The World in Decline

I didn’t enjoy the 50’s at the time. I was a teenager and at school for most of it. But if I compare it to today, I know which I prefer.

I had a difficult time with my parents. I never did any dishonourable thing whilst living at home, but my mother always thought the worst of me which things were completely untrue. I was kicked out of home at 18 years of age when none of my friends had left home. But getting a job at short notice was not a problem. My mother gave me 50c and told me to go to Melbourne and not to come back without a job. I was scared, nervous and dismayed that my mother cared so little for me. Luckily I did come back with a job, just for the asking. The first place I approached made a position for me. A couple of months later I was told to leave home.

Life was simple back then, even though you could be sacked for no reason given, another job was just around the corner. I managed for years without a car and telephone. I was 23 years old before I got my first landline and signed my first lease. There were no House Inspections back then and I completely redecorated an entire 3 bedroom apartment with very limited permission.

I was pretty much oblivious to politics. As long as I was receiving a pay packet every week and I could pay my rent, I was doing ok. I never saw a homeless person or someone begging and I had no idea that there was such a thing as the Dole. I have always been pretty good with money and I budget well. Perhaps they should make me Treasurer ha ha ha.

Today is a different story. I am now on the Age Pension. I could have been a millionaire, but I chose to ignore opportunities if I didn’t deem them ethical or pleasant. At 26 I bought my first house without any help from the government. I renovated it all by myself, except for new floorboards throughout. I kept it for 13 months during which time it was rented out and I went back overseas.

After 13 months I sold it for 100% profit. I could have made 200% if I had gone to auction. I was made an offer after only one day on the market and I accepted it. My dream was to be sole proprietor of several shops; which is what I chose. I never went bankrupt and I never starved.

Living on the Pension is life on the edge: Especially with this LNP Government in Australia who only have respect for the rich and have an appalling lack of empathy for anyone who is not. They slap themselves on the back repeatedly trying to convince the intellectually ignorant that they are doing such a great job at cleaning up Labor’s mess. Labor never left a mess. How can they have left a mess if the Treasurer was awarded for the best performance in the Industrial world? But MSM never pick them up for it. I don’t know if it is because they are not quick enough to realise what was actually said. Or they choose to ignore it as they are secretly on their side. Whatever reason, we have entered the World of Post Truth Age. For Australia Tony Abbott started it off, got away with it and now it’s become the norm. I guess another Tony, Tony Blair started it off in the UK with his weapons of mass destruction lie. And now as of today, January 1^st 2017 the US has Donald Trump.

If the media do not pull these liars up, call them out, who will? We can all scream on social media, but it makes little difference. Who was it who said that Twitter was mob mentality and not to take any notice? I despise being called part of a mob. I am a clear thinking individual who knows what is going on and does not like it.

Every direction I look there is trouble. I look to the south and ice caps are melting. The ocean is littered with rubbish, none of which was put there by me. I look to the north and I see trouble in Indonesia, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, West Papua, Timor Leste. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, all of the Arab States. Most of Africa to the west, most of south America. The USA, once Trump throws his weight around. And then there is Europe. Everything is not fine there either. Democratic countries are leaning to the Right. Why? Because the Left leaning governments have been thwarted by Multi Nationals and Right leaning politicians in league with the multinationals. The democratic System is not conducive to wise thinking and wise governing of any country. I am appalled to watch Parliament devolve into a slanging match. The thing is, if one party does it and the other doesn’t as in Julia Gillard’s case, they are deemed weak at best and useless at worst. That’s why Julia Gillard gave her misogyny speech. It went a long way to telling Tony Abbott that his behaviour was no longer tolerated. I wish Julia Gillard would come back. Now that people have woken up that the party they elected is doing a rotten job and that she was really brilliant under very trying circumstances; they may well acknowledge and admire her style of leadership after this miserable lot we have to contend with now. Name me a country who thinks their country is doing brilliantly. If you say China and Russia, you would be wrong. Only the governing/ruling Party thinks that is so. Both countries are having problems. Both countries are ambitious and the rest of the world waits to see what will happen when Trump is President. I’m not expecting great things that will benefit me and my fellow Australians in any way. Let’s hope that I am completely wrong and world peace is knocking on our door.