The social forces that resulted in the trump presidency won't go away. He's not a political aberration. He's the culmination of decades of grievance, which accelerated after the GFC. He's the wrong solution of course, much like one nation is the wrong solution to Australia's problems.
To look at things from a charitable perspective, that generation experienced the most stable economic period in history, in terms of social mobility. I think a lot of them assumed that we had reached a stable normal (as in the fukuyama end of history idea). What they didn't realise was that the period they experienced coming of age was a historical anomaly, and now we are reverting to the normal (unequal wealth). They had a misplaced trust in authority. I can accept that things have changed, but I can't accept millenials being told it's their fault they didn't work hard enough. On the one hand I hear about about 17 percent interest rates, and then they go on about buying a house in Melbourne on a single income public service wage and leaving work for the pub at lunch time. The cognitive dissonance is rattling.
I understand that, and I empathise with their position. I have friends in this position. I'm talking about housing prices rising, not staying the same or dropping and putting them into negative equity. It will affect everyone negatively unless they are an investor. But I can't stand hearing the boomers in my wider social circle creaming their pants over house prices. I've put up with it my whole life. They never spared a thought for the future generations.
There are a lot of people who aren't able to make that logical step. Home ownership is a rite of passage in this country, mainly because renting is awful for many. When the media frames house price rises as positive, which was the framing for much of the previous 3 decades, many people accept this without question.
You're one of the smart ones with a social conscience.
The media headlines framing the budgets in terms of "winner and losers" fuels this counterproductive notion that government policies serve some at the cost of others. For example, high house prices seem positive to house owners, but this comes at a long term cost to all of society.
I don't expect it to be addressed either. But it's killing my career motivation, and I used to be a very driven person in my engineering career. I'm starting to change my priorities and expectations, now that my salary increases have slowed dramatically to below inflation level. No prospect of home ownership, so I spend more time hanging out with the neighbourhood cats instead of grinding every night. Enjoy the moment a bit more and not worry about the things I can't control.
Unless this is properly addressed in the coming years, we are going to see a lot of resentment everywhere, and declining productivity, since those who must work for wages will have their rewards taken by those who have assets. All the money going to rents and mortgages.
"Whether their target is Asians, Aboriginal people or Muslims the formula is the same – identify a minority group and blame them for our current discontents.
This type of politics has been denounced by Liberal and Labor leaders for decades."
This guy is so lacking in self awareness. Took over from Howard and Abbott, was followed by Morrison. Chose the liberal party and thinks he is better than them.
Yeah but we can't let that overshadow a very real and justified frustration at the devaluation of labour in a world where asset inflation is hurting a lot of people.
Great. Meanwhile lots of people have fucked up families they can't live with and I guess those people are shit out of luck. What a privilege.
Taxation takes money out of circulation. It is required to prevent inflation after money creation. Lack of taxation is largely why asset prices rose after covid stimulus.