This year’s Federal Budget is a grifter’s paradise. It sets up all of socialism’s worst economic ideas in a contest against the Reserve Bank of Australia to see who is right: the socialist Treasurer or the Reserve Bank Governor – a person who knows our economy cannot thrive on lollipops and rainbows alone.
This is a Budget to celebrate because it will see the end of the worst government in Australian history. And it couldn’t come soon enough.
The first thing the Albanese government did when it came to office was to wheel out its tired old habits. First, it was higher taxes. Second, it was un-costed infrastructure. Third, it was to reduce our power bills by $275 by spending our money.
The downward spiral has since led us from socialist economics to woke tropes to ending up in the gutter of anti-Semitism. All of this amid a defence capability that couldn’t see us fight our way out of a wet paper bag. Not to mention we’ve really upset our allies and we haven’t stood up for our military personnel.
But take heart. It is the beginning of the end. Labor is about to do what it always does: it will self-destruct.
That’s because socialists live in a fairyland of unicorns and beautiful people. That’s why giving us a $300 handout to relieve the cost of our energy bills that were increased as a result of government intervention in the market is remarkably stupid. And where’s our $275 gone?
Robbing Peter to pay Paul is what Labor does. Or whoever the Woke equivalent of Peter and Paul might be.
Labor’s NBN led to longer lead times and higher prices. Labor’s ‘green car’ initiative did nothing more than throw good money after bad at an automotive industry that had never stood on its own two feet.
And the debacle of school fences and school halls led to school fences and school halls at inflated prices all over the country.
But worst of all was the Energy Efficient Homes Package, especially the Home Insulation Program. Four workers tragically died allegedly due to poor training. If you subsidise roof insulation to the tune of $1,500 with no outlay from homeowners, then the government has just set the price of home insulation at $1,500.
It’s a no-brainer.
But this time, it’s worse. The government is handing out $22.7 billion of your money to grifters who won’t ever be able to compete with the rest of the world. And it won’t reduce inflation or decrease energy prices. This money could have been invested in nuclear energy which is an endeavour worthy of government control.
A key idea of capitalism is that the market takes on most of the risk. Successful enterprises are rewarded when their risk pays off. That’s called profit.
But ‘grifting’, an American slang word that means ‘swindling’, is what this budget is all about.
When governments fund inputs, then the market gears up to chase those inputs. Not to deliver outcomes.
Want a new mine for rare earth minerals? Here’s the most expensive mine that money can buy. Want green hydrogen? Well, it’s risk-free, so what’s to lose?
Government sucks at picking winners. And Labor governments have a long history of sucking at it. But that is what your money is being used for and all you can do is watch this long, slow accident unfold.
But by Christmas, interest rates will likely rise because unbridled spending and an even bigger ‘Big Government’ will push up inflation higher than it is already. And don’t get caught up in the headline figures, everybody knows that inflation is much higher on household goods than it is on a few cherry-picked items.
This Budget is all about Labor’s ideology and it has nothing to do with benefiting ordinary Australians.
But when it fails, the unicorn will burst like a pinata, and all the lollipops and rainbows will come crashing down. Australians will have ample evidence that if you go Woke, you go broke.
Perhaps then, we will vote out the worst government in Australian history and restore our standard of living before it is too late. That would be something worth celebrating.
