The KRuddster is playing Santa Claus this year with big handouts to pensioners and low income families before Xmas. Pensioners will get $1400 for singles and $2100 for couples while lower income families will get $1000 per kid.
To quote our esteemed Prime Minister:
“My conversations with ordinary Australians [cringe], and the comments in emails and letters people send me, tell me that these payments are going to be spent in ways that will make a real difference for many Australians this Christmas.” (See source.)
(It does sounds a bit like the Queen’s Xmas message, doesn’t it?)
We can expect some party poopers out there who will refuse to join in the Xmas cheer.
Those on the dole queue or expecting to be may choose to do the wrong thing and save the money or pay off debts. That would be very unsporting of them. They really ought to be guided by the soldier’s refrain – eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
Some people have probably already spent the money. They have known about the future payment since 14 October and have factored it into their credit card spending or have promised to pay an outstanding bill when the money arrives.
Then we have those who are bitter about missing out. This includes non-custody fathers out there who resent the money going to “that bitch”, and self-funded retirees who have been hit by the financial crisis but don’t get the handouts going to spendthrift, tax-funded pensioners.
I haven’t read what the economic pundits have been saying about it but I know what I think. It is about as useful as the captain of the Titanic giving everyone a free cup of cocoa.
“Then we have those who are bitter about missing out. This includes non-custody fathers out there who resent the money going to “that bitch”, and self-funded retirees who have been hit by the financial crisis but don’t get the handouts going to spendthrift, tax-funded pensioners.And those who are only on the dole and don’t have children. This plan is dividing poor people against each other. Some of the people in the dodgy boarding house where I live are getting $1400.”
I’m not getting a cent because I’m not badly off enough to qualify for the pension. “Those on the dole queue or expecting to be may choose to do the wrong thing and save the money or pay off debts.” Bob Brown wants people to spend it on energy efficiency:
Senator (Green) Brown says cash payments from the Federal Government’s economic stimulus package should be spent wisely.
Senator Brown: “What he should be saying to the pensioners and the carers is perhaps invest it in some energy efficiency in the household so that you keep getting a bonus over the months and years ahead, and make sure you keep a little aside for the unforseens that are coming down the line in a time of global financial crisis,”
The only thing worse than seeing some of the bastards I know on the pension getting this cash is hearing politicians lecture people on how to spend it.