Tharman talking crap about the budget

Cut the crap Tharman. The electorate has changed. Of course every budget is about elections, especially the budget.

Increasingly a good budget may not be good enough. Mostly beyond taxes I don't care for the budget especially when you return money to us. I rather we be taxed less and I am most unhappy when I got from Donald Low's article a better idea  how conservative our budget is and yet the PM repeatedly spoke of raising money from us to fund social programs.

It is good, very good to be conservative financially but it also imperative to defend that conservatism. For many years until 2011, many families with sick and elderly folks pay a heavy price from this government conservatism.

You should know even as long ago as when you were still in school that the electorates never believe in free gifts. We will always ask how they are paid for. In the end government largess can only be small and big giveaways are not doable and might even lose you votes.

Whenever the government is giving out large amounts of money, it is just acting long term in the hope that they will return to the budget as more taxes from its success. It is a loan or venture capital to industry by another name. That is why schemes like the PIC are far more generous that the Silver Support scheme. It also explains why they are prepared to lose some money and even endure a little cheating. That is how investors think when they make bets. Sadly such entrepreneurial programs in our current environment cannot create many good jobs even as they help to make a tiny few very successful.

People here want to work hard and also have work life balance because working life is a marathon not a sprint. We want interesting and engaging work and not see our jobs put at risk from self centered and short term thinking management. Definitely we will not accept having foreigners turn us into second class citizens and turn us into something else.

A budget and policies that give us good jobs and manageable cost of living, a sensible national security system, most other things are negotiable. Sure, healthcare, education, transport and the environment are very important but we can be innovative with those.

Those who commented on the Today article are in a sense right that this budget is not a vote winning one for many. We will not negotiate about good jobs and cost of living but keep looking for anyone else with proposals to do better. To me that somebody else definitely do not include the SDP. Theirs are old spend and spend ideas dressed up as new. The will bankrupt us.