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February 25, 2008
So the Business Council is calling for substantial budget cuts--- the Government must reduce expenditure by $31 billion over the next three years to match the government’s promised $31 billion in tax cuts.This requires taking an axe to welfare, slash the public service jobs, cutting back on health expenditure and reducing defence spending. It calls for government spending to be targeted at education, infrastructure skills and workforce participation and for wage restraint to fight inflation.
How about reduced subsidies to business? Why isn't business spending on education, both vocational and university? Why does business attack the welfare state and public health ---crowding out expenditure its called--- yet call for government to spend much more on vocational education? Doesn't a workforce need to be g healthy to work? Why is the BCA calling for a reduction in the corporate tax rate? Why the exemption of wage restraint for executives in corporate Australia?
Corporate Australia primarily concerned about corporate Australia is it not? At least the BCA is willing to fire a few shots at the Howard Government for its failure to use the cash from the resources boom to invest in the future to enhance future productivity and underpin longer term social and economic prosperity.
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Gary,
I see that Greg Gailey, president of the Business Council of Australia, who stepped down as chief executive of Zinifex, a zinc and lead mining company, in June last year, has backed the Rudd government’s freeze on MPs salary to encourage employees to show wage restraint. But he refused to say the same should apply to corporate Australia. Why so?
Market demand does not apply for ordinary workers.
There are the two faces of corporate Australia.