yabby..<<..Or did you mean the Australians,..where the average wage is around..1200$,,a week and they are better off then ever before?>>

oh dear...mr howhards line..[corr..it aint half cbvious..guv]
the abverage..person..should be getting..the average wage

but golly gee..they dont
mainly because a few..[like your 20 year old..
get over their fair share]...think of the many...serving your food..for 13 to 15 dollars..an hour

the..'average'..working slob..is luckey to get 500..
[if that]..after tax...and these are..by far..the many

the few dragging home 3 times that..do much to..distort the numbers
[thats why i hate ..the use of average wage..to make a point]

im not getting into the extra study they puty in
or having to work in the never never..[or peeing it all against the wall]..

the fact is the average..worker..
gets far below the average..wage..

[and yes thats all they deserve]

its still a cheap shot..
to use the average/wage..to score points

grow-up...howard needed to decieve..the great unwashed
here at least be honest..

the average wage..is a media spin/line
that allows..simplistic throwaway..lines..
that generalise..to make particular points

*The same percentage of us own homes, but we have nothing in the bank.*

Speak for yourself, sonofgloin. Last time I checked, households
had around 460 billion in bank deposits, which divided by 10 million
households would work out to 46k$, if my back of the envelope
calculation is correct.

But that is not nearly enough to cover the excessive borrowing
habits of the rest.

You've also ignored the many people who own a second home and
a third home, huge amounts of them, just as I had mentioned.

As to houses, 40 years ago it was a 3 by 1, 12 square fibro.
Now we live in the world's biggest houses, nearly twice that
size. McMansions are common. Upgrading the house makes sense,
for any profits are all tax free, unlike bank interest, where
the govt robs people blind. So that is what people do

oh and the shareholders is us
or rather those taking our COMPULSORY super/by the truckload

One Under God so many many issues you raise and have written about over the years on OLO [reading and catching up on your contributions]all true and years later!

Thank you from me, am profoundly grateful.

Yes, 'Banks'[ripped off on fees left right and centre over the years] and Super?....mine almost gone according to my statements. $19,000 I found on one statement four years ago, from one company; I was elated as a person who had won lotto! According to this year's statement it now reads: $177.00 LOL. Broke all my life from crooks stealing my hard earned lowly income!. I phoned and emailed them to no avail. "It must have been lost when other people lost their Super a few years back".

No pension or long service leave later for me [I reckon the pension will disappear in a few years or be worthless anyway]in terms of not rising in line with inflation, so that just leaves the couple of books i wrote years ago, to be printed and marketed.

Not playing victim as health and safety are the main priorities in life OUG.

I wish you too would write a book and I will be the first to buy it!

Sorry about this we are unique superannuation is OUR business not the banks.
Other please consider, my job saw me beg people to take control of their super.
Some have 4 or 5 different accounts, join them up please.
Why pay fees on every one, slackness not understanding your own best interests is harmful.
How many know some bosses get kick backs for putting your super in selected funds?
How many understand some funds still charge exit fees up to all CONTRIBUTIONS?
Banks are the last place my super would lay in shares or property out gain them every time.
Recent changes to super laws are better but our governments must stop the theft of unknowing victims who coast through life not caring till its gone.
I helped hundreds maybe thousands get the super in to one fund and most big funds are industry not for profit low fee ones look at YOUR super today.

"""
Are you disagreeing that 500 million people have been lifted out of poverty in China?
"""

Such a subjective number, I'll never know. The point I was making is we get told by people I don't trust to tell me the weather. I didn't see it with my own eyes.

"""
What puzzles me is why you think it is such a bad thing to do.
"""

On the contrary, I think its a noble thing to do (lift people out of poverty), but not at the expense of destroying lives in other nations. Yabby say's we've never had it better. Who's this we? Tell that to all my friends that have lost their businesses(their dignity) and are now mowing lawns for a living. Ask them if they've never had it better? Tell their wives that were happy to stay at home and raise their children in a stable family environment and now must work 40 hours a week to pay for their incredible living standard; and that's the ones that could get a 40 hour job. Remember you only have to work 10 hours a week now to be above the poverty line according to our illustrious masters!
And an Average pay of $1200 a week, Oh, puh-leeeze!

And people wonder why our youths are more frequently drinking and stabbing each other!

"""
I suspect that you may simply be re-living a personal experience, if so, I feel sad for you.
"""

Spare me your sympathy, Pericles, I don't need it nor want it. I just want a level playing field for my fellow Aussies. Is that too much to ask?

cont...

"""
That's "removing freedom from the poor"? Oh, puh-leeeze. I thought you meant something serious.

But the reality is that while getting a business off the ground here is difficult, and successive governments don't make it any easier, that has nothing at all to do with "personal freedoms" with which we are all equally endowed.
"""

Are you serious? How is it not removing freedoms when they (our illustrious masters) tie a ball and chain around both our ankles, while our competitors are given a free run?
Shackles are shackles no matter how you want to spin them!

And we're only equally endowed as long as we start a business that doesn't compete with others that have no government handicap placed on them.

Lets also not forget that if we embrace our new found exploitable populous, we're labeled as capitalist dogs here at home, it seems there's no winning, that's not freedom if you ask me!

"""
I think you may be getting a little confused. It happens.
"""

No Pericles, not confused at all, just totally P'd Off!

And are you denying that those poor souls in those countries are not being exploited?