We used to be the land of opportunity, but we have simply priced ourselves out.

It started in the 70's with sugar, where we became so greedy that our largest buyers decided to grow their own. In fact, our sugar industy in Bunderberg had the highest percentage of millionaires when being a millionaire was a huge deal.

Even today, while the likes of meat, fruit and veg are becoming a luxury for many,they are being produced at rock bottom yields, if not losses by our farmers, as the cream is taken by the middle men. A beast that could be purchased for just $20 in Longreach was deemed 'not worth it' as it cost over $150 to have it trucked to where feed was available. And it didn't even have to leave Queensland.

Diesel $160+ and drivers rarely work for less than $30 an hour, while many trucks lay idle because drivers have reached their allowable hours.

Much of our wage growth has been manufactured by the mines, but without them I doubt we woukd have survived the past six odd years.

The other driver has been our onssesion with wanting the biggest house, as many today could afford a house, they just can't afford 'the house' and there in lies the problem.
I sternly believe one of our few options will be to build factories and force the low skilled out of work to work there part time for the equivalent of the dole, or, they could even take a positive approach and gain skills, not that those skills will be in demand post mining, if that happes.

The truth is we have pushed for a better deal, and we must now accept the consequences as along with our desire for a fairer, family friendly work environment, has come the anti competitiveness that was always going to raise it's ugly head. The question was when, and perhaps that is now being answered.

Unfortunately for every action, there is a reaction. Some just don't get it.

We haven't found bottom yet which will be step one.

Rehctub,

You are blaming ordinary Australians for factors that are mostly due to greed of the one percent, apart from the diesel prices, which are due to the world market price for oil. Globalisation has made manufactured goods cheaper, but I would question the overall benefit. People paid much more in real terms for clothing, cars, electrical goods, etc. in the 1960s and 70s, but far more people had secure jobs with good working conditions that could support a family on one income. The real winners (apart from the workers in poor countries) have been the folk at the top. With globalization, there is always someone poorer and more desperate who will work for lower wages under more miserable conditions. Even the Chinese are losing some industries to poorer countries.

The problem with your argument on housing is that 70% of the cost of an average house is now the land it sits on.

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2013/11/residential-land-values-reflate-across-australia/

You could put up a wretched shack with an outdoor dunny and pay almost as much for it as a McMansion.

I agree with you about a jobs guarantee, although maybe not in factories. The economist Bill Mitchell has written a lot about this.

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=23728

Divergence, again, that's because people want 'the block of land' not a block of land.

$100 grand buys a lot of train travel but the modern day house hunter also wants the latte to be within easy reach. They have a problem which often leads to housing affordability.

You say the one job family. Yes, I came from ome of those myself, but we also lived in a very moderate house with mixed matched furnishings etc, but we were a happy family who didn't care how the other half lived.

Huge difference!

Rehctub,

You would be correct if decentralization had gone ahead. As it is, there is a limit to how much time people can reasonably spend commuting, especially if they have family responsibilities. Most people have no choice about living in the city, as that is where the jobs are, and all the residential land and/or existing housing within reasonable commuting distance is very expensive. This lack of choice is made very explicit where unemployed people are concerned. If you move from the city to a country town where you can get cheaper housing, Centrelink will cut off your income support, even if you couldn't get a job in the city either.

Divergence, they cut them off simply because we are no longer in a position to carry passengers.

Like it or not, our previous two terms of federal government wasted the best part of 600 BILLION and, we have reached the point of enough is enough. Unfortunately some decent people get caught up in the mess.

One can buy a neat house in the likes of Caboolture, about one hours train commute from Brisbane CBD for under $300K.

If a first home owner is looking in the $600 to 700K range then they have set their sights too high, unless they are on a combined $150K income and are prepared to make some sacrifices.

My first home cost me 90% of my monthly income just in repayments, so I had to get two more part time jobs. Young ones today rarely do that.

While I recognize it's.a tough world out there, nothing should come without hard work and effort and, as I have said, there is no money left to splash around.