Is Runner capable of an intelligent comment on any topic?

Has he ever made a reasoned and intelligent comment about anything?

Perhaps he is too busy running to keep up with his crumbling one-dimensional world-view?

As is typical with many on the right he uses the ubiquitous polarising button phrase "howard-hater" phrase, instead of saying anything intelligent about the topic on hand---and simultaneously downgrading even the possibility of a reasoned debate which is supposed to be the hallmark of a civilized liberal democracy.

Re the word "hater". It is always used by the "right". Perhaps they are experts on hating?

Funny how noone on the "right", especially in the Oz and Murdoch "news"-papers", who constantly bad-mouth Kevin Rudd, are never ever called Rudd "haters"

Runner is obviously one of the people taking home over 1000 dollars a week.Try living on half of that and keeping up with the ever increasing cost of living.I am not politically affiliated and never will be but i know how tough things are financially for people in my position.Earn 10 dollars to much for any help from centrelink but not enough to keep the standard of living we had under the previous federal govt.The rich are doing ok as things stand at present but the poor are getting poorer.
Deny if you can that all luxury items have gone down in price whilst the staples have gone through the roof.I don't care who is in power as long as myself and family can live a decent life.That is becoming increasingly harder with the current regime.

This article is full of unsubstantiated assertions, half-truths and misrepresentations.

Of GDP, the author says “The vast economist herd has ignored this warning, but thinking economists have not.” All economists will cheerfully agree that GDP isn’t a perfect measure of welfare, and can give perverse results in some cases. This does not render it useless, it only means it’s one indicator among many that needs to be evaluated judiciously. Real per capita consumption is probably a better “benchmark” measure of economic welfare, especially over the longer term. This has risen even more strongly than GDP recently.

Land is not included in the CPI, but rents and house purchase costs are. And while excluding land may limit the Consumer Price Index’s usefulness for some cost of living comparisons, it will not have much effect on measured inflation over time. Furthermore broader inflation measures, such as the consumer price deflator, actually tend to show somewhat lower inflation trends over time. This does not mean that some households' living costs may have increased by much more than the CPI – this is inevitably true. But some have experienced falling living costs, and for most, prices have increased modestly, much in line with the trend the CPI suggests.

Average hours worked by Australian workers, have trended steadily downwards in recent decades and surveys suggest that most of the minority working long hours do so because they want to.

For every indicator that suggests that life is worse, it’s possible to find several showing it’s getting better. Our life expectancy is increasing, we are more likely than any past generation to stay at school beyond 15 or go to university, we’re more likely to travel abroad, we have access to technologies beyond the wildest imaginings of past generations – we can even conduct robust discussions with strangers thousands of kilometres away from our keyboards.

If these factors were taken into account, as well as the litany of exaggerated miseries the author presents, I’m sure a balanced account would show our average living standard is indeed improving.

Rhian

"I’m sure a balanced account would show our average living standard is indeed improving."

This is the point of the article, the average may be increasing but the median is not.

That is why 51% of people will give Labor their primary vote.

Did it ever occur to you that people are working longer hours because they have to, of course they want to, they want to survive.

Always seems good to pull out the victim card. As one who has never had a salary over $50000 per annum after decades in the workforce it would be easy to complain about what I don't have. Where I live it is very difficult to get cleaners despite being paid $20 plus per hour. The lines at MacDonalds and Hungry Jacks have certainly not got shorter and few if any houses don't have TV's, microwaves and other so called essentials.

It would not matter how good the economic conditions were or how much welfare we handed out we would still have the poor. Poverty in this country is more about social problems rather than economic conditions.

ruawake : Touche !

Obviously Rhian failed high scholl statistics! It also shows why the bifurcation of our society isn't showing up in the economic data.

Howver, it sure is on the streets, in the hospitals and by the desperation of some of the disadvantaged in our society.

John Howards men are busy making sure those desparate people are too hungry or sick to speak. (... but they do vote!)