This is meant to be a tech blog, but because most of the news in the tech world seems to currently consist of 'OMG Windows 7 is gonna be the shit/bullshit/turn shit into gold and un-melt the polar ice-caps', I'm going to talk about something else.

Super! I'm pretty sure this was a Keating initiative, although it could be Howard. My gut says Keating. I'm on the roaf at the moment, so I'll see what Google says once I reach a hot-spot...

To summarise, Super sucks. It's based on the myth that a market will keep expanding, and wealth will be endlessly multiplied. That is a myth, as anyone with half a brain could have told you ten years ago and is now being yelled by monkeys to bystanders at your nearest zoo.

For those who were relying on Super for their retirement, they're screwed. Current conservative estimates say that an average 60-year-old planninmg to retire today will have to work at least another ten years to make up enough Super to replace what has been lost in the recent market slump.

For those of us still pissing money into their Super, we know its being thrown into a bottomless void. That's 9.5% of my weekly wage – about $50 for reference – that is being completely wasted by a meaningless government scheme. All things considered, I'd rather choose how to waste my money. Heck,I'll spend it on booze and ciggies, which will do a hell of a lot more for the economy than pushing money into some fat-cat bonus account is going to do.

Realistically, we should all be setting ourselves up for retirement. But we should have a choice how we go about it. If that 60-y/o retiree staring at their empty super account balance had put $50 a week under their mattress, they would have a shitload more money than they do today. Enough to stay off the pension at the very least, which is the whole pont of the original compulsory Super scheme.

to summarise, Keating sucks, Howard sucks and Super really,really sucks.

Bane out.