Swan, Taxes, Education and Idiots

If you happen to read The Australian in Letters you will find a section that talks about how lucky Swan is that he didn't have to raise taxes.

This is a perfect example of just how poor the Australian education system has become in basic analytical thinking.

Let's break this down.

The Labor government is borrowing huge amounts of overseas money to fund a spending spree. Think of it as using a credit card with a very large limit. Like credit it attracts taxes and you have to pay it back.

The government is not a profitable enterprise so the only source of income for the government is money from the people. Yes they can sell off national assets but there are not a lot of those left and sell too much and you have lost your country to a foreign power.

That leaves taxes.

So the only way to pay off a deficit/debt is to raise taxes. Just because Swan is not doing it in this budget either leaves it for the next one or the next government. Note that most of Rudd's policies are to occur when the next government comes to power. This provides perfect leverage for the next election as in "well we are going to do it, what is the Opposition going to do?"

Since many Australians seem to be buying this and lack the most basic of arithmetic skills it demonstrates how poor our basic education has become.