Unsurprisingly, readers haven’t taken kindly to the mates-rates scandal unfolding from Dutton’s au pair saga. As Bernard Keane wrote yesterday, that’s just business as usual. Crikey readers also had some things to say about the handling of Australia’s economic future, and particularly those handling it.

On the Coalition doing it for their mates

Bref writes: Only a few years ago Australian comedian Joe Hockey told us “the age of entitlement is over”. I didn’t realise then just how big that joke was.

Klewso writes: They’ll whine about how they’re all for us “battlers”, complain about “Labor looking after their union mates”, while pissing on us from their parapets (that we pay for) defending their corporate mates. Dutton is flat-foot with a plod mentality.

On Australians’ savings splurge

Draco Houston writes: Hmm, the RBA can’t appeal to the morals of business to improve the economy. If only there were some kind of other classes under the capitalist mode of production, who had an interest in macro economic conditions, and in the level of compensation for selling labour power. Perhaps labour? Anyway, labour could try forming some kind of mass movement where they use their position in the economy to win higher wages, conditions, maybe even push for policies in parliament. In fact, why not have a political party to go with the movement? A kind of “Australian Labor Party”, if you will. Does anything like this exist? Haven’t seen em around.

Patrick Brosnan writes: When confronted with the fact that savings are falling, Frydenberg said that this showed how people were so confident in the economy that they are spending their savings in anticipation of replenishing them from earnings. Has he not heard of marginal propensity to save and that it is higher amongst those with more money than they need? The man is no better than the fool who took over from.

zut alors writes: What happens when savings exhaust having been squirrelled away since the GFC in the manner of nuts for winter? Do Morrison and Frydenberg have a theory on that outcome? Perhaps Frydenberg could seek advice from his mentor Peter Costello (remember him, the Treasurer who flogged off two-thirds of the nation’s gold reserves).

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