(no subject)
The birth rate is very low in Australia, and to encourage breeding the government gives out a once off payment of $3000 when you have a baby. This will rise to $4000 in July 2006, and $5000 in July 2008. As a result, people are having babies, which is okay by me, it's just that now the rate of teenage pregnancies has absolutely skyrocketed. I was talking to this guy at the op shop who told me about one of his female friends who dropped out of school, wasn't working, and was just hoping to get pregnant because of the baby payment plus other child payments. Oh yeah and you get a one time $900 payment too when you have a baby, I think most people get that, but definitely everyone gets the big payment. Oh yeah that's not including the child payments every week, which do go down if you make over a certain amount per year.
Anyways, there's pregnant women (girls?) everywhere. The op shop guy told me that there's a suburb of government housing that is just teenage moms living off the goverment. Now, I'm all for kids, they're cool, but I always thought that you should prepare yourself financially (plus of course emotionaly, physically) before you have kids. With this wonderful government program people seem to be having kids just "willy nilly" and it's just... weird.
Like yes a teenage girl who gets pregnant accidentally should have all the support she needs, but the people who are leaving school, not using protection, having kids for the money, etc. just drive me mad. This new system just seems to be creating more of the lower class worker, who doesn't go to post secondary education and possibly drops out of high school. That is good for the already wealthy people, for wealth is relative, and if you don't have your poor working class to compare to then what makes you rich?
The guy at the op shop (he talks a lot) told me about his friend who works at a pub. Now comparing Australia to Canada it's just absolutely ridiculous the number of pubs. Okay so I never went into a bar/pub/thingy (see, I don't even know if a bar and a pub are the same thing) in Canada but atleast I know that there wasn't a pub around every corner. Now in Canada I know there's slots at racing courses, and certain major gambling centres. Slots are called pokies here, and there are up to 50 (or more?) in each pub. Yes there are a few that advertise "pokie free" but there are very few of these. Not only are there these pokies in the pubs, but there's a place called Tab that is just a business where you can place bets on anything all day. There's just this huge gambling culture everywhere, and I've heard stories of people just wasting their life savings (and other peoples too) at the pokies. Yes, gambling is an addiction, but should there be 50 pokies in every pub, and a Tab around the corner? A decent amount of the revenue from gambling does go to the government, so the government doesn't discourage gambling at all, and hey where are they going to get all the money from to pay people to have babies. Back to the guy at the op shop with a friend who works at a pub. Once a month or so the government agency who gives out all government payments (called Centrelink) pays everyone, this includes unemployment payments, child payments, etc. Now apparently on these "pay days" the pubs are absolutely packed full of people who line up for the pokies, and any other gambling games available at pubs.
I guess it's just that I can't understand why people do certain things. Yes there is a payout, but what are the chances you are going to win? So you play the lottery often and buy as many tickets as you can, but so do many other people. I hate gambling, I hate the lottery, giving false hope to the poor and the not so bright (hey, you have a one in how many million of winning that huge lottery?) just isn't my thing. This year I bought a $2 scratchie lottery ticket at a deli while I waited for my lunch, and I am quite content with that.
I seem to have gone from baby making to gambling, but yeah, people spend their money that they get from making these babies on gambling. I'm really not sure how many people do it, but just seeing the evidence like pokie advertising signs everywhere, and hearing from many people what has been happening, drives me crazy.
There's one more thing that I must ramble about. I know there is unemployment benefit for people who lose their jobs in Canada. I never actually looked it up and read about it and how it works, but what I like to think is that this is used as a back-up system for someone who loses their job and can't get one right away, also for people who are unable to work for whatever reason. Now of course there are unemployment benefits in Australia, this payment is called newstart. It's great that we live in a country where there is support for people in trouble, the only problem is the abuse of this system around here is far too common. Glen's aunt and uncle have been living on newstart for so so long, they raised there kids while living at home on newstart and therefore their kids never learnt responsibility of supporting yourself and others. The guy from the op shop (isn't he wonderful) is currently receiving newstart as well as his wife, while raising three young children. It's great to be able to stay home to look after your children, but wouldn't it be better for everyone if you would just get a fucking job? It would also be nice if you would set a good example for your children. Maybe I'm under the complete wrong impression, maybe people who can work should be living off the government and stay at home, it just doesn't seem right.
Enough of that crap, "Shut up Megan," "Okay."
Today was my second training shift at Hungry Jacks (Burger King.) I almost forgot how anal fast food people are. I was hoping I'd get manager pretty fast but I just can't be that evil and pushy. Atleast I'm not retarded and I can already can take orders and do everything pretty well, with crap training.
It's hard to believe now that I used to work up to 14 hours a day, up to 65 hours a week, plus going to night school and everything. Since I couldn't work due to visa issues for quite a while I'm just so used to not doing anything. Oh well, I'll get over it, I'll get the paper in the morning and try to get a second job, since I doubt I'll be getting the hours that I want from Hungry Jacks. Hopefully it'll be close, because it just takes way too long to get to Hungry Jacks via the wonderful public transit system.
Corgie, Ralph, and Death are all good. We're living in our blue heaven, not sure what the future will bring but atleast we know that no matter what we can deal with it.
Anyways, there's pregnant women (girls?) everywhere. The op shop guy told me that there's a suburb of government housing that is just teenage moms living off the goverment. Now, I'm all for kids, they're cool, but I always thought that you should prepare yourself financially (plus of course emotionaly, physically) before you have kids. With this wonderful government program people seem to be having kids just "willy nilly" and it's just... weird.
Like yes a teenage girl who gets pregnant accidentally should have all the support she needs, but the people who are leaving school, not using protection, having kids for the money, etc. just drive me mad. This new system just seems to be creating more of the lower class worker, who doesn't go to post secondary education and possibly drops out of high school. That is good for the already wealthy people, for wealth is relative, and if you don't have your poor working class to compare to then what makes you rich?
The guy at the op shop (he talks a lot) told me about his friend who works at a pub. Now comparing Australia to Canada it's just absolutely ridiculous the number of pubs. Okay so I never went into a bar/pub/thingy (see, I don't even know if a bar and a pub are the same thing) in Canada but atleast I know that there wasn't a pub around every corner. Now in Canada I know there's slots at racing courses, and certain major gambling centres. Slots are called pokies here, and there are up to 50 (or more?) in each pub. Yes there are a few that advertise "pokie free" but there are very few of these. Not only are there these pokies in the pubs, but there's a place called Tab that is just a business where you can place bets on anything all day. There's just this huge gambling culture everywhere, and I've heard stories of people just wasting their life savings (and other peoples too) at the pokies. Yes, gambling is an addiction, but should there be 50 pokies in every pub, and a Tab around the corner? A decent amount of the revenue from gambling does go to the government, so the government doesn't discourage gambling at all, and hey where are they going to get all the money from to pay people to have babies. Back to the guy at the op shop with a friend who works at a pub. Once a month or so the government agency who gives out all government payments (called Centrelink) pays everyone, this includes unemployment payments, child payments, etc. Now apparently on these "pay days" the pubs are absolutely packed full of people who line up for the pokies, and any other gambling games available at pubs.
I guess it's just that I can't understand why people do certain things. Yes there is a payout, but what are the chances you are going to win? So you play the lottery often and buy as many tickets as you can, but so do many other people. I hate gambling, I hate the lottery, giving false hope to the poor and the not so bright (hey, you have a one in how many million of winning that huge lottery?) just isn't my thing. This year I bought a $2 scratchie lottery ticket at a deli while I waited for my lunch, and I am quite content with that.
I seem to have gone from baby making to gambling, but yeah, people spend their money that they get from making these babies on gambling. I'm really not sure how many people do it, but just seeing the evidence like pokie advertising signs everywhere, and hearing from many people what has been happening, drives me crazy.
There's one more thing that I must ramble about. I know there is unemployment benefit for people who lose their jobs in Canada. I never actually looked it up and read about it and how it works, but what I like to think is that this is used as a back-up system for someone who loses their job and can't get one right away, also for people who are unable to work for whatever reason. Now of course there are unemployment benefits in Australia, this payment is called newstart. It's great that we live in a country where there is support for people in trouble, the only problem is the abuse of this system around here is far too common. Glen's aunt and uncle have been living on newstart for so so long, they raised there kids while living at home on newstart and therefore their kids never learnt responsibility of supporting yourself and others. The guy from the op shop (isn't he wonderful) is currently receiving newstart as well as his wife, while raising three young children. It's great to be able to stay home to look after your children, but wouldn't it be better for everyone if you would just get a fucking job? It would also be nice if you would set a good example for your children. Maybe I'm under the complete wrong impression, maybe people who can work should be living off the government and stay at home, it just doesn't seem right.
Enough of that crap, "Shut up Megan," "Okay."
Today was my second training shift at Hungry Jacks (Burger King.) I almost forgot how anal fast food people are. I was hoping I'd get manager pretty fast but I just can't be that evil and pushy. Atleast I'm not retarded and I can already can take orders and do everything pretty well, with crap training.
It's hard to believe now that I used to work up to 14 hours a day, up to 65 hours a week, plus going to night school and everything. Since I couldn't work due to visa issues for quite a while I'm just so used to not doing anything. Oh well, I'll get over it, I'll get the paper in the morning and try to get a second job, since I doubt I'll be getting the hours that I want from Hungry Jacks. Hopefully it'll be close, because it just takes way too long to get to Hungry Jacks via the wonderful public transit system.
Corgie, Ralph, and Death are all good. We're living in our blue heaven, not sure what the future will bring but atleast we know that no matter what we can deal with it.