Fighting corruption in Australia

[Jerry_Atrick]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

 

This is a distillation of week 2's Robodebt Royal Commission. I have to admit, if I had the time, I would watch the whole 38 hours of Robodebt RC , each week. But I don't.

 

But this is a real good example as to why not having public hearings for the Federal ICAC is a noncey idea.

 

This is two hours long. Forget the first two witnesses; they are lightweights - like watching the little league (Auskick) at 1/2 time of the main event. Scroll to 1:20 and watch about 15 minutes... and draw your conclusions. At least she admits she regrets it, and was wrong, but not after trying to justify herself.

 

There are many examples in this vid of public servants squirming like worms...

 

 

 

[spacesailor]

AND

Heads wil Not roll ! .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

Be grateful that this matter is having light shone upon it. A lot of needless suffering was caused by it. it's one of the nastiest examples of government persecution I know of to people without the resources to  challenge it and blockages were put in the way of those who tried. nev

Edited January 28, 2023 by facthunter

[Old Koreelah]

11 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Be grateful that this matter is having light shone upon it. A lot of needless suffering was caused by it. it's one of the nastiest examples of government persecution I know of to people without the resources to  challenge it and blockages were put in the way of those who tried. nev

Robodebt was one of the nastiest acts by a government in Australia.
Tax avoidance and fraud by the big end of town costs Australia billions each year. Those parasites were left alone by Morrison’s morally bankrupt mob. Instead, they declared war on our most vulnerable people. We will not forget.

[facthunter]

I don't HATE easily but that event was Lower than the Lowest and THEY WERE told by plenty of people. They  Bragged about the billions they had extorted from people by  threatening .. The perpetrators should be subject to GAOL for their actions.. No hiding in COWARDS  CASTLE with their smirking non answers at Question Time  Mr SPEAKER.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

King John and the Sherrif of Nottingham come to mind.

There have been, and I believe there still are class actions going on to sue the government for damages: https://gordonlegal.com.au/robodebt-class-action/

 

The problem with the system is that it is you and I (taxpayers) who have to pick up the bill for this, and not the cretins - bot pollies and public servants - who have to. They will still go about their lives regardless.

 

Since we are all taxpayers, if the AG won't, I wonder if we could set up an action to recover the debt from those who were personally responsible on the grounds of professional negligence? Sadly, not, as the ground of public interest would be used.

 

[spacesailor]

BUT  !

They should be SACKED for the damage caused .

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Morrison should defo be turfed out of parliament and never be allowed to hold a paid or voluntary public position again. Some others could fall into that category. But, with the shifty deals they did, they will have mates that look after them while the taxpayer and the public pick up the pieces. Most of the public servants in a position of power at the time are former public servants now, anyway. And they pay packets they were on will usually mean they can survive reasonably well even if they are let go. 

 

The "CEO" of the NSW department of trade or whatever it was that decided to appoint Barilaro to the NSW trade commissioner to New York was on something like $620K/year.  To do what, apart from that of the begging of her minister? What value did that department bring to NSW? Would be interesting to see. I have attended a couple of industry functions at Australia House in London, and I don't recall seeing or hearing too much about NSW's then trade commissioner. Nice money if you can get that gig, that's for sure.

Remember Christopher Skase? He went broke but managed to live in a tidy little property in Spain, outside the clutches of Aussie law enforcement. If going broke means you end up living like that, where do I sign up?

Edited January 29, 2023 by Jerry_Atrick

[onetrack]

Here's an interesting and thought-provoking article from the Guardian, that explains how the "neoliberalism" that gained a foothold after WW2, and which accelerated in the Reagan and Thatcher era, has led to massive and increasing wealth inequality.

 

I like to think that "neoliberalism" can be replaced by "corporatism", because it is corporate thinking, planning and scheming and agressiveness, that has got us to this stage, where so many people are on the breadline, while corporations and corporate employees gain "unjust enrichment".

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot

 

I note that Bernie Fraser has come out against neoliberalism, and he claims that poor Govt leadership and poor decision-making has led us into economy-destroying inflation, and increasing wealth inequality.

I would go further, and say that poor Govt decision-making and policies has come about simply because of the imbalance of power between Govt and corporations has led to corporations getting what they want - every time - thanks to powerful corporate lobbying, and even direct threats to politicians.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-30/bernie-fraser-former-governor-rba-review-neoliberalism-inflation/102131054

 

[Old Koreelah]

[Bruce Tuncks]

What about just copying what the scandinavian countries do?   They have about 70 % top tax rate and yet they are the happiest places there are.

[Old Koreelah]

1 hour ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

What about just copying what the scandinavian countries do?   They have about 70 % top tax rate and yet they are the happiest places there are.

“You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities.”

Winston Churchill

[facthunter]

"Greed is Good" (for the greedy) .   Newspapers and other media reporting the truth occasionally would help.  Root out CORRUPTION. It thrives anywhere it's permitted to. When the Cat's away, the Mice Play.  Nev 

[Marty_d]

Resident tax rates 2022–23

Taxable income	Tax on this income
0 – $18,200	Nil
$18,201 – $45,000	19 cents for each $1 over $18,200
$45,001 – $120,000	$5,092 plus 32.5 cents for each $1 over $45,000
$120,001 – $180,000	$29,467 plus 37 cents for each $1 over $120,000
$180,001 and over	$51,667 plus 45 cents for each $1 over $180,000

 

 

So why is someone on $5,000,000 a year still only paying 45%?

 

I would not only remove the Stage 3 tax cuts completely, I'd also keep progressing the rate - about 8% per $60K.

 

So that continues the rates -

 

$180,001 - $240,000  $51,667 plus 45 cents for each $1 over $180,000

$240,001 - $320,000  $78,667 plus 53 cents for each $1 over $240,000

$320,001 - $400,000  $110,467 plus 61 cents for each $1 over $320,000

$400,000 - $460,000  $147,067 plus 69 cents for each $1 over $400,000 ....   you get the picture. 

[spacesailor]

Don't forget the tax free perks , of free car, free superannuation.  Free chauffeur.    Free Entertainment tickets. 

And

Free Corporate Box seats at most events .

The list is endless! .

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

Although it is fair to say Albo's government seems to be doing a good job, progressing with stage 3 tax cuts is crazy.. My guess is that, although he probably wants to cancel them,  it is a political choice based on the fact those that control the media narrative will be the beneficiary of those cuts; so a lost battle, but the war continues.

[Bruce Tuncks]

I still don't understand bitcoins and the algorithms that make them scarce...  Why would not those who devised the algorithms know how to bypass them?

[Jerry_Atrick]

Different crypto currencies have different algorithms and supply. Bitcoin servers will allow a max of 21m coins to be distributed: https://www.blockchain-council.org/cryptocurrency/how-many-bitcoins-are-left/

 

The core Biotcoin blockchain source code is here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin

 

The source code is a combination of Python wrappers and C++ for the kernel (or core) of the block-chain. Python is a relatively modern programming language that is easy to learn and powerful,  but slow. C++ is an older language that is incredibly powerful and very quick - we use C++ (and its precursor, C) to write high speed/low latency algo trading software still.

 

If you read this readme: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/README.md, the first para is: "Bitcoin Core is the original Bitcoin client and it builds the backbone of the network. It downloads and, by default, stores the entire history of Bitcoin transactions, which requires a few hundred gigabytes of disk space. Depending on the speed of your computer and network connection, the synchronization process can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or more."

 

Basically, all coins are stored in what is called a block-chain. The block chain is a distributed store/ledger of all transactions in an encrypted form. Once a transaction is entered into the store, it is immutable and distributed across all nodes of the block-chain. There is no master block chain server, so if a server goes down in the network, other nodes can step in. If a ledger becomes corrupt (because someone tried to forge it), it is deleted and rebuilt from other nodes. There are enough nodes to guarantee integrity of the ledger, and there are enough nodes to ensure integrity is not compromised. It solves the fictitious General Byzantine's problem of how to get a message securely from the rear of the lines to the of the battle lines without anyone delivering it either seeing it or altering it. It is known ad cooperative, or peer-to-peer distributed networking.

 

Bitcoin is limited to 21m coins which have already been put into the Bitcoin Blockchain. In theory, whoever created Bitcoin can add more, but that would be self-defeating. In order to mine coins, one has to be able to come up with mathematial formula to verify transactions in the chain that have not already been verified. As each verification takes place, the math required becomes more comples. When a transaction (or series of them) are verified, coins are released, or assinged, to the person who veriried them.

 

There was a world-wide spike in graphics cards which have grpahic processing units or GPUs. These are massively parallel chips that can run many more computations per timeslot than a central processing unit (CPU) such as an Intel i series processor. People were writing thei mining software to run on GPUs rather than the CPUs to get more throughput.

 

Demand for GPUs has droped right off since the "crash" in Bitcoin, but there has been a small rebound to US$30K/coin, which will sharpen demand a bit. However, over time, less coins are released per successful mine.

 

Note, although there are 21m of them in the blockchain, there have been many reported cases of high profile losses of coin..  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/14/man-newport-council-50m-helps-find-bitcoins-landfill-james-howells

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thanks jerry. I still don't really understand but I can see it's my problem of not knowing enough programming.

Don't you think that those like me are very trusting to deal in bitcoins?

In the meantime, Jabiru maintenance is hard enough.

[facthunter]

Why don't you just go  straight to the Casino?  Nev

[nomadpete]

2 hours ago, facthunter said:

Why don't you just go  straight to the Casino?  Nev

Because I don't have any money that needs laundering.

 

 

[old man emu]

VINTAGE COIN WASHER FOR SALE 

Upgrading to one of note.

 

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I was shocked to read that ukraine has a lot of corruption...  I would hope that they are also declaring war on this.

[willedoo]

1 hour ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

I was shocked to read that ukraine has a lot of corruption...  I would hope that they are also declaring war on this.

That's one positive aspect of the war - they are starting to clean it up to some extent. No doubt it would be partially as a result of pressure from Western allies and backers. To join the EU they have to meet certain standards, corruption being one of them. Also they can't join NATO while there's any conflict or disputes over territory, so they have to win the war before they can be accepted into the alliance. To win the war, they need to keep their backers, and to keep them, they must demonstrate that they are taking anti corruption measures.

 

There's been a lot of government officials including mayors and politicians sacked or demoted from their positions, and private businessmen charged. Quite a few have been jailed already, or are awaiting trial. A few weeks ago, defence minister Reznikov was going to fall on his sword and resign because of corruption in his department. He wasn't implicated, but as the head of department he had overall responsibility for those under him. He's still there, so they must have decided his charisma and rapport with Ukraine's backers was too much of an asset to lose. Overall, I think the war has certainly sped up the fight against corruption; they seem to be taking it seriously now.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thanks willedoo. I have just read a comparison of how POW's are treated in Ukraine and in Russia. There is no doubt about who is civilized and who is not.

I think that those who fought in the war will object to going back to being serfs of the oligarchs. They sure did in England, and it is the reason Churchill lost the election after the war.