Why the poor keep getting fucked over in politics and how to change it:
The issue with trying to change people’s votes is that you need to understand not just inform someone that a problem exists but also why it’s a problem and how it can be solved - all of which are separate things as part of a more complicated whole.
Let’s take raising welfare for example.
People view this both as a moral issue and an economic one. Resistance to raising welfare because of these ideas are based off misconceptions.
Some people think people are just on welfare to be lazy - but it’s well below the poverty line so anyone on it struggles to get by. People skip meals, medication, and hot showers to get by because welfare is too low. It doesn’t make sense for someone to deliberately put in the effort to be on welfare just to live in poverty, so that argument is just a misconception about people’s motivations and doesn’t view them through an empathetic or human lens. Mathematically there aren’t enough jobs for everyone seeking one. Broadly thinking people on welfare are lazy makes no logical sense.
But some people claim it’s not a moral judgement, they just are thinking about the economics of resources. “Why should MY hard earned tax payer dollars go to supporting someone else who doesn’t have a job? There’s nothing in it for me.” Well, two reasons:
1) You don’t know you won’t need to rely on welfare in the future. Your job is not an eternal guarantee so the idea that a service you’re not using isn’t useful to maintain is short sighted and false.
2) Raising welfare for the unemployed HELPS people with jobs. A social security net provides better worker mobility and options, as well as bargaining power. If your job conditions suck, but your options are be treated poorly or get shoved below the poverty line, then you stay put. The “great resignation” recently caused businesses to raise wages to ensure they retained workers.
Raising welfare means people are better at supporting local businesses, which creates jobs, and can lead to an increase in wages. It’s not wasted money, it helps stimulate the economy - hence why the Coalition raised it above the poverty line temporarily during the height of the pandemic. They acknowledged it was insufficient for people to adequately live on, and the economic benefits of raising it, even though it went against decades of their ideological rhetoric blaming those on welfare.
You, the worker, benefit from a strong welfare system even if you never use it.
Unpaid work, such as care, volunteering, art, etc, has a massive contribution to the economy. People on welfare aren’t necessarily sitting around in a room staring at a wall doing nothing.
“Ah, but greater wages increases inflation.” High wage growth can lead to inflation - but as the target band for inflation is 2-3%, it’s necessary for wages to go up higher than that anyway.
Also, thinking wages are the only factor for inflation is overly-simplistic nonsense, and a misconception exploited by business owners who want to exploit this to drive down wages. We can see how wages aren’t the key driver of inflation because low wages was a deliberate policy tactic of the Coalition and cost the average person hundreds a week, while inflation recently was at 6.1% - double to triple what it should be, according to the RBA.
In fact, it was massive untaxed profits that caused most of Australia’s recent inflation. Supply chain issues due to COVID also were a factor. Inflation isn’t so simple as just wage growth.
Now, back to welfare. You know how the welfare system also benefits people who have a job? It’s one of the economic checks and balances for controlling inflation.
NAIRU (Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment) is the lowest unemployment rate before wage growth and inflation rises. That means for decades governments have been balancing the need to create more jobs to compensate for population growth, with the need to not overshoot the mark and make the unemployment rate drop down to something like 1-2%.
Being unemployed isn’t a drain on society - it’s helping the economy manage inflation.
We see that when we examine that raising welfare is beneficial to everyone - businesses, workers, and most of all those on welfare who have been struggling to get by.
Now, with that in mind, how fucked is that? The Coalition has spent years attacking the unemployed and saying they’re a drain on society, knowing full well they are falling behind inflation drastically compared to the pension, knowing full well that there aren’t enough jobs to go around, and even if there was enough jobs to employ 100% of working age people in Australia full time they wouldn’t want that because of its impact on inflation.
This disgust for those on welfare is misplaced. It should be on those who tricked us into thinking they were the enemy, instead of the rich that continue to get tax cut after tax cut despite 50 years of evidence showing it only causes wealth inequality and hurts the economy. Tax cuts to low income earners and raising welfare boosts the economy.
This is entirely an ideological position - not an economic one. It’s clear not just that right wing politics is antithetical to good economic management but ideologically repugnant and inhumane. It’s cruel. It’s deliberately punitive to those in need by making those on welfare suffer for literally no reason.
Now the political atmosphere and public opinion has been so poisoned that Labor says it acknowledges that those on welfare suffer, but won’t commit to raising the rate above the poverty line. How fucked is that?
It’s not enough to let people know that the largest political party campaigning for both a humane approach to welfare, but an economically rational and sensible approach, is the The Greens. (Who you should support). It’s important that we talk to as many people as possible to shift public opinion on the topic.
The major political parties adjust their policies to maintain power. Labor doesn’t seem to think it’s political advantageous to actually do the sensible and compassionate thing, Liberals see no reason to ever care about the poor as they represent the wealthiest Australians, and not everyone can be convinced to vote for The Greens despite their logically economically superior policies.
Talk to people. Inform people. Change minds.
When people complain, redirect their anger to be productive. Welfare NEEDS to be raised. This is a fact. But simply stating that is met with resistance because people haven’t been brought around from a bunch of misconceptions towards understanding why it’s so beneficial to society.
Hating poor people isn’t natural - it’s taught. We need to undo that by helping people understand things better.
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I'm tired...
I'm tired of being fat
I'm tired of being me
I'm tired of life
I'm tired of the anxiety I have for wanting to desperately do something with my life
Do anything different that will benefit me in any way
I'm tired of my anxiety being through the roof and only to have my depression bring everything to a halt
I'm tired of my depression telling me I'm not good enough
My depression telling me I will fail so why even try
I'm tired
I'm tired
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Changes are coming.
Lets just start by saying, I had a calling to put my moldavite pendant back on. It’s charged and its on. Here we go…
Changes have happened and many changes are coming. With September 25th new moon came new challenges and adventures for me. Some scary but some exciting.
On my previous post, I had just been made redundant from my Sales role, feeling lost and worthless amongst all of the health issues going on in my life. After my biopsy, I had the amazing news that what they had found was not cancerous but would like to remove the lump anyway. This is now booked in for November time. During this time, I was also called into the hospital for tests to investigate my period and why since the age of 14 it has caused me such serious chronic pain. My results for this came back last week and indicated that I had Adenomyosis. Similar to Endometriosis. Endometriosis usually refers to the presence of endometrial tissue outside of the uterus whilst Adenomyosis is the presence of endometrial tissue growing within the muscle itself.
It was the biggest sigh of relief knowing that the chronic debilitating monthly pain, fainting and the inability to do normal things was NOT normal like previous doctors had told me. I was always made to feel like I was over reacting when in fact, I definitely wasn’t.
The 25th September was my 3rd wedding anniversary without him. It was a surreal day. Whilst I feel much stronger when not thinking about everything that happened, I couldn't help but reflect that day. But I got through it, I am on the other side, until next year. Who knows where I will be.
After loosing my job back in July, I had 2 weeks of sorting my appointments out, arranging the house and searching for jobs. I had no luck at all on the job front, I felt like no one wanted me or I was not good enough.
Until I had a call from my previous company (The one who had made me redundant) offering me an alternative position for me to come back. At first, I had my reservations about it all. My anxiety kicked in, What would people say about me? Do I look weak for going back to somewhere which just dumped me?
It was a case of going back and having a job to pay my house bills or just sit around and keep waiting. I took it and went back. It wasn’t too bad, It helped that I knew everyone there already so I got a warm welcome but with a whole new team. My work load definitely doubled but so did everyone elses, it’s a challenge over all but I don’t mind it so much.
As with everyone now, the rising cost of living is rising at an alarming rate. So much so that its really impacting my free time and what I can and cannot afford to do. After some thought on this I have decided to pack up my things and move in with my dad away from this town. I have arranged for my furniture to go into a storage locker and have cleared out a lot of items to the charity shop.
I have handed in my notice to work, I feel awful because I’ve only been back there under 2 months since the rehire but I'm not leaving on bad terms. I told my landlord that I will be moving as well. He was understanding of the situation as it really cant be helped. Its happening to more people around my age than I originally realised. At first, I felt such shame and embarrassment. This is not where I imagined I would be at age 30, married yet single, going back to live with parents. Its been 18 years since I last lived with my parents so this could be a huge adjustment.
However, I feel strong and positive about this change. Whilst saying at my dads house, I will be able to learn to drive, save money and still have money left over to have a life!
By the end of this month, I will be living in a new place. By the seaside on the coast of North Wales. I will be sure to keep you updated!
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