FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS - THE POVERTY OF ASPIRATION

The Unemployed Peoples Embassy is declaring war on rapacious credit card companies, that are trapping the jobless (including casual, low waged, financially sruggling students and pensioners) in debt with high interest rates. This move has been partly inspired by Channel 7's Today Tonight's story of 14 May - where it is claimed that someone in credit card can negotiate a low "transfer" rate on their existing credit card (see their website for the story).

The Gillard government failed to legislate to ease the financial pressure on low income people who have been trapped in unmanageable credit card debt for years. They may have used credit thrown at them by the greedy banks etc to try and keep their car going so they can get to colleges for education and for casual/part time work. Both majot parties have only been interested in lowering the interest rates of middle class mortgage holding swinging voters.

Most new jobs in the major cities, like in Sydney, are casual and un-unionised - which young people and the over 55 males, are being forced to accept. Such underemployed and unemployed people cannot get lower interest loans from banks, so they have to resort to getting high interest credit from xredit card providers. If they can't get much or any work, they can end up being trapped into struggling to just pay the "minimum" monthly repayment - which includes a large proportion of full interest repayment. Their "hardship" provisions only mean paying part of the monthly interest rate alone.

The Embassy has in the past fought the very low income limit on the dole, the fake offer of  jobs in the government run Commonwealth Employment Services's "work test" (see our expose book of the same name) and expose of corruption in privatised Job Network (www.oocities.com/unemployedembassy). We are demanfing that not only that credit card interest rates are lowered, but that "hardship" provisions on credit cards (involving cancelling of credit cards) include substantial lowering of repatment interest rates - at least while the "customer" has only Centrelink income or very low wages - to repay with.

Our aim will be to embarrass the credit card companies and inform their victims of their rights. It will of course be not physically confrontational - from our side at least. We will not use the generalist perspective or strategies of the so-called Occupy campain in Australia. We are fighting to force a future Labor/Greens "Labor" government to save our most vulnerable citizens from financial ruin. If the ALP refuses to ensure we can all have full time work  - at least they can get the big financial rapists off out backs. Our contacts are in the Sydney White and Yellow directories - or you could email us through our Odd Job Centre website - www.unemployedembassy.magix.net before it lost its formating. Try ODD_JOB_CENTRE@HOTMAIL>COM until we sort it out.

Now in May 2014, we are getting close to getting some justice for a jobless person who has been trapped for years in credit cards debt - only being able to pay "minimum" monthly amounts on them. He is getting assistance in getting the interest charges waivered through "maladministration" provisions in the law. We will gibe some details whenm this is achaived. The State and Federal governments should make such fightback actions against rapacious credit card companies - easier to obtain. In this case - it all came from a jobless man trying to keep an old car going (with costly repairs) - i norder to do staties and try and get a job (a car often a prerequisite to getting one).

TONY'S MIDDLE CLASS WELFARE

TONY ABBORT'S COALITION STANDS UP FOR "POOR" FAMILIES EARNING OVER $3000 A WEEK.!

$150.000 income per year for a family is "not rich", according to Tony in his Budget 2012 reply speech. He also affirmed his policy to increase taxes of "big business" to give high income parents six months parenting leave on full pay. He seems to be promoting middle class resentment about Gillard's school kids bonus being means tested. Afterall, the New Poor with their big mortgages, private school fees and overseas holidays - pay their taxes, or as little of them as possible (except, of course for the billionaire miners who pay none at all). It was an academic speaker at Sydney's Politics In The Pub, some years ago - who summed up the  middle class welfare cult of entitlement, when he said something like:

We don't mind the government giving handouts to the poor, as long as we get it too - since we're paying the taxes

At least the rich can afford to "blow on the pockies", the obscene hundreds of dollars involved in the bi annual bonuses. No doubt he will cancel any further annual bonus of $210 to jobless and students. Even Gillard won't increase the dole to pension levels, or even increase the income limit to Austudy or pension heights (as encouraging casual and part time work among the jobless only discourages then from accepting full time work - you see). Gillard now claims that the jobless can now be reduced to 0%, now its officially under the magic 5% level - ignoring the fact that the jobs increase is mostly part time plus people giving up looking for work.

Tony now is taking full credit for the corrupt "Job Network", the so-called employment services system he says he founded - as minister in the Howard government (though it was the Keating Govt that started it off - as it privatised everything except Telecom). Rebadged as "Employment Services Australia", Gillard won't pursue with criminal charges, the big religious charities (Catholic church, Salvos etc) dominating the privatised system - who have been caught ripping off taxpayers money with fake job subsidies. Tony of course, will only go after corrupt union officials. Meanwhile Centrelink's Brisbane based hit squad is going after jobless struggling to pay impossibly high city rents, by doing arduous casual work (that only reduces their dole) and middle aged males with disabilities, trying to survive full time TAFE courses, run by its young students (who gang up on oldies - who they don't want in "their" classes).