"If unemployment turns sour, who should we blame?" is an odd title. It implies unemployment is not sour but may become sour.

"If unemployment turns sour, who should we blame?" try global warming. I am sure many will come up with some 'science' to prove it.

Fred, the blame goes to number 0 and responsibility lies completely with labor state and now the federal labor government in their socialist quest to force up artificial housing values by their urban consolidation policies and practices. What a shallow and rude political failure to achieve higher wages. Labor does miss the control achieved within the now demolished berlin wall and with urban consolidation have achieved this bygone collective result. It is a pity so many non thinking and vested so called individuals supported this. It just goes to show that group movements collect the so called objective in their sweep. The community costs lay at the feet of labor and their blind supporters including so called think tankers and assorted institutional hangers on who milk private capital for their big government supporters. A labor local government council stated that they do not want any more affordable housing. Say no more...

I have to agree with Dallas on this one. This government seems to be hell bent on following ideology (just like the previous one): They're introducing inflationary workplace relations legislation, a stimulatory budget and are engaging in politics which drives high achieves away, all because that's what their ideology demands.

It seems to be a simple question to answer: who to blame? Starts with a Rudd, ends with a Swan and has a Lizard in the middle

I read Dallas's post and thought it must be a caricature. Apparently not.

Apparently babbling on like twit is okay as long as you describe your opponents as "socialistic" and gibber on about something along those lines. I take note, he hasn't actually offered any actual of proof for his assertions.

General economic changes take a long time to filter through from their cause. Any economist will tell you that inflationary pressures take years to build up. That puts the fault of current inflation on the coalition government. Lack on investment in training and infrastructure have created bottlenecks within the economy. Although to be fair, it can be politically difficult to do these things. The coalition were not horrible managers of the economy. I felt that they simply missed a golden opportunity to really invest for the future.

To blame the Labor government for any immediate rises in unemployment is stupid. Rising interest rates over the last few years will be one of the factors, I suspect. One of the effects of higher interest rates is increase unemployment. Unemployment rises which helps contain wage inflation. It's not all that fun, but thats how the reserve bank operates. It has seemed to have worked for the last few decades. We don't have any other better methods, unfortunately.

"I have to agree with Dallas on this one. This government seems to be hell bent on following ideology (just like the previous one): They're introducing inflationary workplace relations legislation, a stimulatory budget and are engaging in politics which drives high achieves away, all because that's what their ideology demands."

Quite frankly thats rubbish. Collective bargaining Agreements gave a huge surge to worker productivity when they were introduced. Wage systems like AWA's have never been proven to increase worker productivity in the macro scale. When they were introduced in New Zealand, worker productivity collapsed. Worker productivity is the corner stone of economic development.

What are you babbling about Dallas?

Are you trying to suggest that the long mounting housing affordability crisis is the fault of a government in power for all of six months?

The blame must be shared between a class of aspirationals who desired the most expensive Mcmansions and to get rich through becoming investors in the propety market and the Howard government who encouraged them by first cutting the capital gains tax they were paying and later providing a first home buyers grant. As RBA govener Glen Stevens recently pointed out, the effect of this largely middle/upper class welfare was simply to increase both demand and the size and cost of the houses demanded, ultimately blowing housing prices out of all proportion.

And yet many of these people actually believed that they were thinking for themselves and acting as individuals when all they were doing was following the latest mass trend - convinced that they were not running with the herd, everyone around them coincidently just happened to be running together in the same direction at the same time.

The housing affordability crisis is the hangover from a worthless and thankfuly gone government and sheer human AVARICE.