May 09
23
Taxation, Parking fines, Guillotines and P2P.
The world is shrinking. The tyranny of distance has all but
disappeared.
And, as the world shrinks, the population becomes denser yet
decidedly more insular.
Not surprisingly, they have learnt that it costs money to
breathe fresh air (Tokyo Oxygen shops), drive anywhere (road tolls), go to the
beach (parking).
Every time they turn around there is a new legislative
financial restriction on their growth, expansion, survival and; constant
bombardment of 30 second and 60 second sponsor messages. My personal favourite
of the bad taste adds of yesteryear……. Lemon Fab.
But some advertisers are quick to learn and started to inform,
amuse and buy eyeballs.
The most successful of this genre first popped up on the
internet around 2002 distributed by email between millions of people. The
famous Karate Bear
brought to us by John West.
Seconded by makers of fine beer, Boag who make beer from the pure
waters of Tasmania
In fact, the add campaign was so successful, that even Guinness copied it.
In fact it is this genre of humorous adverts that had a lot
to do with the spawning of the entire short sharp
lifestyle/political/emotional/financial commentaries on YouTube.
Carefully couched and well presented, an entire War and
Peace can be condensed into sixty seconds. Which is about the attention span of today’s
Generation.
The days where you could sell a set of steak knives by
simply saying, “But send no money, we’ll bill you” are long over.
How then can
today’s advertisers engage commercially with today’s youth?
Story telling has been an age old tradition with stories and
tales handed down from father to son and mother to daughter through the generations
since the beginning of sentient man.
Our media devices of today are the cuneiform and cave paintings of
yesteryear.
Yet it is highly unlikely that the advert for the latest BMW
Z5 will survive 25,000 years as have the advertisements for hunting proficiency
from a hunting expedition depicted in ochre cave paintings on the ledges of
Obiri Rock in the Northern Territory.
Why is that?
It used to be in the eighties that you could drive up to the
base of Obiri Rock and go walkabout. Admire the natural air-conditioning, the
curiously painted Barramundi, Wallaby and the bezeled corn grinding basins, ground
deep from thousands of years of hand pummeling maize.
Now even the local Aboriginal traditional owners have bowed
to the mighty dollar.
Non tour-bus vehicular tourist access is limited to after 2:00 pm.
And then one has to walk over a kilometer from the distant
car park.
All to view some Dulux gloss paint representations of the
original cave paintings that have been destroyed by restoration “experts” that
had more of a liking for money than actually knowing or understanding the
methodology that their ancestors used to original depict their hunting stories.
I fortunately saw Obirri rock before it was shamelessly
desecrated and turned into a tourist driven money drip.
Drip, as in, not a flow; due no doubt to the word of mouth
advertising that used to be out there about the wonderful original artwork, is
most probably no longer quite so fervent in its retelling of the wonders.
As we commercialise everything in our lives through over regulation
and opportunitistic legislative predatory pricing, it is no wonder that the
revolutionary fervour is slowly rising amongst the people of all the lands.
In 2002 the OECD published a report, Working
Together Towards Sustainable Development
The report assesses the contribution made by OECD countries,
both at home and internationally, and brings together the main lessons learned
through the Organisation's extensive work on sustainable development.
Somewhere along the road in the last decade – we have lost
the plot.
There is a saying; when you deny people their leisure, their
travel, and their right to earn an honest days pay for an honest days work, it
is only the lucky dictator of such a regime that escapes unceremonial
de-throning.
The world has become so over priced, that it makes no
difference if you earn 40,000 per year or 60,000 per year. You still can’t afford to park your car in the
city at $37.00 per hour.
If we add up the Governments various revenues from:
Speed camera zones where the road changes from 70 kilometres
per hour to 60 kph for 100 metres either side of the speed camera.
Street Parking in the Suburbs (with revenue up by 700 per cent in some areas.)
Parking fines for suburbanites dropping off their loved ones
at the train station; where the local council have deliberately marked a three
hundred metre long strip as a no stopping zone with parking cops waiting every
morning to swoop.
And don’t forget the GST on each and every fine….
And other similar Government methods of harvesting
the sheep.
Want to rake up those autumn leaves and burn them in the
backyard? Get a permit.
Want to put a new pathway to the letter box? Get a permit.
Want to run a business from home? Get a permit.
Want to own more than two dogs? Get a permit.
Want to catch a fish? Get a permit. (Unless
you’re lucky enough to live in SA)
Want to trim the branches of that large tree threatening to
destroy the garage? Get a permit.
Want to install a swimming pool? Get a permit.
Satellite dish to watch TV? Get a permit.
Advertising Sign on Your Shop (like Sale!!!!).
Get a permit.
Park in the Street outside your house? Get a permit.
Camp on the Beach? Get a permit.
Catch a Frog and take it home? Get a permit
Taking a
souveneir from an undersea shipwreck? Get
a permit.
4 Wheel Driving on the Beach? Get a permit.
Take a 4 wheel Drive into Mt.
Buller? Get a Permit.
+GST
Then we find that the average Australian is now being taxed
by his Federal, State and Local Governments at approximately 64% of his salary.
So naturally, the over-taxed, over-regulated youth of today
need some way of equalizing the balance. Sticking it to the man; balancing the
scales.
What else can today’s youth do that isn’t taxed, fined, or
permitted beyond the ability of most to be able to afford?
Movies, Music and Games from the Internet – the last
frontier that until now hasn’t been taxed, filtered, fined or censored by your
Government..
I really don’t understand why Governments are trying to stop
this last bastion of free escape from existing. It may be one of last elements preventing
today’s youth from researching “How to build a Guillotine for less than $19.95”.
You my dear reader have a choice.
Continue to allow our politicians to over-regulate, over-tax,
overly censor and pass legislation that criminalizes the young or get free.
Speak-up now. Don’t be a sheep.
Vote No Internet Censorship.
Vote No three strikes policy.
Vote No Internet Filter.
And most important of the lot, send your Senator, Member or congressman
an email of how you feel.