Where are we heading now

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Where are we heading now
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The Sun is our friend, because it sends its energy to earth for every living thing to live and enjoy their lives. But sometimes it is just too hot for us, like it is happening just now in this article, we have written here under.

Because of the extreme hot weather, that in some places has reached 47 degrees, there are lots of fire burning, so far, because people were aware of the danger, there is no loss of life, however, some properties and a small town have burned down.

They say there is some damage in the structure of the Dam spillway, and other problems with the overflow, the Dam could collapse. So an evacuation downstream has been ordered, for about 200,000 people.

Where are, we heading?

Today, when we look at what is happening around us, we see that there are so many problems in the world, that we cannot help asking ourselves whether we are going to be able to cope with them. This may sound alarming to some of you, and wish that I did not say anything about them, because they sound bad news and bad news bring anxiety and discomfort. But to be on the safer side, I believe that it is better to know what is happening around us, than to ignore it, because, then we can do whatever is possible to do to minimize any danger, which these problems may bring with them. You see, most times if we ignore them, then we might be sorry later, if one day we suffer the consequence. So, it would be wiser to know, where we are heading, and what we can do to save ourselves the troubles that might be coming our way.    

So, you may ask, what has prompt me to start this alarming article now. I am going to tell you that I was already thinking about some of these issues, because they are all issues that we are exposed every day of our lives. Anyhow, today while I was watching the news, they started to tell us about this fire warning in NSW Australia. What is worrying me most is the fact, that the fire authorities already admit that tomorrow the fire danger will be catastrophic, which is the highest warning, that can be issued. They are warning the people of these regions to leave, while they can, like tonight or early in the morning, because they cannot guaranty their safety. The hot temperature of tomorrow that will be over 40 degrees in these zones of NSW will make it very hard for the fire fighter to control the fires, so they are warning the people about these dangers, at the same time their warnings seem endless, since they pop back again and again to issue these warnings, which means that they want the people to understand this danger, that they would be facing tomorrow.

So, tomorrow would be the most dangerous day on record for NSW for fires, because of the extreme heat and the state of the drying vegetation that can burn easily, we can only hope and pray God that there is no loss of life, in these dangerous circumstances. So, we hope that those people affected make the right choice.  I should say here that I would be terrified if I had to choose what to do, if I was living in these regions of NSW that are going to be affected so badly, by the heat and fires. Anyhow, I don’t live in those regions of NSW, because I live in Brisbane, but even here it is going to be a scorcher, as the weather forecast says that it is going to be 39 degrees, and that is hot enough for anybody. So, people are worried and on edge, my wife is complaining to me already, because she hates hot weather. 

What is worrying me also, it is the fact that these extreme heat waves that are lasting a long time these days, may be due to global warming, which most authorities agree that we are causing them, because we are using too much fossil fuel. Just to show you how the Weather Bureau has reported this heat wave that is coming in the other day, let me quote and paste the following: 

 (Pity the poor souls who live in Bourke, Birdsville and Moomba.
These rural towns are all about to endure four days above 40 degrees. Birdsville and Moomba will suffer through three days above 45.
This summer's most extensive, and brutal, heatwave is building over central and eastern Australia.
Inland parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and northern Victoria are set to swelter through at least four days of extreme heat, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Meteorologist Andrea Pearce said "pools" of hot air had been hovering over the centre of Australia, leading to the build-up of heat.)
end of quote.

Anyhow, here above we have talked about the extreme heat temperature, which is affecting part of Australia right now, and the fire dangers that they are causing. But I believe that this is not all, because today the weather seems to be different from what it is supposed to be like, so, after we finish reporting about the heat wave and the fire, we are going to talk about the excessive cold weather, the rain floods and other things, because we believe that they come from the same cause, which is causing changes in the weather temperature.

 Extreme heat and freezing temperature

Dear readers, at the beginning of this article, we have talked about the extreme hot weather temperature that has increased the fire danger, and now there are several fires burning in NSW Australia, but there is more to say about these extreme weather changes. So, here under we are going to talk about the opposite, we are going to talk about the cold weather.

You see, it seems to me that everywhere we go we find this problem about the extreme weather temperature these days, it may be the extreme heat, it may be the extreme cold, it may be the excessive rainfall and flooding, it may be the snowing for days and the extreme cold, these things are affecting most of us in many ways. Sometimes unfortunately this may involve also loss of life. Here I am sorry to say that, one of these sorry events has happened last month in central Italy, when this avalanche destroyed this Hotel Rigopiano, and killed 29 people, we have written about this in our hub, The Italian homeless, where we were also talking about the homeless that were affected from the extreme cold weather temperatures, and the earthquake.  

Anyhow, since we are talking about the extreme weather here, I would like to point out that, also in Italy they have classed these huge amounts of snow and cold weather as very extreme and rare. They were so extreme that the authorities have not been able to cope properly with it, even though over there they are ready to handle the snow and cold weather, but this time it was just too much of it. And it was made worse because of the earthquakes, that have devastated this region. 

Of course, over there is also the earthquake victims that need looking after, and many other things that the earthquake has destroyed, this includes also roads that cannot be used in a normal way, especially if you cannot see the surface properly under the snow, as there could be large cracks in the road surface, or rocks that have fallen and block the road, so, those people that are living over there are in all sorts of troubles, and the weather is making it worse. These unfortunate people that have lost their houses in the earthquake, now they are living in makeshift accommodations, so, they must be feeling very bad, since they are like emigrant in their own native land. The authorities are doing what they can, but it looks like that it will take a long time before things are back to normal for them. So, every day of their lives, they must be thinking and asking themselves, where are we heading now. Some of them may even ask themselves, why all these things are happening? Whose fault, is it? And if anything could be done? Some people may have some strange views, that might be worth mentioning here before we finish.

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Dangerous situation in USA.

In this article, we have talked about the heat wave in Australia, the cold weather in central Italy, now we are going to talk about the excessive rainfall in Northern California that are endangering Oroville Dam. Hereunder I am pasting some of the report, as reported in the Google News, and I quote;      

(Oroville Dam Could Fail, Experts Fear; 200,000 Ordered to Evacuate 2:20

Mandatory evacuations remained in effect Monday afternoon for nearly 190,000 people in Northern California after a spillway serving the country's tallest dam developed a hole that threatened to release uncontrolled floodwaters, officials said.

The emergency spillway off the Oroville Dam was the second to fail in a matter of days, after the dam's primary spillway developed a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole last week.

Officials and contractors were working feverishly to get as much water out of Lake Oroville as possible by Thursday, when another round of storms is expected to sweep across the area.)

End of quote.

We hope and pray that they can save the dam, and there is no loss of life.

Anyhow, I cannot help thinking that the situation in Northern California, is very much alike the situation that we had in Brisbane Australia a few years ago, which I have written in this hub about it, Playing the game, who is to blame, where after what happened, as usual people will try blaming somebody that happened to be in charge. It is hard for everybody involved, when we try to blame somebody, because that somebody could not have known, what Mother Nature had in store for us. So, let us stop there, and instead of looking at who is to blame, let us look at some of the reasons, why these extreme weather events happen.

Some people believe that what has happened, in the three events that we have written above, the hot weather, the cold weather and the excessive rain, they are all caused from global warning, which we are very likely causing it, because we are using too much fossil fuel. Well if that is the only cause, we need to do something about it as soon as possible. 

But not everybody is convinced that this is the only cause. Because some religious people like to think that this is the beginning of the end of time, as written in the Bible Revelation, and many other religious theories. Some other people that are partly religious like my wife, they reckon that God is tired to see so much violence, like the terrorist blowing things up and killing people, and the Islamic State slathering innocent people, and these unwanted emigrations that is like invading another country without going to war.

So, God being tired of what people are doing, sets things rolling in a way that will destroy some of us, if not all on us. So, are we heading for self-destruction?

I believe that I have said enough in this article, so see you in our next article, where we are going to talk about the refugees and unwanted emigration.

See you soon.

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Genzano it story
Where are we heading now
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, refugees and unwanted emigration
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Cold weather and homeless

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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and this post, Cold weather and homeless
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Cold weather and the homeless

The people that live in these houses destroyed from the earthquake in Italy, now they have become homeless. So, while it is winter over there, they are having a very hard time. Here in this post, we want to talk about the problems they are having, because they don't have a home to live in, as well other people that have the same problems in the world.
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Cold weather and the homeless

Dear readers, this post, is going to be a long post, because we want to talk about a few thing that we are publishing. While this post is talking about mostly about what is happening in Italy, it should concern just about everybody, since the same problems seem to exist everywhere in the world, so, let us talk about it.

Talking about the weather

Cold weather and the homeless is something that don’t go well together. So, those that don’t have their own warm homes to live in, they hate the cold winter time, but this year in Italy seems that is going to be a very cold winter, so let us just think a bit about the homeless and their problems. I am talking about Italy and winter now, because of the following event: 

Today on Facebook, I have found so many photos from my Italian friends that show all that snow that has fallen over there, and how cold it is over there these days. They are having a very cold winter this year, while some of them don’t seem to mind it, because they have nice warm homes, so, they seem to enjoy the spectacle that the snow has brought with it, there are people that are adversely affected, so, they wish that is wasn’t so cold.

Anyhow, I had to tell my Facebook friends that while it was so cold over there, here in Brisbane is very hot indeed, today while I am writing this article, it is 34 degrees centigrade in the shade and it might even go up a bit more. So, it looks like that the weather this year the 2017 is going to be extreme, since what is happening is extreme, having said that, we are left wondering which one of these two weather extremes are worse for us.

Therefore, while I turn the fan on to keep cool, I start thinking what effects does this weather brings to us, and the difference that exist in the world, anyhow I end up thinking that after all the hot weather here in Australia, it is not as bad as the cold weather over there, because I hate the cold. And then, how bad it is for those people that don’t have a warm home to go to, and therefore, I start thinking about those poor people that have lost their house from the earthquake in Italy a few months ago, you see, it is only natural that they come up in my mind, because almost every time that I watch the Italian news, they talk about the little progress they have made rebuilding since the earthquake. Well they have had some good progress, but there is so much to do, so, by comparison the progress they have achieved is not that much.

We could say that the people that have suffered from the Italian earthquake are unlucky, not only they have lost their house from the earthquake, but this year is going to be very cold, which makes everything a lot worse. Therefore, I am feeling sorry for those people that are suffering so much, through no fault of their own. So, I wish I could do something for them, but I know I cannot. Anyhow, let us try to describe what we have seen on the news, about the situation over there today.

The homeless situation

Let us talk about the earthquake victims and the progress of rebuilding their homes. At the beginning the government had promised so much help, that one was led to believe that in a few months everything would have been normal. But it is not happening that way at all, because in a few days it will be five months that the initial earthquake struck, and as we have said in the news the progress is not very much. We know that the people affected have been given some temporary accommodation, right from the start and there is some improvement that goes on day to day the best way they can. But there are no mentions of real rebuilding being started, we guess it is a big job and it will take time to rebuild those damaged buildings.

Anyhow, when we hear the news, where the people start saying that they feel abandoned, we start believing that something could be wrong, so, we ask ourselves what could be the reasons. Well, we soon realize that in Italy there are more problems than the politicians can solve, especially now that they are not happy with the present government, so they want an election to be held soon, which might even happen if they work it out how to do it. So, this could be one of the reasons why there has not been enough progress rebuilding, at least this is what comes to our minds. 

But that is not all, because there are also the overseas refugees that make the accommodation problem worse, since they also would like to have some decent accommodations. Here I would like to point out, that since in Italy there are all these problems with the native people already, we wish that these refugees would not come, because there is no way to accommodate them in a decent way, but there is nobody able to tell them that, in a way that they understand the situation. So, they keep arriving in Italy uninvited, and worse still they pretend to be looked after from the Italian government, when they have not contributed anything to it.

We hope that somehow, the Italian government will be able to cope with these homeless problems. But above all we hope that they can solve the accommodations for those Italian that have lost their house from the earthquake first.

In my view, it the overseas refugees are left behind, they might learn something that they refuse to admit. In a way by running away from their own country to Italy, because they are not Italians and they have not contributed anything to the Italian government, one could say that they have not got the rights to ask the Italian government to do anything for them, therefore, they are sort of beggars, begging the Italian government for help and beggars don’t have the right to choose. So, they get what they get and they should be happy about receiving what their benefactor could afford, or they should go back to where they have come from.

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Earthquake and cold weather continues

This article is becoming more like a diary of what is happening in Italy now, than a plain article to tell you the story. Today is the 19^th of January 2017. You see, yesterday I published this hub here, where I was lamenting the way the earthquake homeless people in Italy are being treated, and after doing that I hoped for the best for their sake, since it seemed to me that the authorities could have done better, so, I thought that I had said everything that there was to say, but suddenly, today there is more to say about them.

Because suddenly this morning on the Italian news, those unlucky people are getting more of the same, one can only feel sorry for them. Because they are in a terrible situation as it is already. There were lots of earthquakes during the night, some of the stronger ones have reached magnitude 5, and on top of that it is cold and snowing with no end in sight. Most places are isolated, even though the authorities are doing what they can to reach them. In most cases, the authorities don’t know what is really happening, because there is no power, the phone lines don’t work anymore and there is no water supply because of the cold, that is what they know. So, what they don’t know could even be worse.

Therefore, we can only hope that this cold weather stops soon, and the authorities would be able then to catch up with what is strictly necessary. After that they can go back to what is necessary to do, so that those people affected from the earthquake could return to live a normal life. I hope that this is not just a wishful thinking on my part and everything will improve soon. 

The situation in Italy worsens

Let me point out that it was only yesterday, when I edited this article and added a few things, hoping that the weather and everything else would go back to normal soon, but instead of getting better, it has become worse, in fact, it is one of those situations that are very rare to happen during our lives. In fact, it is so bad that I believe that if some people over there start thinking that this could be the beginning of the end of the world, I would not blame them. Because the tragedy that has just happened is beyond compression, an entire Hotel has been destroyed from an avalanche of snow, which seems an impossible thing to happen, but then it has happened, so, let us continue to tell you what we know in this article.

The Hotel Rigopiano was a four stars Hotel, set about 1200 meter high, on the mountains called Gran Sasso in Abruzzo, which are the highest mountain in central Italy, the highest pick reaches 2912 metres, today this Hotel has been destroyed from this avalanche, and most of the people that were there are thought to have perished, now we know that there are only two survivors, and about three bodies have been found dead, it is still early to say more about the rest of the people that were there. They say that there were about thirty people at the Hotel when this happened. Some expert say that the Hotel was built in a safe position, so, what has happened is really something beyond comprehension. But then what is there to comprehend when extreme natural events occur.

You see, it seems to me that there are a few extreme natural events that are taking place all at the same time. So much snow that it is not possible to move anywhere, the extreme cold, the earthquake that might have damaged the Hotel and trigged the avalanche and perhaps also a land slide. All these things put together have contributed to the destruction of the Hotel Rigopiano. Anyhow, now that all this has happened, first let the people that have arrived over there help any survivors, if they can find any survivors. Then, what has happened and why can be worked out later, perhaps in a few months, when the snow has melted away.            

Another tragedy has happened

This is shocking, I cannot believe this, looking at what is happening in Italy today, it could make you cry, anyone with common sense and a heart would feel sorry for them, those poor people of central Italy are in a bad state and suffering. They deserve better, as they have done nothing wrong to deserve these disasters one after the other. First an earthquake that destroyed many buildings and killed near three hundred people. Since then there have been hundreds or perhaps thousands of other earthquakes, some of which have damaged and destroyed more buildings. While the people are sleeping in tents and other makeshift accommodation, it is very cold, because this year is a very cold winter, since plenty of snow has fallen and it continues to snow, with no end in sight. It is a disaster everywhere you go, if you think about it may make you cry.

But as you know this is not all, because last week an avalanche destroyed Hotel Rigopiano, where up to today they have found only nine people alive, twenty-five dead and four missing presumed dead, so, twenty-nine people may have perished. The authorities with their rescue teams are doing what they can. The place is so dangerous that they are digging by hand, they continue to hope to find some more people alive, until they find the last body, but as the time goes by it becomes more unlikely that anyone could still be alive, under all that snow that has become compacted and ice, but the rescue teams will continue until all people that were there are accounted for. They are going to dig them up whether they are alive or dead. But that is not all, today a rescue helicopter has crashed on the mountain, killing another six people.

The news of the disaster of Hotel Rigopiano and the helicopter crash, have made us forget for a few days the plight of the homeless, but they are still there, so there is a lot more to do, perhaps it is going to take years, before everything comes back to normal. Therefore, the Italian authorities are very busy these days, as they should solve this homeless problem first. Here I would like to point out that there is not much said about the farmers over there, and their animals that as we speak may be starving or dying from the cold.

I believe that disasters as intense as this are very rare, so we should feel sorry for those people involved. I am going to stop writing now this sorry events, because they even make me feel very sad.   

See you soon, in another article, where are we heading now.  

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Cold weather and homrless
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, where are we heading now
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Assets and pension cuts

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Assets and pension cuts

After the new assets test that has started the 1st of January 2017, there are a lot of pensioners that are lamenting the way that this government has treated them, because that are going to lose some pension. So, they think the money they are losing.
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Assets and pension cuts  

Dear readers, as we have said in our last article, Australian pensioners alarmed, here we are continuing to talk about the pensions cut and the effect it has on some pensioners. Depending on what sort of pensioner you are, these changes affects you in some different ways. So, there are some pensioners that their pension does not change at all, some pensioners that will be losing part of their pension, and some will lose it altogether. So, if the pensioners are upset about this change, they are right to be upset.

Anyhow, now let us discuss that example that we have started in our last article, about Mr.  and Mrs Day, who own two houses, they live in one house and rent the other one. Then, we will talk about other cases, if we can and what some pensioner think about doing, because for every action there is a reaction, so, also the pension changes may bring some other changes.

Mr. and Mrs. Day, case about pensions.

First how much they received before, then how much they receive now, and then compare this with other pensioner, whether they are being discriminated, meaning that they are losing more pension that the others. Anyhow, we are only setting this case, in a way the it is easy to understand, so all figures are well rounded figure, and therefore they have not been worked out mathematically.

So, Mr. and Mrs Day have about $580,000 worth of assets beside their own residence;

Before the 1^st January change they received about $450.00 per fortnight each;

After the 1^st January change they will receive about $350.00 per fortnight each;

So, they will be losing about $100.00 per fortnight each, this is very upsetting because they have problems with renting the house. When the house is not rented, it is hard to live on $350.00 per fortnight. One should keep in mind that a single pensioner that has no assets, receives $873.90 per fortnight, and even they sometimes complain about living a modest decent life. So, let us talk about owning and renting a house, whether it is worth to keep things as they are, or they need to change a few things, to live their life at the level of everybody else. So, how renting a house affects the pensioners. 

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Owning and renting a house

People believe that owning and renting a house is the way to go; if you talk to any real-estate agent they will tell you that, but one should ask oneself, is it so all the time, or are there times when it does not work out in your favour, or the way you want, therefore, owning another house is not the best thing to have, which is the case of Mr. and Mrs. Day.

As we have said in our last article, today the Days’ and any house owner find it hard to rent their houses, because there are too many vacancies here in Brisbane. So, Mr and Mrs Day have rented their house for $400.00 per week, and they hope that the tenants will pay the rent on time, and will not damage the house while they are living there. They have worked out that as things are, after paying all the bills, they could average in a year over $200.00 a week net rent. They must estimate a conservative figure, because there are too many vacancies, and there have been times when their house has been vacant for months.

After going over all this stuff, one start to think that there is something wrong with the way things are set up. So, one would ask. Did the Day’s couple make a mistake when they invested in this property? As they were thinking that by having a property for rent, they could be better off when they retied and would have some extra money to enjoy in their old age; because as you can see, it did not work that way at all. In facts, they are worse off, because if they had only the house they are living in, they would have received a lot more pension, than what they are earning from their investment. They could have more good time for themselves, instead of trying to run their property for rent. One could almost feel sorry for them knowing what they are going through now.

One needs to ask, what sort of government is this, can they work out properly what they are doing? They tell the people to save their money for their old age, so that they can live a better life in their old age. But when the people reach their old age, they turn around and take that money away from you, by changing the laws. But that is not all, because they don’t take the money away from their own pensions, if anything they increase it, because their pensions is not assets tested.

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What some people could do?

When those things that you have worked hard for, they don’t earn what you expected them to earn, and for that reason, you are ending up In a financial disaster, since you are losing money. You may start thinking many things including about what you want to do, and what you could do with what you have.

In the case of Mr. and Mrs. Day they are losing so much that they may have to think about a different set up, so that they can receive a lot more pension and live an easier life.

As we have said in our previous article, Mr. and Mrs. Day are not on the best terms and they may divorce soon. So now that the pension has gone down more, this thinking of divorce comes back to their minds. Because if they are divorced, they will receive a single pension each. But that is not all, they will own a house each, so they have no more assets, so they will receive the full pension. Now let us see what difference it will make.

Today they receive about $350.00 per fortnight each.

If they are divorced they will receive, $873.90 each per fortnight.

Which is a lot more than what they receive today, the only question left here is will they do it?

Anybody that is losing that much money will certainly do it, to make sure, let us look at those figures again, but this time let us see, how much money they are losing in a year, if we work both pensions together:

Now, they would receive about $700.00 per fortnight, in a year they are receiving $18,200.00.

If they divorce, they will receive 873.90 each per fortnight, which will be $22,721.4 each.

Or 45,442.8 per year. So, they are losing $27,242.8 government pension in a year.

Our own views on this is this.

If people start divorcing, or doing something that entitles them to a full single pension in the future, you cannot blame them, because they have been pushed from the government to do it.

Now, before we finish talking about owning properties that affect the pensioners, let me say my point of view here-under.

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Pensioners owing properties

The pensioners that own a rental property today are in a lot of trouble, because everything seems to have turned against them. First of all, the government cuts the pensions, then they cannot rent their properties unless they rent cheap, and also, they cannot sell their properties easily, because there are too many properties up for sale.

Some of you my readers think that I am exaggerating, because everybody things that the properties are always going up. But I tell you what, the boom on the property market for me is already ended, but people are not aware of it yet. When I drive around the street of Brisbane, there are too many signs of places for rent and for sale, when a few years ago, there were none. So, everybody that owns some real-estate should brace themselves now, for the rough ride ahead, this will also affect the pensioners.

Anyhow, we want to conclude this article now, by saying that the pensioners are having a hard time no matter where they turn they find problems.

Therefore, in the future, they better plan to own just a house, and then collect the full pension from the government.

I believe that I have said enough in this article. So, see you in our next article when I have something else to say. Perhaps about the Italian homeless.

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Pensioners alarmed
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, the Italian homeless

Australian pensioners alarmed

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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
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Pensioners are sick or old people that are not able to work anymore. Because they don't have an income, the government pays them a pension, that enables them to live a modest life.
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Australian pensioners alarmed

Let us start from the beginning

Dear readers, we apologize for not continuing writing this time our old man story, but you see I have something that is happening right now to write about, which is about the Australian pensions that are changing.   

Now, let us start from the beginning and talk about the man that brought in this disaster, because he was unable to see what his budget would do to the Australian pensioners and other institutions. This disastrous budget was delivered from the then treasurer Joe Hockey the 13 of May 2014, today we are still finding how terrible this budget was. Because the 1^st of January 2017 some Australian pensioners have lost some pension payments, which we are going to talk about in this article. But first let us see how the expert have described this budget at that time it happened.  So, here I quote:

The austere budget faced widespread criticism and was overwhelmingly rejected by the Australian public as reflected in all opinion polls after its release.^[3][4][5] Opposition to "unfair" budget measures came from the opposition and cross-bench, pensioners, economists, the union movement, students and welfare, community and disability groups with some taking to the streets in protest. The budget included changes which were contrary to pre-election commitments and promises made by the Liberals in opposition.^[6] Critics argue that every one of the following pre-election commitments made by Tony Abbott were broken in the first budget: "No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS."^[7][8] Echos of the "dead and buried" Fightback! policy package from the 1993 election occurred with proposals to defer unemployment benefits for six months for under 30s and the removal of GP bulk billing. Most proposals have since been shelved, dumped or modified.

End of quote.

Anyhow today Joe Hockey, has moved out of politics, but the politician have given him a very good job, with a very good pay. Meanwhile the Australian pensioners are hurt from those changes to the assets test that he proposed. Here one would ask, if he really wanted to save money to the government by cutting the pension, why he didn’t propose to cut his own pay and the other politicians pay, since they seem to receive a ridiculous high pay for their services they do. We think that this is only fair, since we are all in the same boat of Australia. Now, let us talk about the Australian pensioners.

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 Pensioner are alarmed   

Yes, dear readers, today the Australian pensioners are alarmed, they are alarmed because they feel that the Australian government is ripping them off. They feel ripped off because the changes that are taking place from the first of January 2017 are unfair to some of them. We believe that they are right to feel alarmed and upset, so, we are going to view and write what they are concerned about.

Therefore, in this article let us talk about these Australian pensions, since most of us would be personally interested about. I should admit that I am not an expert in politics and government matters, however sometimes we try to have our say. As you know we have talked about the Italian politics in a few articles, we have written one about Obama the American politics too. So, now let us talk about ourselves, the Australian politics and a few things that affect us directly, we are going to talk about the Australian Pensions that are changing, from the first of January. This change is going to hurt a lot of people that rely on part of the Australian government pension in their old age.

Here we are talking about retirees that have not got enough of their own funds to retire and live a modest decent life, so, they rely on the Australian government for a full pension or part pension. This article is being written to express the alarming views of these part pension retirees, which are going to be affected from this change. In their views, what hurts most here is that the people that have got no assets, because they have never worked hard and tried to save money they will still receive the full pension from the government, but those that have worked hard and saved their money, hoping to have just a bit extra cash when they retied will have the pension reduced and in some cases completely cut off. we believe that that is not right, because it is the people that have worked hard and saved their money, these are the people that have paid most taxes in the past.

Anyhow, here are some figures that have been published on the net.  

About 330,000 Australians will find their pension cut from the 1^st of January- 90,000 will be losing it entirely, because of the tighter assets test. I believe that it is not fair, because it is already hard for pensioners to live a modest life peacefully.

So, if the federal government loses next election, because of what they have done, they deserve it. Anyhow, let us look at some possible outcome, and how people could react to these pensions cut. Here we are going to write about some imaginary case of what some people could do, because they feel that they are being discriminated and punished for being good honest citizen.

Anyhow, here we are going to talk about a case or two, as an example. You see, before this pension was cut, this couple had accepted that the government would give them only a part pension, so, they tried to live with that, but now that pension is being cut, so they don’t know what to do, because it is going to be hard for them to live a decent modest life. Let us talk about their concerns.  

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Some pensioners’ concerns

Here we cannot use real names, so, the name that appear in here are not their real names.

Mr. John Day and Mrs. Ann Day are two aged pensioners, they have received a part pension for few years now, as they are both 70 years old, so, they are aged pensioners.

Anyhow let us describe how this change will affect them, in this case of Mr. and Mrs Day.

Mr and Mrs Day own two houses, they both live in the same house, even though they are not on the best terms with each other, and it is said that they will end up divorced soon. Anyhow they are still living under the same roof as husband and wife, so they receive their pension as a couple, which is less than if they had the pension paid as single people, so they start thinking if they are doing the right thing, or they should do a few things to improve their financial position. So, let us compare what is happening to their pension first.  

 As we have said, Mr and Mrs Day have two house one they live in and another one they rent, so, the house they rent is calculated as an asset, the value of the house is set at 520,000 dollars, add to that a few more things they have, they have 550,000 dollars’ assets, so their pension is calculated on these assets, as it was before they told me that they were getting from the government about 450 per fortnight each, from the 1^st of January, they are going to get about 350 dollars per fortnight each. This is not enough to live with even if you try hard.

The house they rent, today it is rented at 400 dollars per week, because they could not rent it any higher, now, that is not net money, because they should pay all the fixed expenses, like the rates, the water and other urban utilities, the insurance, the maintenance. But that is not all, because sometimes the house is vacant for several weeks until a new tenant is found. So, there are times when in a year, they can average from the house only a bit more than 200 dollars per week.

Here one needs to ask, where and how the government people work out this new law about the assets and how much you earn. I believe that it should be worked on a real possibility that you would be able to earn at least as much money as the full pension, before they cut the pension.

Anyhow, at this point of time I believe that this article is becoming too long, so, the facts and figure about this example will be discussed in our next post. Where we will be talking about, Assets and pension cut.

See you soon.

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Genzano it story
Pensioners alarmed
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, Assets and pension cuts
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Welcomed at my Brisbane address

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to out blog, Genzano it story
and this post, welcome at my new Brisbane address
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At my new address
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This is just a view of the Story Bridge in Brisbane.









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Some Brisbane views seen from the Brisbane river.









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Just a typical wooden house in Brisbane suburbs in the sixties.

  

At my new address

Welcomed at my new address

Dear readers, this post is the continuation of our last post, Welcome to Brisbane.

Now just to keep my life story going in a way that it makes sense, let me talk about in a more personal way how I was welcome at my uncle house in Brisbane; we reaching my uncle house and were greeted by the people that were in at that time of the day, as there were some that had gone to work, you see there were quite a few people living at my uncle house already and they were all from the same town that I came from, so we all knew each other somehow. Here I am not going to be very personal and tell you their name, I am not going to do that for a couple of reasons; you see, if it happens that any of these people read these hubs, I don’t know whether they like the idea of being mentioned here; therefore, I am going to tell you in a general way just things that happened and keep everything impersonal if I can.

So, I was saying that I had reached my final destination in Brisbane city, which was at my uncle house and greeted by those that were there at that time, then we unloaded my luggage and we started to talk about the town I came from Genzano di Lucania with the people that were present, because they were all from the same town as I have said already, and they wanted to know as much as they could about their relatives. While we were unloading at the same time I was telling them about the presents that I brought from my own family to my uncle, they were mostly some local town produce the largest of them was now a seven litre demijohn of wine, since the ten litre broke on the way, I had also some 6 litre of pure olive oil and a large tray of homemade large biscuits that we make in Genzano when somebody gets married, there were also other presents that I was going to give them as soon as I would unpack my own luggage.

Soon everybody came back from work, and I greeted every one of them and told them as much as I could about things that they wanted to know. Evening came and we had dinner and after that I retired to my bedroom, where my new bed that my brother had bought me was ready for a good night sleep on firm ground after being a whole month on the ship. Now before we go on about telling our readers the timber houses of Brisbane city, I think that it would be more appropriate, if I tell you first about some positive sights that one can see in this city of Brisbane.  

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Brisbane city views

Wherever you go there are always some interesting things to see, also Brisbane city has got several thing to show the world, so, we have taken the liberty of showing you a few photos of this city that makes us proud; I know that most people that come to Australia would say that Brisbane does not look as good as Sydney, but so what, it is still a nice city to live in and has got a few things that we are proud of; like the Story Bridge, City Hall with its clock tower that strikes the time every quarter of an hour, the city centre with all its shopping centre, Parliament House and the botanic gardens next to it, where we could go walking around looking at the garden or the pond, with its ducks and swans or sitting on the lawn on a hot summer day and listening to a band playing music during the weekends.

Now there are many more parks in Brisbane and most of them have a playground for children, so most people used to go to these gardens or parks in those times, perhaps today they are not used as much as they used to be then; of these parks the most important after the City Botanic Garden would be New Farm Park, this park is well known for the roses that are grown there, so some of us call it the park of the roses, it is also a sight to see early in spring when the jacaranda trees are in flower, this park has also a large playground for children, it has got a kiosk, where you can have a cup tea or buy an ice cream for the kids and a few other things, on hot summer days one could sit under the trees near the Brisbane River and fill almost as if you are at the beach; you see Brisbane River is a very wide river and it is navigable for many miles, so, while we would be sitting in the shade of the trees we could see the traffic of bouts on the river, some of these boats would be carrying just people that were sightseeing on the river, or going to another pleasure destination.

Another important garden that that needs mentioning here is the new Botanic Garden at Toowong Brisbane, near Mt-Coot-Tha forest this is a western suburb on the fringes of Brisbane city, this new botanic garden has been opened because the old botanic garden in the city lost some of its land, as they have built another university there; now apart from seeing what we can see and find in a botanic garden; from this new botanic garden, you could visit also this observatory; 

The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is a planetarium located on the grounds of Brisbane Botanic Gardens^[1] in the suburb of Toowong, Brisbane, Queensland,Australia. The Planetarium was officially opened on 24 May 1978.

Now, let us forget again for a moment that this article is mainly to talk about the early sixties here, as we have done above, so let us add what else could be attractive today in Brisbane, here we are talking about the year 2014 and we can add also that in Brisbane there are many shopping centre that are the size of a small town, and they are all well organized and air conditioned all under one roof that it is a pleasure to go shopping specially in those hot summer days, when one can go in there and stroll from shop to shop doing the shopping and keeping cool at the same time, what else would you want?

Anyhow let us go back to talk about the sixties and those wooden houses.

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The wooden houses

Living in Brisbane wooden houses

At my new address in Brisbane Australia, even though it was a wooden house I was welcomed and soon I felt no difference at all to live in it, after all that is the way that most of the local people live in these parts of Australia. But now, just for the sake of knowing what I am talking about here let me describe this house for you. It was a four bedroom house, in addition to the four bedrooms there was a lounge room, a large kitchen where there was enough room for a large dining table, there was a bathroom with bathtub and shower that had a gas heated hot water devise that you could light up and have a hot shower, the toilet was downstairs under the house; now all this large house and floor space was set on wooden stumps, I know that those people that have never lived or seen a house on wooden stumps before are saying; what is he talking about a house on wooden stumps, I have never heard of this before what a strange country Australia is.

I know it might sound strange to some people, and it might feel a bit strange too to live in these houses at the beginning, but anyhow they are there and they have a pretty good reason why people built them like that in these parts of the world. After all is not even a new idea when we think about it; you see when I was at school I remember that my teacher was saying that a long time ago for safety reasons, some people that lived by the sea would build their house on stilts over shallow water, so that they could defend them easily if they were attacked; Now we could say, okay that was a good idea then but what are the reasons for these houses to be built like that here?

This is how we migrant saw Brisbane city when we arrived to Australia for the first time.

I believe that we may have to tell you in our next article about these wooden houses, because it would be more appropriate, as we will write about it and explain some of the reasons why these houses in Brisbane were built with timber and they have been built on wooden stumps.

 See you soon.

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Genzano it story
Welcome at my Brisbane address
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, Brisbane wooden houses
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Welcome to Brisbane

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
-
Welcome to our blog, Genzanoit story
and this post, welcome to Brisbane
-
Welcome to Brisbane
-

Brisbane city Hall in George Square with its clock that chimes every quarter of an hour, one could say that this is the Big Ben of Brisbane city. There is also the Story Bridge and many other things to see in Brisbane as well.










Welcome to Brisbane

Dear readers, this post is the continuation of our last post, next stop Sydney, and then we went to disembark in Brisbane. So, what we are going to write here next is about the first impression that I had about Brisbane city, when I disembarked in 1961, and the views that I found interesting, as seen through the eyes of an emigrant arriving in Brisbane by boat in the early sixties and other things about Brisbane city as well; we are also describing how I was welcomed to Brisbane by my relatives and friends.

Dear readers as we have said in our last hub, in this hub we are going to tell you about my first impression of Brisbane city, which are those impressions that we keep with us our entire life; so let us start from the docks where I have just arrived and disembarked; as soon as I disembarked in Brisbane I met with my brother and other friends, so, I let them guide me what to do next, after all they were here before me and they knew what we had to do and where we had to go, as we know all newcomers arriving from a foreign country have to go through custom to check all their belongings out, so, we did that and then we were free to go to our own destination, in Brisbane or any other place in Queensland, since this was the last stop that the ship made in Australia, so all the new comers coming to Australia disembarked 

Anyhow after the customs cleared us, we left the port in a car and they took me to one of our friends house not far from the port, here the lady of the house had prepared something to eat for everybody and while we were eating and everybody was trying to make me feel welcome, we were also talking about my native town Genzano di Lucania and the people that I had left behind in that town; you see all those relative or friends that came to pick me up, they were from the same town, and I had brought presents and news from their families. I should say here that in those times when transport and news travelled much slower that today, anybody that arrived from overseas and from where one had come from was very welcome, especially if one brought presents and news from their relative and friends, I thought it was a good thing and it also helped us new comers, because one did not feel that complete detachment from your country of origin that we had left behind, in my case a month earlier.

Here we guess that everybody that has migrated or moved away from home for a long period of time knows what being home sick is; therefore, this finding that there is a group of people from your own town and they are staying in touch with each other is helpful wherever one goes, because they make the new comer feel welcome. So, I was welcomed from this group of relative and friends, who soon made me understand among other things that I was welcomed to Brisbane the land of the kangaroos and this is how my relative and friends made me understand we would be labelled from now on. Anyhow it was a welcome in the best possible way that one could expect.

Now, I have to say that at first sights Brisbane did not look as good as Sydney, the port of Brisbane where I disembarked was an old timber dock, and we went through customs in an old and large timber building, but I thought anyhow Brisbane is still a city and our friends live here; so, we went to one of our fried home, it was a unit in a brick building, so that was not bad, after all one has to accept whatever there is available when one goes to a different place. But little did I know that I was going to have a surprise soon, because I was going to see that in Brisbane most houses were made of timber.

Later on, after having eaten and talked for a couple of hours with our friends, and given them those presents that I had brought, I was driven to my final destination a few kilometres away, where we had to go was on the other side of the river, we went across the Brisbane River on a bridge called the Story Bridge, which is a very important bridge in Brisbane, but perhaps not as important as Sydney Harbor Bridge. So, Brisbane has also its own unique land marks the Story Bridge and City Hall are the most important, there is also Parliament House and the city centre with tall modern tall buildings, these were the things that gave us migrants some hope, because to us migrants it meant that Brisbane city was a growing prosperous city.

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My final destination

Reaching my final destination

My final destination, was at my uncle home, where my brother and a few other friends and relatives were also staying. My uncle had been in Australia by now 9 years already and somehow very recently had been able to save enough money to put down a deposit to buy a house; the house was a large wooden house typical of the houses in Brisbane of those times. I will come back to talk about these wooden houses later.

Now, for us that were coming from a country where almost everything was masonry or built with bricks and mortar and cement, these houses in Brisbane city make us feel a bit strange at first; but, they were still houses and they still provided a roof on our heads; therefore, even knowing that they were made of timber, I was pleased to have been offered that accommodation. My brother knowing that I was coming had already bought a bed for me, so, I was already set up very well. You know it is a great help when you go to a new country and find that somebody has already prepared everything for you. I believe that for this reason I have been lucky and I have escaped some very real hardship. Otherwise it could have been a lot harder to start a new way of life away from your original home.

Let us just imagine you reach your destination, as I did when I reached Brisbane city. Now let us say that you don’t have much money to pay for accommodation, you don’t know where to go or what to do next; you don’t know even how to speak the local language, you might end up in deep trouble you know. Therefore, I think that I have been lucky somehow when I found that I was welcomed. I believe that when we see some new arrivals we should try to understand that they have left their own country in the hope of finding a better way of living, or perhaps they were forced to leave their country for safety reasons. So, I suppose that if we could make feel welcome, it is a good humanitarian gesture.  

Australian Travel Videos

Anyhow, above I have pasted some links about Brisbane and Australia, if you are interested to view them.

I believe that I have said enough in this post, so, see you in my next post called, at my new Brisbane address.

See you soon.

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Genzano it story
Welcome to Brisbane
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, my Brisbane address
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