...So, Does Anyone Win This One?

The answer is: No. At this point in time, the way the carbon tax legislation looks, no one wins. Here's my take on why.

The Liberal Party lose this one on the mundane level of a piece of legislation they resisted passed, but they also lose it on bit of a personal level for me. Guys, please stop crowing about broken promises and the death of democracy, you're making no sense. The Labor Party pledged that there'd be no carbon tax under a Labor government, but we don't have a Labor government, we have a Labor-Greens coalition. The conditions which Labor put forward for there being no carbon tax were not met, no promises were broken. As for the whole "death of democracy" thing... didn't it pass on a majority vote? Oh, but it wasn't the citizens majority, regular people didn't get to vote... as they shouldn't have. You don't hold a massive, nationwide vote on every bill, it's not how representative government works. Stop playing to the general ignorance of people, Liberals. I know it's normally a legitimate political strategy, but in this case it's making you look bad. Er, worse.

Labor lose this one because the bill is a dud. It might offer some incentives to go green, but for the most part it's just gonna pass costs on to the consumer. I'm a consumer, so this pisses me off, but seriously, can we stop letting CEOs and massive corporations win? They don't need any help, they're doing great. They aren't "job creators" or however the Rand worshippers want to frame it, they don't need any more legs-up. Labor's reaction to their victory was pretty shameful, but hey, I don't expect class from a bunch of union heavies and their cronies, so that falls in the indifference pile.

Greens lose this one because they're showing just how much they fail as a left alternative. Any left-wing party worth its salt would have made the bill radically different, protecting consumers and making the incredibly rich big corporations wear it, but of course, in this centre-right government, that's a no-no. As an environmental party, Greens do fine, but for protecting socially liberal, economically left ideas and trying to bring a sense of rationality to an increasingly USA-esque government, they're just not cutting it.

Of course, it goes without saying that consumers lose this one, the costs get passed to them, but manufacturers lose this one too. There'll be layoffs, there'll be collapses and reshuffles, a few people with business degrees will be incredibly stressed, but they'll also be rich so screw them. I have no sympathy for guys like that, it's like when that Hayward wanker at BP kept crying and saying he just wanted his life to go back to normal... guess what, you can't pull that card. Not only are you a tremendously wealthy privileged white guy, you were also responsible for one of the worst environmental disasters of all time. You don't get to cry, or complain, or wish your life was normal again. Not until you fix your mess. And if you have to neglect your family, work yourself to ill health and never truly recover from it, that's exactly what you deserve.

In true middle class style, it's not gonna be so bad. Fuel is gonna be expensive as shit and our power bills are gonna look pretty tasty, but the creamy middle of society will survive. And that's really it, in the end, isn't it? We'll get by, life will continue to live in a quantum state of being awful and fantastic and we'll slowly get used to paying more for stuff. Ugh, if I was any more jaded I'd be a 'nam vet.