Latte Leftie 209

Now the fat times are over, it’s time for this mollycoddled nation to gulp down a large port glass of harden the freak up then make the tough calls.

Dear RR – I was wondering what your thoughts were on the absurd brouhaha that blew up when Toby Ralph, one of the Liberal’s most innovative thinkers, recently posted an article on the website of a right-wing think tank arguing the budget could be bought back into surplus by killing the poorest 20 per cent of the population.
Despite Mr Ralph pointing out that his brilliant plan would allow “homeless shelters in our better suburbs to be turned into agreeable gastropubs, cafes and wine bars… Think of the inner city investment opportunities” I found scant support for the Ralph proposal among bien pensant Inner Westies.
I for one would much rather see the Big Issue seller who accosts me on King Street humanely put down (or even, if that’s all the budget permits, brutally clubbed into oblivion) than live in the kind of unjust society where the enormous capital gain I stand to make some day on my tastefully renovated four bedder is taxed at confiscatory rates.
Alan, Annandale

RR replies: One of the undoubted delights of the Inner West is that foul-smelling, uncouth povo types have, bar the odd windscreen cleaner here and public housing Jezebel with 10 children to 15 different fathers there, long ago been priced out of it. This would be entirely to the good were it not for the fact it encourages a misguided soft-heartedness among those whose only knowledge of the untermenschen is derived from attending Ken Loach film festivals. Nonetheless, I think you can rest assured that even the greenest and reddest of your right-on neighbours will embrace the (under)class liquidation approach just as soon as they’re faced with having their health insurance rebate means tested or their $75K paid parental leave payout snatched away.