Where has all the Money Gone?

All the talk about debt and deficit in the Australian economy and the Government's rationale for cutting back pension entitlements and health services ignores the fact that successive Australian Governments have collected taxation revenues totalling trillions of dollars in the past 25 years. Income taxes paid over a lifetime in the workforce were supposed to ensure ongoing services, including education, good healthcare and a dignified retirement for those who contributed. Revenue from mining taxes and royalties added to the funding base for Australia's future. So what have the politicians and bureaucrats done with all that money? Why is the community now told that we have to endure cutbacks when our politicians and senior bureaucrats live the high life on money plundered from the system.