The Federal Government’s bail-out package appears to be poorly designed. As the chart below from @13foot7 shows, employers receive more money from government for their more highly paid workers.
#SME Bus & #NFP mth benefit for retaining 1 extra employee depends on e/ee’s salary:
Ann. Salary Mth benefit
$10k. $0
$15k. $0
$20k. $24
$25k. $130
$30k. $234
$35k. $321#ausecon #ausbiz #auspol pic.twitter.com/oOHqLuWQZA— 13foot7 (@13foot7) March 23, 2020
For a worker on $15,000 a year or less, no assistance is given. For a worker on more than $50,000, the employer picks up a monthly benefit of $800. The package may be deliberately designed this way but it mitigates against the poorer employees.
As reported here already, the QE package (creating new money in the economy via Quantitative Easing) entails the government divesting its responsibility to hand out money to the banks. The banks are then expected, with this new money, to hand it out to small business. The big challenge for small business however – especially with lockdown – is finding any customers at all. A loan would be furthest from the minds of most employers.
Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker.