131014 PUDI Report

Regular reports on the growing Poverty, Unemployment, Debt and Inequality of the neo-capitalist world

Australia:

“Women are significantly more likely to experience poverty than men, with 14.7% of women compared with 13% of all men experiencing poverty in 2011-12.”

“Compared with other age groups, children and older people face higher risks of poverty (17.7% and 14.8% respectively), reflecting the higher costs facing families with children and the fact that many older people receiving the Age Pension do not have sufficient additional income to place them above the poverty line.”

“Sole parents are at a particularly high risk of poverty, with a third (33%) of sole parents in poverty in 2012. As a consequence just over a third (36.8%) of all children in poverty were in sole parent households. This reflects the lower rates of employment among sole parent households, especially those with very young children, and low levels of social security payments for these families.”

“Poverty is higher amongst adults born in countries where the main language is not English (18.8%) than amongst those born overseas in an English speaking country (11.4%), or in Australia (11.6%).”

“The rate of poverty is higher amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (19.3%, compared with 12.4% of the total Australian population, based on based on 2011 HILDA data).”

“People with a disability face a significantly higher risk of poverty than the average. In 2009 this was 27.4% compared with 12.8% for the total population, and this does not take account of the additional costs relating to disability (for housing, transport and medical services) borne by many people with a disability.”

“The people most likely to be living in poverty are those who are unemployed (61.2%), or in a household that relies on social security as its main source of income (40.1%) and particularly on the Newstart Allowance (55.1%) or Youth Allowance (50.6%). This is largely explained by the fact that many social security payments fall below the poverty line, even with Rent Assistance and other supplementary payments added to household income.”

“For many social security payments, the maximum rate of payment (including Rent Assistance and Family Tax Benefit where applicable) was less than the poverty line, including the Newstart Allowance (which was $97 per week below the poverty line for a single person, and $118 per week for a couple with two children); Youth Allowance ($193 per week below the poverty line); Parenting Payment Single ($20 per week); and the Pension Payment ($26 per week for a single person and $36 below the poverty line for a couple with two children).”

“The indexation of social security payments such as the Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance and the Parenting Payment to CPI means that the payment does not increase as community living standards improve; and is likely to result in higher poverty rates over time than would be the case if payments were indexed to wages, as they are with the Age Pension.”

“Poverty increased between 2010 and 2012 (from 13% to 13.9%); and over the longer term from 2004 to 2012 (the best available data suggests an increase from 11.8% to 12.8%).”

Full Report:

http://www.acoss.org.au/images/uploads/ACOSS_Poverty_in_Australia_2014.pdf

Previous Report

Comments

Capitalism & Genocide - Yanis Varoufakis Speech at the Gaza Tribunal, 23rd October 2025, Istanbul

Yanis Varoufakis On 23rd October, Yanis Varoufakis testified in front of the Jury of Conscience in the context of the Gaza Tribunal. His speech focused on the economic forces underpinning the genocide of the Palestinian people. In particular, he spoke on the manner in which capitalist dynamics have historically fuelled the white settler colonial project and, more recently, how the accumulation of a new form of capital - which he calls cloud capital - has accelerated, deepened and amplified the economic forces powering and propelling the machinery of genocide.

F-35s & AI Chips: How MBS Outplayed Washington & Beijing

GVS Deep Dive Saudi Arabia just secured two of the most powerful assets in modern geopolitics: the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter and tens of thousands of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips. Washington hoped this would pull Riyadh firmly back into the American orbit. But the outcome is something neither side fully expected: Mohammad bin Salman outplayed both Washington and Beijing — and used the great-power rivalry to his advantage.

Trump RUINED: Israel First Lies & Economic Freefall Just ENDED MAGA

Danny Haiphong Tucker Carlson isn't the only journalist breaking with Trump. In this video, Patrick Henningsen goes scorched earth on Trump's massive betrayal of what he promised his "MAGA" base and blows the lid off how his massive lies serve as a cover up for a much bigger structural problem in America's 'Israel First' political system, what Tucker and major voices in elite MAGA won't tell you.

Varoufakis: IT technologies will overthrow Capitalism

globinfo freexchange The former Greek Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, ended his recent speech on the Future of Capitalism, at the New School, New York, with some interesting remarks. As he said: The world we live in, is increasingly rudderless, in a constant slow burning recession, while at the very same time, the increasing concentration in the IT sector is creating the new technologies that will do that which the Left has failed to do: overthrow Capitalism. It is really very simple. The moment machines pass the Turing test properly, and you pick up the phone and you do not know whether the person you are talking to is a human being or a machine ˙ the moment we are going to have 3D printers operating as public utilities - you can send any blueprint to it and it can print from one pin to a motorcycle, or to a car - the moment that this happens, we have not just a process of Schumpeterian creative destruction, but we have a process where economies of sc...

Mossad ‘in contact from very beginning’ with killers of Italian PM, reporter reveals

A roving reporter who covered Italy’s top politicians explains to The Grayzone how his country was reduced to a joint US-Israeli “aircraft carrier,” and raises troubling questions about an Israeli role in the killing of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. by Kit Klarenberg and Wyatt Reed Part 7 - Mossad continues Italian ops amid Gaza genocide Today, there is little trace of any pro-Arab tendencies in mainstream Italian politics. According to Salerno, the US and Israel no longer have any need to “destabilize Italy” as the country is economically “weak.” Rome’s government now is for all intents and purposes “a continuation, even an extension, of the old fascist regime,” he says, adding, “there are people in the government that have statues of Mussolini in their houses.” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made clear she harbors little sympathy for the Palestinians, and little intention of recognizing a Palestinian state – even after it was revealed in November 2024 the Mossad ha...

Racing Extinction

suggested by failedevolution.blogspot 18th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Scientists predict that humanity’s footprint on the planet may cause the loss of 50% of all species by the end of the century. They believe we have entered the sixth major extinction in Earth’s history, following the fifth great extinction which took out the dinosaurs. Our era is called the Anthropocene, or “Age of Man,” because evidence shows that humanity has sparked a cataclysmic change of the world’s natural environment and animal life. Yet, we are the only ones who can stop the change we have created. The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), the group behind the Academy Award-winning film The Cove, is back with a new groundbreaking documentary. Joined by new innovators, this highly charged, impassioned collective of activists brings a voice to the thousands of species teetering on the very edge of life. The director has crafted an ambitious mission to clearly and artfu...

Neoliberal establishment will attempt to take control of the evangelical electoral army using its most powerful asset for such an operation: Joe Biden

globinfo freexchange Here is another strong indication about the theory we support, according to which Trump, Brexit and other far-right governments in power, are primarily the product of a merciless civil war of the big capital. Politico 's article subtitle tells you almost everything you need to know: The president’s supporters worry Biden can grab a larger slice of a critical voting bloc — when Trump can least afford departures from his base. Let's take a look at some interesting parts [most important highlighted]: It was June 10, 2008. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama had gathered with dozens of evangelical leaders — many of them fixtures of the religious right — at the urging of campaign aides. If he could offer genuine glimpses of his own abiding faith, they insisted he could chisel away at the conservative Christian voting bloc. The strategy worked. Obama’s campaign stops at churches, sermon-like speeches and hi...

Maduro's opening to China

“ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said he hopes Venezuela will use bilateral financing mechanisms and channel more funds to the areas of energy, mining, agriculture and industry while meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.” “ Financing mechanisms between the two countries total more than 50 billion U.S. dollars, according to Venezuelan experts. Financing mechanisms, including the China-Venezuela Fund, have provided financial support for some 256 projects. China and Venezuela upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Xi's visit to Venezuela in 2014, opening a new chapter in bilateral ties.” “ During their meeting, Xi called on the two sides to push bilateral ties to a higher-level. China supports Venezuela's efforts in restructuring its economy and establishing a manufacturing economic model, he said. Xi suggested the two countries push forward cooperation in the fields of oil exploration, infrastru...

South American Pink Tide nations should unite to face US imperialism

by system failure In one thing Donald Trump and his liberal rivals are united: to keep the US imperialist project alive. No matter how much angry they are with him, the liberal clowns (and their corporate media) fully align behind the orange clown under the roof of the US imperialist circus. After supporting ridiculously that Venezuela is a key drug cartel hub to justify a possible invasion, the orange clown suddenly remembered that Colombia "is making cocaine". For decades, the Colombian cartel under right-wing US-puppet governments, collaborated with CIA in drug trafficking. Yet, now, "coincidentally" under a Leftist government who actually tries to deal with the problem of drug trafficking, Trump discovered the Colombian cocaine. Of course, even a ten-year old kid knows today that the US aggression against Latin America countries, has nothing to do with drugs, or defending Democracy and human rights. It has to do with the resources and the fact that Russia a...

A response to misinformation on Nicaragua: it was a coup, not a ‘massacre’

There is so much misinformation in mainstream corporate media about recent events in Nicaragua that it is a pity that Mary Ellsberg’s article for Pulse has added to it with a seemingly leftish critique. Ellsberg claims that recent articles, including from this website, often “ paint a picture of the crisis in Nicaragua that is dangerously misleading. ” Unfortunately, her own article does just that. It looks at the situation entirely from the perspective of those opposing Daniel Ortega’s government while whitewashing their malevolent behavior and downplaying the levels of US support they have relied on. Her piece is an incomplete depiction of what is happening on the ground, ignoring many salient facts that have come to light and which have been outdated by recent events. The following is a brief response to Ellsberg’s main points from someone who lives in Nicaragua and has observed the situation directly and intimately: https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/15/a-res...

the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens

Search This Blog