Poor us

I just read this article on the Age and found it refreshing. Finally someone in the country is telling the average consumer to stop their whinging.

Article

I particularly thought these paragraphs were insightful into of the attitudes currently here in Oz.

"Retailers whine about lower retail spending, rather than diverting their energy into making stores that people want to shop in with sales assistants that are friendly and knowledgeable about their product. Manufacturers bemoan a higher dollar without thinking how they can move up the value chain to high-end goods that foreigners actually want to buy. 

Government is acting like the weak-willed parent who, in its thirst for affection, has failed to draw any boundaries and stick to them.

Consumers have become rentseekers too, complaining about the cost of living and wailing about any attempts to wind back a bloated welfare system. Meanwhile we refuse to acknowledge all the things government has done for us, like stopping us from going into recession. 

Government is left desperately trying to figure out what it is that we want to keep us quiet. But any attempts to assuage our complaints - such as petrol price inquiries, grocery price inquiries - only lead us to wail even louder."

It seems to me that people here have forgotten about the rule that says "whoever pays the bills makes the rules".

You know the government is giving you money because of an
upcoming election....right? It is because they have all this extra lying
and decided to hand it out. 

People here feel that they are entitled to so many days to the hospital for free after having a baby. They seem to forget that all the other bills were completely free* and that many people elsewhere in the world do not even have access to healthcare like this, let alone for free.

Some say they are going to be hard up financially if/when the government reduces family tax benefits or carers leave or the myriad of other social handouts we get. These people seem to have forgotten that they get so many hand outs that they can live comfortably only working part time. Not many other people in the world could say such a thing. Gasp and horror if they should actually have to look for full-time work! In Greece right now there are people who have worked for an entire year without getting paid because their country is flat broke. At least here you would get paid. And don't forget minimum wage is at a lovely $15.51/hr for anyone older than 20. And I wonder why it costs so much to go see a movie or eat at Mc Donalds?

Sadly this lazy attitude is within the Christian circles as it is in the secular ones. Half the people I have heard whinging over the past several weeks have been Christians. They expect the handouts just as much as anyone else. They don't think work is a good. They don't think about taking responsibility for their family. They don't consider that they may have to tighten their belts a little, tell their kids no more Fox Tel and take out every week. 

And here lies a few dangers when living in a welfare-socialist country. The church (or I should say its individuals) forgets its responsibility to care for the poor and down-trodden, individuals forget how to work hard and people forget that everything comes for a price. 

Even those 'free' nights at the hospital.

When the government is in the red those luxuries are thrown in the rubbish bin.  We can carry on as we are and pass on the pain to our children or we could shoulder the burden ourselves and teach our children some valuable lessons so that they don't make the same mistakes.

I'd rather teach than hope that the next generation figures it out for themselves.

*People seem to have also forgotten that nothing is for free and that when the hard times come those nice little 'freebies' tend to disappear.