Welfare Reform: the Sinister Cut

"Admittedly Im no economist, but surely something smells of decaying seafood in the house of Australian politics (not to mention the rest of the world). Take the notion of welfare reform for instance: the word reform would seem to indicate some sort of positive restructuring of the system to allow enhanced social services to those in need. Unfortunately though, as most of us are aware, welfare reforms are merely welfare cuts in a nice suit, justified via the rhetoric of efficiency and mutual obligation. More people off the dole = $ saved by the government = responsible fiscal management = votes come next election.

Whats the problem with that though, you say? Streamline government services, save taxpayer money, less government means less tax, means more dollars in my pocket - so whats the crisis?

Here it is: the whole idea is a scam, thats the problem. Not only does it not work, it actually makes things worse - on multiple levels: economic and social.

So why? How? Explain.

Ok; we, as a society, made a decision last century to have a welfare structure in place as part of our taxation system/governmental structure. This was because we decided we would rather sacrifice a small portion of our overall income, so that those who fall upon hard times have some minimum ability to feed, clothe, and shelter their families and themselves. This decision was in preference to having people starving and dying on our streets, a decision I absolutely agree with, for along with the starving and dying comes a plethora of further ills - from the spread of diseases, to a new level of criminality, the violence of people who have absolutely nothing to loose. Not a bad deal I would argue, a few percentage points of tax, and we get a much more liveable society.

This still hasnt answered the question though, you say. The current Australian Federal Government is just streamlining the welfare system, making it a more efficient service provider(etc), not scrapping the whole system.
True, they are not scrapping the whole system, the electorate wouldnt let them get away with that (yet). What they are doing though, seem to me more sinister in some ways than if they just blatantly showed their true colors.

What? I can hear hordes of Young Naz-, I mean, Young Liberals cry out: after all youve just said about how good welfare is, how can you possibly say it is worse to keep the system than get rid of it, how can that be sinister? Anyway if we got rid of it youd be bitching just as much!

True, of course I would, probably more.

But thats not the point. So far the actions of the Government seem to be the usual mix of self serving politicking and right wing conservitism/economic rationalism. No surprises there. Youd expect that sort of government to basically abuse the poor, the disadvantaged, the elderly, in fact, anyone without much political clout.

Here is where it gets a bit odd though. In Australia we have fairly static levels of unemployment (given one or so percentage points of fluctuation, and the trend to more casual work at the expense of permanent positions); a wordy way of saying that at any time there will be a certain percentage of the population who there is no work for. The number of workers is greater than the number of jobs. So basically, pushing people to get off their arses and get a job will not lessen the number of people on the dole, as there is only a limited supply of work to go around.

This said, it means that for those people removed from benefits thanks to the governments strict rules, regulations and punishments (see making the dole difficult and annoying) it is not so simple as getting a job then. For some of these people crime and violence will be the only solution they can see. Even for those who dont turn to crime, the stress upon family and other relationships has repercussions through mental health, drug abuse, domestic violence, homelessness and youth suicide. The monetary cost to the Australian taxpayer for these onflowing traumas must be enormous: the heath care costs associated with dealing with these ongoing problems, physical and mental, in institutes, hospitals, rehab centers; the cost of housing a prisoner in a jail is something around 50,000 - 80,000 per year.

That is almost ten times the amount a welfare recipient gets in a year.
When little Kenny gets savagely beaten by his old man, who has no job and now no money, we will still be paying for it in twenty years, when, as a grown man, Kenny beats his own child.

But what is so disturbing is, the figures dont add up. It simply cannot be economically feasible to cut a chunk of people off the dole and save a few tens of millions of dollars, when you consider the enormous and ongoing economic costs associated with these cuts.

But what makes it so truly sinister is this: if anyone should know this, it must be the Liberal party. No other party comes close to their world-view: they are hard-core economic determinists, money decides what happens, the economy drives all before it. If it makes cash, its good.

So, whats going on? If anyone should be pushing for welfare, its them. The government saves money, and nothing makes a liberal happier. If kicking someone off the dole costs ten times more than letting them stay on it till they can find a job in the future, then I cannot imagine any true economist who would argue for the welfare cuts. Clearly then, something must be going on behind the scenes, something definitely malevolent.

But what? My theory is that the Liberals, through diverse means such as welfare reform, prison expansion and privatisation, our world standard detention/concentration camps, along with their companion mandatory detention laws for asylum seekers and true-blue non-queue jumping fair-dinkum Aussie citizens, the streamlining of mental health resources, the butchering of legal aid, making the elderly, single mothers, and the disabled eligible for mutual obligation and work for the dole (or get kicked off it), through these powerful tools the liberals are seeking to enhance something, to provide some kind of thing

For many a sleepless night I pondered this mystery, this paradoxical behaviour, when a thought came to me. There is one consistent theme throughout: pain, rage, terror, violence. chaos.

Yes Chaos, nectar of the Ancient Ones. A nectar the Liberals are producing by the barrel load.

From then on it all became crystal. The Liberals, as a fourth or fifth tier member of the Earth dioces of the Universal Megaconspiracy, are pawns of their enochian/elohim overlords. As such they are probably providing their inscruitable alien masters with all the materials they require to release/tap into the power of the/an Ancient One/s. The motives of those beings/entities within the higher tiers of the Universal Megaconspiracy are at best unclear. Are they really trying to release/invite the Elder Powers back into our multiverse? Are they mad! Or do they know more than we imagine? Or are they mad and they know far more than we could imagine?

The longer I pondered, the more gut wrenching the fear became. Howard and Costello If Howard isnt a space-zombie-replicant then I dont know who is, but Costello - have you ever seen that... that smirk, grin? I dont know what its called in his universe, but dear god its scary. Chills the blood in my veins that lip movement, with the cold dead eyes above Ive got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Ideas like this dont just spring out of nowhere. Planet Earths Jungian UberConsiousness is screaming in pain. You think this is bad, this is nothing. The War on Terror has just begun, and soon there will be a billion minds crying out in rage and anger, revenge and hatred on their minds, the UberConsciousness pulsating with chaos, the Enocian/Elohim tapping that source - or perhaps by that stage the Ancient Ones themselves may come to the table for dinner.

If so, nothing will save us then.

So come on Earth Patriots, dont let those occult alien scum and their human quislings rape our beautiful planet. Remember, the fight begins at home. The Universal Megaconspiracy has tiers at every level of society, anyone can strike back - pervert their advertising, sample their music, use their rules and red tape against them, be a pain in the arse, voice an opinion, have an opinion, and whatever you do, dont let them get away with it.

We shall stand with pen and sword,
Guitar and gun,
We will not stop until the doins done.

The Harlequin
1602 AD"

*Bluetail*
GlobalDataBank.
@Aust, 12/2002.