Australia....is slowly morphing into Argentina ?

Not so ?

Read on.




Quote:

Australia is not Argentina. Yet. Labor are coming after your super Dimitri Burshtein and Peter Swan Every few years, Australian politicians rediscover ‘tax reform’. It is a comforting phrase, soothing to voters and headline writers alike. ‘Reform’ sounds constructive: modern, even virtuous. Who could be against making things fairer, simpler, more efficient? Yet in practice, ‘tax reform’ in Australia has become little more than a euphemism for ‘tax increase’. Behind the rhetoric of sustainability, fairness and ‘intergenerational equity’ lies the simple truth that the Commonwealth government is already collecting record levels of revenue and desperately wants more. The Budget Papers confirm that the Commonwealth’s revenues are at record highs, and measured as a share of GDP, the federal tax take is at its highest level in modern Australian history. Despite this, the public narrative from Canberra is that there is a ‘revenue problem’, that spending is sacrosanct, and that more tax must be levied to fund essential services, fix housing affordability, or balance intergenerational books. But when you are already at record highs, ‘reform’ cannot plausibly mean anything but taking a larger slice of the national pie. Nowhere is this creeping fiscal avarice more visible than in the government’s posture toward superannuation. Once sold to Australians as a compact between generations, superannuation has become too large and too tempting for Treasury to resist. With near $4 trillion under management, superannuation represents a mountain of private capital whose very existence frustrates a political class and bureaucracy habituated to spending other people’s money. Earlier this week, Treasurer Chalmers staged what he presented as a modest backdown on his egregious proposal to tax so-called high balance superannuation balances. In reality, it was merely a tactical retreat, a lost skirmish in a much longer campaign. The direction of travel remains unmistakable: towards greater taxation of superannuation, and ultimately towards something far more radical, a de facto nationalisation of retirement savings, as Argentina demonstrated so disastrously in 2008. That year, facing fiscal strain and the collapse of confidence in government bonds, the Peronist Argentinian government of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner confiscated the assets of private pension funds, essentially their version of superannuation, and folded them into the state’s coffers. It was justified, as such seizures always are, on grounds of equity, security, and public good. In practice, it destroyed investor confidence, gutted private retirement savings, and cemented Argentina’s reputation for economic mismanagement. Australia is not Argentina. Yet. But the dynamic of an ever-growing government demanding an ever-growing share of the economic pie bears an uncomfortable resemblance....... [more....]

https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/10/australia-is-not-argentina-yet/

[the whole article is just a click away.]



But don't worry......Mr and Mrs Superannuant.

A WOKE/LEFTIST/MARXIST government in Australia,
would never just STEAL,
.......what belongs what once belonged to taxpayers.

Honest.

/sarc off



But is this the future of Australia, under future LABOR/LEFTIST/LIBERAL/NATIONAL governments?

IMO, they are just 'creative' thieves.......who want more, and more.....of other peoples [lawful] wealth.

'Coz it is the right thing to do!'



#08   [......of 10]

Yadda wrote on Sep 14^th, 2026 at 2:53pm:

But is this the future of Australia, under future LABOR/LEFTIST/LIBERAL/NATIONAL governments? IMO, they are just 'creative' thieves.......who want more, and more.....of other peoples [lawful] wealth. 'Coz it is the right thing to do!' #08   [......of 10]

And remember, any action which is lawfully 'legislated'.......
......is no longer 'a criminal activity'.

And in 2026......that is the world which we now live in.

*skip*

An epileptic might have a seizure reading that, Yadda. I was going to commend you on providing a link so that I can see something more professionally displayed than your attempt at a flyer. But, the link showed half the article.

If you want to copy and paste the entire article here, giving the author the credit due, that would be great. Just keep the copy and paste to a readable quote.

André Rieu - Don't cry for me Argentina live at Radio City, New York

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgK-dIPMIp4

Yadda - Only you could come up with this. Unique.

Dnarever wrote on Sep 14^th, 2026 at 8:21pm:

Yadda - Only you could come up with this. Unique.

It's not Yadda's idea, know-FA dukwit. The Spectator article is by
Dimitri Burshtein, a Senior Director at Eminence Advisory and Peter Swan AO, professor of finance at the UNSW-Sydney Business School.



MOre from the article:

Treasury officials and their political overlords like to frame their ambitions in the moral language of ‘intergenerational equity’. It sounds noble. Who does not care about fairness between young and old? But in practice, it has become the slogan under which the state advances a sustained assault on private wealth. One might charitably call it ‘Robin Hood economics’, except Robin Hood at least had the decency to steal from tax collectors rather than become one.
The logic runs like this: older Australians have accumulated too much wealth, younger Australians are struggling to enter the housing market, and therefore the government must ‘rebalance’ the system. That the economic issues faced by younger Australians are a consequence of high income taxes, inefficient government, and inordinate government spending is never considered. Under this framing, a lifetime of saving and prudence becomes evidence of inequity.
The government also likes to engage in rhetorical subterfuge by seeking to convince the public that superannuation concessions are a form of spending rather than foregone revenue. Thus, the debate is no longer about respecting private property; it is about whether the ‘spending’ is justified. It is a clever trick that converts private money into a public resource by semantic sleight of hand.
As superannuation funds grow, so also does the political pressure to redirect them toward ‘nation-building projects’ or ‘social investments’. Treasury whispers that such funds could help with housing affordability, climate transition, or infrastructure shortfalls. But the line between encouragement and compulsion is perilously thin. Today it is incentives for super funds to invest in affordable housing; tomorrow it is mandated asset allocations, and eventually, as Argentina proved, the state simply takes control outright.
The truth is that Australia’s problem is not too little tax but too much government. The Commonwealth spends more than ever, on more programs, with greater inefficiency, and with less restraint. Every time the political class hits a fiscal wall of its own making, it searches for new ‘reforms’ to plug the gap. And because superannuation is vast, visible, and vulnerable, it is the perfect target.
History offers a blunt warning. Argentina’s confiscation of pension assets was not born of malice but of desperation and rationalisation. Governments rarely admit to seizing wealth; they simply redefine ownership. Australia’s policymakers, convinced of their own benevolence, might follow a more genteel path – higher taxes, capped balances, tighter withdrawal rules – but the result is the same: an erosion of individual control in favour of bureaucratic command.




Cultural and economic Marxism. Tsk, tsk  ::) ::)

Is Tasmania Australian Malvinas?

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/921/Qk8m0O.jpg

[media width=500]https://youtu.be/L1pEt7bgY2U[/media]

Captain Nemo wrote on Sep 15^th, 2026 at 10:06am:

[media width=500]https://youtu.be/L1pEt7bgY2U[/media]

Thanks Captain Nemo,

context.......
That YT was posted 14 years ago......Jul 2, 2012

‘Getting quite worried’: What Jim Chalmers told Labor MPs uneasy about rate rises and inflation

Paul Sakkal
September 16, 2026 — 4:00am

Albanese government MPs are voicing increasing unease over the prospect of more interest rate hikes and stalling living standards as Treasurer Jim Chalmers works to prepare backbenchers for a report next week that will lay bare Australia’s long-term economic problems.
As an ongoing war buffets economies, Chalmers held a private briefing ahead of Monday’s release of Treasury’s first intergenerational report in three years. He took a series of questions on Labor’s economic plans that have been criticised by employers and pro-growth Labor figures.

https://i.imgur.com/IW2KevX.jpeg
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in question time on Monday that Australia had a lower debt burden than “every major advanced economy”.Alex Ellinghausen

The prospect of one and maybe two rate hikes this year has put a spotlight on Labor’s economic management following criticism from Labor luminary Bill Kelty, who said flat wages were driving support for One Nation, while the Business Council of Australia sounds the alarm on what might be one of the nation’s worst decades of productivity.

In the closed-door talks with colleagues, Chalmers argued that unlike last century, modern productivity gains would be won through a series of smaller reforms, according to Labor sources who listened to the treasurer.

The intergenerational report, which sets out economic and social changes over the next 40 years, would be weaponised by the Coalition to paint a dark picture of the nation’s future prosperity, Chalmers told MPs, as he claimed Australia was better placed than peer democracies.

“From an economic point of view, the war in the Middle East, the end of it, can’t come soon enough,” Chalmers said in question time, noting Australia had a lower debt burden than “every major advanced economy”.

“The war on the other side of the world is weighing on growth. This is the point that the Reserve Bank’s assistant governor, Sarah Hunter, made yesterday.” *

Chalmers’ comments get ahead of a likely rate rise to 4.6 per cent on September 29, just over a week after the intergenerational report is released.

The report, published by Labor each term after Peter Costello launched the five-yearly releases in 2002, will increase scrutiny of Labor’s economic and fiscal program.

Days after Kelty said it was insulting for Labor to welcome lower house prices as real wages were going backwards, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told his caucus that voters appreciated the government’s property tax concession changes.

“People get that we are trying to make a difference,” Albanese said on Tuesday.

But the prime minister’s comments did little to bolster the confidence of a small but growing group of MPs, including some ministers but more backbenchers, who are increasingly frustrated with Labor’s handling of inflation and productivity.

One MP said Chalmers’ language comparing Australia to countries like the UK and Japan was a case of justifying or rationalising Australia’s economic decline. They referenced Kevin Rudd’s warning last week that Australia risked becoming a second-rate country.
The treasurer’s briefing took place not in Labor’s main caucus meeting, where MPs are reluctant to ask tough questions, but in a smaller economic policy group that rarely leaks and where MPs are more frank.

None of the MPs worried about Labor’s economic message were willing to speak publicly. Outspoken backbencher Ed Husic has said previously that those who speak out are punished, so a quieter, collaborative approach to policymaking is usually pursued by MPs seeking change behind the scenes.

Several MPs said they appreciated Chalmers’ willingness to engage in the conversation with MPs this week and hoped Labor’s housing plan would improve housing affordability in the long run.

A second MP said “a lot of what we have done is throw cost-of-living relief at voters, which has an inflationary impact” that ultimately made it harder to avoid blame for an upcoming rate rise that was viewed as unlikely earlier this year.

“The only way through this is serious tax reform, reducing regulation, restructuring corporate tax to improve investment, and making it easier for small businesses without filling out a million forms,” they said, expressing doubts that the cabinet appreciated how markets functioned. #

A third MP said: “People are getting quite worried. Small business is doing it very tough and we aren’t doing enough for them. We’ve done an instant asset write-off but not much more, and we’re making enemies with the CGT changes.”

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said Kelty, a former union leader, had rightly questioned Labor’s economic agenda in an interview with this masthead on the weekend. “Finally,” Wilson said, “Labor’s backbenchers have woken up from Pyro Jim’s spell.”

UNSW professor Richard Holden said a key question in next week’s intergenerational report would be its assumptions on productivity. Treasury and the Reserve Bank have downgraded forecasts for this metric, which underpin long-term living standards and prosperity.

...

...

Holden said the argument from Chalmers and others that modern productivity gains were won through a large group of smaller reforms was understandable. He questioned if Labor’s set of modest reforms would add up to anything substantial.

“The government has thrown sand in the gears of the industrial relations system and made it harder and more expensive to create productivity growth. In its first term in particular, you’d say every major policy they enacted made it harder to get major productivity growth for business or at least didn’t help,” ** Holden said.

Chalmers announced a productivity package in the budget that he said would cut regulatory costs by $10 billion.

“I’m sure the intergenerational report will be picked up by the opposition and I’m sure Jim will paint it as his opponents bullshitting, and there will be a degree of truth in that. But we should have a real discussion about what it says,” Holden said.

Labor and Treasury’s great hope is that artificial intelligence helps achieve the government’s 30-year average productivity growth assumption of 1.2 per cent a year within five years. ##

The government is weighing up a critical decision on how to alter Australia’s strict copyright laws to lure AI investment that assistant minister Andrew Charlton said would underpin Australia’s future growth.

In one of her first policy forays, new ACTU boss Melissa Donnelly called on Labor to create a licensing regime that would decide whether new technologies were safe to roll out.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/getting-quite-worried-what-jim-chalmers-told-labor-mps-uneasy-about-rate-rises-and-inflation-20260915-p60xk1.html

* Labor is hiding behind this excuse.   ;)

# Ya got that right!

** Spot on.

## Bullshit. It will make matters worse.

I think we are going to see 6 % inflation, 6 % interest rates and 6 % unemployment pretty soon.

We don't make anything in Australia anymore.

21 yo males would rather be an NDIS support worker and play video games with the disabled clients all day then build houses or produce anything we could trade.

I drive into my local regional town and it's wall to wall obese guys and their partners lolling about doing nothing.   Producing nothing, being nothing except entitled.

I think the reserve bank will try to keep inflation interst rates and unemployment tracking up at about the same rate.

10 % unemployment would fix inflation but then you would have a banking crisis as mortgages could not be paid

Same goes for letting rates go to 15 ^ as Keating did to crush inflation.

Cost of living will continue to rise and standard of living will fall.

All fine by me. I love scarcity. I thrive on minimalism.

But those who have got used to safety comfort and pleasure are basically F ed

Frank wrote on Sep 14^th, 2026 at 9:11pm:

Dnarever wrote on Sep 14th, 2026 at 8:21pm: Yadda - Only you could come up with this. Unique. It's not Yadda's idea, know-FA dukwit. The Spectator article is by Dimitri Burshtein, a Senior Director at Eminence Advisory and Peter Swan AO, professor of finance at the UNSW-Sydney Business School. MOre from the article: Treasury officials and their political overlords like to frame their ambitions in the moral language of ‘intergenerational equity’. It sounds noble. Who does not care about fairness between young and old? But in practice, it has become the slogan under which the state advances a sustained assault on private wealth.

The error: private wealth for the wealthy is booming, while governments are broke.

Mainstream 'austerity economics' is the culprit.

Economic collapse is looming...

aquascoot wrote on Sep 16^th, 2026 at 6:29pm:

I think we are going to see 6 % inflation, 6 % interest rates and 6 % unemployment pretty soon. We don't make anything in Australia anymore. 21 yo males would rather be an NDIS support worker and play video games with the disabled clients all day then build houses or produce anything we could trade. I drive into my local regional town and it's wall to wall obese guys and their partners lolling about doing nothing.   Producing nothing, being nothing except entitled. I think the reserve bank will try to keep inflation interst rates and unemployment tracking up at about the same rate. 10 % unemployment would fix inflation but then you would have a banking crisis as mortgages could not be paid Same goes for letting rates go to 15 ^ as Keating did to crush inflation. Cost of living will continue to rise and standard of living will fall. All fine by me. I love scarcity. I thrive on minimalism. But those who have got used to safety comfort and pleasure are basically F ed

What happend to Whyalla?

The Coalition blames net zero, but what if we must exit fossil energy?

Continental drift senseless and merciless.

Under the ALP & Media. Australia is becoming like what Argentina was BEFORE the last Election.
It would be good if the Coalition get in and join Argentina for what it is now - the RIGHT way.