Sir Mike's Comments: " What's the true value of a Pollie ??? "

People we are continually being told by our pollies on all sides of politics that we - collectively - need to improve the countries productivity! that the country needs to live within it's means! that Aussies need to improve their skills and academic qualifications! we need to think of the country first and ourselves 2nd - you know people the famous John F. Kennedy speech/quote " ask not what your country can do for you,ask what you can do for your country " unquote.

So after reading Larry Pickerings from The Pickering Posts comments - see down below - it got me thinking??

? How do we value and measure a pollies worth to a country - especially as far as the hard done by tax payers are concerned?? and by what measure do we - at all levels of this over governed country of ours - measure their productivity??

Collectively at all levels - yep even local councils if you add on the perks of office to their annual salaries - they are very well paid especially when we include their perks of office - cars,living away allowances,travel to and from Canberra in the case of the federal mob and outside the metropolitan areas with the state mob plus one if not the best by world standards retirement/superannuation schemes/plans - refer to Pickerings Comments below - fully funded by the hard done by Aussie tax payers who have absolutely in general terms nothing to compare it with in the private sector for it's generosity !!!

Now to start with people please ignore this bullshit put about by the pollies & bureaucrats about all the hours they put in and the volume of paper work,meetings they have to attend etc; etc; etc; you know you have heard it all before! because there is no doubt in my mind that ( 99.9% ) of the 2.400,000 small and medium Aussie business people in this country work just as hard - if not harder - just as long hours - if not more - without the resources & perks available to them like the pollies!! and what is more the businesses have to raise the funds to operate and if they run to many deficits they go broke/bankrupt!! whereas the pollies regardless of what a lousy job they do-which is continuous at all levels-stand to lose absolutely nothing thanks to the Aussie tax payers!! they just raise the taxes,fees and charges and in many cases we could end up in jail if we don't pay them??

I bet private enterprise would love to be able to do that to their share holders in order to force them to refinance the enterprise no matter what financial stuff ups the Directors, Management and staff had made!!

So what qualifies a person to become a pollie????

? Academic qualifications - none required!

? Standard of education - none specified!

? Physical attributes - from my observation in the majority of cases obviously no standards set/required??

? Level of intelligence - none specified!

? The level of I Q and problem solving capabilities - none specified!

? Psychological Profiling - none required!

? Being able to read,write and speak English to a certain standard - none specified!

? Being able to stand on your feet in front of an audience - hostile or otherwise? - and put your point of view in a clear,concise, forthright,uninhibited and candid manner - if so as a regular listener to parliament via the ABC/Internet most polles I have heard within federal,state and territory parliaments would not qualify for a high school debating team - most of them cannot even string more than ( 12 ) consecutive words together without losing track of the subject in hand and/or without being monotonously repetitious ? because they either have not done their homework and are just filling in time with a heap of " Ums and/or R's "and a whole load of twaddle and/or they reckon we the listeners are to dumb to get it the first time?? or they feign an interest/knowledge of/in a subject that it is obvious they don't have a clue in what they are talking about!!

However/whatever generally a very poor standard of debate/discussion and in many cases in order to be heard over the parliamentary racket by others in the chambers they shout which in most cases makes them inaudible!!? Business acumen & experience - well as most ( say 85% ) of federal pollies anyway I gather have never managed/run a privately funded organisation/business and the majority are either lawyers/teachers and/or union officials I believe we can safely say that little if any business/acumen is required.? Industrial Relations from both sides of the business spectrum - management and unions - not required! ? Having organised/run a domestic household including budgetary responsibilities and not just in a tax payer funded monetary way? - none specified/required!

The above people are just some of the hoops you are required to successfully jump through when applying for Senior/Executive type positions within large/multinational companies!! I know because in my much younger days I completed a myriad of them when seeking senior/executive positions in the marketing/sales/distribution areas- I say a myriad of them because a job interview is a two way street and there were many of them I decided were not for me.

There were at least (4) interviews - (2) with the management/recruitment consultants - (2) directly with the company concerned before getting onto - if you were deemed acceptable enough - the ultimate short list.

These positions ofcourse were very significant - if not powerful - ones within the corporate structure!! however there were " NO " (3) to (4) year guaranteed tenure if you did a lousy ineffective job as you get with our pollies at all levels of this over governed country of ours!!!!

You did not preside over a 2.5 trillion - yep at least 2.5 trillion Aussie economy -! with the exception of the weather/natural disasters - you have the authority over every living/material thing from the sky to the earths core above and below the Aussie land & territories!! you did not have the power to fine/imprison the Aussie population! you did not have the power to declare war on other nations as we did with Iraq and Afghanistan and send some of our finest young men/women to their horrible - and in my view being ex military - over the long term a meaningless and expensive - tax payer wise - death!!!!

You also did not have the latitude to stand up at board,management,sales meetings or seminars and sprout a heap of twaddle - especially the political type because yes politics is very prominent in companies & organisations - and expect to get paid for it regardless??!! like - in my view after (5) decades of listening to them over all levels of our (3) mobs - the majority of our pollies do!!!!!!!

A pollies main aim in life - no matter who he/she is - is political survival and this can be born out on a daily basis by the way they speak and carefully craft/phrase their words so as not to offend and be all things to all people - and certainly not to give their opposition any ammunition to fire at them -?? what a bloody expensive farce!!

So people who qualifies for the very powerful! well remunerated position of an Aussie pollie??

Well just about anyone regardless!! because as you can see from the above there is no specific criteria/standards or qualifications laid down - other than being an Aussie citizen!! - in the most part just be a recognised sporting personality and/or suck up to the party hierarchy! shake the right hands! sprout soothing party political lines! don't be an obvious threat to others within the party structure! and mate your in like Flynn when the husbands away!!

So ? is it any wonder this great country of ours is in a financial mess that it is -? don't you hate it when these pollies state " Yeah but it's not as bad as other countries around the world ?? " and we have a " Triple A Rating " WHO CARES WE DON'T LIVE IN OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD THAT'S NO EXCUSE!!!! " and the mobs that hand out these ratings played a very serious part in causing the GFC that the world is still trying to recover from in the first place!! again what a farce!!!

People I judge others - especially pollies at all (3) of our levels of government - with the saying " Would you buy a used car from this/that person?? " and in my view after many decades in so far as about (80%) of them is concerned - including most of the so-called independents I would state " You have got to be bloody joking!!! "

So people if you are not prepared to let these pollies and their carers the bureaucrats know in no uncertain terms that they work for you/us and not the other way around!!!! and you accept this mess - financial and otherwise - then more fool you and you and yours deserve all you cop so don't whinge!!

Well done Pickering - scroll down.

Mike Howe.

Subject: - DON'T SHOOT JOE HOCKEY - The Pickering Post

LARRY COMMENTS ON EX - PMs RETIREMENT LARGESE

http://pickeringpost.com/story/don-t-shoot-joe-hockey/3102

DON'T SHOOT JOE HOCKEY

The poor bastard has inherited a mess of unprecedented proportions that is going to take a long Liberal tenure to sort out and
return to some normality - if at all.

The sad reality is that Australia is made up of three types of people. Workers. Bludgers. Pensioners. And is desperately trying to
claw every dollar they can back from this hurting system...the magnifying glass has momentarily paused above the latter category.
Which is sad. We expect the pensioners to be looked after in this country. We don't want to see elderly people homeless and destitute
in Australia. And unlike Italy and Japan - we don't have a culture of always looking after our senior citizens.

I have an immediate idea that could claw back quite a few millions. Means test the f*****g politicians for a start! Let's take a few
luminaries who really don't deserve the largesse we give them.

The wastage in this area alone is horrendous and is a massive burden on the taxpayer. Moreover, is it justified? Do we get any value
for money? The latest revelation that both Rudd and Gillard get a $200,000 salary for the rest of their natural lives plus enormous
travel allowances, office accommodation and staffing costs is an insult given that neither was poor to start with and both now have
'jobs'. They are young enough to work. Younger than me! If I have to keep working until I am 70 plus, why don't they?

A study in 2010 by the Daily Telegraph revealed that Mr Rudd, at 52, a young ex-prime minister, will receive well in excess of
$20 million worth of allowances if he lives to 85. This is despite the fact he had served just 2 1/2 years as P.M. at that point.
This of course has altered even more dramatically with his additional tenure.

Then there are a host of other benefits - the airline gold pass, which entitles ex-PMs up to 40 business class flights a year.
That's almost 1 a week! If Mr Rudd takes 30 flights annually it will cost the taxpayer more than $60,000 a year. And trust me,
nobody loves flying more than Kevin Rudd! Not even bloody Sea Gulls!

Once retired, he is entitled to his own office, worth about $120,000 a year in Brisbane for the rest of his life and four staff,
which political insiders say will cost $240,000 a year. What? The Rudd's new multi-million home doesn't have room for a home office?

Mr Rudd would also be entitled to the lease of a car worth up to $55,000 for the rest of his life. Leasing experts say this would be
worth $1000 to 1500 a month. And Mr Rudd will receive all of these benefits on top of his wife's estimated $210 million fortune!

Surely this good luck is the result of considerable 'Government' work being put her way and rules them out of any more wanton
generosity from the Australian people.

Add to this, Gillard. This former communist who has now embraced the capitalist ideal with both arms and not a whimper of
complaint I notice. She has already ditched the brick veneer in Altona for a swanky pool-side ponderosa in leafy Adelaide no doubt
made possible by a $500,000 salary and ongoing perks.

My point is this. I have had to make cuts to my life because things change. The expensive office I used to lease in Melbourne is gone
because, with the internet I can now work from home. I now use consultants rather than employ up to 10 people which today would
send me broke. I now drive a ute because it is cheaper to register and insure. Cost cutting measures made to ensure I can continue to
work in a country that is very much prejudiced against senior aged workers.

Mrs Renny is not happy. I have taken over a picturesque corner of our winter lounge room and in her words - I am a messer! When
the drawing board comes out, which it does at least once a month, the kitchen table is also rendered unserviceable. Not to mention
several square yards around it.

Why is it then that we continue to provide multiple millions to give these buggers swanky offices to run their now quite irrelevant
lives from? I mean what has Hawke's or Keating's offices churned out in the past few years that justifies these silly extravagances?
Books about them? Utterances from them? Both could be made from their kitchen tables surely! Does an Ex-PM really need an office
that costs up to $14,000 a month? They have large homes with room for an office. None lives in a 'bed-sit'. None even knows what
a 'bed-sit' is! Maybe they should become pensioners and find out.

Just so I am being even handed here - according to the 2010 figures Keating was in fact the most frugal as he keeps staffing costs
low by engaging people on a part-time and ad hoc basis.

Each former PM is entitled to at least two staff, including a senior private secretary, and the annual wages bill of each is nearly
$300,000. Mr Keating saves about $70,000 a year by using staff as he needs them instead of full time appointees.

However, new figures have come to light revealing that in the seven months after leaving office, Mr Howard spent $109,892 on
limousine services, evenly split between the government Comcar service and private hire cars. Mr Howard's office rental was the
highest at $13,853 a month, closely followed by former PM Malcolm Fraser, whose 101 Collins St office in Melbourne costs taxpayers
$12,122 a month.

Former Labor PMs Whitlam and Hawke have offices on adjacent floors in Sydney's Potts Point at 100 William St. The monthly cost for
each is $7464 and $7898 respectively. Mr Keating's office is also in Potts Point, in Manning St, and costs slightly less at $7434 a month.

The former PMs also have their home and mobile phone bills paid by taxpayers, as well as unlimited allowances for publications, a
private self-drive car, and air fares for them and their spouse. (Which really irks in the case of Therese Rein who has $210 million in
the bank for Chrissakes!)

These are in addition to their pensions under the generous former Parliamentary superannuation scheme, which gives them a pension
INDEXED TO CURRENT MPs’

SALARIES FOR LIFE! The payout they receive depends on their length of service in Parliament, which is accelerated in the case of prime
ministers and their final salary.

Each PM can usually expect to receive about 70 per cent of the incumbent's salary, unless they chose to take a lump sum on retirement.
(I thank the Daily Telegraph for doing the hard yards here with the figures and info.)

I have nothing against paying our PM a wage that reflects the importance of their job, but I have lots against them making millions from
us when they a) don't really need it and b) don't really deserve it anymore.

But now, the ones facing the fiscal axe, are the poor bloody pensioners who have worked and paid tax all their bloody lives! As for the
bludgers.. well that's a whole separate issue.

LARRY PICKERING

Sir Mike's Comments

Tuesday, 29 April 2014

" What's the true value of a Pollie ??? "

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