Comments on: Program on mortgage stress missing a corner

By: ronda jambe

ronda jambe — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:25:41 +0000

In that case, Graham, we are headed for a ‘perfect storm’ of unsustainability on all 3 fronts: environmental, social, and economic. Batten down the hatches, but what does that mean now, to us? This is the subject of my current offering on the blog.

By: Graham Bell

Graham Bell — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:27:39 +0000

Ronda:
Like so many of my peers. I was misemployed and underemployed for most of my working life – relevant degree and a swag of other professional qualifications notwithstanding.
IMHO, the labour market in Australia has been perverted, corrupted and twisted beyond belief for several years. Even with a change of government, I can see no substantial improvement on the horizon.
The same goes for residential housing.
Likewise for the distribution and operation of personal credit.
So there you have it: the main ingredients of a recipe that would gladden the hearts of any political agitators, religious extremists and ruthless revolutionaries. Set the heat to > and watch it all rise before your eyes.

By: ronda jambe

ronda jambe — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:14:49 +0000

Thanks for bringing that up Graham, I should have suspected that our unemployment figures are as dodgy as our inflation figures.
Certainly I feel ‘misemployed’, imagine someone with both academic and public sector experience in Canberra who can’t get a job, or at least not one I am willing to take. My time is worth at least as much as a plumber’s.
And as for satisfying ambitions with a big house, yes, that is also a good point. It shows how distorted our economic base is, that other avenues aren’t available. Actually, lots of other avenues are available, and we are engaging in one of them right now, but lots of people don’t see it that way.

By: Graham Bell

Graham Bell — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:02:59 +0000

Arjay and all:
Unemployment figures have been cooked to such an extent in Australia for the past two decades that it is a miracle that Australia hasn’t been booted out of the OECD.
A far bigger and much worse problem here is that of misemployment – caused by rampant credentialism, overfussy and pampered employers, weak and misdirected anti-discrimination laws and a complete lack of practical policies [from either side of politics] to eliminate misemployment.
There are NO statistics whatsoever on misemployment [with its resultant underemployment. lack of job satisfaction and degraded productivity]. More than half the people I know are misemployed – and have little hope of ever satisfying their ambitions.
Having said that. I wonder if leaping – with eyes wide open – into contracts to buy horribly expensive, inefficient luxury houses might be a way of satisfying some residual ambitions because all other ambitions in the workplace are continually and hopelessly stifled?

By: Arjay

Arjay — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:58:58 +0000

Rhonda most of the unemployment has been disguised by putting people on the DSP.In the 1970′s Govt spending on social security was 20% their revenue,now it is over 40% of total Govt spending.
The long term unemployed are now classified as disabled.
We have a $ trillion GDP,the highest per capita in our history,yet people are worse off now,than in the early eighties.Expensive Govt,housing,high taxes,fuel,food etc.
No infrastucture,no leadership,no passion,and no direction.
“We are the hollow men,…
Headpiece filled with straw…
Shape without form,shade without colour,
Paralysed force,gesture without motion:”Just love Eliot.
Without the luxury of an economic surplus,there is no time for this indulgent introspection.
Globalisation is stealing our most precious asset,time to rise above being slaves to the economic machine.
For the world to aspire to the depravity of the China syndrome,will indeed be a sad day for human insight.

By: Arjay

Arjay — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:58:53 +0000

By: mr_nobody

mr_nobody — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:18:59 +0000

Tony & Ronda – Good points both on this issue.
I agree with Tony on the govt acting with â€œfull comprehension of the consequencesâ€, at least over a short time horizon and with a tunnel vision that focuses only on economic welfare for the few.
Ronda, you say â€œWhile that (govt policy undermining broader Australia) does seem to be the general outcome, the intention is not so clear. Why destroy the country and foster discontent and social unrest?â€
Excellent question. Without thinking about it too much my view is that a narrow selfishness, a wish to provide for self/friends/family but not others in a general sense is the force behind the discriminatory tax system and govt rulings that are basically trashing the social fabric. In one sense, trying to better ones lot in life is not a bad thing per se. The problem seems to be those in power do not know when to stop. Their foresight is not really developed enough to visualise what might unfold as the general temperature increases in the broader community. It is not part of their plan.
You are right, many are deluded by a â€œvision of endless growthâ€ propagated by media – that is, a media with an agenda that does not include working Australia.
The mainstream media is all but unconscious. I feel like sending them a pillow.
If you wish to glean a deep insight into human behaviour, I recommend the writings of Barry Long.
Following is the gist of one of his articles that goes a way to explaining the apparent self destruction, or is that self-destruction? (If you have the time, reading the original author would be better, clearer & cleaner)
Decline and Fall â€“ gist of an excerpt from â€œOrigins of Man and the Universeâ€
All civilisations are really attempts at civilisation. All have failed due to an inherent flaw in social conscience stemming from inability to grasp what civilisation is for.
The means of destruction of a civilisation must not be confused with the cause of destruction. Moral failure has been the cause of every civilisation’s downfall. Our moral failure, the worm in the western flower, was cultured by the drive among the privileged to have more while the many by comparison had little or nothing.
Ours is the first world civilisation. In that we are unique and represent the end of a phase in man’s development.
But its failure, and unfitness to endure as the permanently civilising way of life, lies in the expediency of its shifting values. Our particular failure is intellectual duplicity, our double standards.
For articles by Barry Long try – http://www.barrylong.org/statements/stateindex.shtml

By: ronda jambe

ronda jambe — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:23:52 +0000

Tony, I agree with most of what you have posted. But is unemployment really that high?
And of course you are saying that government policy has been to deliberately undermine the welfare of Australians, in favour of the rich.
While that does seem to be the general outcome, the intention is not so clear. Why destroy the country and foster discontent and social unrest?
Isn’t it more likely that the gov, like most of us, has been suckered by the vision of endless growth? Like a chorus of Cassandras, those preaching sustainability, housing security and public provision have been swept aside.
Maybe we can wake up in time to find another model.

By: Tony Ryan

Tony Ryan — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:19:33 +0000

Funny how the more homework a person does on an issue, the more cogent are their comments.
I refer of course to Mr Nobody and Graham Bell; both incisive. But no one has mentioned the real bottom line because the media has told them it does not exist. Ironically, the more sophisticated and educated are the most susceptible.
First we have the progressive winding down of Housing Commissions; in other words, the privatisation of egalitarian shelter. Supply and demand meant home prices and rents could only rise; exacerbated by migrant and refugee intake (with full comprehension of the consequences).
Then, prompted by inflation primarily created by oil company/government collaboration and the two main supermarket chains, a supposedly independent Reserve Bank raises interest rates, incrementally pushing rents and mortgage repayments through the roof.
All this while the bottom line has been, not Howard’s 3.2% unemployment, but an average of 20% over the past few years; as can be confirmed by your local Job Network personnel. This has been the coordinated impoverishment of 70% of Australia’s population, with 68% with incomes below $29,000 (AIA 2006).
On the ABC, SBS, and News Corp, such revelation is forbidden, as viewers of Four Corners, Insight and the Seven Thirty Report must by now be suspecting.

By: ronda jambe

ronda jambe — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:31:41 +0000

For sure, population and consumerism are the elephants in the room of government policy. Hopefully these will be raised at the 2020 forum Rudd is so keen on.
But just as the US depends on military spending for its economy, we depend on endless growth. No easy answers….