Australia - a real plutocracy

[mantra]

We're on par with Columbia now when it comes to the wealthy amassing their fortunes via their donations to our politicians and their parties. How corrupt has this country become? Approximately 80% of donations are linked to business advantages for the rich such as mining magnates, superannuation, property developers, banks etc. It's no surprise we can't stop the mining, the dud super schemes or the rorts by our big banks, oil companies and supermarkets.

According to the quoted research, Australian residents are rewarded for their political connections about as much as Indonesian or Indian residents, with Colombia offering the biggest rewards. Notably, the Australian situation is in stark contrast to that of the US, where only 1 per cent of the billionaires reportedly made their wealth through political connections.

Is Australia really such a plutocracy? Our own research, using different empirical methods, agrees with the conclusions reported in the Washington Post.

In fact, we put the figure closer to 80 per cent, making Australia potentially on par with Colombia. The authors whose research was reported in the Post only counted wealth that was visibly obtained via political connections, which may explain why their number is slightly lower than ours.

Our method was to look at the industry of operations of the 200 richest Australians on the BRW list. Based on the rich list from 2009, we reported the following finding in our paper:

Over 80 per cent of the wealthiest Australians have made their fortunes in property, mining, banking, superannuation and finance generally - all heavily regulated industries in which fortunes can be made by getting favourable property rezonings, planning law exemptions, mining concessions, labour law exemptions, money creation powers and mandated markets of many stripes.

Looking in more detail at the life histories of these people, none of the 200 richest Australians in 2009 looked like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett - namely, innovators who made their money by inventing, producing, or distributing cheaper products bought by millions.

Instead, the list abounded with mining magnates who enjoyed favourable government concessions; CEOs of superannuation funds who personally benefitted from government guarantees locking hundreds of thousands of people into doing business with them; banking and finance CEOs who received government guarantees and favourable legislation; and - the largest group of all - property developers who rely on rezoning and other favourable political decisions.

As the research reported in the Washington Post suggests, Australia's plutocracy has severe negative consequences for the rest of the economy.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-26/f ... ts/6725118

[Outlaw Yogi]

No, U$A is a plutocracy, OZ is just a suck-up colony.

Now why would you want to "stop mining"?

Without mining humanity would never have evolved technologically.
Your entire modern lifestyle with all the labour saving devices would not exist without mining minerals and the petrochemical industries.
There would be no metal to make the saw that cuts the timber for the frame in your house, or extrusion plants for metal framed dwellings.
No molds for the bricks and tiles. No fridge, no TV, no computer, no washing machine, no electric or gas oven, no microwave, no light bulbs, no phone, no carpet weaving plumes to make your carpet, no car, no bicycle, no bit or stirrups for horses, no cutlery in your kitchen.
Infact everything you posses I guarantee would not exist without mineral extraction.

Anyone who wants to stop mining should be compelled to live in a cave and survive on what they can scrounge or hunt in the bush.
I reckon you wouldn't last 2 days.

As for politics being corrupt, well that's always been the case, ever since psychopaths set themselves up as local lords and claimed dominion over whatever they thought valuable.