walrusbear said:
that's a fallacy
poverty doesn't exist because the lower classes 'don't work hard enough'
i never really said that that the union disadvantaged those without money... I was putting forward the idea that a universal system was fairer because it supports all.
All students are unskilled, they are all in more or less the same situation so far as earning capacity goes.
And you're right, there is more than that to it, there's also talent and qualifications, but in the end the person who contributes more to society can draw back the greatest benefit.
A universal system is not fairer, because, for example, one unskilled student with poor parents may decide to work 30 hours a week, while another in the same situation decides not to work at all. Are you meaning to tell me that we should expect the first to support the second, under a fair system?
erawamai said:
That simply shows that individual initiative that powers the perfect market is a fallacy ...since wealth and power are inherited and are not simply a result of individual traits and work ethic.
Yes but in Australia there are qualifications which are accessible to anyone who has the ability, and as such it should be a realtively fair playing field in spite of inherited differences.