Mailbag, incl: The pollies aren’t as bad as you say! July 5, 2026

**Scott Phillips** (0:10)
Welcome to Motley Fool Money, you know the drill by now. It's Sunday, it's a mail bag, it's special, and he's back. He is of course Andrew Rampage, the man behind Australia's premier online investment club. Just checking the contract, yep, that's what I have to say. strawman.com, of course, former Motley Fool employee and teammate of mine, but long time Motley Fool Money podcast co-host. I of course am Scott Phillips from the Motley Fool, and this is a podcast where among other things, we answer some of your questions, and that's what gave birth many, many years ago to this Sunday episode, believe it or not, once upon a time, it was a once a week podcast. We had one or two member questions, listener questions, now it's its own thing. It's kind of the version, I don't know.
I see, I want to say, Rand, that this is the one we prefer. I think I kind of like both of them for different reasons. I'm glad we get to do both.

**Andrew Rampage** (0:57)
Yeah, I mean, different opportunities to talk about different things. One to entertain yourself, and one, hopefully, to help others.

**Scott Phillips** (1:11)
And you, listener, can decide which is which. We might just start with an actual question rather than a tangent from either takes eight or ten minutes out of the beginning of the podcast.

**Andrew Rampage** (1:20)
A really good policy.

**Scott Phillips** (1:22)
Henry's got some constructive feedback, some thoughts, some questions, some challenges.

**Andrew Rampage** (1:28)
These are the best ones. I love them. Yeah, for sure.

**Scott Phillips** (1:30)
You just normally say that because you want to tell people why they're wrong.

**Andrew Rampage** (1:35)
Well, I mean, I'm open to being wrong. I just yet have to come across, you know, an example of it.

**Scott Phillips** (1:41)
So that's why people listen to see finally if eventually you'll be wrong. Let's see if Henry's right and you're wrong. Hi, Andrew and Scott. I'm a big fan of the podcast, and I appreciate some of the valid criticism you made of the recent Australian budget. But I have to push back on some arguments Andrew made about politicians in Australia. Can I say, Henry, you may be a fan of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, trying to push back on Andrew against politicians is going to be a tough ask. You might be pushing the proverbial uphill. Let's see how we go.
It's a steep slope. I strongly believe, says Henry, that this growing zeitgeist of scapegoating politicians for responding to public sentiment is really harmful to society.
Anthony Albanese is motivated by the experience of being raised by a single hardworking mum who found herself in dire economic circumstances through no fault of her own, and his desire is to help others like her. Politicians as a class are not to blame for the problems this country faces. It is the easily manipulated public who don't bother to do their research. If Australia comes in...

**Andrew Rampage** (2:42)
We'll leave this point just quickly on Friday.

**Scott Phillips** (2:44)
Well, a few Fridays ago.

**Andrew Rampage** (2:46)
Oh, sorry, Ryan, I got some more over the shop.

**Scott Phillips** (2:47)
We're living in pre-record time, unfortunately. Sorry, Ram. Yeah, but it was about a month ago.

**Andrew Rampage** (2:51)
I agree with everything you've said so far, Henry. Yeah, sorry, continue.

**Scott Phillips** (2:54)
If Australia comes out of this age of crisis intact, it will be because of competent strategic politicians. And we should remember that.

**Andrew Rampage** (3:01)
Yeah. I don't know. I mean, look, yes, that is all very fair. We get the politicians we deserve. It is a democracy. If we don't like them, we should vote them out. At the same time, I feel as though they are fair game for criticism.
Not as scapegoats. It's the same with, look, it's the same, let's take it out of the public arena. It's the same in private enterprise, right? So I tend to be less critical of executive pay.
Let me backfill that one.

**Scott Phillips** (3:39)
Why do you love rich people, Andrew? Why should I take more shareholder money? What is wrong with you, sir?

**Andrew Rampage** (3:44)
And what I mean by that is I think overpayment for under delivery is an egregious crime, like, and that as a general class paid way, way too much. So yes, but more than one thing can be true at the same time, right? The reason I bring it up, though, is because what will happen is that a company will inevitably have a good year and the board and the CEO go, look how clever we are, we deserve a big bonus, and shareholders go, yep, there you go. Now, the moment that there's a bad year, and sometimes companies shoot themselves in the foot, oftentimes, other times it's just the broader environment they find themselves in, and it's never their fault, right? And as you said, sometimes it's just the product of their own thing.