Lets Stimulate a few more Bogans

It will come as no surprise to learn that I am against big government - I am also against incompetent government. But when the choice is between big and incompetent I will usually favour going with big.

What I am saying is that incompetent government is much more of a threat to our society than is big government. As a result, I usually take the view that our Federal Government is less of a threat than our various State Governments - with provisos.

I will let you work out which of the Federal and State Governments is big and which is incompetent. The worst possible scenario is to end up with a big AND incompetent government.

Now having said all of that, I am surprised to see that the Federal Government’s stimulus push and $43 billion cash splash is almost exclusively directed toward Australia’s manual, administrative and retail workers.

The whole gig seems to have few targets. The building industry and the car industry are the obvious ones - and are the recipients of the bulk of the money.

And maybe that can be justified on the basis that they employ quite a few Australians - and will keep Gerry Harvey and dozens of CEO’s happily sipping Moet as they spend away.

As I have reported earlier, if you happen to work in these industries then you will probably be asking "what crisis" - as you throw back another VB while watching the footy on the new plasma screen in the lounge room of your McMansion. Or head for a short break in Bali or Fiji.

But surely, some substantial part of the stimulus should have been directed toward the *smart future* industries - the ones that are built by science and maths and technology and that rely on using our brains instead of our brawn.

Those of us who work in such industries are a bit miffed that science has been ignored yet again - its a little bit depressing to know that our Federal Government often talks about education and science but puts our money in the industries that rely on muscle power.

The unspoken message is that brickies and chippies and electricians and plumbers and real estate and car salesmen and other semi skilled people are valued ahead of scientists and mathematicians. Is that really the message that we want to send to our kids?

Perhaps it is but I sincerely hope not.