On cars, I think this very modern ’safety’ approach, demanding obscene amounts of energy and resources to become licensed is at least partly a ruse of the environmentalist movement. The reduction of the amount of cars on the road has always been on the agenda. Naturally, that reduction was always going to be amongst the poor.

I’m not sure privatising roads is the go though, if only from the experience of rail gauges. I don’t particularly fancy passing six tolls when traveling from town to town, nor do I like the idea of trying to grasp a completely new set of road rules depending on where I go.

I remember a long time ago reading a study done in the states which found that car ownership is the easiest way to get people out of poverty. But our left-leaning governments do whatever they can to make life hard for you if you want a license or want to own a car. Taxes, tolls, crap roads, tunnels, it’s all geared to make it difficult for you.

Coming back to the poor and politics, in my opinion those who claim to care for the poor are often the exact opposite. Welfare is all well and good when you have nothing and want to be nothing more than a parasite. But in this country, when you start working harder than the parasite, you work extra hours, take a second or third job and bring in more money, you get penalized via higher taxation and reduced welfare.

I’m not on a high tax bracket but i have a second job, it really pisses me off when i have to pay extra in tax, i mean it’s not like my second job involves steal things and flogging them off, i work for it, but i get punished for working extra. It’s a disincentive for people like me to work extra.

Unfortunately many poor people do get on welfare and this could be just as detrimental as all the regulations. It creates disincentives for people to get work or change their lifestyle. I think the best example of this is in remote indigenous communities where there are frequently employment opportunities offered (by government, unfortunately, as there isn’t any potential for real jobs out there) but men will not take them because they have a guaranteed income from welfare which doesn’t involve lifting a finger. This leads to substance abuse from boredom and breakdown of families.

As for drivers licenses: I recently finished getting my license and it was incredibly frustrating how long it took: over 2 years due to difficulty finding time between studying and working. Luckily I had people willing to lie about driving with me to make the 50 hour requirement or else it would have taken much longer. The whole process cost me at least $1,500. My honest suggestion: find a corrupt driving instructor and bribe him - it’ll be cheaper and much less of a hassle.

By the way… imagine how different things would be if roads were privately owned. The owners would want potential customers using their service as quickly as possible so getting licensed would be quick and painless. But with the government monopoly on roads (and licensing) they have no incentive to provide people with mobility so I predict getting a license will continue to get harder and more expensive.