If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses.

These letters weren’t originally written for the purpose of a book. They were written by someone who was frustrated, angry, and depressed with the process of looking for work in today’s screwed up job market.

It’s laugh out loud funny, at times off-color, and the responses are kind of nuts. If you feel a little hopeless when searching for jobs, this book will be cathartic and provide you with some much needed laughter. You can buy the book here.

 

If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses.

These hilarious letters were sent from a frustrated and angry job seeker, tired of the bullshit. They were never intended for public viewing (This is true and in the book intro). How Much Do You Fuckers Pay? takes the piss out of a system that really needs the piss taken out of it. We think you’ll love it. You can buy the book here.
 

 

Every time I flick on the tv, which admittedly is not often at all, I always hear the news reporter announce the weather forecast or other such trivial local news by referring to Melbourne as “The world’s most liveable city”.

“The weather forecast this week in the world’s most liveable city”

Being originally from Sydney myself, I chuckle every time I see Melbournians (their word, not mine) trying to be the best and out stage the great city of Sydney. Yeah sure, you might have some trams and a generally clean city, but WE have the bridge, the opera house, and our new year’s fireworks show is much better than yours. So eat it, Melbourne! You will never be like us!

But seriously though. Melbourne has been ranked the world’s most liveable city for the last 7 years in a row; which is a remarkable achievement. The metric by which the liveability of a city is determined is by examining a city’s political/economic stability, access to health care, access to education, infrastructure, culture and environment. But… no mention of access to employment opportunities?

You know, I’m old enough to remember when people held cardboard signs on the streets of Melbourne, begging for work. When the city of Melbourne was littered with shanty-towns, particularly around Flinders St Station and under the Queens St Bridge. I also remember long, long ago when the poor and destitute queued outside of St Paul’s Cathedral, eagerly awaiting a free meal. All of this happened… well… just 2 weeks ago when I took the photo below. Being such a liveable city is probably why so many homeless and unemployed people choose to live on the streets of Melbourne… right?

“I feel sorry for those suckers living in Sydney”

 

All jokes aside, by international standards, Australia’s unemployment rate is pretty good: sitting at a 51 month low of 5.5%. But whilst on the surface our unemployment rate looks relatively healthy, it is very misleading. Unemployment may be down, but underemployment has now climbed up to 8.7% . These statistics are even more horrifying when you look at Melbourne’s individual suburbs. In 2015, the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster had an unemployment rate of 10.4%, Dandenong had an unemployment rate of 21.5%, and poor Broadmeadows lead our state with an unemployment rate of 26.7%. That’s right, in 2015, more than 1 in 4 adults from Broadmeadows were unemployed.

You might be inclined to think “but Harry, surely the 26.7% includes students, retirees, stay at home mums, and other people who are technically unemployed?”, but no, it does not. The international definition for unemployed persons, as set out by the International Labour Organisation, (ILO) is someone who is both able and willing to work, and who is actively, or has actively tried to find employment sometime in the last 4 weeks. If you don’t look for work, whatever the reason may be (studying, kids etc.) you are not counted in the statistics.

Let that sink in for a moment. Some parts of Melbourne had a situation where 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 people were out of work, and trying to find employment.

Did someone say “world’s most liveable city”?

So how about all those people who have no job and no hope? Who are unemployed and have given up or simply are unable to look for work due to circumstances like, I don’t know… sleeping underneath a bridge? 2016 saw 247 “rough sleepers” on the shivering streets of Melbourne, a 74% increase in 2 years.

“And then it’s the hidden part of the iceberg that really scares me.” Says Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Rob Doyle,

“Behind those 247 rough sleepers are tens of thousands of people in housing distress.”

Tens of thousands… no job, no home, no hope in hell.

Where did we all go so wrong?

Let me be very frank here, because I know that we are all thinking the same thing right now: Do the rough sleepers have nobody but themselves to blame for their life on the streets? Some of them, yes it is their own fault. Did drugs, or do drugs play a part in them being on the streets? For a number of them, yes this is also true. Do they deserve to be on the streets? In one word: No. Homelessness is not a glamorous life, and it is not a suitable “punishment”. Who wants to live on the freezing streets of Melbourne, especially as winter is now upon us? Is homelessness justified for someone who ruined their own life? Is it a reasonable punishment? I think not.

And not all rough sleepers share needles or are addicted to ice. Some are just ordinary people who haven’t been as fortunate as the rest of us have been in our lives. Whether it be mental illness, escaping domestic abuse, or disability, the rough sleepers all have their own unique stories to tell.

There’s help available… IF you know where to find it

There are many organisations running programs to help those on the streets: The Red Cross, St Vincent De Paul Society, Mission Australia, Wesley Mission, The Salvation Army and Father Chris Riley’s “Youth Off The Streets” are just a few of the many organisations that offer crisis and support services, as well as employment skills and training in their efforts to end poverty and homelessness. But in my experience in social work and welfare, one of the greatest barriers to accessing these services is that those in need are simply not aware of the services being offered or how to access them.

Rough sleepers do communicate with each other and they do help each other out. When you’re on the streets, you must help each other if you want to survive. If someone starts giving out free food on a street corner every Sunday, then word spreads very quickly, and before long, large groups are turning up looking for a feed. Communication is very good amongst the rough sleepers, so now we just need to give them the right message to pass around… “Help is available”

I hope I never get the opportunity to take a photo like that again…

 

 

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Harrison Stamoudis is a freelance writer from Melbourne, Australia. After a lifetime of being praised for his intellect and being told “you can do anything you want”, he was doomed to grow up without guidance and direction (it’s difficult to pick a door when they are all open for you). Aimlessly wandered from one job to the next, he struggled to pick a path and stick to it. Harrison often had to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet and the work history list on his resume is a little longer than he cares to mention. Harrison is currently in the process of completing higher education (for a third time) so that he may make his next major career change, this time civil engineering.

While it’s a bummer to have no paying work— re: being unemployed— the notion of having some paying work, yet not enough, shouldn’t just be written off as a First World problem.

In fact, the data shows that the rate of underemployment in America (14 percent) is dramatically higher than that of unemployment (4.4 percent).

And it turns out that the U.S. may not be even the biggest offender: some of the world’s highest rates of underemployment are in Australia, or the land Down Under.

The job market conditions in Australia are so bad that a tick over one-third of all youth are either unemployed or underemployed—  a rather shocking figure.

Chronic underemployment affects an individual in immeasurable ways: victims often find themselves rattled psychologically, in pursuit of multiple part-time jobs, and mired in poverty.

Studies have shown that underemployment is associated with an increased risk of depression, heightened stress, and lower levels of self-esteem.

Unfortunately, many who never pick up steady employment in the first place remain unskilled and deemed “unready” for the job market, creating a virtuous circle of inadequate employment.

While it’s easy to ignore the plight of the underemployed— or even blame them for their circumstances— the truth is the consequences they bear affect us all.

Consumer demand, for example, decreases whenever households have less money, as is the case under conditions of high unemployment and underemployment. This, ultimately, results in diminished business growth, which negatively impacts GDP.

Underemployed individuals are also eligible to take government assistance in many cases— as they should. If wealthy individuals needed two reasons to stem this epidemic, there they are.

While it’s easy to continue reviewing the situation on a macro level, it’s probably easier to understand the situation by looking at two individual countries— the U.S. and Australia— on the smaller, micro level.

Let’s start with the wealthiest country in the world.

Underemployment in the United States

You’d think that for a nation with a GDP of $18 trillion— over $55,000 per capita— the wealth would be spread around. Jobs, in other words, wouldn’t be that ever-elusive thing that many youth find themselves in dire need of.

It doesn’t help that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the principal source of employment statistics in the U.S., doesn’t even measure underemployment.

Underemployment, perhaps surprisingly, actually affects the quality of life of those who have advanced degrees more than those who have less formal education.

A 2011 study by Gallup found that underemployed— as opposed to fully employed— college grad respondents reported a 17 percent drop in whether they deemed themselves to be “thriving” in life.

For those with a high school diploma or less, the drop in life satisfaction for underemployed individuals was a more modest 10 percent.

A related cousin to underemployment— sometimes even included under its banner— is the phenomenon of being overqualified for a position.

It’s hard enough to get a job that you’re clearly too good for, but why would anybody want to be in that situation in the first place?

A recent estimate put the number of employees with a college degree who are overqualified for their job at one-in-four.

So, clearly, being an underemployed college graduate is no bueno.

The bigger takeaway, however, should be the fact that poverty rates have decreased recently amongst nearly all groups— except for underemployed individuals.

From 2012 to 2013, the poverty rate for underemployed Americans increased from 16.6 to 17.5 percent. Compare this to a poverty rate of 2.9 percent for full-time workers.

While there are measures that could help stop the bleeding, none promise a quick fix.

It will probably take tremendous effort not only on the part of the individual, but the government and private sector to find solutions to the underemployment crisis.

Politicians should start by looking at the struggles of millennials, who are the biggest group impacted by underemployment.

Underemployment in Australia

While Aussies are proud of their culture, one thing they’d likely like to set to sea is their high underemployment rate.

Thankfully, the statistics are easy to find: the Australian Bureau of Statistics— unlike its American counterpart— kindly provides us with nationwide underemployment figures online.

While the statistics reveal that since about two years ago unemployment has dropped one-half-a-percent to 5.7 percent, the nation’s underemployment rate has stayed persistent at 8.5 percent, with no signs of decreasing.

The anecdotes of underemployed individuals present a narrative that is even more troubling— it induces both surprise and outright disgust.

Take Kate Zizys, for example, who was profiled in the Sydney Morning Herald, one of Australia’s most esteemed news publications.

Zizys, a 46-year-old with a college degree, is a shining example of the virtuous circle alluded to earlier: she has been underemployed almost her entire working life, and earns less than $20,000 a year on average.

“I have had long periods of underemployment that border on unemployment,” she told the Herald. “There’s not enough money or security in casual jobs.”

This is despite having worked in a variety of positions in academia, including at a university in the state of Victoria.

To make matters worse, Zizys, at one point, dealt with breast cancer amid this career crisis, a situation that may have been financially unmanageable were it not for Australia’s universal healthcare.

(In case you’re wondering, breast cancer treatment in the United States varies widely, but you can sure bet it’d cost you an arm and a leg, regardless of your insurance status).

Perhaps the most stunning figure is the number “200”— that represents the amount of jobs that Zizys applied to in a recent 11-month period.

If nothing else, Zizys’ story proves that no one, regardless of age, is completely spared from the joblessness blues.

Later in their piece, the Herald interviews John Buchanan, an esteemed professor at the University of Sydney, who says that the number of underemployed individuals in Australia has increased more than sixfold since the 1970s.

Buchanan believes that Australia’s proclivity toward part-time work— they have some of the highest rates of part-time workers of any of the 35 OECD nations— is a double-edged sword.

“People say that is a sign of how flexible our labour market is and people are getting more work life balance,” he told the Herald. “But Australia also has one of the highest levels of underemployment— people who are part-time unemployed.”

For their part, the Australian government has pointed to the rapidly-shifting job market as being the cause for the country’s issues with underemployment.

Namely, there has been “job creation in industries which involve higher levels of part-time and casual work,” said Australia’s Minister for Employment.

Regardless of the culprit, experts unanimously agree that Australia has a big problem on its hands, and action must be taken by both the public and private sectors.

Jimmy Barnes, a rock musician who has lived in Adelaide since age five, perhaps put it best when speaking to The Guardian.

“Too often we keep blaming the victims of these huge economic changes rather than addressing the challenge of helping people into working life,” he commented.

What Can Be Done?

Fortunately, underemployment is a problem that doesn’t have to be so prominent in scope.

In fact, oftentimes, individuals are underemployed, if not unemployed, because they’re looking in the wrong places.

Earlier this year, Fast Company highlighted the efforts of the McKinsey Social Initiative, a non-profit, to amelioriate the epidemic in America.

It is their mission to find and sufficiently train young unemployed and underemployed individuals, so they can later enter lucrative fields such as healthcare, IT, or any number of skilled trades.

When Mark Zuckerberg says that Facebook hasn’t been able to hire the requisite number of computer engineers because “there aren’t enough people who are trained and have these skills today,” perhaps we have to take a second glance at the situation.

Maybe part of the responsibility is on us.

Nonetheless, as with any dire problem, the fix won’t come overnight, and we all have to get involved.

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Daniel Steingold is a writer from Los Angeles, CA who’s an advocate for alliterative artistry. Admittedly ambivalent towards social media, he halfheartedly hopes hospitable humans heap plentiful praise upon his prose periodically posted to Facebook.

His two known writing projects, one used and one abused, are The Article Review (thearticlereview.com) and A Wiki a Week (awikiaweek.com), respectively. He enjoys learning about everything under the moon, because, well… the sun BURNS his ghostly white skin

 

It’s safe to say that I had a very fortunate upbringing. My parents, though receiving only the most basic education, still managed to do very well for themselves and to provide for us kids. But despite their success, they still were not immune from the financial woes that so many of us find ourselves in at some point in our lives.

So one day, when mussing about life and finances, my dear old mother suggested that we should rob a bank.

“Let’s go rob a bank, Harrison”, she said to me

“Let’s do a Mr and Mrs Smith”.

I love my mother to bits, but damn she is stupid… I don’t say that because she wanted to rob a bank, but because she had the wrong vision.

Mum, I’m young. I’m new generation and therefore I know everything. So take a seat and learn a lesson from your son. If you want to get rich, you don’t do so by robbing banks, but by robbing the public. If you rob the public, you can do so without ever touching a gun or making a scene. You don’t need to ice a hostage to let the cops know that “you mean business”. You don’t need a getaway car and you don’t need to outrun the police. The great advantage that robbing the public has over robbing banks is that in many cases you can do so without ever breaking the law.

Sounds too good to be true? Well that’s why you (me also) are still waking up to an alarm every morning at 5:30am and commuting to work; probably in the hopes you can pay off your mortgage in the next 30 years.

But not all people are like you or I. Some people have it all figured out. These self-serving scum bags are the enemies of the public and are robbing us blind! Allow me to introduce you to my top (bottom) 4 Enemies of the Public

Public Enemy No. 4: Ahmed Fahour

 Fahour is the current Managing Director and CEO of Australia Post. As head of the national postal service he is technically a public servant, but for some reason his salary was never disclosed to the public… That was until the public started to pressure him to reveal how much he made. Fahour finally caved under public pressure and because he had disclosure obligations (as he is paid from the proceeds of a company that belongs to the people). His annual earnings? $5.6millionAUD… To put this into perspective, the Prime Minister makes $517 504. The Governor-General makes $425 000. The Chief Justice of the High Court makes $486 000 every year. This guy is a postman and is pocketing more than $5.5million of your money, Every. Single. Year.

As of the 23rd February, Fahour announced his resignation, which is effective in July. He claims that his decision “had nothing to do” with being caught paying himself $5.6million every year from public money, but we all know that is complete and utter rubbish.

Public Enemy No. 3: Eddy Groves

Now I suppose that we can semi-forgive our public enemy number 3 for his rort, and let me explain why. The majority of Australians are descendants of convicts, so it’s in our blood to at least look for a way to rort the system. Some of us just do it a little more successfully than others (don’t hate the player, hate the game).

In our modern, soulless, and materialistic world, people are encouraged to take overseas holidays worth tens of thousands of dollars. People are also encouraged to “buy shit that we don’t need, to impress people that we don’t like” (Tyler Durden- Fight Club). Everyday cost-of-living expenses are also soaring. So, all of the money for all of this has to come from somewhere. As a direct result, in 2017 it isn’t enough for dad to bring home the bread and mum to stay home and raise the kids.

Both dad and mum must slave away like good cattle, whilst “the public” raises your children (this in itself is dangerous in so many ways and I could write a whole book on this topic). Therefore, childcare centers have become big business. So big in fact that Australia’s own ABC Child Learning was actually the world’s largest provider of child care and education at its peak. “How can a child care provider possibly make any money?” I’m glad you asked! The Commonwealth Government allocated $8.2billion towards subsidising child care in the 2016-2017 budget. This number is set to rise to $8.8billion in 2017-2018.

That’s a lot of dosh…

In the words of former ABC Child Learning Chairwoman Sallyanne Atkinson:

“This is a business subsidised by government – how can it be unprofitable?”

Want a piece of the action? Well there’s good news! This money is yours for the taking if you can tick the right boxes and satisfy the requirements that the government asks when giving away fat wads of the tax-payers cash (click here and here if you would like to know how you too can rip off the tax-payer by starting your own childcare center).

ABC Child Learning was once valued at $4.1billion and its founder/CEO Eddy Groves was personally worth more than $270million. But whilst Groves was living lavishly off our fat wads/grants, ABC Child Learning was crumbling. Staff were underpaid, quality of care was poor, and the company had an outstanding debt of $1.8billion that it could not pay. So as is to be expected, the company that Groves had founded went into administration and Groves himself declared bankrupt.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) soon opened a case and began investigating the collapse of ABC and the role that its directors had in its fall in November 2008. The investigation continued until July of 2012 when ASIC decided that there was insubstantial evidence to support charges of wrong doing, so they reversed the bankruptcy charge against Groves and lifted the freeze on his assets. (Story) Why? We will never know, because ASIC does not comment on its own investigations. But what this does mean is that once more he is now legally able to own and run companies in Australia… This man got off Scott free and is back in business, baby!

I will mention briefly now that the only business that can defraud the government of even greater sums of money than the child care industry is the adult education industry… but that’s another topic for another day.

Public Enemy No. 2: Tony Yamankol

Porsche… This image didn’t need to be edited.

Way back in January of this year, I wrote an article on the exploitation of foreign workers in Australia’s fruit picking industry… well it seems that fruit picking is the gift that keeps on (not) giving. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Tony Yamankol, the man who pays his seasonal workers (international workers on temporary work visas) exactly zero dollars and zero cents after he has deducted “living expenses” from their wages.

These living expenses include luxuries such as living in a cramped caravan, daily transport to the farm and back, health insurance, superannuation, (which they will never use, as they are only seasonal workers) and of course, tax.

To add a whole new horrible dimension to this already horrible story, these workers were shipped over to Australia from pacific island nations via a Department of Employment “Seasonal Worker Program”. That’s right, Yamankol has the blessings of our government, and he technically isn’t breaking any laws when he deducts almost 100% of his employees wages for all of these living expenses.

The Seasonal Workers Program was initially seized upon by the pacific island workers in the hopes they could work hard for half a year or so and send money back home to their families. Instead, we find family members sending money to Australia so that basic necessities may be bought.

And it’s not like the workers are really in a position to complain… no, really, they aren’t... As per the terms of the contracts they signed, workers are essentially the property of their contractor. They must fulfill their contractual obligations under Yamankol and under Yamankol alone. They are not permitted to seek employment elsewhere. If they aren’t happy with Yamankol’s work and living conditions, he can simply terminate their contracts and they will be promptly sent back to their home countries and barred from all future work opportunities in Australia. Sadly, Yamankol knows this and uses it to his complete advantage.

An actual payslip for $9.96 from one of Yamankol’s employees

Legal though it may be, it’s a total scumbag move and Yamankol deserves the public shame that he has received… But Yamankol isn’t the worst this nation has to offer… it gets much, much worse.

Public enemy No. 1: Bill Lewski

Now this piece of shit right here gets the distinct honour of being number one on my list. Don’t let the ‘liberal arts teacher’ haircut fool you. This man is worth well in excess of $90million. Well, at least he was, after he stole it from a bunch of investors, many of whom were retirees hoping to fund their own retirements.

I worked in aged care for 8 years, so the elderly and vulnerable will always have a special place in my heart. When I see someone like Lewski taking advantage of the elderly, I am filled with so much righteous anger.

Lewski was able to pull off his fraud by founding the “Prime Retirement and Aged Care Property Trust”, which specialized in building and acquiring retirement villages. As Australia has an aging population, many believed this would be a good investment. Oh were they wrong…

Prime Retirement Aged Care Trust was managed by another company (owned by Lewski) called APCH Ltd. Lewski also owned yet another company called Retirement Guide, which provided management services to Prime Trust. Every time Prime Trust acquired a new retirement village, Retirement Guide was contracted to manage it.

Through these companies, Lewski was able to pay himself $93million of Prime Trust’s money through two very shady deals. Firstly, Lewski paid himself $33million for the simple task of listing Prime Trust on the Australian Stock Exchange, and then paid himself again when Retirement Guide sold the management rights to Prime Trust for $75million. However, “only” $60million was ever paid out. So this totals $93million Lewski was able to pay himself and there was nothing that investors could do about it.

WHY????

Because Lewski changed the constitution of the trust without ever consulting with the investors, which gave him the authority to do so.

HOW????

Easy. With a simple “disclosure statement” that stated a change in the trust’s constitution and then almost $100million in fees were paid out… yep, that’s all it took for Lewski to rob his investors. To “disclose” that he was about to defraud them of $93million.  

The weak and impotent ASIC was of no help yet again, as they stated that “there is no evidence that the responsible entity has breached any of its statutory obligations”, as Lewski had disclosed his intentions before enacting them.

So according to ASIC, it’s perfectly legal to rob someone blind, so long as you tell them that you are going to do it first…

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!!!!!!

Where is all of the money now? According to evidence given in court, the $60million earned by the sale of the management rights to Prime Trust was put into a family trust and then gifted to Lewski’s two sons. The remaining $33million has also been put through family trusts.

Lewski himself has testified under oath that he has no assets and technically he isn’t lying. All assets are owned by the family trusts of which he isn’t a director to any of them.

All in all, $550million of investors money has been lost. Some of the investors fell into depression, some have been forced back to work at an age well beyond retirement age, and at least one poor investor has commit suicide.

Outraged investors have described Lewski’s actions as “criminal’, but sadly, that is not true at all. Everything was done within the confines of the law, and Lewski himself is a law abiding citizen.

What the hell kind of a person steals from the elderly anyway? I find abuse of the elderly to be the most morally reprehensible act imaginable.

I’ll end this article here… I’m getting way too angry. My blood pressure is rising and I can now feel my pulse in my left eyelid.

 

 

Support Harrison’s writing on our site by subscribing to our newsletter on this link, Subscribe here!

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Harrison Stamoudis is a freelance writer from Melbourne, Australia. After a lifetime of being praised for his intellect and being told “you can do anything you want”, he was doomed to grow up without guidance and direction (it’s difficult to pick a door when they are all open for you). Aimlessly wandered from one job to the next, he struggled to pick a path and stick to it. Harrison often had to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet and the work history list on his resume is a little longer than he cares to mention. Harrison is currently in the process of completing higher education (for a third time) so that he may make his next major career change, this time civil engineering.

 

You know what this world needs? More free trade agreements (and the inevitable, intended result: The one world government). Every morning, I wake up, turn on the news, and am so sorely disappointed to see that I am still not living in the United States of Planet Earth. It’s (current year) for goodness sake people! Don’t you want “progress”?

But seriously, the world currently boasts 41 multilateral free trade agreements, and so many bilateral free trade agreements that I cared not to count (I stopped counting at 175). With so many free trade deals on the table, you might be wondering “do we really have room for one more?”

Enter the “Trans Pacific Partnership” (TPP). A free trade deal to end all free trade deals. A free trade deal so big and so mighty that one would believe it were made in Texas (it was actually made in New Zealand). Once ratified, the TPP will be the greatest free trade deal in the history of forever. Well, at least it would have been before Donald Trump became the President of the United States. Despite all the cynical critics claiming that the office of POTUS would “moderate” him, the President made good on his election promise, within days of being inaugurated, and tore up the TPP.

“But hold on Harry… I thought free trade was a good thing?? And Trump is an idiot! I know it’s true because TV and career politicians told me so!”

Oh my poor brothers… As always, there is so much more than meets the eye. On the one hand, we have those very same career politicians, such as Australia’s own Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull applauding the TPP because it will “create jobs” (because, you know, he has such a great record creating jobs). On the other hand, we have President Trump and his posse of loyal blue-collars celebrating its demise, because it would have “taken away American jobs.”

Free trade… No free trade… The cheerleaders on both sides of this argument are claiming that they are helping their nations and helping to create jobs. Who the hell are we supposed to listen to? Does anyone even know what’s going on anymore? It’s no wonder trust in the current political establishment is at an all time low when they feel as though they can say anything (and I mean literally anything) they please and expect us to follow. The TPP is yet another one of those instances where the will of the people is being ignored so that governments may feed that insatiable monster called crony capitalism.

What I find most interesting about the TPP, are not all the nations who have joined, but who hasn’t joined.

What is the TPP?…

The TPP originally began as the “Transpacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement” (TPSEP). It was a multilateral free trade deal between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore, who subsequently became known as the “Pacific 4” (P4). After their FTA deal came in to effect in 2006, other nations expressed their desire to join, and before long, the P4 became the “P12” with the addition of Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, The United States, and Vietnam.

The official reason behind the TPP (as is the official reason behind all free trade deals), is to create a larger market place to do business. A larger market place means more consumers. More consumers means more is produced, which means more jobs, which means more money for everyone, and everyone wins!

Well… That’s the “official” story, at least.

But there is one question. One very important question which has been nagging me for quite some time… If the trans pacific partnership is an offer that is too good to refuse, then why did the People’s Republic of China refuse?

What is the TPP REALLY? (Rant)…

Short answer: It’s a way for the rich to get richer. THAT’S IT. Let’s be brutally honest. This TPP rubbish is just another gift-wrapped turd. It’s a money grabbing scam for those at the top. It has been sold to us as a miracle from the hand of Economy-God himself, so that we plebeians on the bottom (who incidentally are the very bricks and mortar of the economy) may find it more palatable, as we are being told, and lied to, that we will share in the economic growth.

Whenever our fearless leaders want to sell us a load of garbage like a new tax, budget cut, or a new trade deal, they use the same dirty marketing and sales techniques that the slimiest time-share or car salesman uses. DO NOT be fooled by their sweet words and the “too good to refuse” marketing strategies being employed. People spend years at university just to learn these skills. Don’t ever think that they are not being used against you.

Jobs and Growth…

“Jobs and Growth”… That was the slogan (more like a shopping list) that the Turnbull government used when handing down the 2016 budget. So did he deliver on his promise? Allow me to tear a new one into a man I seriously detest… Consider the fact that Turnbull’s “solution” to unemployment and getting people back to work was to slash and burn welfare benefits. This ended up forcing unemployed people to find work in a “sink or swim” situation (a move which turned out to be ineffective, as Australia’s unemployment rate currently stands at a 6 month high of 5.8%).

Also, consider the fact that for years, even as opposition leader, the only idea Turnbull had to raise revenue and fix the budget black hole was to increase taxes on cigarettes… Does this sound like a man you can trust to deliver “jobs and growth?” Does this sound like a man whose opinion is even worth listening to with regards to the world’s largest free trade agreement? Of course, the answer is NO.

But Turnbull isn’t the only cheerleader for the TPP who should justifiably be ignored. Across the Pacific Ocean, President Obama was the only president in U.S. history who has never delivered even a single year of +3% GDP growth. So when these two buffoons start talking about the “benefits” of free trade and all the jobs it will create, I suggest that you receive it with a lot of healthy skepticism. Believe at your own risk.

If you would check out the comments on my last article, it’s painfully obvious what the Australian people want: We want more protectionist policies. We want to keep manufacturing jobs right here at home. We are confident in our ability to be self-sufficient. But alas, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has a different opinion on the intelligence and capabilities of his constituents and fellow countrymen.

That Chinese Attitude…

Regardless of what you may think of the People’s Republic and the Chinese people, you must admit that they are very clever. When entering into a trade deal, the Chinese always make sure it is on their terms. They do not enter into an agreement unless they are in control.

China currently boasts over 150,000 “State Owned Enterprises” (SOE’s). What this means is, when you’re doing business with Chinese companies, you’re doing business with the Chinese State. The SOE’s of China are given all kinds of assistance from subsidies to lower interest rates on loans, creating a situation where our domestic companies simply cannot compete against the Chinese, and so the inevitable result is that we end up importing Chinese goods.

China uses this system to always ensure that their own domestic manufacturing jobs are secured and created. The terms of the TPP did not allow companies to receive any unfair advantage from their respective nations, however it did allow companies to sue foreign governments if they enact legislation which “harms their investments,” so of course, being in a position of so little control, China was not willing to play.

You have to have a grudging respect for the Chinese. We are being shanked in our FTA with them, however they are putting their own people first, just as governments should… They are definitely winning this economic war, so is it any wonder that President Trump is entering a so-called “trade war” with China?

Free trade agreements definitely have their place in the world… If used correctly. Giving businesses free reign to do as they please in an FTA, with little to no accountability, is a recipe for disaster, as they are only interested in their own profits. Outsourcing of labour, crowding out smaller businesses, exploiting lax labour laws in foreign countries, and reduced tax revenue, are all the result of our FTAs, because we never approached them with that Chinese attitude… We never had that winners mind set, where we planned how we could best exploit the agreement to benefit our own people. While the Chinese were ensuring the future of their own industries, we were only thinking of all the cheap TVs and refrigerators we could now buy.

No wonder we got shanked…

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Harrison Stamoudis is a freelance writer from Melbourne, Australia. After a lifetime of being praised for his intellect and being told “you can do anything you want”, he was doomed to grow up without guidance and direction (it’s difficult to pick a door when they are all open for you). Aimlessly wandered from one job to the next, he struggled to pick a path and stick to it. Harrison often had to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet and the work history list on his resume is a little longer than he cares to mention. Harrison is currently in the process of completing higher education (for a third time) so that he may make his next major career change, this time civil engineering.

 

Over the past few months I’ve spent a lot of time researching and writing about basic income for The Underemployed Life: how basic income can ease the burden of underemployment, the history of basic income, and basic income experiments going on around the world.

But all of this means nothing without action. Today, I’d like to take the conversation a step further. I’m going to share some easy steps we can all take to push our governments to adopt basic income on a large scale.

Starting the conversation

The road to change begins with a conversation, and this one is all about education. At this point, most people have heard the term basic income thrown around. However, many still have misconceptions about what it actually means.

If we want to see basic income take hold in our countries, we need to bring it into the public eye. We need to start the conversation on social media, at family dinners and social gatherings. Anywhere the conversation can be had, we should have it. Talking about money and politics may be uncomfortable, especially when the two come together, but the conversation is essential if we want other people to understand what we’re fighting for, and if we want them to join us in the fight.

You can also start the conversation with your politicians.

You can use this handy list of US representatives or this list of Canadian Members of Parliament. If you hate talking on the phone, call after hours and leave a message. All phone messages are recorded by staff, and special note is taken of issues that come up over and over again.

In the face of everything happening politically right now it may seem as if talking about basic income is selfish and pointless—especially since Trump has forced people to fight for even the simplest human rights—but we cannot stop fighting for progress just because we’re also fighting to retain the rights we’ve already won. A change as massive as basic income requires decades of consistent effort, and part of that effort is keeping the conversation going, no matter what struggles we face.

There are several reasons why now is the best time to talk about basic income. Automation is displacing many jobs, underemployment is on the rise, and many people are running side hustles simply to stay alive. Also, there are several basic income pilots currently going on around the world for you to talk about. You might be surprised who is receptive to the idea of basic income in today’s rapidly changing economy.

Showing our support for existing basic income organizations

You may not feel your individual voice matters, but every movement is built on individual people coming together to change the world. The following bullet points list different ways you can support organizations working towards a basic income:

• Sign and share petitions: The Basic Income Canada Network and the Basic Income Action Network(US) have petitions gathering signatures from around their respective countries.
• Donate: You can donate to both of the organizations above, or donate directly to basic income projects being run by non-profit organizations GiveDirectly and Eight. It may not feel like much, but I worked at a non-profit, and I can assure you that every dollar makes a significant difference.
• Volunteer: If you have lots of time, but not a lot of money, consider volunteering for a basic income organization like the ones listed above.

Create your own organization

Want to take your support of basic income to the next level? There’s still lots of room to create your own organization supporting basic income. You can even choose exactly how it works. Of course, this will require an incredible amount of work—exactly how much depends on what you want to accomplish—but if you’re truly passionate about basic income, it might be the most rewarding thing you ever do.

Some national basic income organizations also have programs allowing you to create a local chapter. This allows you to control your section of the organization without having to lay the groundwork yourself. Learning to create or run your own section of an organization is a topic worthy of an entire series of books, but you can learn the basics by checking out this Beginner’s Guide to Building a Strong Political Organization.

Final advice

Fighting for progress is exhausting, but we will never get a universal basic income if we don’t fight for it. Decide what you have the energy and resources to do, and commit to doing it—even if all you’re doing is sharing one article about basic income every day on social media. Every contribution, no matter how small, is essential to this fight.

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Dianna Gunn is a freelance writer by day and a fantasy author by night. Her debut YA fantasy novella, Keeper of the Dawn, is available now through The Book Smugglers Publishing. She also blogs about books, creativity and life.

You can find out more about her at:

The Dabbler

 

Do you remember your first car? I remember mine. It was an emerald green Mitsubishi Lancer, which I received as an 18th birthday present from my dad. I still carry the key with me! It served me well, right up until it got slammed between two cars as I was picking my little brother up from school (not my fault).

Owning a car, and also being able to drive one, is the sign of distinction and maturity in the eyes of teenagers everywhere. It’s what separates the kids from the adults, and the boys from the men.

Cars have done more than just help young guys look cool and pick up chicks. They’ve also had a great impact on population distribution and demographic placement. Cars have allowed our cities to grow in size. People no longer need to cram into over-crowded city centres and live in some inner city shoe box. Thanks to the automobile, people are now able to have that proverbial house with a picket fence and backyard. They are able to live outside of the crowded city and cover a longer journey to work.

Cars are also cultural icons, (I would own James Bond’s Aston Martin if I could own any car), status symbols, and an absolute necessity to many people. I can say for a fact I would be out of a job if I had no car.

[Read more…]

 

The idea of societies having a basic income has been gaining momentum for the past several years. Currently, there are several pilot projects of varying sizes going on around the world. Some of them in places you might not expect. Today, I’d like to walk you through some of the most interesting basic income pilots currently underway, and a couple that are still in the planning stages.

The Finland Basic Income Experiment

In December of 2016, Finland’s national government authorized a two year, basic income pilot project, giving benefits to 2,000 random people currently on unemployment benefits. The basic income is relatively small—€560, only €36 more than the standard benefits—but comes with no strings attached, allowing recipients to take short term contracts or part time work without losing their benefits.

There are some flaws with the program: the small sample size, short time period, and the portion of the population chosen. But it’s an excellent first step towards basic income, and researchers are already pushing for the population sample to be expanded.  You can learn more about the Finland experiment here.

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Amongst the various jobs readily available in Australia, fruit picking is marketed as one of the few industries in the world where you are truly rewarded for your hard work. Fruit pickers aren’t paid by the hour, but rather by the kilogram or the bucketful. It’s a situation where the harder one works, the more money they take home at the end of the week.

Likewise, lazy, freeloading coworkers are paid according to their (limited) contributions. This sounds like sweet, poetic justice to people like myself, who have constantly pulled more than their own in the workplace. Being rewarded for hard work, whilst watching your freeloading coworkers suffer for their laziness, has a sick, Machiavellian appeal to me.

Fruit picking is a nice career option for people who don’t mind hard work or the outdoors, and who would like to be paid according to their efforts. But like most things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. There is a not so sweet side to the fruit picking industry. A dark side that the world needs to know about.

[Read more…]