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federal government spends on defence more than it spends on education and is about 64 per cent of federal spending on health in the case of britain its government spends almost twice as much on servicing debt as it spends on defence and so to the real dogs in this catfight former us secretary of state mike pompeo and president donald trump listen during a cabinet meeting at the white house july 2018 picture leah millis reuters lord downer was full of bitter personal memories and bereft of solutions during president trump s first term he asked mike pompeo the head of the cia at the time what he thought was the greatest problem the us faced pompeo said he thought it was growing government debt president trump s response was voters don t care about government debt that s perfectly true in the short term but if debt continues to grow then the crisis can be catastrophic for ordinary people i ve seen it with my own eyes back in 2010 i was working in southeastern europe and i saw the impact of the greek financial crisis that year so huge were the greek government s debts that the markets wouldn t lend them money to finance those debts any longer as a result the greek government had to go begging to the eu and the international monetary fund for a bailout they provided the bailout but on strict conditions not surprisingly they demanded massive cuts to government expenditure as well as increases in taxation greece s gdp fell by 25 per cent between 2008 and 2016 public sector employees had their remuneration cut by about 30 per cent and pensions were reduced by about the same amount private sector wages declined by 20 per cent that was the price greece paid for overspending over many years governments do have an alternative to borrowing on international and domestic markets they can print money the trouble with that is they increase the amount of money chasing the same number of goods and serv ices available in the economy that is inflationary there s no easy solution the higher the level of government debt the higher the interest rates needed to persuade investors to lend the higher the interest rate the higher the percentage of government expenditure has to be devoted to servicing that debt high interest rates slow economic growth the alternative is to print money and weather the storm of inflation which also reduces living standards there came a reminder of the treatment the germans had dished out to the greeks former greek prime minister george papandreou looks on at the greek parliament during a vote on austerity measures june 2011 picture louisa gouliamaki afp photo lord downer put on his most solemn face we have an impending crisis just about every government is accumulating huge quantities of debt and demanding that investors lend to them to finance those debts recently the us government has implicitly demonstrated its concern about the financing of its debt treasury secretary scott bessent announced the us government would spend 4bn buying back us government debt that is the equivalent of printing money he s doing that to try to push down the interest rates on us government borrowing it s just a detail but it points to a long term problem the moral of this story is that all governments including our own need to stop spending more than they earn the populist passion for expanding welfare entitlements and diverting resources into building windmills is slowly strangling our economies and if debt continues to grow we could confront a global financial crisis as ernest hemingway famously said when asked how he went bankrupt two ways gradually then suddenly talk to the hand or perhaps talk to mad king donald faux noise s favourite economist it being tuesday the pond simply had to make room for dame groan favourite cult for herpetology cultists the header why it s your money vs the nation in the fight over super despite criticism of its weak policy credentials one nation is leading key areas of the country s policy debate the caption for the incredible artwork featuring playing cards and a grim looking beast all thanks to the astonishing debbie treasurer jim chalmers is using superannuation to attack one nation politically by incorrectly asserting that pauline hanson wants to scrap it writes judith sloan artwork debbie schipp the pond is pleased to report that dame groan has gone one nation there is a certain irony to the fact one nation is leading the policy debate on several topics given the widespread criticism of the party for its weak policy credentials think here of immigration tobacco excise and now superannuation while the details may be missing there is no doubt pauline hanson is contributing to the discussion on these three topics think the pond had some difficulty associating that word with gina s pet but please hear dame groan out as she joined the lizard oz war on the super front let me focus here on superannuation hanson makes a strong point simply by stating that superannuation belongs to the policyholders not the government it s a feature of the system the labor party doesn t always fully embrace for example anthony albanese recently remarked there is a real potential to see these funds as a national asset that can be used more appropriately and get better returns as well not just for individuals and for retirees but for the nation the clear implication is super accounts don t belong only to policyholders jim chalmers also has talked about directing superannuation investments to national priority areas including affordable housing and the energy transition former victorian premier jacinta allan even urged the superannuation funds to invest in funding hospitals schools and other critical infrastructure could it be a one nation piece without a snap of the bottle died ranga pauline hanson speaks to the media at parliament house picture getty images inspired dame groan began to brood the key questions that now emerge are who really owns superannuation and what purposes can it be used for contrary to the party s mythology labor did not invent superannuation it existed well before the decision to make it compulsory for all employees from 1992 this followed a high level deal between the federal government and the actu to reduce the unions current pay claim before that superannuation had been largely confined to executives public servants and academics it s estimated that about 30 per cent of the workforce was covered by super before the introduction of compulsory universal superannuation the rules and taxation applying to superannuation have been adjusted several times the stipulated rate of contribution has increased from 3 per cent to 12 per cent while labor has always favoured the union controlled industry super funds the management of the current 4 5 trillion pool of funds is divided between these funds retail funds and self management arrangements while self interested players describe australia s system of compulsory superannuation as the envy of the world there are some fundamental weaknesses that have never been addressed most particularly the proportion of older people claiming the age pension remains high albeit with proportionately more claiming only a part pension adding in the tax concessions that apply to superannuation contributions and earnings the net savings associated with the superannuation system are not as high as many would assume and for those on low incomes compulsory superannuation is just a form of taxation because their entitlement to the full age pension is knocked off at least for a while because of means testing at this moment the reptiles stepped in determined to help albeit at a premium premium how much super do i need to retire become a member to access our premium video content sorry reptiles the pond must watch its pennies and even it s ha pennies as dame groan got gloomier and gloomier the deal is to forgo 12 per cent of your wage and get paid a partial age pension when you finally retire possibly without owning a house the broader point is that the system assumes most older folk own a home and a super lump sum is a welcome top up to ensure a comfortable retirement this assumption is looking less realistic across time does it really make sense for people to forgo 12 per cent of their incomes during their working lives while being unable to buy a home the case for the figure of 12 per cent was never justified based on providing adequate retirement incomes this was made clear in the 2010 henry tax review a maximum rate of 9 per cent was recommended in that report the higher figure of 12 per cent indeed 15 per cent was even mooted suited the industry super funds which are always intent on maximising the inward flow of funds recent changes such as same payday super and compulsory super for juniors are in the same category this is where the debate comes in should policyholders be able to withdraw money from their own accounts to pay for important expenses such as buying a home or avoiding mortgage default there are some provisions for early withdrawals but there are tight restrictions associated with any requests the australian taxation office handles some requests but these are limited to serious illness and covering the cost of vital treatment requests based on financial hardship can be made to the super funds but the sums are limited and proof of continuous receipt of government benefits is required these withdrawals are subject to tax there is also a specific scheme that allows people to use superannuation as a vehicle to save for a home deposit but the government s 5 per cent deposit scheme has become the dominant policy intervention used by first home buyers eclipsing any potential popularity of using super in most instances the funds held in super accounts are tied up until policyholders reach preservation age which is currently 60 for those born after july 1 1964 this suits the funds and the various firms that make a living from the system but whether it really is in the best interests of every policyholder is debatable where is all this heading an opportunity to brag liberal senator andrew bragg speaks to the media at parliament house picture getty images and that was a bridge too far this problem has become more acute with the lack of growth in real wages when real wages were rising along with increases in the superannuation contribution rate workers could feel happy that the present and the future were being accommodated but for the past five years real wages have been going backwards and this warm inner glow has faded for many hard pressed workers and their families the implicit social compact in which compulsory superannuation is an ingredient has started to fray one policy option is to consider freeing up the use of three percentage points of the superannuation contribution based on the proposition that 9 per cent can t be touched but there should be some flexibility on the use by policyholders of the contribution above that figure there is no doubt that this would play well with many voters what a canny move what a cunning way to degut the purpose of having super on which to retire with dame groan not able to make the final leap liberal senator andrew bragg has amped up the debate declaring the system of compulsory super is one of the biggest policy failures since federation according to him the whole system is broken talk about going too far and producing a billy goat butt from the groaner this is a big call and flies in the face of survey data that shows reasonably strong support for superannuation along with a high degree of ignorance of its working so dumb punters are happy to support their misery and only dame groan truly understands how it works which is why she values gina s pet because she s a tremendous discussion starter in the meantime the federal treasurer is using superannuation to attack one nation politically by incorrectly asserting that hanson wants to scrap it the reality is that it s timely to discuss the real purpose of super and its key weaknesses including the danger of governments directing the investment of people s super accounts for some reason the notion that hanson was an excellent debate starter reminded the pond of dana frank in the graudian dissing the both siderist ny times why does the new york times keep calling the left divisive the real purpose of this debate starter blow the whole thing up without the tedium and pain of devising a substitute early and easy access can lead to all sorts of grifts and entirely destroy the point of the super system cf the graudian and instead of the usual immortal rowe when the pond visited x the only time it ever goes to that cesspit this turned up over at the nine rags there was still a sign of life though it made the pond feel a tad sick elbows up canada posted by dorothy parker at 8 25 2026 07 45 00 am 9 comments older posts home subscribe to posts atom n innerhtml at container insertbefore n footer return true 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downer and simplistic simon escape t beware the dog botherer is infatuated with gina s forget the facts just the lies ma am and just th in which the killer kreighton kovid kult makes the in which only the bromancer in a state of terror in which the pond finally settles on a nattering in which the pond gives in to distractions but st in which the reptiles disinter the lying rodent fr in which the pond goes in search of bonus reptiles in which the bromancer is in dire straits but llo july 31 june 24 may 19 april 27 march 32 february 29 january 34 2025 435 december 29 november 30 october 56 september 41 august 33 july 39 june 32 may 33 april 35 march 39 february 35 january 33 2024 363 december 36 november 30 october 5 september 18 august 32 july 36 june 31 may 33 april 32 march 38 february 36 january 36 2023 368 december 29 november 30 october 31 september 32 august 30 july 31 june 31 may 32 april 30 march 32 february 29 january 31 2022 414 december 22 november 32 october 26 september 30 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