu

Member
SBS are suggesting that the ad was planned to only run in regional QLD and nowhere else, which to me suggests the casting was deliberate.
 

D.Lo

Member
Seems like a pretty clear dog whistle.

It's funny because the 457s I've personally experienced that do jobs lower paid when locals are available (but more expensive) are eastern europeans, so whiteys anyway.
 
SBS are suggesting that the ad was planned to only run in regional QLD and nowhere else, which to me suggests the casting was deliberate.

That does put another spin on it.

Some of the bad is starting to leak out of the budget. Another 300mil+ taken from Foreign Aid and given to ASIS and I imagine more public service job cuts and efficiency dividends government wide. It will also interesting to see how much recurrent infrastructure they try and move off budget into the realm of "good debt" ignoring new spend to make ScoMo look like a genius.

Turns out my Catholic HS/college is/was the most over funded Catholic school in Australia and 2nd overall to a nearby Anglican school. The Canberra and Goulburn independent schools got a pretty sweet deal out of Gillard.
 
That does put another spin on it.

Some of the bad is starting to leak out of the budget. Another 300mil+ taken from Foreign Aid and given to ASIS and I imagine more public service job cuts and efficiency dividends government wide. It will also interesting to see how much recurrent infrastructure they try and move off budget into the realm of "good debt" ignoring new spend to make ScoMo look like a genius.

Turns out my Catholic HS/college is/was the most over funded Catholic school in Australia and 2nd overall to a nearby Anglican school. The Canberra and Goulburn independent schools got a pretty sweet deal out of Gillard.

Can't piss of all the senior public servants. Well the ALP can't. The Coalition basically lives on Disdain for the APS anyway so they have a freeer hand there.
 
They probably do, being a strict libertarian require a utopian view beyond even strict communists , strict communism just assumes all people are saints , strict libertarianism requires a belief the universe itself is fundamentally just.
 

Striek

Member
Between his opposition to fairer school funding and the new ad, Bill Shorten and Labor are looking pretty fucking weak right now.
 

D.Lo

Member
Between his opposition to fairer school funding and the new ad, Bill Shorten and Labor are looking pretty fucking weak right now.
Shorten's against the school thing? Ugh Catholics I assume.

Fake edit: looked it up, yep.
 

Fredescu

Member
They probably do, being a strict libertarian require a utopian view beyond even strict communists , strict communism just assumes all people are saints , strict libertarianism requires a belief the universe itself is fundamentally just.

Yep.

Leonard Peikoff said:
Success and happiness are the metaphysically to-be-expected. In other words, Objectivism rejects the view that human fulfillment is impossible, that man is doomed to misery, that the universe is malevolent. We advocate the “benevolent universe” premise.

The “benevolent universe” does not mean that the universe feels kindly to man or that it is out to help him achieve his goals. No, the universe is neutral; it simply is; it is indifferent to you. You must care about and adapt to it, not the other way around. But reality is “benevolent” in the sense that if you do adapt to it—i.e., if you do think, value, and act rationally, then you can (and barring accidents you will) achieve your values. You will, because those values are based on reality.

The first paragraph makes reference to one of Ayn Rand's many false alternatives. "If you don't believe the universe is benevolent, you obviously think the universe is actively out to get you."

The second paragraph says the universe is neutral but if you follow Ayn Rand's ethics it isn't, because her ethics are based on the universe (they're not) and the universe is benevolent. And then the whole thing is invalidated by the parenthetical "barring incidents." What do we do if there are incidents? Well:

Leonard Peikoff said:
Pain, suffering, failure do not have metaphysical significance—they do not reveal the nature of reality. Ayn Rand’s heroes, accordingly, refuse to take pain seriously, i.e., metaphysically.

Pain isn't real so don't worry.


I know she's only one of many types of "strict libertarians" but she either stole from key libertarian thinkers, or she forms the basis for some modern ones.

So basically you'll never get anywhere suggesting to a libertarian that they should support (for eg) universal health care if they care about people, because they really believe that if you implement their policies, everything will be fine. You need to argue this premise to get anywhere.
 
So $7+ internet tax for every account holder, $6bill bank tax over 4 years and 1% medicare levy on those making $180k after the 2% debt levy is removed. Interesting tactic not increasing taxes on individuals but on business that they know full well will just pass the cost back to consumers. So individual tax increases that they can "falsely" claim aren't!

Interesting to see where Labor go on the bank tax, they probably secretly love it but will have to launch an attack on it raising bank costs.

Negative gearing may also be gone beyond one investment property, that's a bit of a shock.
 
This is a bit of weird mixture tonight. Drug-testing welfare recipients, taxing business that employ foreign workers, but also diverting money to rail construction, bank tax and half-hearty tinkering with negative gearing without touching the capital gains tax discount.

The last three isn't gonna go down with the right-wingers, though - the Abbott faction in particular has a loathing of public transport.
 
The negative gearing thing is unclear so far. They seem to be trying to regulate the eligibility based on type of house, location and intended use. They are basically doing everything they can because they know there is a problem but they just can't quite come at agreeing with the ALP so they have come up with a whole raft of nonsense they can claim as their own. It still concentrates wealth in the older generation while passing all the responsibility onto the younger.

There was something at the end about disability and substance abuse I'm not sure I heard correctly at the end. If you disability is a result of substance abuse then no disability allowance. Way to increase homelessness. That's one of the nastier things I've heard in a long time.

Turnbull 2.0, 2014 is only a long forgotten memory. This budget is so wet I'm surprised the press weren't throwing life preservers down onto the floor.

So the salary sacrifice into super thing for a deposit seems....reasonable?

This does seem to a genuine attempt along with the increased regulation on investor interest only loans to even up the tax disadvantge to first home buyers.

Lols at Sayles: "Are you the first Liberal treasurer to deliver a Labor budget?"
 
This isn't a thing I know a lot about but making it so more people have more money to put into buying a house sounds like it just increases prices?
 
Bowen deflecting about Medicare was cringe worthy. It's embarrassing how they keep beating that drum. I also hate how everyone has to be so antagonistic and angry. Both sides seem unable to just put forth a well thought out point without raising their voice, attacking the other side and deflecting and not answering the question (usually by attaching the opposition in an irrelevant way). I jut can't stand listening to politicians on either side. Just give us a reasoned we'll though out opinion with the bullshit.

I have to read over the details more to see what I think of the whole thing. There are some alright things but i can't say I'm a huge fan overall.
 
This isn't a thing I know a lot about but making it so more people have more money to put into buying a house sounds like it just increases prices?

It depends on the state of the market. If everyone can already afford a house , it just increases the price. If there's investors who can always outmatch the recipients it also just increases the price.

If investors don't have effectively unlimited funds thanks to CGT concessions and negative gearing but housing is just a bit above the home buyer but within investor range , it can help (since the investors then can't just keep outbidding).
 

Shaneus

Member
Oh, and the tax-free deposit for a house only goes up to $30k. So it's nine-tenths of fuck-all in terms of savings. But whatever, government.

Labor's only adequate response for this is to say something like "Notice how people are saying this is Labor-lite? Imagine what would happen if Labor was actually voted in".
 
Oh, and the tax-free deposit for a house only goes up to $30k. So it's nine-tenths of fuck-all in terms of savings. But whatever, government.

Labor's only adequate response for this is to say something like "Notice how people are saying this is Labor-lite? Imagine what would happen if Labor was actually voted in".

They could also try and poke the Right into revolting and rolling Turnbull and then running on disunity.
 

Fredescu

Member
There's good and bad in the budget, but is it a dumb thing to say that at least it shows the Overton window isn't in as bad a place as we thought?
 

Fredescu

Member
"Data-driven" means "big data" which means correlations between using drugs and a bunch of other things that might seem like nothing in isolation but put together can be pretty accurate. A certain age, a certain gender, a certain postcode, a certain employment history, a certain background. I have no doubt that they can get pretty accurate with it without even needing to use data from other departments.

Of course profiling is just "efficiency." Why not increase our hit rate? Doing otherwise is surely a waste of resources. So now we can appeal to people that want to see punitive action against people on welfare, and can write a few headlines about millions saved from people using drugs, and maybe even a few cuffed scruffy youths on front pages.
 
"Data-driven" means "big data" which means correlations between using drugs and a bunch of other things that might seem like nothing in isolation but put together can be pretty accurate. A certain age, a certain gender, a certain postcode, a certain employment history, a certain background. I have no doubt that they can get pretty accurate with it without even needing to use data from other departments.

Of course profiling is just "efficiency." Why not increase our hit rate? Doing otherwise is surely a waste of resources. So now we can appeal to people that want to see punitive action against people on welfare, and can write a few headlines about millions saved from people using drugs, and maybe even a few cuffed scruffy youths on front pages.

This seems kinda pointless from an actual itegrity PoV , these are the same people the police will be arresting most frequently. But as your 2nd paragraph says that's not really the point.
 

Arksy

Member
Man, I fucking can't keep up with the US shit anymore. The country has become a farce, and I say this as someone who loves the place.
 

Tommy DJ

Member
Man, I fucking can't keep up with the US shit anymore. The country has become a farce, and I say this as someone who loves the place.

The country was always a bit of a farce but the right over there completely lost their minds during Obama's reign.
 

Fredescu

Member
For a country that ostensibly likes democracy, they also seem to love their voter suppression. I reckon if they fixed that and had something like preferential voting, allowing a third option to emerge naturally when the two main options shit the bed, it would go a decent way towards allowing democracy to right itself a little bit.


Seriously, fuck having elections on weekdays. It seems especially bad when voting is optional.
 

legend166

Member
Yeah America is screwed.

But as I said in another thread, as far as possible sociopathic President's go, Trump is relatively harmless. He doesn't seem to have any ideology. His whole schtick is self promotion. He's more a Berlusconi than a Hitler. Even with this Comey move he's just protecting himself.

I think the checks and balances they have (along with the Republican party's inability to govern) should protect them from anything major.

I think the bigger question is can you put the "what the heck we elected a reality TV billionaire as President" genie back in the bottle? Or is that the new thing now? Next election will be Zuckerberg against Oprah?
 

Fredescu

Member
His whole schtick is self promotion.

I'm not completely across everything that's going on, but it sounds like it's this schtick that's getting him in trouble, right? As in, the Russian ties were regarding a deal with him getting a cut of a privatised Russian mining company in return for helping them do... something. So just horse trading for profit. Only while president.

But that kind of makes his ideology "authoritarian" since he considers himself to be bigger and more important that literally anything else, including the country he is president of.

I think the checks and balances they have (along with the Republican party's inability to govern) should protect them from anything major.

To my limited understanding, it seems like we're just waiting on the Republicans to buckle and realise that this bloke is doing damage that is worse than whatever damage might occur to their party. Otherwise, I'm not sure how this ends. Possibly not quickly enough.

I think the bigger question is can you put the "what the heck we elected a reality TV billionaire as President" genie back in the bottle? Or is that the new thing now? Next election will be Zuckerberg against Oprah?

Zuckerberg definitely seems to be laying the ground work. Any word from Kanye recently?
 

Dryk

Member
For a country that ostensibly likes democracy, they also seem to love their voter suppression. I reckon if they fixed that and had something like preferential voting, allowing a third option to emerge naturally when the two main options shit the bed, it would go a decent way towards allowing democracy to right itself a little bit.

Seriously, fuck having elections on weekdays. It seems especially bad when voting is optional.
There's no incentive for anyone capable of fixing the system to do so, so it'll probably just keep getting worse.
 
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