Comments by "annoyed aussie" (@annoyedaussie3942) on "Will hospitalizations rise with Omicron? See Fauci's answer" video.

@Dick_Interritus You're comment about farming is incorrect, socialism or subsidies in that sector mostly cause overproduction of low value crops and increase the land value which is based on the subsidy preventing or at least making it more difficult for new entrants. Take one of the worst subsidies in the US, corn for ethanol, it's absolute madness it doesn't save the environment or produce anything of high value , ethanol and stock feed. At the same time the US is importing mostly low value I think ground beef from Australia. For arguments sake wouldn't it make more sense to not export soybeans for stock feed in China and grow enough of your own beef rather than importing it (low value beef is still a lot more valuable than stock feed). I know the thread and video not about this topic but you brought it up.
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@Denidrakes69 You got the exchange rate around the wrong way.
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@Dick_Interritus Maybe in some cases Australian taxes are higher but if you search "Wikipedia List of countries by tax revenue to GDP ratio" you will see for 2020 Australia and US both had 27.x%. Then look at the columns of government spending and government debt and you will see US gov spending is greater and debt to GDP is on a continuous rise. Another fallacy you seem to fall for is about healthcare costs, the US spends more as a proportion of GDP on publically funded healthcare than Australia, so based on your comment you are paying tax for healthcare greater than Australia for no benefit. That's crazy I prefer lower taxes with a benefit for all who need/want it and if I prefer extras I can still pay for private health cover if I want to.
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@Dick_Interritus So you don't believe the published data of the US and or Australia, well there's no convincing you then. If you are referring to Howard Springs a converted mining camp that all our Olympians went through for quarantine just like anyone else, except it's far better than hotel quarantine which most people went through as a concentration camp you couldn't be further from the truth. As you would be aware all countries in the Western Pacific region of WHO had hotel quarantine except maybe the French and US protectorates. Our deaths are less than 10% of the PAHO Pan-American Health Organization region on a per capita basis. So 1 million dead so that you didn't have to quarantine and your right to infect remained in tack. The Queen could technically remove a Prime Minister but needs to have a reason as in the government can't function however it's the Queen's representative the Governor General who would actually do that as happened in the early 70s when one party in the Senate cut funding from the government so the assessment was made that the government couldn't function so the government was dissolved and an election called. Usually in a constitutional democracy a PM will be removed and replaced within the party by a simple vote electing a new leader but obviously from the same party. By the way our Monarch's title is Queen of Australia and technically she is also the Queen of each state within also, so I could call her the Queen of Queensland, my state. In her capacity as Queen of Australia she has nothing to do with the UK she just lives there and is a citizen there. If Australia went to war with the UK I wonder what she would do, probably tell us both to cut it out.
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@Dick_Interritus No the PM to get the boot from the Governor General was Gough Whitlam and not sure when but it was before Whitlam a PM named Harold Holt and I don't think they ever discovered what happened to him. With taxes even income taxes the Australian system is so different you can't actually do a side by side comparison. Obviously the US being more socialist and less of a free trading country you pay more for many imported goods. With income tax I'll just point out with dividends, in Australia we receive what is called an imputed credit, this means the dividend is paid with the tax attached that the company already paid and our company tax is 30% which is much higher than the US, this credit will be applied to my personal tax and I may get a refund or have to pay more according to my tax bracket so if I only make it into the 22% tax bracket or whatever I will get a refund so for arguments sake $70 dividend with $30 tax credit I will get a refund of $8. In the US although the company tax rate is lower you will never get credited for your share of tax already paid by the company and might need to pay up to 20% on top as income tax plus a state income tax on top of that. So as far as income tax goes tell me your circumstances and I could usually tell you which country would be better for you , Australian states can't have an income tax because of constitutional constraints thank goodness. Our tax systems create different behaviours, Australian companies pay higher dividends and US companies tend to hoard money and reinvest it to try and achieve gains through capital gains which are taxed differently in Australia and USA. So I believe whatever you read was probably correct but unless it pointed out all the significant differences of which there are many, unintentionally misleading.
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@Dick_Interritus As far as how tax money is spent, it's a case by case basis, so for public healthcare it's far better spent than in the US but from the extremely little I know South Korea and Japan do better than Australia with this. Does the Australian or Queensland government waste money and make big mistakes on occasion, of course , every government does anywhere in the world, it's a matter of how bad and more importantly do they learn from the mistakes and try not to do it again and on average Australia and my state of Queensland is performing pretty well. I am actually taking a one man fight to both my state and federal government's at the moment regarding strata title properties, yes we are as bad possibly worse than many US states, don't know what happened with it but that apartment tower collapse in Florida could happen here and nobody can legally be held responsible. My background is listed investments in 3 countries Australia of course, Malaysia and Thailand, these listed investments are all regulated to a high standard, strata title properties there's no rules at all in my state, gain power you can do whatever you want, no possibility of being sacked or banned for unlawful behaviour because no provision for that. By unlawful behaviour I am referring to listed company standards because of course nothing is unlawful in the QLD strata title industry. You know you threw me a curved ball, I expected to be fighting you but you didn't fight , you actually discuss things in a normal manner. I know comment sections are dominated by those with strong right or left opinions who tend to be highly aggressive, in some ways I want what cannot be, a lot more people making comments who are somewhere in the centre. One thing about you which tells me you are really a genuine person is you saying my family benefits from some sort of agricultural handouts or subsidies or whatever but you don't think that's good. A hardline partisan never admits anything, that would be losing face.
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@Dick_Interritus Your description of yourself just reminds me of me relatives, my late mother was a nuclear scientist who at some point in time before I was alive actually worked at our only nuclear reactor Lucas Heights, I never discussed much about her life but I remember her once saying she used (can't remember exact words) a computer that was housed in a building, that's a computer with valves and she said it was hard to use ( in retrospect I am thinking that was a pretty big understatement, a $50 budget smartphone probably has 1000 times or even much more the computing power now). My brother got degrees in Physics science and Computer engineering, he never used the science part but worked for German banks in computer programming. I on the other hand basically just passed high school, not dedicated enough for academic things. Anyway Happy New Year and hope all goes well for you, take care.
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