DialeticBlue, you may be confusing 'deflation' with 'disinflation'. Every economist agrees that a falling rate of inflation ('disinflation') is a good thing and that inflation is bad (it destroys the value of our hard earned money and rewards speculators and spivs).

By contrast, 'deflation' is most definitely undesirable. Deflation is an outright decline in prices. It's what happened to Japan for most of the 1990s. On the surface, it sounds like a great thing. In reality, it leads to dire consequences for everyone. People put off consumption because they know that the goods will be cheaper tomorrow. Firms put off production, because their profit margins are eroded. Banks offer to lend, but no-one is willing to borrow. Companies consequently put off workers and recession results.

Not a policy I would recommend

The usual railing against the poor by the right wing, from those who are usually doing very well - on the backs of workers. Never for a moment seeing their backward and reactionary viewpoint as a convoluted mixture of arrogance, ignorance and the use of the 'big lie'. They express a well worn political road and method of the political establishment, and that is blaming others for their treachery and exonerating their own culpability. By that I mean, they express the very politics of the politicians who are honeyed friends of workers on election day for ten minutes after the polls have closed. Then the frothing attacks are unleashed, all the while, taking their pay off those they rail against. Another well worn opportunist method is they create the problems, muddy the waters and fish the waters to see what they yield. A further example, is the jargon they employ to cover their tracks such as "privatization", "restructuring", "rollback", and Rudds latest "brutopia". What care they, if they destroy the public hospitals, the education system, fire brigades, ambulance, pensions and Centrelink dole? They think it is funny and their direction is backwards!

I've noticed very similar things to the author, not just with "battlers" in McMansions in the outer suburbs, cheek-by-jowl monstrosities with an average of 2.5 people in them, but the chain-smoking welfare recipients in the pubs, too.

Conspicuous consumption starts with the young, these days. No longer can kids wander down to the local park and find enough artifacts to play using their imaginations- no, they have to have an expensive gadget with a half-life of two weeks, which, as Mr French noted, in its short life will chew through enough batteries to have kept an African village in lighting for a month.

As a product of the 50s and 60s I manage with a lot of "old stuff". My stereo was bought in the 80s, and my TV, while a biggie, and only 5 years old, is not flatscreen and will be kept until it breaks (of course, if it does, it would not be worthwhile to have it fixed!).

Some degree of "keeping up with the Joneses" is necessary- few of us would be surfing today's web on a 1995 model computer, for instance, and cars are improving with every new release, in fuel economy and safety, important factors.

I guess "bigger is better" in many people's minds whether it's their house, or the kilowatts their car puts out, or the size of their TV screen or the watts the stereo system outputs.

One wonders what the outer suburbs will look like in a few years if the recession bites hard- who would want to live in a gigantic house, with no yard space for a veggie garden, no eaves to shade from the blazing sun, no public transport, shops nowhere to be seen, the only views that of the neighbours' houses 3 metres from yours, and fuel at $3/litre with the only work available an hour's drive away?

I'm so pleased that the muddling mcmansioners are unlikely to be readers of OLO. If they saw the light, my own very comfortable standard of living would slither down the plug'ole.

Most of my wardrobe, my home furnishings, my garden embellishments have come from the Good Sammys, carpark trash'n'treasure and kerbside collections. The cost would soar and standard plummet if they who treat all things like kleenex tissues were to value them appropriately.

My favourite quote comes from Socrates who, standing in the middle of the market place, looked around him and commented, "Look at all the things I don't need." Too many people echoing him will bring about the Fall of Western Civilisation as We Know It.

Diana

Why do people complain that life is complicated?

It seems to me that life is very simple. Some examples:

If you want to lose weight: Don't eat.

If you want to save: Don't spend.

Living within your income is equally easy, but the problem is that every sector of society will oppose you. The problem is that unless growth continues, unemployment will rise.

I must admit I am biassed. If my super fund goes up $20k, that's just a book entry that has to be accounted for. The real buzz in life is when you can go into Coles and have an item rung up at the checkout at a price higher than is displayed on the shelf. You then point this out, and get it for free.

The joy I feel at not spending must be at least 100 times greater than the joy of earning. That is why I don't gamble, or watch advertisements.

I know that I am an economic traitor, in having a seven figure sum just sitting at call because I can't think of anything I need to spend it on, but it seems to me that if more people were like me, the country would be a lot better off.

When we have our foreign debt called in, I will be pressured to assist those who become insolvent. Why should I?

I agree with most of the comments here about wasteful extravagance and living beyond our means. I have contributed to these columns before, so won't repeat the ways that I live within my means by not eating out, smoking or drinking etc and living a more healthy life as a consequence. What I really feel is immoral in this day and age is the advertising that pervades all our waking lives. Not only is it misleading and patently emotional in its appeal, it raises everyone's expectations to an unattainable level and to a point where people actually believe they need it. The most valuable items that I possess are the mute on the remote control for when the commercials appear and my VCR to record anything of length in order to Zap the advertising. I have three VCRs so that I can record what I like and watch what I like, when I like.

60 minutes become 43 minutes, so look at the time you save as well !