The rich and their apologists
Business Review Weekly last week published its list of the richest 200 people in Australia, pleased to announce that their combined fortunes have increased in the past 12 months by 10.9%, to $21.3 billion.
That this increase has come amidst a recession and record unemployment levels, cannot pass without comment.
BRW felt the same compulsion, and the inimitable Roger Gottliebsen responded accordingly. "As Australia heads into another year of depressed conditions and the suffering of the unemployed increases, there is a sense sweeping the nation that there is something wrong about people generating wealth in such difficult times." Such sentiments are considered dangerous by the disgustingly wealthy and their admirers.
So Gottliebsen trots out a version of the old "trickle down" nonsense: the wealth "generated" by the rich is good for all of us; it allows the "community" to look after those who are less well off.
But with good reason, he doesn't address the rude questions. For example: when has the $3 billion fortune of Kerry Packer come within a grand mile of making a contribution to anyone other than himself?
BRW columnist Les Carlyon also discussed the Rich 200, worried as he was that people might conclude that "the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer".
How could they not be? Because, comes the enlightening answer, such a conclusion would be justified only if this were the 1930s. Today "we look after our victims"! There is a "safety net" for the unemployed, the sick, the old and the unlucky. The right to a pension, and to a range of government services is, we are told, a "relatively recent form of wealth".
Try talking to the unemployed single mother about her recently acquired "wealth"! It takes astounding bravado, amongst other qualities, to use the same term in reference to both Kerry Packer and pensioners.
But BRW gets it right on one point. That is in the clear identification of the role of Keating and the Labor governments of the last 10 years in paving the way for these millionaires. "The reduction in the company tax rate to 33% is an acknowledgement by Paul Keating of the need for wealth generation in businesses." Remember that this same business community is supposedly desperate to contribute to those less well off. Every cent saved in taxes will be given to private charities, guaranteed.
"And so we are proud to produce the BRW Rich 200 at a difficult time because it shows that the heart of Australia is strong. To overcome our problems, we must build on that base." Remember these line up at the DSS this week. Remember that as you send off the next mortgage payment. Remember we're building on the base of 10 years of Labor's funding of the rich. Because while BRW can churn out the rhetoric, the reality is, short and sweet, that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.