Poor People: Stop moaning, drinking, smoking, socializing. WORK, DAMMIT!

[Syt]

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/rineharts-welfare-comments-an-insult-to-millions-treasurer-20120830-251u5.html#ixzz257K6pSGB

Treasurer Wayne Swan has slammed mining magnate Gina Rinehart for insulting Australian workers after she accused people of being jealous of the wealthy.
Mrs Rinehart, Australia's richest person, says those who are jealous of the wealthy should start working harder and cut down on drinking, smoking and socialising.
In her regular column in Australian Resources and Investment magazine, she wrote it was billionaires like herself who were doing more than anyone to help the poor by investing their money and creating jobs.

"There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," Mrs Rinehart wrote.

"If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking or smoking and socialising, and more time working.

"Become one of those people who work hard, invest and build, and at the same time create employment and opportunities for others."

"Tony Abbott is Gina's knight in shining armour when it comes to fighting for tax cuts for her and Clive Palmer" ... Treasurer Wayne Swan. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
She also suggested the government should lower the minimum wage of $606.40 a week and cut taxes to stimulate employment.

But Mr Swan said the comments were "an insult to the millions of Australian workers who go to work and slog it out to feed the kids and pay the bills".

"The big question is whether [Opposition Leader] Tony Abbott will endorse Gina Rinehart's social policies as he's endorsed her tax, industrial relations and environmental policies," the Treasurer said in a statement.

"Tony Abbott is Gina's knight in shining armour when it comes to fighting for tax cuts for her and Clive Palmer."

Mr Swan added: "The question for Tony Abbott today is does he agree with Gina Rinehart that Aussies are lazy workers who drink and socialise too much?
"Will he do her bidding and slash the minimum wage as Gina wants him to?"

Mr Abbott has yet to respond.

But Australian Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt has joined a chorus of criticism of Ms Rinehart for insulting workers.

Mr Bandt said he was continually amazed at people like Ms Rinehart, who did not see the mining boom as belonging to everyone. "They want to take all of the benefits for themselves and distribute none of it to the rest of the country," he told journalists. "A lot of people work very hard and work a lot harder than Gina Rinehart does and take home less each week than her."

Earlier today, federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said Ms Rinehart was out of line attacking those on the lowest wages. "I think it's pretty easy for Gina Rinehart to say that people on the minimum wage should get paid less," she told the Seven network today. "I think she should try living on the minimum wage."

Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, told Seven she respected success but Ms Rinehart was not self-made. "She's accumulated wealth from her family." Senator Rhiannon said workers were out there creating the wealth.

Building union chief Tony Maher said Mrs Rinehart's comments showed why Australia's mining billionaires should not lead Australia's economic debate.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union national president said in a statement today that Mrs Rinehart's comments revealed her "twisted logic". "At the same time as trying to import cheap foreign labour and avoid paying tax, Rinehart claims it's millionaires and billionaires who are the greatest for social good. What planet is she living on?"

Mr Maher said Mrs Rinehart was born into a mining fortune and once you had such a fortune it was not hard to build on it, especially in an era of record prices for Australian resources. Mrs Rinehart should not employ foreign workers if she genuinely wants Australians to be richer, north Queensland MP Bob Katter said.

Mr Katter said Ms Rinehart would be more believable if she did not want to import foreign workers for coalmines in Queensland's Galilee Basin. "So thank you for your advice, Gina, but this demonstrates the most burning question before the Australian people today," he said. "Are we going to give the 200,000 jobs that are coming with the coal expansion in the Galilee Basin ... and in iron ore to foreign workers as Gina Rinehart wants?

"Bringing in the foreign workers is not about her being unable to get Australians to do those jobs, it's about cutting back pays."

[Josquius]

Always pisses me off when you get the rich moaning about the poor not working hard enough.
Sure, there are some lazy poor people, but there are also a lot of poor people who work harder than anyone else. Being poor is hard work.
Yet with the way our system is set up people in power from poorer backgrounds are becoming a thing of the past, I fear we'll see more of this nonsense in the future, particularly as work dies out.

[Phillip V]

It's still good advice. Stop crying about being offended.

[dps]

It's still good advice. Stop crying about being offended.

Especially the part about stopping smoking and drinking.  Shit, I know people on some form of public assistance who spend more on cigarettes than I spend of food.

[Camerus]

Due to its tuition, most students at my school are quite well off, and move in well-to-do circles via their friends and parents.  Last year, we did a fund raising initiative for a charity that helps the poor... During the drive, one of the grade 9's (a reasonably good student) asked, "why do poor people need so much money?"   

[Richard Hakluyt]

Pretty good minimum wage that...........£395 a week.

She's right btw; starting out poor is not great but getting chippy and defeatist about it compounds the problem.........and I speak as a member of the lazy community 

[Martinus]

I would have said there had already been a woman in the past who told the poor to eat cake, but this fat pig has probably eaten all the cake already.

[Richard Hakluyt]

And the pies.

[Eddie Teach]

I would have said there had already been a woman in the past who told the poor to eat cake, but this fat pig has probably eaten all the cake already.

Who was it? Leona Helmsley?

[dps]

I would have said there had already been a woman in the past who told the poor to eat cake, but this fat pig has probably eaten all the cake already.

Whereas your attitude in the past to the poor (at least on-line) has been, more-or-less, "let them eat shit".

[Warspite]

Sanctimonious rich people really bore me.

[Darth Wagtaros]

She should employ more poor people. That would make less of them.

[Phillip V]

She should employ more poor people. That would make less of them.

She cannot employ them since they are too busy drinking, smoking and socialising!

[Neil]

Poor people ARE jealous of the wealthy though, but it's not like they can work themselves to wealth.

[Ed Anger]

Do like I did poor people, get horribly injured at work.