Most discussion we hear - ends up with blaming the Age Pension.

I have cut and paste the main bit here for those who cant be bothered to actually read the article which also sets out where all these budget items have gone as this is where the 300 billion we owe has been spent etc. Reviewer isnt political per se.

4 – Increased welfare – $20 billion-$40 billion

This one depends on how tough you want to be. In 2006-07, welfare spending was $92 billion. For 2015/16, it’s budgeted to be $154 billion.

Within this, among other things, are our current annual welfare bills for:

• ‘families with children’ – $38.1 billion;

• assistance to the aged – $60.1 billion; and

• assistance to people with disabilities – $29.5 billion.

To illustrate just some of the welfare money being wasted on people with no need for it, one need look no further than:

• School Kids Bonus – which started in 2012-13 and which costs $2 billion annually. Apparently, if you have children in school and earn up to $100,000, you’re special and need a bonus; and

• Family Tax Benefits A and B – where, for example, if your family earns ‘only’ $150,000, you need a handout. To be fair, this ‘middle class welfare’ was a legacy of John Howard’s and probably his biggest mistake as this spending has become firmly entrenched. At least Howard had the money to pay for it at the time.

All up, welfare spending has increased by 6% each year since 2006-07.

Given that annual revenue growth was about 4%, you could be generous and say that welfare spending was 2% too high each year over this period (i.e. welfare should only have increased in line with government revenue). In this case, the total wasted spending has been $20 billion.

Alternatively, you could be ‘tough but fair’ and say that welfare should only have increased by the inflation rate (around 2%-3%). In this case, the wasted spending has been $30 billion – $40 billion.

You could also be firmer and say that welfare spending should have been cut given that it amounts to 35.5% of total government spending.

It’s up to you.

Meanwhile, many elderly pensioners still cannot afford to run any heating or air-conditioning. Perhaps they should be having kids?

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Got to agree with the last statement as know myself this is true, particularly here in Tassie, where we have colder winters each year and wish it was actually warming......:(

Read the whole article here. (or lsame link below)

https://themarcusreview.com/2016/05/03/what-did-we-get-for-our-400-billion-loan/

Worth book marking for those like Radish and others who actually are interested in this politics and this subject, who do see that all is not as it is said to be on the TV or in papers these days as news is skewed to the opinions of the hosts, writers, owners of outlets and so on.

Gone are the days we knew of straight reporting non biased just how it is.