Treasury’s spurious claim that stagnant wages are at least partially caused by workers not moving to higher-paying firms has not been met warmly by Crikey readers. They seemed to agree with Bernard Keane’s sentiment that Treasury is tying itself in knots trying to defer blame from the Coalition’s economic management. Elsewhere, readers took on the dire state of private health insurance and had some suggestions for a solution to airline carbon emissions.
On wage stagnation and workers
Nicholas Pavlovski writes: To be told by people in Treasury that it was purely my own fault my wages were buying less was the kind of really stinging arrogance that is born of blind ignorance. I’m an active member of a white collar union and have marched plenty of times the last few years as well as stood on picket lines. Our powers to bargain and secure better wages have been so stripped back that we are lucky to be able to do anything at all. To be told I can get a better salary by simply getting a job at a better company was gobsmacking. Where are these better jobs at better employers, in the same country, let alone hemisphere? It was the kind of speech that only a wonk on a comfortable salary with a job for life and no possibility of ever getting sacked could make.
Lesley Graham writes: Bog standard Coalition thinking, they have to get themselves off the hook. The fact that the economy is a dead duck, floating, is a true reflection of the fact that this is what they’ve done over the last six years. They want the electorate to think that workers are to blame with what’s wrong with the economy, not government inaction and continued ignorance around encouraging business to invest in at best a stagnant economy.
On private health insurance
Steven Westbrook writes: I think the Coalition might welcome this crisis as an excuse to push us in their preferred ideological direction. If a British system is the answer, it will be a titanic struggle, noting that this year is 70 years since Chifley’s noble attempt to nationalise the banks produced a fierce and successful resistance campaign by the private industry and the Liberals.
On the carbon emissions of flying
Richard Dennison writes: Everything we consume should be rated for carbon and saved against an average. These points would be entered onto our carbon credits which you would have to have in order to fly, so we have to earn our flights.
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So following the advice of treasury I immediately confronted my boss and delivered the ultimatum that he should increase my wage forthwith or I would deliver myself to a better performing employer, the conversation actually never got that far because at the point where I mentioned ‘wage increase’ the security guy arrived to escort me off the premises. Ah well, I had a go, back to thoughts and prayers I suppose.
Sorry, I can’t be bothered trying to read today’s edition – long loading/buffering and failure to show subsequent pages of comments.
I’ll try later and hope that the tek-hamsters have been recaptured and their latest fiddling rectified.
The treasury now stacked with Liberal party staffers, will tie themselves up in knots to please their friends and masters.
Yes, the are completely out of touch with the reality of the economy as it staggers from one slip to the next and all on a downward spiral.
As someone who works in private health, I find it really unedifying with all the generalizations floating around about costs. Yes, it does cost about $6000 a year for gold level top hospital and top extras.
There are really good specialists out there who do not charge any out of pocket expenses, or some limited charges and then there are others who charge whatever the hell they can convince a patient to pay.
Whilst some may be cheering on the demise of the private health system, just remember that if private health ceases to exist, all of those people will be joining your queue.
The private health system has always acted as a benchmark and counterbalance for the public system.
So, for instance, a number of years ago, an enterprising administrator decided to save money by limiting the number of cardiac catheters used per month, as they cost around $100 each and were disposable.
And so , instead of performing a catheter list of 12 per day, 5 days a week, the list was reduced by 4 patient’s a day at a saving of $2000 per week $104,000 per year.
After a couple of months the cardiologist contacted the administrator and was told, no you can’t go back to doing 12 per day. The result of this reduction in numbers, was there were patients dying on that waiting list.
The only option left to the cardiologist was to make the problem public and resign.
What do you actually think happens in the NHS?
What do you think happens in the states if a “charity bed” can’t be found.
Australia has a good system, but, it needs the federal government to take responsibility for what has happened to the Medicare rebate because that is the basis upon which all costings are made.
Did you know that the federal government has a medicare rebate of $573 for the delivery of a baby and care of its mother during delivery, this delivery, includes a caesarean if needed. Two lives, an indefinite time frame and $573, don’t you think that is sexist?