It would have been nice to find out why house prices - the most expensive and ever-increasing cost for most people - are not included in the CPI. As usual with economists, all waffle and nothing the rest of us can understand. We can only guess that it is another cover up for the poor economic performance of politicians.

Put ten economists in the same room and you'll get thirty different opinions. An ivy league study that followed 300 economists from graduation for thirty years found that on average their predictions, were no better for accuracy than a dart throwing monkey?

And the more famous or well known they became, the less accurate their predictions? House prices are governed almost exclusively by demand. And given energy is implicated in the price of everything, the cost of energy is what creates an economy-wrecking inflation! Inflation serves very few.

Just parasitical paper shuffling investors and property tycoons, whose wealth is created by the blood sweat and tears and endeavour and innovation of other as they sit there like Jabaca the hut, swelling their personal fortunes on the expertise effort and enterprise of others. Even as the ranks of the homeless swell and swell!

We like the dog that kills the game as food on the table, may be thrown the occasional bone as their fair share or reward? This is all wrong and makes the average citizen the virtual slave of the economy. whereas in an economy set up under the auspices of cooperative capitalism it becomes our slave and exactly what our energy supply should be!

Were that so we could, if allowed by our political masters', drought-proof this wide brown land and create an economy the envy of the world as opposed to its poor cousin! Or a southernmost dirt-poor state of the USA or "China"? TBC
Alan B.

Every western style economy rests solely on just two support pillars, energy and capital. You simply cannot offset energy prices that are far too high by lowering reasonable taxation! Without creating runaway inflation or enormous, unrepayable debt?

As those (pollies) who supported their mates in the financial sector/were part of it, dug their heels in, refused to do what's necessary. Until there was no other course and now wait for the singular commissioner to request an extension? So we can more thoroughly look at all this facial financial skulduggery?

The RBA should do nothing to assist this sector to prosper by the business, as usual, transfer of wealth via manmade and entirely unnecessary inflation.

The only thing not rising with manmade inflation is suppressed wages! Don't hold your breath waiting for Bill Shorten and his bunch of economic illiterates to do much more than weaken the staggering, punch-drunk, debt-laden economy even further?

We need someone, who can tell it like it is, unite a fractured divided against itself, nation. All the current crop are able to do is divide us even further?

Let's get a new broom and ask these new brooms, before awarding them a guernsey, to spell out exactly how they're going to fix it? As opposed to the endless critique and populism, designed only to prosper them and their political prospects!

If it doesn't look like cooperative capitalism, wake up to yourselves and reject it while we still have time and some residual freedom/Power to chose!

Need to stop sleepwalking toward economic and environmental disaster ASAP!

How many times do you need to live through the same lessons before you learn from them? We need a peoples' bank and de-privatised energy! And preference cooperative capitalism! Via development licences and taxation policy!

As opposed to selling everything not nailed down to foreign investors or foreign control!

And that's just the start of an absolutely essential transformation back toward the social cohesion and unprecedented prosperity of the 50's, 60's and 70's!

Yes, it's is a different world, but, mathematical certainties and economic principles remain unchanged!
Alan B.

Yep, let's do that, then we can justify ignoring the effects on the economy of an impending property market crash.

Advancing the common lot, Diver, will never ever led to a property market crash, but will likely make the dream of affordable homeownership realisable for joe average once again.

It's all wrong to expect a universal human right to shelter become instead an investment that works and in truth only makes a profit for realtors, bankers and licence and fee-charging governments.

Sell your house and you still have to replace it with something else.

And as you do all that you are the loser and only the above gain anything.

And without putting in any real effort or the years of endeavour and sacrifice that's needed just to put a deposit together.
Alan B.

The whole thing is sick: government, through the RBA, deliberately creates inflation in order to tax people's savings.

People should be able to save their hard-earned (and after-tax) money and spend it only when they or their family need things. This is the healthy way, but government hates it because they want instant gratification and full employment (including in jobs that do not increase happiness and often are even harmful), so they use inflation to force people to put their money in the banks (with tax on notional and unreal "income") as well as in superannuation (where complexity of compliance provide jobs for so many more parasites).

Robbers!

Alan, I once studied economics. As far as I could tell, there are actually no defined economic principles.
For example, our marks were determined by what we did throughout the year. However, the faculty insisted that the tutor set an exam. He submitted the same exam as he had the previous year. Their response was that we would know the answers. His reply was that they should be aware that the subject was economics, same questions, different answers.

'Twas ever thus.

David