Do we really want to be like the US?

Warwick Smith in Are we witnessing the emergence of the United States of Australia fears that we are going down to far the US path.

Hockey and Abbott have made their choice. They want us to follow further down the US path. They believe that if you want something, you should pay for it yourself. If you can’t afford it then you don’t deserve to have it because you haven’t worked hard enough or tried hard enough. Their ideology doesn’t recognise the reality; in the kind of society they want us to have if you can’t afford something you probably weren’t born to rich enough parents.

If we consider the wellbeing of all Australians to be important then the Scandinavian model is the clear winner. We can and should increase the proportion of GDP taken in tax and use it to provide the best opportunities to our young people and the best quality of life we can to society’s vulnerable, regardless of where or to whom they were born. This means first class universal education and healthcare and the guarantee of a decent standard of living. If these are not our aims then what is the point of economic progress?