The real crux of our problems?

[aussieinusa]

Whenever I see figures about the amount of money now being paid in middle class welfare (i.e. to people who really aren't poor), I think, "gee, no wonder CL has to find ways to reduce costs". But apparently, clawing back money from relatively well-off people is tough:

The number of middle-income Australians with benefits to lose has grown. They are better organised than low-income Australians, better able to use the political process and have entire industries such as superannuation and private health insurance behind them.

It took just a week for the Gillard government to back down on a plan floated in January to tax currently untaxed super payouts on balances of more than $1 million.

Source: www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/middle-class-has-cake-eats-it-too-20130313-2g0lr.html#ixzz2NWCK8Ell

Frankly, it makes me want to scream and pull out my hair. I'm currently not able to try the medication a specialist told me would really help me, because it's so new it's not properly funded through the PBS yet, and the out-of-pocket costs ($70-150/month, depending on dosage I end up needing) are way more than I can afford right now... but the government's giving money to couples with income well into six figures, so they can buy one of those super-fancy jogging strollers Nicole Kidman had, for their own new baby?!? Money well-spent, no doubt.

I get that middle-class people 'struggle' too. I once earned good money (before my health got really bad) and back then, I did feel a bit hard-up that I was never gonna own the terrace house in a nice waterfront suburb that I lived in, rather than rent it. And my pay cheque never stretched remotely far enough for my work uniform to be Armani like my lawyer friends', so I had to settle for Aussie designers instead. (Oh, woe is me. )

But it's a slightly different scenario than having to skip necessary medical treatment due to cost, abandoning dental care altogether, and not being able to make ends meet despite having zero rent or household bills like electricity and gas to pay (I house-sit).

ETA: And it's a really different scenario to being stranded overseas with absolutely zero money and no way to get home, like some of our members are right now.

Or from being forcibly separated from your partner and/or child like other members here, because the CL rule changes mean they can't live overseas any more, and have to find the money to bring their family back to Australia. (Where they'll then be eligible for CL payments, Medicare, rent assistance, etc. etc... so much for saving money there, CL.)

I would love to see the public narrative around all this change, to recognise that welfare spending is basically a zero-sum game without 'win-win' scenarios. So when relatively well-off people 'win' the welfare game and get a nice fat cheque in the mail from the government, sooner or later welfare spending balloons so much that it's seen to be 'out of control' and has to be cut... and when the middle class cry foul over losing an entitlement, CL goes looking for someone else to take the money from instead. Like us.

I would hope that seeing some of the real human suffering that welfare cuts targeting truly disadvantaged people causes might help better-off people realise that their fancy stroller isn't such a sacrifice, and make less of a fuss about welfare cuts that effect them.

But I'm also starting to think I have way too much faith in Aussies' capacity for empathy.

[latindancer]

Mar 14, 2013 20:15:50 GMT 7 aussieinusa said:

I would hope that seeing some of the real human suffering that welfare cuts targeting truly disadvantaged people causes might help better-off people realise that their fancy stroller isn't such a sacrifice, and make less of a fuss about welfare cuts that effect them.

But I'm also starting to think I have way too much faith in Aussies' capacity for empathy.

Many people have empathy....The crux is that the general public are NOT seeing the suffering. The media have not got hold of it.
We need to find a way to really get it out there in plain view.

[Banjo]

They are quick enough with a story about Welfare abuse.

[newtodsp]

But apparently, clawing back money from relatively well-off people is tough:

The number of middle-income Australians with benefits to lose has grown. They are better organised than low-income Australians, better able to use the political process and have entire industries such as superannuation and private health insurance behind them.

I don't buy this idea that its hard to claw back money from middle class welfare due to these folks being better organised, I think there are a lot of poor aspirational voters who are duped thinking they don't want super tax concessions cut (for example) because one day, they too will be wealthy. The mining boom and wealth increases have created an aspirational class.This is just some political opininon by someone at fairfax which we know is going down south since Gina took it on. I think its about the poor having a voice, which is is easier in these days with social media, but not as easy as for the middle class which has more time and money.

I'm currently not able to try the medication a specialist told me would really help me, because it's so new it's not properly funded through the PBS yet, and the out-of-pocket costs ($70-150/month, depending on dosage I end up needing) are way more than I can afford right now...

I also take nonPBS subsidised medication, which is fortunately not as expensive as yours. I reckon being on Newstart, not being able to afford medication while having a serious progressive illness is a great story for the media. One could argue that giving medication money to those on welfare makes sense because they may not need welfare if their medication works. Maybe a letter to a local MP might help? I know you probably don't want to go public, but just an idea. Or we can put this on the website or any new site we make. I"m sure there are heaps of others in a similar situation. I do believe there is a site out there somewhere where Newstarters can share their story? You could probably do it anonymously. It is certainly cold and also not economically rational to deprive people of treatment when the treatment might make them employable. A deprivation of their human rights also.

Also, I was thinking if a thread on this forum for Medical advances would be a good idea? Medicine is constantly striving forward and it gives me hope and satisfaction seeing other conditions getting cures and vaccines. Plus it can empower members to seek out the latest treatments for their conditions.

Just recently I have head of a new Hep C drug which stands to cure 70% of Hep C infections..or something along those lines. Soon to be put on the PBS I think. Also, there is a Herpes Vaccine in clinical trials which not only protects from future infections but cures currently infected patients...just waiting for a cure/new drug for my condition!

[aussieinusa]

Mar 15, 2013 7:31:11 GMT 7 Banjo said:

They are quick enough with a story about Welfare abuse.

True. But most of those stories appear to have originated in Centrelink's media relations office.

Journos rarely dig up stories themselves these days; mostly, they just sift through the pile of press releases and public tips they've been sent, pull out the ones they deem most newsworthy (or most likely to improve their show's ratings), and that's what they run. So unless you put yourself in their 'slush pile', you basically don't have a chance of your story getting out there, because journos just aren't given the time and resources to go out looking for stories themselves.

[aussieinusa]

Mar 15, 2013 10:32:07 GMT 7 newtodsp said:

I don't buy this idea that its hard to claw back money from middle class welfare due to these folks being better organised, I think there are a lot of poor aspirational voters who are duped thinking they don't want super tax concessions cut (for example) because one day, they too will be wealthy.

That's also very true. It's basically how the Republican party in the USA stays powerful, even though they really only represent the interests of rich people these days, i.e. maybe 2% of the US population, and of big companies who donate huge money to them but can't vote at all. (Well, that, jerrymandering and filibustering any legislation they don't like but don't have the numbers to defeat... very corrupt system, there. Not that ours is that much better, in many ways.)

They convince poor white people to side with rich white people, because one day, that's gonna be them! (It's the Mexicans and abortions keeping them down, you see.) So they vote for policies that actually make it less likely they'll ever be rich, because those policies benefit the people who are already rich, who they identify with. Crazy stuff. Although not that unusual; Thatcher's reign in the UK was similar.

Mar 15, 2013 10:32:07 GMT 7 newtodsp said:

One could argue that giving medication money to those on welfare makes sense because they may not need welfare if their medication works. Maybe a letter to a local MP might help?

There's a lot of low-cost interventions that would help PWD get back to work. It's telling that they've managed to fund Disability Management Services that manage to have a bunch of low-paid people at desks, post a profit each year... and not have a single cent left over for anything PWD actually need. The report on disability services in this country is called 'Shut Out', because so many of us are kept from working due to things that could be fixed, and often easily and cheaply. Maybe this the DisabilityCare stuff will make things better, but I'm frankly not holding my breath.

[Denis-NFA]

the real crux of our problem is convincing the Australian electorate that there are genuine people that need DSP.