ASIO is thinking of raising Australia’s threat alert level. I thought you might like to know what Australia’s scale is:

5. Oooh shit!!

4. Struth!

3. Crikey

2. Y’reckon?

1. She’s right mate.

Just tryin’ to help.  Tip o’ the hat to Adam Hills on ABC TV for two of them.

_____________________________

Former Reserve Bank Governor Bernie Fraser on ABC radio this morning: the government’s move to defer the compulsory superannuation for wage earners to 2019 dismays him. He agrees with my view that the idea that employers will pass that money on to employees in their pay packets is rubbish. It won’t happen. Therefore this is an effective pay cut and a regressive one, affecting the lowest paid worst. What a government!

Bernie Fraser is a man to be listened to. He’s now chair of the Renewable Energy Council. He says the trashing of the RET, the Renewable Energy Target, is a bad decision and will lead to a significant loss of jobs, both now and in the future, quite apart from the damage it will do to the climate and has already done to Australia’s international reputation.

But also, at a time when we’re being told over and over that there is a looming budget crisis, that we won’t be able to afford the age pension in a few years due to the baby boomer bulge, the answer to that is superannuation, If people save for their retirement, they won’t need to claim as much age pension.

So this nasty government has moved to reduce the amount workers save for their retirement! What’s the logic behind this? It’s crazy. This will worsen the problems in the future. But it’s just another move against the low paid and favouring big business and the management class.

Check out the taxation arrangements for super. They are a huge benefit for the highly paid and a big slug against low income people.

This government is bad! It must be defeated at the next election.