🚀 go-pugleaf

gleeson@unimelb.edu.au (Martin Gleeson) writes:
>adm@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au (David Moss) writes:

>>It seems to me you are in the wrong line of work for your circumstances.
>>Perhaps you should consider changing to something else. The hours you
>>mention are more suited to someone without the responsibility of raising
>>a child. Why you should expect me to fund your lifestyle choice when I
>>have enough trouble funding my own is really beyond me.

>One wonders why David Moss chooses not to apply this reasoning to farmers
>when the government is giving them another $500 million in handouts.
>But of course we must fund the lifestyle choices of farmers or we wouldn't
>get bread for '99c', would we? Isn't that how it goes, David?


I notice you declined to continue the "Howard dons the Akubra" thread
Martin. I'm not surprised, you really had no answer there.

As to why tha above does not apply to farming subsidy, perhaps we should
look at the background.

A person who decides to take on employment and have the State take care of 
his/her children does nothing for the overall productivity of Australia.
We have a staggering number of unemployed people willing to take the
person's place at award pay rates. Sure single parents should expect
some level of support from the community to compensate for the lack of
a partner. This is not carte-blanche to take on any job no matter how much
it costs the taxpayer however.

Subsidising farmers during times of natural hardship is entirely a
different matter. There are very few people willing to work more than
three times the standard working week for less than average earnings.
There is a noticeable shortage of people with both the skills and the
capital who are willing to risk everything for such a low return.

What do you suppose would happen if we didn't support farmers during
lean periods, and family farming became extinct in Australia ?

Think of how production costs would rise if we had to pay award wages
and conditions for food production. I used to get paid for 20 hours
when working 12 hour shifts in the steel industry, use that as a starting
point.

The result would be the total destruction of domestic food production,
all our grain would be imported and none exported. What would that do
to our balance of payments, never mind unrealistically exposing us to
the foreign policy of food producing countries.

There is no comparison between hardship subsidies for farmers and
people who think its their right to work regardless of of what they cost
the community.

People who choose to have children also choose to look after them.
If they want to work at something else too, let them make their own
arrangements. Sometimes its viable, sometimes its not. Thats life.

David Moss,
personal opinion only.
http://www.adfa.oz.au/~adm/politics for Australian Politics resources.