Kevin Rudds Home Brewing Bonus

[Paul H]

Try lugging around a 5 figure Uni debt, a mortgage for an outer suburban house that would buy half of inner Melbourne 15 years ago, child care & and the inevitable taxes and lifestyle changes required due to global warming (bought but not paid for by previous generations).

I'm appreciate your predicament, but I am struggling to be sympathetic

Education was/is never free someone always has to pay for it, at least with HECS it's a user pays system. I started uni the year HECS was introduced.

Cheers

PAul

 

[Polar Beer]

I started uni the year HECS was introduced.

Terrible timing Paul

Of course the uni's are not donating their time. But the govt paid model as opposed to the current user pays model, did not burden a generation with massive debt. Comparing a free student with HECS student (financially), the HECS student is significantly worse off.
The main point being, baby boomers have been well and truly looked after and no doubt will continue to be.

 

[Bizier]

And to rub salt in they now call it HELP - Ha!

 

[Katherine]

Boo HOO!

 

[bconnery]

Terrible timing Paul

Of course the uni's are not donating their time. But the govt paid model as opposed to the current user pays model, did not burden a generation with massive debt. Comparing a free student with HECS student (financially), the HECS student is significantly worse off.
The main point being, baby boomers have been well and truly looked after and no doubt will continue to be.

The original HECS model did not burden you with massive debt. It was the massive increases that came later that did that.
It was quite reasonable to pay off your degree when working, and if you had the funds to pay ahead of time with very good discounts.
I completed my degree before the massive rises that came and with being able to pay the first year up front I had my debt paid off very quickly.

I think the HECS system, in it's original form, worked very well.

I always found it annoying that those who'd received free education were the politicians arguing that numerous 25% increases were necessary and justified.
I also had issues with uni's stating that they had to increase fees by this level to cover costs, then running ad campaigns during prime time television featuring the likes of 'Hurricane Carter' and Bob Geldof to name a few. You can't tell me that was cheap...

On topic, even though this looks like being another of those threads , I dont' pretend to understand economics but I do know that after all the hits of high interest rates, rising prices, doom and gloom from the possible collapse of a system that appears to a layman to have been caused by rich b.... being very greedy and questionable business practices it's nice to get something in my pocket!

I have two kids and qualify for part A so that should mean a nice bonus for our family.

 

[peas_and_corn]

You're missing an apostrophe there.

Gen-Y breeders are the future, not you childless people.

I get nada from this package either. My Mrs went back to work last year after making three members of Gen Z, so we no longer qualify Three gorillas gone begging.

This "throw the surplus to the populous" spending spree is interesting. On one hand, I like it, but once the surplus is gone, it's gone!

Well, the purpose of a surplus is essentially to have 'cash on hand' for a rainy day. If the current economic crisis isn't a good reason to spend the surplus, I don't know what is, This is called pump priming, it's a widely used tactic, and the Australian government is well placed to be able to pay for it (unlike the US, which now has a national debt of $10tr)

Education was/is never free someone always has to pay for it, at least with HECS it's a user pays system. I started uni the year HECS was introduced.

Cheers

PAul

Congratulations! Imagine if you started now, your debt would be what, 500% higher?


Anyways, for those who missed out, well that's what happens. There needs to be a way of deermining who gets the money and who doesn't, we don't really live in a system like in Futurama where everyone gets a magic $500 bill (though that would be pretty cool). For pensioners, there is an investigation regarding lifting the singles pension happening right now, it is expected to deliver its report. As the single pension is a percentage of the couples pension (well, that's what I heard, please correct me if I'm wrong), it will propose another lift to the couples pension, coupled with a rise in the agregate percentage of the single age pension, and possibly some other goodies along with it. It will come with economic modeling- costs, projected costs, etc etc. It will be well thought out and planned, and it will blow anything the opposition has out of the water. It's a nice change from the ad-hoc policies of the former coalition government.

For those like me who are in/just out of uni/tafe and have no children, well this is the legacy of the Howard government which needs to be shaken off- that you are useless if you don't breed. Pity it's the people who are least equipped to do it who are listening the most (and if you ARE well equipped to have a kid and are taking advantage of it, this is not a slight against you, these are the conclusions of reports into the baby bonus etc).

 

[Pollux]

Excellent, a nice little $1000 xmas bonus

Looks like I might be getting my kegs for christmas afterall......

 

[matti]

3 kid= New brew shed
In my dreams :lol:

 

[brettprevans]

OT completely OT

*rant on*

Aust population growth is suffering and by 2050 most of the population and workforce will be migrants as our birth rate is in decline and not replacing the population. Labour economics.

As for the Laissez Fair economy, more power to it. Im sick of paying tax for people who are happy to sit around for Govt payout. I use my brain and make money. Im not a genius or anything (far from it) but i make the most of what ive got. I read books about investing and stock markets instead of watching TV all the time. I make money from hard work. why the hell shouldnt i make as much money as I can if i want. just because lazy ass people out there dont want to work doesnt mean I shoulne be rewarded for me work. bugger them.

If your dumb enough to chuck money into something you dont understand (ie the stock market) then your gambling and you deserve what you get.

Free unbi was one of the best things ever. $50k for uni paid off over say 8 years is the equivilent to a lump sum of over $100k. tell me that a $100k sint better than a crappy $5000 baby bonus or $14k home owners grant??!!!
*rant off*

I wont get anything from this. my 2 kids are born and doubtful to have any others. besides a kid is going to cost more than $1000, so its no incentive to me. This is also a bit of silly approach. short term gain for long term pain. it would have been beterr of bfixing the systems rather than the symptoms. but hey thats govt. play to the voters

 

[Timmsy]

So adopt a couple kids for a month or 2??

 

[reviled]

I am getting diddly squat. <_<

You can claim on my kid if you want

Man, sucks seeing all you guys whinging about tax and all that jazz! Our tax is more than yours, and we have less benifits and grants etc (unless youre a....... Im not gonna say it :huh: )

 

[raven19]

Certainly not too much on beer talk here... I concur with many that wont benefit from Rudds wheeling & dealings, IMO the surplus needs to be put towards aging infrastructure, etc.

In regards to HECS, my engineering degree cost $10k (as HECS - less if you were able to pay up front - no chance for my family) when I started in 1996, a year later, the universities jacked up the price to 30k or more for engineering, and even more if studying for medicine, law, etc.

Thankfully I got in just in the nick of time, but others a year or more later not so lucky...

:icon_offtopic: I like making and drinking beer!

Cheers!

 

[warra48]

Oh, and for those of you who didn't get it, I was speaking in jest. Maybe I should try to be a little less subtle. Don't waste your sympathy on me. If I want sympathy, I can find it in my homebrew. Mrs warra and I are still doing nicely, thank you.

My son and his wife will do OK with the baby bonus/payment thingy, it's due in about a month, just in time.

And daughter and partner are thinking hard about getting into the housing market for the first time.

 

[peas_and_corn]

I managed to start before the Nelson reforms- the "partial deregulation of fees" pah! I'm also band 1, so my debt is reasonably low. However, I really feel for those who are band 3, that's outrageously high.

 

[Polar Beer]

:icon_offtopic: I like making and drinking beer!

Cheers!

lol

 

[major]

Second the didly squat for me too... Bugger

Could I dress up the dog in skirt and get away with it? Hs nothing to do with the Rudd Handouts, just a general question.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Did you have to bring the missus up?

 

[kram]

Hopefully I pocket some of this bonus.

 

[drsmurto]

Always amusing to watch political discussion fire up here. Its been a few weeks at least. Maybe someone can start a poll?

I've got my popcorn and oversized cup of fizzy drink.

Intermission is over, keep it coming.

 

[wyatt_girth]

My wife and I have a 3 yr old dirt magnet and we fit comfortably in to the category of a recipent of this scheme. It is not becuase we are lazy, or because we are breeding like rabbits or any other reason that I regularly read (letters to the editor etc) about us 'bludgers' that get this money.
I work in an industry that has been effected by the drought and have worked a couple of jobs over the last two years to stay afloat.
Due to my wife's skilled squirreling of money our home is near paid off and we are still able to live a comfortable life whilst not sacrificing too much when the purse strings get yanked.
This money will fit nicely into our budget and, like much of our baby bonus three years ago, will most likely see a good portion go into our child's fixed term account so she has something to build on and hopefully see she is not a bludger like us.