Yes I feel the same Chrissy, seems to be so much corruption and greed these days-- so different to many decades ago 

It is a part of the human DNA to have a little selfishness, self preservation type of behaviour.

However, the culture of the greed mentality is often driven by leadership examples. Identity politics can give rise to a greed mentality.

There is a misconception that wealth = greed and therefor those without wealth cannot be greedy so wealth needs to be taxed more to stop the greed. This logic also promotes greed and envy from both those with wealth and those with no wealth. 

Personally I dont see many examples of greed in my wider community. I see generosity and caring, from both older and younger people.

You ain't seen nothing yet.  Wait until Bill Shorten and his crew take over the federal government and they start handing out plum jobs for mates.  And the mates do likewise for their mates.  They invent new roles to reward mates.  Hey, the taxpayer can afford it, right?

The 'easily offended' industries will bloom. The money has to come from somewhere.  The overspending has to be paid for, plus the mounting interest on interest.

Really LJ?  Have you had your Lib blinkers on all this time?  The LNP are a total dog's breakfast; self-serving, corrupt and not even worried about hiding it.  They seem to fully believe that they are entitled to do anything they want with no repercussions.  And like a lot of die-hard lib voters you totally ignore that this mob have us deeper in debt than we have ever been, spending like drunken sailors on anything that they deem important, which doesn't include anything that gives anyone on a fixed or low income any breaks.  Bring on the election, I'll be glad to see the back of them.  

There is poverty in the community for sure. It is hidden as well. We were chucking out some old mattresses well past their use by dates so advertised for free and people came and took them. They all said they were using them as their main bed, not for camping, not for the dog, but for themselves. 

There are people poorer than pensioners sadly. 

People need to be paid properly and have decently paid work. Low paid work leads to poverty or casual work that is insufficiently provided. The out of work figures do not take into account those on reduced hours. 

Values can be taught as well as compassion. Inequality blossoms when people do not care. Remember the values of the depression or war time when people felt a responsibility to help their neighbours survive. You never turned away someone asking for food in return for a job around your home. There was no waste. Old coats were turned into children’s coats. We all remember the stories from our parents and grandparents.

The environment is a good example of greed being chosen rather than saving our planet for future generations. The Great Barrier Reef vs coal mining shows how making money is valued above the need to prioritise the planet. Selling off bits of Australia for money is another one. Acquiring property for the sake of building a portfolio worth millions and some politicians have dozens. 

If we all settled for having what we need and then helping others including the government we would be a more humane society. We are also a global society so saying we should only take care of Australians is wrong because we need to do what we can. I know people will attack me for this but there are many good people doing great work to help around the world and thank goodness for that.

I'll be glad to see the back of them too, but I wonder if we will really fare any better. 

Labor might have a slightly different mindset but even if they were all totally honest (a big ask for any political party) they wouldn't get a free run.  If they get in the attack will be relentless, just like it was with Julia Gillard and it will work because Bill Shorten isn't popular. 

It's the modus operandi for the LNP and if their faithful attack dog gets back in just watch it ramp up.  They are already doing it, it will only get worse.

The only thing I think that might be different is that Bill Shorten seems to be able to shrug it off better than most.  Maybe being unpopular gives him some sort of advantage in that respect, maybe he's used to being attacked from both sides and is a bit ambivalent about it.

I'm not a fan myself, but maybe it's time, maybe we need a negotiator, and as much as people love to hate the Unions, that's what they do best - negotiate. 

And no matter which party gets in, they are going to need a negotiator, if the number of people who are talking about voting for independents and minor parties actually do that, neither party will get a free run. 

At the end of the day though, the next Prime Minister will almost definitely come from either the Liberals or Labor.  That's just the way the cookie crumbles.  All the minor parties and independents do is make it harder for either of them to deliver their policies as previously presented.  That might be seen as a good thing, depending on your point of view and what changes are made, but in the end, if a voter makes a decision on policies, one thing he or she can be sure of is that they will change.

Someone much smarter than me once said that as voters, eventually, we just have to pick a side. 

Just because someone is greedy we cannot assume that they are not out for the good of those that are around them. Greed can lead to motivation which can benefit everyone in the long run. 

Good comments, Chrissy. As you can see, any discussion here fast descends into Liberal vs Labor contest of views. With Democracy being the casualty. For Democracy to work, we need politicians who represent US, and citizen's views, such as via Referenda, being used to decide policies. However, instead of that, what we have is a Party based political system, where Political Parties decide their own policies based on who funds them and what benefits they can get from them, and all members of the Party are forced to vote for those policies. Nothing at all to do with what is good for the people.

Given the long term and ongoing corruption of Democracy as above, I believe we all (being Senior citizens) have a responsibility to join in together (3 Million+ Retirees can make a difference) and throw out all such current Major Party MPs by putting them LAST (or just above the extreme loonies) in voting preferenves. Such action can shake up the system and maybe bring about change in the next couple of elections - if we start now.

Talking about selfishness did anyone see the news item where a senior citizen took a photo of a bus with all the children sitting on the seats even the disabled seats and refused to get up when adults got on the bus?   I blame their parents not the school they belong to.     

Talking about selfishness did anyone see the news item where a senior citizen took a photo of a bus with all the children sitting on the seats even the disabled seats and refused to get up when adults got on the bus?   I blame their parents not the school they belong to.     

Chrissy, it depends very much on your definition of "greed".  To a certain extent, especially among the die hard socialists, anyone who takes more than their immediate needs can be branded "greedy".  However it is always in our best interests to "save for a rainy day".  When we retire at the nominal retirement age, most of us can look forward to another 25 to 30 years of actve and enjoyable life.  We can hope that our Retirement Fund will pay us a living income and that the Government sponsored Age Pension need only be a suppliment, but as history shows us, the economic future of even the most properous country is not ours to see.

Every business owner owes it to themselves and their employees to maximise profits when times are good so that they can have a level of security when the market is quiet or they seek to retire.  There are too many people, organisations and Government Departments that seem to want us to feel guilty about having saved a safety margin or invested in long term security.  And these rent seekers will do everything that they can to deplete our savings, be they hard or soft savings.

Every one of us on this forum grew up or grew through the paranoia of the MAD from the nuclear powers.  We now know that that was an implausable possibility. Even if it had all gone as badly as the pessimists insisted it would, we in the southern Hemisphere would never have been as adversely effected as we were frightened into believing.

The same goes now for the scare tactics of the HIGW, Australia is not in grave danger from global economic collapse if we can keep foreign political interference out of our country.