This was a period f unprecedented economic growth and when we were the third wealthiest nation on earth and a creditor one at that!

All created along with affordable housing on the back of affordable energy!

What was doable once is doable again and needs a different mindset in the halls of power in Canberra.

The period referred to was one where we internalised the nation's debt and use it to recover from a Great Depression and two world wars.

A now-deceased former friend a manager of a largish city bank said to me in confidence, he was once on the brink of a nervous breakdown given the then gung ho lending practices of his bank and where he had authorised loans 42 times greater than the sum total of cash and assets which included depositor's funds.

A time where we abandoned former prudential management in favour of privatisation and a gold standard. which together with QE underpinned of a period of unprecedented 60-70's prosperity.

Where one household income was enough to buy a modest home, a serviceable motor, vehicle a summer holiday, feed educate and clothe a family. And a time where CEO's salaries never ever exceeded 30 times that of the lowest-paid employee!

And Australia was really the home of the fair dinkum fair go and a more truly egalitarian society!

What was once possible is possible today, we have the recipe, All we need to ensure we do it ourselves with our own means and energy supplies, given fully imported fuel is now too expensive to be included in the mix.

And we need to return to the cooperative capitalism that made one dollar do the work of seven or more!
Alan B.

Well said Alan B, affordable housing and power should be the first priority. It should be the first responsibility of the politicians to further these goals. Get all land banks under control of local councils, no profits just co-operatively funding a home. Whereas power companies can generate, all receipt of power and on-selling should be on government. Forget the nonsense of so called renewables and give me the cheapest power in the world, delivered to the most affordable housing.

What our first two contributors fail to recognize is the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement in 1973 caused instability in world markets which exists today; e.g. Trump's trade war with China. Michael Knox explains where we can go forward today. Never mind what was done in the past, the present and the future are what concern us.

The RBA is handling the situation well, and has a plan to meet contingencies as they arise. No amount of 'hand-wringing' will change the present situation. However, the actions of our federal government could make the situation better. The Construction industry is the largest employer in the country and could be used to build low cost social housing, which would benefit not only the construction industry and the homeless, but also the other sectors in our economy, like the Retail industry, which is crucial to our society and employment opportunities for our youth.

Unconventional monetary policy was conventional back the because the fixed value of our dollar limited our options. Having a floating currency has freed us from these limitations - we may choose to resort to unconventional monetary policy again, but we don't have to. Use of fiscal policy is a far more efficient solution.

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Cyclone,
Bretton Woods only brought short term stability. The longer it lasted, the more long term instability it created.

Trump's trade war with China has absolutely nothing to do with Bretton Woods or its collapse.

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JBowyer,
Renewables are the cheapest power source we're going to get, and that includes the nuclear option. And it's unlikely we'll ever have the world's cheapest power - it will become much cheaper than it is now, but how do you imagine we cold ever outperform Icelandic hydro?