The economics and politics of the West are being ruined by the 101%, that brigade of citizens who feel it is their right to consume at least 101% of the value of the taxes they have themselves contributed. And, of course, we are not really talking about a mere 1% above their contributions but vast amounts beyond anything they have contributed themselves. We are beyond safety nets for those who fall through the cracks. This is real money and a major drain on finances.
Two bits of reporting have brought this to mind. There is first Geoffrey Barker’s maunderings in the AFR yesterday. Large swathes of the people of Europe apparently are not in favour of the “austerity” programs being put in place. Whether they live in economies whose governments are bankrupt in many different uses of the term, they want their fair share with fairness related to what they can demand through the ballot box. I particularly like his use of the word “all” in the following passage:
In France, Germany, Greece and elsewhere, voters are challenging the neo-liberal insistence that the imperative of economic efficiency has to trump all notions of fairness and distributive justice.
Well, this so-called fairness doctrine will be the ruin of a great deal. When the Euro finally falls apart, we will see how much the Greeks and others like the inflation that will follow. They can elect who they like but unless the incoming party comes with a magic lantern and genii, unless they get down to work and produce something, there will still be nothing to distribute, and with the Germans not there to bail them out, there will be even less.
Meanwhile the budget here in Australia has raised the standing of the Labor Party at least a tick, and who knows what’s to come? The 101-percenters will not be denied and we have just the government to indulge them at every turn.