What a wonderful headline to wake up to!
As far as I can tell weโve been in a recession for a long time but nobody wants to admit it.
The reserve bank/etc are burying their heads in the sand and hiding behind external factors like the price of resources overseas that artificially inflate official figuresโฆ even though they have almost no bearing on the lives of people here in Australia.
I guess those exports are good for our superannuation but thatโs about it. As a young person with a family Iโm not worried about how much money I will have when I retire - Iโm worried about how to pay for the roof over my head right nowโฆ and unless something changes soon thereโs a good chance a lot of people will be draining their super to pay for housing. If too many people reach for that bandaid it will cause both short term and long term economic problems.
Iโm not sure what needs to be done - but it seems to me like whatever it is, itโs not going to happen if we ignore the problem.
If I were to pick an answer though, Iโd probably go with some kind of severe tax on anyone who owns a home that they do not live in. Something high enough to force those people to sell and drive housing prices down to something affordable on a typical income. Use the boost in tax revenue to increase welfare funding across the board.
We have been in a per capita recession for ages. The govt avoids a technical recession with mass immigration.
Think of โthe economyโ as โrich peopleโs yachtsโ next time you hear a politician or bobble headed reporter talking about something (like immigration) being good for the economy.
Weโre already in a recession.
Could any any of this have been avoided if we hadnโt (and continue to) ruthlessly persued neoliberal economic policies? Nahhh.
We left the recession?
