Roads Less Travelled - Public Good

Public Good

I believe we are on an irreversible trend towards more freedom and democracy - but that could change.
Dan Quayle 5/22/89

As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith.
Thomas Paine - CommonSense

Taxes: the price we pay for a civilised society.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

The avoidance of taxes is the only pursuit that still carries any reward.
John Maynard Keynes

The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax.
Albert Einstein

Those who take the most from the table teach contentment. Those for whom the taxes are destined, demand sacrifice. Those who eat their fill, speak to the hungry of wonderful times to come. Those who lead the country into the abyss, call ruling difficult, for ordinary folk.
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

It's the same the whole world over, It's the poor wots gets the blame, It's the rich wots gets the gravy. Ain't it all a bleedin' shame?
Anonymous

When the rich wage war it is the poor who die.
Jean-Paul Sartre

You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people. That is how you prevent the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans. What will you do when God punishes you? What will you do when he brings disaster on you from a distant country? Where will you run to find help? Where will you hide your wealth?
GNB Isaiah 10:1—3

Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
Gore Vidal

Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right.
H. L. Mencken

My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest shall have the same opportunities as the strongest.... No country in the world today shows any but patronising regard for the weak. Western democracy, as it functions today, is diluted facism. True democracy cannot be worked by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below, by the people of every village.
Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1950)

State Owned Facilities: Private Good, Public Bad!

Synopsis: Private ownership is the current credo of Australian governments of nearly every political persuasion. It is argued that private ownership of state utilities such as water, power, communication, roads and rail is better than public in terms of efficiency and economic performance. The jury, however, is still out.

Green paper
Links:

Indianapolis Water Company: American city nationalises water company for the public good!
Since this story and links were uploaded the links have disappeared and publicly the story has changed. Click on the cached version to read how this buy back is not reverse privatisation! Obviously someone at city hall was pressured to defend the action. Pains are taken to show that management is still private, but notice also the heavy control from local government.
http://www.indygov.org/mayor/iwc/ cache
http://www.iwcr.com/Welcome.html
Tales of Naked Greed: The ideological belief that the private sector is inevitably better cannot be challenged, for all its nudity.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/futureforpublicservices/comment/0,8146,656704,00.html
Privatization: Rip Offs and Resistance: Multinational Monitor Jan-Feb 2002, includes the Enron debacle, the corporate drive to run public schools, the UK experience with railway privatization, the Boeing Boondoggle and more!
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2002/02jan-feb/jan-feb02toc.html
New Zealand sets up a Public Bank: A new government-funded people's bank with lower fees and hundreds of small branches in regional areas has been set up. The new bank will compete with five other, all foreign owned.
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/stories/s249350.htm
Power Politics: A new book of essays (2003) examines the debacle of power privatisation in South Australia.
Comment

State Aid for Government Schools!

Synopsis: In Australia, under the constitution, the States are responsible for education. In the fifties and sixties a debate ensued regarding funding for private schools led by the Catholic system. This resulted in the federal government providing state aid for these schools. Whatever the merits of the argument we now find lavish funding provisions from the federal government for private schools that the states cannot match in supporting the government school system. It is argued by some that this policy by the federal government and supported by some states is a deliberate attempt to privatise the state school system. At its worst it divides communities, devalues the community school and supports ghettos of priviledge for the well off.

Green paper History of the debate - Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture

Links:

PGR for Public Education: - advocacy group for public education with big name support from people like Paul Kelly, Mem Fox and others....
http://pgrforpubliceducationorg.ozhosting.com/supporters.html
Australian Education Union - campaign for Government Schools: http://www.aeufederal.org.au/
Six Myths About Private Schools in Australia: - dispels the arguments for the current funding of private schooling in Australia cache
http://www.acsso.org.au/issues3.html
Australian Council for the Defence of Government Schools: - up to date comment on the issues relating to support of public education
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~adogs
The Corporate Takeover of Childhood - George Monbiot: - what happens when "big business" gets involved in education . .
http://www.georgemonbiot.com/
The Education Business: Emerging trends in the Education Business - a brief summary cache
http://wwwtools.cityu.edu.hk/news/newslett/educationbusiness.htm
Australian Council of State School Organizations - ACSSO: Latest Hot Topics from a parent perspective
http://www.acsso.org.au
Education Foundation: - The role of the Education Foundation is to act as the social conscience of the nation..
http://www.educationfoundation.org.au
Who does John Howard Really Care About?: "The government does not have education policies, it has policies of social engineering".
Rodney Molesworth, President of the Australian Council of State School Organisations,
summarised parent reaction to the release of information showing the Howard Government‘s
massive shift of Commonwealth effort from public universities to private schools.
media release (html version) media_release_6_Nov.doc (original Word doc)
Lazy Governments Love League Tables: - Parents argue strongly against simplistic assessment that confuses and divides communities and allows governments to duck their responsibilities.
click here
In Defence of Public Education: - John Ralston Saul, described by many as one of the most challenging thinkers of our time has something significant to say about public schools .
http://www.aeusa.asn.au/infopages/2175.html
The South Australian Public Education Project: - Launched on Sunday 3 August 2003, this project seeks to reassess the nature, role, responsibilities and resourcing of a public education system in the 21st century.
http://www.aeusa.asn.au/topics/2094.html
A fair go education system: the advantages for all of us: - Carmen Lawrence argues that unless we ensure a return to a fair go education system we are 'certain to lead to unnecessary and significant social dislocation'.
http://smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/29/1064817581627.html
Parents respond to Howard's assertion that State Schools don't teach values.: - The Australian Council of State Schools Organisations (ACSSO) gets cranky . . .
Click here
The Stupid Country: Entrenching privilege is stupid because the wrong people can get the big jobs and so act as a brake on the entire country. Australia must compete on a global stage, but it is highly likely we will find ourselves struggling to keep up with those countries who are better able to develop the potential of all their available talent. Jane Caro explains why we are messing up the country. . . [cache]
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6179

Real Tax Reform!

Synopsis:Current wisdom followed by our federal government has been to reduce taxation, especially income tax and taxes on business. However the community has been concerned about the declining services in hospitals, schools and law enforcement. There is no doubt that progress has been made in making instrumentalities more efficient but there are limits to how far this can go without squeezing service provision. So despite much concern voiced by the community the tax cuts continue. No-one has had the courage, except perhaps the Democrats, to call for increased taxation to properly pay for the services we need.
Tax cuts also have a double effect. They tend to favour the rich and to the extent they take away public services they impact as a double whammy on the poor. It is a fact that the gap between rich and poor is widening alarmingly in Australian society considering our claim to being an egalitarian society!
Other issues not being tackled in any serious way are tax minimisation schemes and the inconsistencies in tax laws for Australian owned businesses compared to foreign business.
A better answer to these concerns might need to be more radical?

Green paper Property Tax Shift

Links:

Australian Tax Office: Why do we pay taxes? How does this work? Is this the same everywhere?
http://www.ato.gov.au
Taxpayers Associations: The argument of these groups is that high taxes impede economic growth. The question might be asked is economic growth the only factor to be considered? What benefits would higher taxation bring? Could there be a balance between these?
http://www.worldtaxpayers.org
Green Tax Shift: What is tax shifting?; http://www.progress.org/banneker/shift.html
Tax Reform: What is this site arguing? Who runs it? The word "reform" implies make better or improve. Is this true?
http://www.taxreform.gov.au/
Other Tax Reform: Some suggest our tax system is too complicated and unwieldy. They suggest we need radical reform. Is this site suggesting an idea that would work? Who would benefit most?
http://www.taxreform.com.au/

When Democracy Fails!

Synopsis: Why do governments of whatever political persuasion seem no longer to be working for the common good. Sometimes it seems they are working directly against what is best for us. It all seems so hard. Indeed we are told there is not enough money for school improvement, better policing, more hospital beds etc. The thought of raising taxes is anathema despite many of my friends agreeing they would be pleased only if the money went that way instead of bribing multi-nationals to set up their new pretzel factory here. But no! And now the important issues of local politics have been overwhelmed by the "war against terror" and bombing Saddam. Stop! Listen! Has the world gone crazy? What is really happening to us. Well folks "the truth is out there" and its been around a long time. We have found the enemy and they are among us. Read on..........

Green paper When Democracy Fails!

Links:

The Noam Chomsky Archive: Noam Chomsky is a Professor of Linquistics and Philosophy at MIT. He is also one of America's leading dissident intellectuals.
http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/index.cfm
Noam Chomsky: "Chomsky.info: The Noam Chomsky Website
http://www.chomsky.info
George Monbiot: George Monbiot is a travel writer and regular columnist in the Guardian.
http://www.monbiot.com
Hidden Agendas - John Pilger: John Pilger is an Australian investigative journalist based in the UK.
http://www.johnpilger.com
Harold Pinter: Harold Pinter is a renown playwright, director, actor and poet. He is also a political activist and savage critic of the current policies of the US and Britain in the Middle East and elsewhere.
http://www.haroldpinter.org/politics/index.shtml
Michael Moore: Mike Moore adds a needed touch of humour to a serious subject.
http://www.michaelmoore.com
Empowered Participation: by Archon Fung and other related papers describing grassroots democratic experiences.
http://www.archonfung.net/projects.html
Ideas To Save Our Withering Democracy: Carmen Lawrence shows where our country's undue emphasis on the cult of individualism has taken us and suggests some overdue reforms.
Click here