Why do Christians tend to be predominately conservative anyway? Jesus absolutely hated the rich. He basically said, give away all your possessions.
To the church though, right?
Why do Christians tend to be predominately conservative anyway? Jesus absolutely hated the rich. He basically said, give away all your possessions.To the church though, right?
no, Scientology
Maybe some of the big companies who are allowed to operate in Australia and only pay 10% tax could pay a little more?
I would be happy if they paid 10%, most pay nix and some even get money back on R&D and other rorts.
Maybe some of the big companies who are allowed to operate in Australia and only pay 10% tax could pay a little more?
As if the Liberal’s will tax their donors.
I have to say I disagree with this. If Turnbull keeps his mouth shut (as often as he can) on any proposed big changes or policies he can't lose. He looks a million bucks compared to Abbott or Shorten (as does pretty much anyone). I can't see Shorten coming back from where he is now.Shorten's preferred PM rating is at 18% (as of Monday), so not many people share your opinion. He's possibly the least popular major party leader in history. You should have gone with Albo.Not many people share my opinion about many things. I did vote for Albo, but always knew that Shorten would win, as the Labor MP’s mostly thought he was the best person for the job and they should know.
And winning elections should not be about popularity, but probably will be next year.
Winning elections does not require that the voters like you, but it does require that they respect you, and right now very few voters have much respect for Bill Shorten.
There’s a long way to go. So far Turnbull has said all the right things. What he’s done has been good, but there hasn’t been a lot of it, and if he wants to retain the support he currently has, then he has to start producing pretty soon.
Erica Betz can fuss about Julie Bishop all he likes. Not many people give a fark about what she did or didn’t know, and nor should they. Getting rid of a leader is always a messy business involving deception or concealment if not straight-out lies, but when the leader is disastrous and has proved himself or herself so over a period of years, then it has to be done. I couldn’t care less about the mechanics of it.You may be right. But despite his current enormous popularity, if he doesn’t back it up with some real action, I suspect a fair bit of it will evaporate. And then, hopeless as the current alternative is, an election would be a very close thing.
Conversely, if he actually puts some runs on the board, then he’ll have a big win. He doesn’t even needs to put a lot of runs up there, just enough to show that he can actually get some things done.
Last politician to actually implement a lot of policies successfully - ie argue them through the lower house & senate - was Gillard. And in doing so ■■■■■■ off a lot of the right wing of the ALP.
Why would anyone bother making waves, when various factions of both majors are so stuck in their ways?
Plenty of right wingers in the LNP are just waiting for Malcolm to make a mistake.
Read anything Bolt’s written in the past few months, he absolutely hates him.I suppose I was assuming that if he gets real things done, he will do so with general support and having won the debates about them convincingly. They’re probably reasonable assumptions, actually, I think. And as for the loony fringe of his own party, they’ll be outvoted if Turnbull has general public support, and they’re of little interest to anyone but themselves.
Debates? How many MPs do you actually think go into a debate undecided about any given issue? Let alone have their vote decided by a the debates? If there’s any indies undecided, their decision going to be made based on what one side or the other will give them back.
You’d like to think the loonies are fringe. I’d like to think that too. I’ve a feeling they’ll be happy enough to let MT win the next election, but there’s plenty who just won’t cop an actual liberal (even if he’s largely a former liberal - converted Catholic after all and hasn’t stuck his finger up at the Queen in months) running the Liberal party.
Why do Christians tend to be predominately conservative anyway? Jesus absolutely hated the rich. He basically said, give away all your possessions.
That’s before the Roman Empire decided to pretty much do a bad, overly produced, over glammed version of Christianity and got it all ■■■■ backwards and even more contradictory.
Why do Christians tend to be predominately conservative anyway? Jesus absolutely hated the rich. He basically said, give away all your possessions.That’s before the Roman Empire decided to pretty much do a bad, overly produced, over glammed version of Christianity and got it all ■■■■ backwards and even more contradictory.
Yes … human males selectively put together certain texts, then edited it all several times to suit their own agenda. (Take out the bits we don’t need).
Anyone that believes the Bible as the actual vision & ideals of the Christ, need to have a good hard look at themselves, … … oh, & never buy a bridge, no matter who’s selling it.
Why do Christians tend to be predominately conservative anyway? Jesus absolutely hated the rich. He basically said, give away all your possessions.That’s before the Roman Empire decided to pretty much do a bad, overly produced, over glammed version of Christianity and got it all ■■■■ backwards and even more contradictory.
Yes … human males selectively put together certain texts, then edited it all several times to suit their own agenda. (Take out the bits we don’t need).
Anyone that believes the Bible as the actual vision & ideals of the Christ, need to have a good hard look at themselves, … … oh, & never buy a bridge, no matter who’s selling it.
Sheer arrogance on your behalf. You want “us” Christians to leave you alone then how about you stop ridiculing what we believe and you have no idea about?
Lol, … sheer Ignorance on yours, …don’t go making assumptions T. The fact I put a lot of time into the study of it gives me the knowledge to deride it & call it out for what it is.
By the time Saul reached Rome the message was bastardised beyond recognition, then the Romans went further when they adopted it for the people control they were looking for.
Cut super concessions on income and contributions - no idea why income on $2mil savings is tax free for an old fart living in Toorak.Cut/remove CGT discount.
Limit negative gearing like they do in the UK.
Tighten FBT on motor vehicles.
My 2c.
I also can’t stand the current narrative about balancing the budget. Australia still has one of the smallest debt to GDP ratios in the OECD and whilst our revenues have been dwindling a little the period for investment into infrastructure is now. Run some defecits, spend the money wisely.
NBN FTTP should have been a no brainer, now the government’s fraudband is going to cost us billions and billions.
Heavy investment should be made into renewables.
My ten cents
Keep CGT Discount.
phase out negative gearing. and limit it to offsetting income earned from rental property. not other (salary wage income)
keep gst 10%
charge GST on all purchases using paypal/AMEX/VISA/MasterCard online by aussies online.
Individuals with over $1,000,000 in superfunds will be taxed 10% of income while in pension phase.
This will force individuals to keep super balances below $1,000,000 or they will be taxed, and means they will be taxed at individual level.
Tax breaks for landlords will be curbed in Britain, where first-home buyers are competing with cashed-up investors, prompting calls for the change in Australia to curb the property bubble.
David Cameron’s Conservative Party has handed down a budget littered with tax changes, including a pledge to lower the corporate tax rate to 18 per cent by 2020.
Galloping property prices, particularly in London, will be tackled by a restriction on tax relief for landlords who buy properties to rent them out. Landlords can now deduct their costs – including mortgage interest – from their earnings before they pay tax.
As in Australia, wealthier landlords receive tax relief at as much as 45 per cent, which is the top marginal tax rate. But from 2017 this tax relief will be reduced slowly to 20 per cent.
Chancellor George Osborne said the present system gave buy-to-let landlords a “huge advantage in the market” over people buying homes to occupy themselves.
Australia’s negative gearing regime and capital gains tax discount have been blamed for creating the same problem in this country.
Together, they encouraged over-investment in existing properties and expensive inner-city apartments, “which lifts housing prices and does little to promote construction of affordable housing”, the Australian Council of Social Service said.
Offset costs
ACOSS believes landlords should be able to offset costs of a rental property against only the income received from that investment, not against other income, such as wages.
Lindsay David, the author of Australia: Boom to Bust, which warns about a property bubble, said the change in Britain was a step in the right direction.
But it would be a “very unpopular and costly move in the eyes of leveraged property investors”, he said.
“As for Australia, there is simply too much debt held by both property investors and owner-occupiers to do much about making changes to negative gearing without burning the better part of 1.2 million property investors.”
Matt Grudnoff, a senior economist with progressive think tank The Australia Institute, said a similar change could work in Australia.
“While negative gearing by landlords is spread through high and middle-income households, high-income households get most of the benefit in dollar terms,” he said.
“This is in part because high-income households have a higher marginal tax rate and also the increased benefit encourages them to take on larger losses.”
Should be scrapped
The Australia Institute said the capital gains tax discount should be scrapped and negative gearing be allowed only for new properties.
The British budget is less austere than anticipated and includes a “national living wage” of ₤9 ($18.53) an hour from next April along with cuts to welfare.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ruled out changes to negative gearing, warning fewer new homes would be built and rents would therefore rise. The Property Council of Australia said middle-income earners such as teachers would be hardest hit by a negative gearing windback.
In the first solely Conservative budget in 20 years, the government announced Britons older than 25 would be entitled to a “national living wage” from April 2016. The current minimum wage, which applies to those aged over 21, is £6.50 an hour.
Furthermore, the corporate tax rate will be lowered further to 18 per cent by 2020.
Australian business leaders are already worried about this country’s high comparative tax rate of 30 per cent. They also point to generous tax arrangements for innovative companies as part of Britain’s patent box regime.
Tax rates on dividend income will also be increased, the budget papers show. Furthermore, the maximum amount that people can contribute tax free to their pension savings will be reduced for individuals with incomes of more than £150,000
Lol, .. sheer Ignorance on yours, ..don't go making assumptions T. The fact I put a lot of time into the study of it gives me the knowledge to deride it & call it out for what it is.By the time Saul reached Rome the message was bastardised beyond recognition, then the Romans went further when they adopted it for the people control they were looking for.
What you believe about it is your choice, regardless of whether you are right or not. But that does not give you the right to constantly ridicule it and those that believe it. You and others on here preach tolerance about a lot of things but then spend a heck of a lot of time abusing those who think differently to you. Please stop it.
There was no abuse IT, just a perspective.
I believe that people that take the Bible as “Literally” the doctrine of what Jesus the hippy socialist was actually on about, haven’t used their natural inherent critical thinking skills, & how that happens is beyond me, be it super right wing God botherers or ISIS drones.
FWIW I believe that the guy existed, & subscribe to his ethos, but I’d just as easily call myself a Ghandist, or Mandela-ite as a Christian. The original message is sound & proper, it’s just what’s happened to it since self serving humans got their hands on it, & how they bent it for their advantage when they realised what a tool for populace mind control, a belief system purporting eternal life in paradise would be.
Jesus was way cool.
Icey do you actually believe the Bible as it stands today is a close representation of the views (and story) of Jesus?
After the myriad variations, translations, editing, and so on over the millenia?
How did this thread get all churched up?
Tbh, I think it’s distasteful to be ridiculing and questioning the spiritual beliefs of decent people “just coz”. Sure, imo the bible doesnt stand up in an historical sense ( I too have looked at it a lot over the years) but If they aren’t raping, pillaging, persecuting, slaughtering or forcibly imposing their doctrine in its name, I really don’t care any more if people worship anything at all.
Upsetting people who do no harm seems as illogical as some of the beliefs held.
Icey do you actually believe the Bible as it stands today is a close representation of the views (and story) of Jesus?After the myriad variations, translations, editing, and so on over the millenia?
Yes I do
Tbh, I think it's distasteful to be ridiculing and questioning the spiritual beliefs of decent people "just coz". Sure, imo the bible doesnt stand up in an historical sense ( I too have looked at it a lot over the years) but If they aren't raping, pillaging, persecuting, slaughtering or forcibly imposing their doctrine in its name, I really don't care any more if people worship anything at all.Upsetting people who do no harm seems as illogical as some of the beliefs held.
I’m not a fan of it either.
But if people are going to bring it up, then…you know, it’s going to be discussed.
FromOuside50 asked why most Christians are conservative.
Icey do you actually believe the Bible as it stands today is a close representation of the views (and story) of Jesus?After the myriad variations, translations, editing, and so on over the millenia?
I’d be interested to hear people’s opinion on which parts of the bible you think have been significantly altered so that they no longer represent the views & story of Jesus.
Is it true that muslims believe that followers memorised the entire quran, word for word, passed on for decades before it was written down? Maybe Mohamad wasn’t a warmongering pedo, just a victim of chinese whispers - lol
Tbh, I think it's distasteful to be ridiculing and questioning the spiritual beliefs of decent people "just coz". Sure, imo the bible doesnt stand up in an historical sense ( I too have looked at it a lot over the years) but If they aren't raping, pillaging, persecuting, slaughtering or forcibly imposing their doctrine in its name, I really don't care any more if people worship anything at all.Upsetting people who do no harm seems as illogical as some of the beliefs held.
I think there are valid questions which need to be asked, even when they’re uncomfortable.
Not so much about people’s beliefs but about why those beliefs play a part in our society, schooling & government.
However those sensitive questions are often asked without tact (or in an outright hurtful way).
I know I’ve crossed that line, quite a bit.