Politics is a dirty word

A Chinese strike group including its flagship aircraft carrier Liaoning has entered the South China Sea, ready to confront opposing navies, It's not a good time for the US's latest destroyer to be out of action, but the USS Zumwalt is undergoing urgent maintenance after a series of equipment failures. The US is reported to have a carrier strike group from its 3rd Fleet ready to engage the Chinese, and it expects allies to support its aggression. South Korea will likely deploy the Terminal High Altitude Air Defence system installed by the US. It isn't known if America has asked for Australia to send in ships. On past behaviour, if the US President asks, our Government will put ships and troops at risk - probably including the $1.5 billion HMAS Canberra Amphibious Assault Ship, a couple of frigates and a Collins Class submarine.

Russia and the United States are the two biggest dealers in the more than $100 billion a year world arms trade. Thermobaric missiles, grenades and bombs are routinely sold to anyone with the money to buy them. More than 7000 hellfire missiles with thermobaric warheads were sold this year. They were bought by countries including Iraq, France, Italy, the UK and Australia Is it any wonder that the world is in turmoil and that terrorists find it easy to obtain weapons? Each missile costs from$110,000 but bulk discounts are offered.The troubled Lockheed Martin group is one of hellfire's main manufacturers. China is offering a 250KG thermobaric bomb to all comers. It has been bought by many Asian countries, and may have gone further afield. India has been developing and deploying its own thermobaric anti-tank weapons and Indonesia has also manufactured thermobaric grenades.

America's problems with selling the Lockheed Martin F35 stealth fighter plane has opened the door for world wide sales of Russian and Chinese aircraft. The Chinese J31 jet is reportedly being considered by Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria. Iraqi fighter pilots are said to be undergoing training in Pakistan which is interested in building the J31 in a project funded by the Saudis.

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.

The continued squawking about Australia becomming a republic demonstrates that our politicians are still out of touch with the community. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull still hasn't got his head around the message his government was given at the last election. The coalition only just squeaked back into government with a one seat majority because of disillusionment with government performance. Unfettered spending was one of the problems, but now he is talking of holding a plebiscite about how to elect a President and then a referendum on Australia becoming a republic. Well, the public wants neither a plebiscite nor a referendum. We don't see how this country will benefit – will it cut the waste of taxpayers dollars? No. Will it be more democratic? No. So why spend more money? We are already the 51st de facto state of the United States as for decades our governments have always done everything requested of them by the American President. Please Mr Turnbull, stop spending our m...

It's no wonder that economies around the world are in trouble – because how can they grow when money is worthless? Record low interest rates demonstrate the collapse in the value of cash. India and Venezuela are the latest countries to experience the pain but many more will follow. The problem can be traced back to 1931 when Britain abandoned the gold standard. Up to that point the pound sterling was backed by gold. In 1933 US President Franklin Rooseveldt nationalised privately held gold and finally President Richard Nixon totally abandoned the gold standard for the dollar in 1971. Since then currencies have basically been worthless – simply pieces of paper with no intrinsic value. While financial institutions paid reasonable levels of interest on money invested, problems were held at bay, but once official and unofficial interest rates dropped virtually to zero, the current turmoil was inevitable. Thank you politicians and economists! Economics has never really recovered from the...

Politicians are the curse of humanity – they are responsible for wars and destruction across the globe. The current Middle East catastrophe is a good example. Western countries stamped in to interfere just because they had the power to do so – without any thought for long term consequences. The Middle east and many African countries were created by western politicians drawing lines on maps without any regard for ethnic or tribal realities. Politicians in the United States, Britain, France and Australia support terrorist groups and are keen arms traders when it suits them but pretend they support democratic processes.Wars are now seen as an opportunity to stimulate economic growth by developing, testing and selling new weapons.There are clear limits to growth, even though some don't want to know. They would rather close their eyes, put their fingers in their ears and cope with the crash when it happens.