The Lucky Country soap box

[Scoop]

The *smile* expensive country.

Even if I ignore the FX hit, prices in Melbourne seem to have risen a fair bit over the last year or two. Or maybe I'm just taken more notice. Either way, I'm gobsmacked by the high cost of everything.

No your right on this front. The cost of living is just staggering.

 

[mld]

No comments on Pollytic's piece? His evidence indicates that we are the luckiest of lucky countries.

 

[evo]

I read it. Thought it was very good.

 

[Panthera tigris FC]

This makes for fascinating reading.

Thanks for that mld. Interesting read.

 

[martyshire]

I don't know if it a combination of experiences I have had and newspaper articles I have read lately; maybe it's the star constellation, but I have started feeling a bit underwhelmed by this city/country.

I have always been a very proud and parochial Melbournian/Australian so I am trying to work out if this place is actually not as good as it used to be, or if I am just becoming a cynical, grumpy old man a bit prematurely. Some big and small changes over the last 10-20 years that have come to mind recently include:


- Everything seems to be very expensive.
- People are working longer hours, spending less time with family and friends and more time paying off ridiculous mortgages.
- Property prices are very high. Where they are more reasonable, there are no amenities, so people are forced to drive everywhere.
- Even in the inner suburbs, people drive more than they did previously because they are busy working all the time.
- Many parents also drive their kids to school when they don't have to, presumably because of dangers that the mainstream media make out to be more common than 20 years ago, when they are actually not (admittedly, the traffic dangers are the exception).
- Fewer people walking makes neighbourhoods less friendly
- High property prices are celebrated in the media, even though higher prices probably hinder more people than they benefit. Of course, higher prices benefit a few key players that are likely to be sponsoring that newspaper/network.
- Fewer/smaller backyards and open spaces.
- Many small shops/businesses have closed. I know this has happened OS as well, but IMO the big franchises are more dominant in Australia than they are in most other countries.
- Milk bars are nearly all gone.
- The friendly family-owned butcher/green-grocer seems to be a thing of the past. There's no time to be friendly if you want your business to survive.
- Inner-suburban pubs are now almost all converted into pretentious, generic bars
- Many aforementioned bars serve schooners now instead of pints - presumably to be pretentious.
- The CBD has more violence on a Saturday night than it used to.
- We are an increasing Nanny State. There appear to be rules for everything where common sense used to be sufficient. For example, busy traffic areas are mostly down to 40km/h because of the risk that someone might J-walk. Can't the J-walker that gets hit be held accountable to their own stupidity? Clearly not, the police are cracking down on J-walkers too!
- The Monash FW is 80 from High St inbound for some reason. Nowhere else in the world would the limit be so low.
- The trains and trams are chockers.
- There are no curtain-raisers at the footy anymore.
- There used to be 2 games of footy on TV before the GF. Now there is Meatloaf.
- I am often expected to pay online booking fees for sports tickets when I used to be able to just show up at the ground early (something that was quintessentially 'Melbourne'). This is not just because events are more popular, but the media tells us we need pre-book and pay the booking fee.
- Politicians are mostly more concerned with getting/staying in power than serving their community.
- Lygon Street is not what it used to be.
- Most of the good sport is now on pay-tv.

I could go on but it is probably not healthy...

FWIW, I still think Melbourne/Australia is a far better place to live than most other places in the world, but I can't help feeling my parochialism fading. Anyone else feel the same thing or do I just need a holiday...?

 

[Joe Lynn Turnip]

I reckon you're dead-on, agree with most of that and could probably add a lot more. Though I'd suggest your point about our politicians is nothing new and personally have no problem paying for televised sport.

 

[jb03]

Marty, you are simply getting older and straying into "things aren't as good as they used to be" territory. Happens to all; allocated amount of whinging can also proportionally rise with age.

 

[Joe Lynn Turnip]

Well it's easy to glibly dismiss it as "grumpy old men syndrome" but which of those points was actually wrong and why?

 

[jb03]

Well it's easy to glibly dismiss it as "grumpy old men syndrome" but which of those points was actually wrong and why?

Nearly if not all of them are purely examples of whinging. Harden up, life is pretty good.

 

[Tigers of Old]

You need a holiday marty. Whilst some of what you say may be true, Melbourne is easily one of the best cities in the world.

 

[martyshire]

... Melbourne is easily one of the best cities in the world.

No arguments there, but is 2012 Melbourne as good as, say, 1996 Melbourne?

 

[Brodders17]

- Most of the good sport is now on pay-tv.

back in my day, we used to huddle around the wireless on a Saturday afternoon listening to the mighty Tigers, sometimes they weren't even on the wireless and we had to listen to other games waiting for score updates. Come saturday evening 1/4 of one the 6 games would be shown, plus highlights of some of the other games. then came the Sydney Swans and there was a VFL game on live every second week, and a VFA game on the alternate weeks.
Now every game is on TV, 4 are on free-to-air. replays are available of other games online- for free. (and a VFL game is on free to air every week.)

I'm not sure what good sport was on free-to-air in the good ol days that isn't now.

 

[martyshire]

Fair point, Brodders, but I'm not fantasising about turning the clock back quite that far . Not when it comes to sports coverage at least.

The pay-tv thing is only a very minor gripe of mine but just for the record, in the 90s I'm pretty sure all of Australia's overseas cricket tours were on free-to-air, as well as all tennis grand slams and a scattering of major soccer games from here and Europe, plus socceroos. There were also state cricket games and all AFL games that were not played in Victoria. Even the NBL was on on Channel 10.

 

[Rosy]

Anyone else feel the same thing or do I just need a holiday...?

Come to country Vic marty. No pollution, no traffic woes, no real concerns for personal safety on the streets, no traffic lights, no hustle and bustle, plenty of butchers, and milk bars. Ah the serenity.

In regard to greengrocers, butchers and corner stores I blame the population for that. No doubt it's a result of lack of consumer demand more than lack of time for shop owners to be friendly. It's probably more a city thing but it seems most prefer to buy their milk, bread, fruit and veg and meat from the big supermarkets than the family business. How many of us are guilty? Although I try to support family businesses rather than supermarkets where I can I'm certainly guilty of taking the easier, and often cheaper, option and chucking fruit and veg into me supermarket trolley more often that I should.

I love Melbourne. It's a great city to visit sometimes.

 

[craig]

No arguments there, but is 2012 Melbourne as good as, say, 1996 Melbourne?

No you could walk through the CBD at night without getting mugged, bashed, accosted, robbed or stabbed in 96.

 

[Giardiasis]

Things are more expensive simply because the RBA is printing money like there is no tomorrow. They are allowed to inflate our wealth away because the government gives them the special privilege to do this. The government allows this so they can use inflation to fund their expenditure, but in the meantime we all suffer.

 

[Sintiger]

Things are more expensive simply because the RBA is printing money like there is no tomorrow. They are allowed to inflate our wealth away because the government gives them the special privilege to do this. The government allows this so they can use inflation to fund their expenditure, but in the meantime we all suffer.

Is that you Ron Paul?
IMO this theory can work on a piece of paper in a logical and perfect market. In practice it has more holes than a piece of swiss cheese.
I don't think that the current inflation rate in Australia really supports your view either.

 

[Giardiasis]

Is that you Ron Paul?
IMO this theory can work on a piece of paper in a logical and perfect market. In practice it has more holes than a piece of swiss cheese.
I don't think that the current inflation rate in Australia really supports your view either.

That's because you mistakenly think inflation = cpi. An increase in the prices of consumer goods and services as measured by the cpi is not inflation, it is one possible consequence of inflation. Others include bubbles in stock, bond and real estate markets, rising interest rates, recessions and collapses of the currency.

Inflation is an increase in the supply of money substitutes not secured by a corresponding increase in the supply of savings. The only way that occurs is when the RBA creates money out of thin air and sends it into the economy.

So sure the cpi remained relatively stable, but asset prices certainly didn't. Take a look how the prices of stocks and property increased from 1990-2007. Inflation won't necessarily influence all prices uniformly.

I'm interested to hear about the holes in this explanation.

 

[Sintiger]

That's because you mistakenly think inflation = cpi. An increase in the prices of consumer goods and services as measured by the cpi is not inflation, it is one possible consequence of inflation. Others include bubbles in stock, bond and real estate markets, rising interest rates, recessions and collapses of the currency.

Inflation is an increase in the supply of money substitutes not secured by a corresponding increase in the supply of savings. The only way that occurs is when the RBA creates money out of thin air and sends it into the economy.

So sure the cpi remained relatively stable, but asset prices certainly didn't. Take a look how the prices of stocks and property increased from 1990-2007. Inflation won't necessarily influence all prices uniformly.

I'm interested to hear about the holes in this explanation.

I don't mistakenly think CPI = inflation but i do think that if the phenomenom you suggest was happening we would see a spike in the CPI. In recent times we have had reductions in interest rates, a flattening of the real estate prices and a rising $. The real estate bubble has been going for many years so to suggest it's caused by the Government printing money is just not accurate.
I don't want to get into an economic theory discussion here as its not the topic but all I would say is look at the US. In the 3 years to 2011 the Fed tripled the monetary base, interest rates are basically zero, housing prices have tanked and inflation over the period averaged 1.5%. People like Ron Paul and his supporters suggested the US was heading for Zimbabwean style inflation, it didn't happen.
As I said the theory works, the reality doesn't. Like so many other things in economics of course. I was taught the Phillips curve when I was studying economics and look how that turned out! I like the famous quote by Dr Neville Norman , "we ask the same questions in economics exams every year but we change the answers."

 

[Giardiasis]

I don't mistakenly think CPI = inflation but i do think that if the phenomenom you suggest was happening we would see a spike in the CPI. In recent times we have had reductions in interest rates, a flattening of the real estate prices and a rising $. The real estate bubble has been going for many years so to suggest it's caused by the Government printing money is just not accurate.
I don't want to get into an economic theory discussion here as its not the topic but all I would say is look at the US. In the 3 years to 2011 the Fed tripled the monetary base, interest rates are basically zero, housing prices have tanked and inflation over the period averaged 1.5%. People like Ron Paul and his supporters suggested the US was heading for Zimbabwean style inflation, it didn't happen.
As I said the theory works, the reality doesn't. Like so many other things in economics of course. I was taught the Phillips curve when I was studying economics and look how that turned out! I like the famous quote by Dr Neville Norman , "we ask the same questions in economics exams every year but we change the answers."

You say you don't mistakenly think cpi = inflation, yet you say "inflation over the period averaged 1.5%".

The cpi in Australia increased almost 50% from 1990-2007. We have had reductions in interest rates, because the RBA has forced it lower than the market rate. The current housing bubble has been going on since 1996, so it easily falls within the time frame that the RBA started printing money. Between 1996-2010 housing prices increased 127%, the largest increase in Australian history.

The most obvious result of inflation should be apparent, i.e. the GFC. Many Americans could only pretend they could afford a house given the extremely low interest rates banks were charging. Again interest rates in the states have been forcibly lowered below the market rate, housing prices have tanked because of the bust caused by inflation, and the cpi averaged 1.5% (not inflation). Like I said inflation won't necessarily influence all prices uniformly. All that printed money did was allow Americans to keep consuming at a similar rate they were consuming prior to the GFC. When that money dries up, all their going to be left with is some TVs, some clothes, abandoned houses and a huge debt burden they can't afford. The US is bankrupt.

I am unaware of Ron Paul ever saying the US is headed for Zimbabwe style inflation?