Now I'm officially procrastinating by having a jab at middle class whiners.

Someone tell me to stop with the politics and get back to work...

What Jason from Melbourne said. And also, though people who earn 150K a year may be supposed to pay 44K in tax, most of them don't because they pay expensive tax agents to exploit loopholes in our ludicrously complex tax system. I know because I've been there. We were bewildered by all the "middle-class welfare" coming our way. We took it because, hey, we're human and by no means asset wealthy. But in our Lefty Greeny heart of hearts we knew we didn't _need_ it. We also don't need the 30% tax rebate (but we take it). We have also experienced first-hand the benefits of being privately insured when we had a child with a condition that threatened his sight. He was treated that night instead of six weeks later (his fate under the public system). The middle-class only feel poor because we mortgage ourselves to the hilt and buy things we don't need. The middle-class on 100-150k, particularly folk with no carer responsibilities are doing better than fine, and I think some of us need to spend some time in a soup kitchen to remind ourselves of the things we're missing out on.