Australia is borrowing $100 million plus per day to service an out of control deficit.
Our boarders were breached yesterday by 70 individuals.
We have ongoing trade issues with live cattle.
We handed over $11 BILLION to Telstra so we can use their holes in the ground.
The Carbon Tax will see BILLIONS leave Australians pockets bound for the U.N. and big business coffers
Consumer spending and disposable income are spiraling downward.
The Australian dollar is worth $1.05 US but petrol is still $1.45.
Australian grocery prices are near the highest in the developed world with TWO companies monopolizing 90% of the grocery, liquor, and soon the fuel markets.
The old and poor are having difficulty paying for heat.
Schools are complaining that they cannot afford to heat the class rooms.
Firemen are concerned about the safety of attending fires in houses that have had the Solar Scheme instillations.
Etc etc.

In answer to this today's front page of the insightful Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH ‘S banner reads "NEW WEIGHT DIVISIONS TO END JUNIOR LEAGUE SIZE MISMATCHES" with colour graphic of big kids and small kids. But kids with a much bleaker future than the generation that came before them. Less chance of OWNING a home, less chance of becoming a tradesman there is no mention of that.
If you work for the DAILY CLOWNAGRAPH buy a green wig and put up a shingle saying clown for hire, you have become entertainers. I am left to these base insults as rationality has left this country and insults are our only means of venting at the sheer incredulity of the state of the nation due to those guiding it and those reporting on it's guidance.

One can say many things pertinent to the above observation about news organizations that operate a million miles away from the “all the news that is fit to print” credo so vaunted in the movies. But right now I am so disgusted at the "give them bread and circuses" mentality of the government and media that I am warming to the Guy Fawkes method of dispute resolution.

I do, honestly,feel deeply hurt for you SOG.
You live ina country that survived the GFC.
One that owes far less than its trading partners.
Unlike America Britain France you seem blinded by the very worst of Medea.
In this thread, and one I WILL NEVER comment in,your remark is tainted , Nazi like Terrorist like.
In that other a person proposes deporting Australian politicians to Alcatraz.
On as little reality or under standing as is shown here.
It is no act of cowardice that sees me turn my back on such threads.
It is a determination not to feed such blind spite and so I leave your thread, to forever be a Wil Robinson one, lost in space.

You could have a point, or you may not. To trot out the GFC is rubbish, Europe was a basket case before the GFC, this from the IMF.

>>The total employment rate1 for people aged 15-64 in the EU27 rose steadily from 62.4% in 20022 to 65.9% in 2008, but fell to 64.6% in 2009. The employment rate for women, which increased continuously from 53.7% in 20002 to 59.1% in 2008, dropped for the first time in 2009 to 58.6%. In contrast, the rate for older people, i.e. those aged 55-64, has continued to grow, reaching 46.0% in 2009, compared with 36.9% in 20002 and 45.6% in 2008.<<

Belly some European nations had unemployment rates above 20% before the GFC, but as I said they were a disaster waiting to happen, but we were not, we owed nothing and had 20 Billion in the bank, our largest trading partner China actually increased demand when you look at 2009 and you have the temerity to sprout the Labor spin of "we saved Australia by spending the 20 BILLION and borrowing 60 BILLION more, turn your back on this thread, no loss, sorry to say my china that your words are hollow just rhetoric, no facts.

I consider myself an optimist, but that has taken a battering of late. I can't help thinking that we are emerging from a sort of "Belle Epoque" - a "gilded age" with a veneer of prosperity and promise for the future, but a rather grim reality when you scratch the surface. Tensions seem to be mounting, the shape of our planet gradually changing. The American World Order, in which we have held a somewhat privileged place, looks to be in decline (or at least a temporary hiatus). Our leaders seem tired, uninspired and content to look no further than the next term.

I'm grateful for what I have - a sturdy roof over my head; warm clothes for the winter and cool, clean water to swim in during the summer; enough money to meet my needs plus a little extra for modest luxuries; a car that runs and, with ridiculous registration, insurance and fuel costs, is still almost affordable; a good job and a safe community. I just wonder how long all of those things will last.

Every time I leave the servo or the supermarket, it's with a sense of disappointment at how much less my dollar has bought than a year ago. While my career is on the rise and my pay is increasing with it, it doesn't seem to keep pace. I can only imagine what life must be like for those whose careers have reached their zenith, and those who have ceased earning and are now living off pensions, superannuation or savings.

On the upside, I'm learning lessons that my parents and grandparents had to learn when they were younger than me - I've enjoyed a prosperous era they never saw in their youth. If they got by, surely so can I.

Sonogloin “and those reporting on it's guidance.”

Maybe you should read more Andrew Bolt and less Dilbert

In this country you are free to participate and contribute to the political debate

You are free to hold and express a view and personally I will support your right to do so, regardless how ridiculously you rant

Re “that I am warming to the Guy Fawkes method of dispute resolution.”

We no longer have available the remedies which were applied to Guy Fawkes, to remind you that your sense of disproportional grievance does not excuse any acts of sedition and attempted murder by you.

Grow up and get over it…. The world could be a worse place….

For instance, it was the forces of libertarian capitalism which fought the tyranny of murderous socialist-collectivism, so newspapers could print what they want (and not what the government told them) and you have a right to have the ridiculous rant, without risking relocation to a gulag

And I suppose all this media evasion suddenly appeared out of nowhere when Howard was booted out of office - but wasn't he there so long because of the same sort of media treatment? At least he didn't have to deal with constant polls published every single week.

Come on, what you put on your Weet-Bix every morning to start the day?

Col, I agree regarding Andrew Bolt, and wobbles you may have a point regarding the weet bix. Other than those two points I still believe the media is not serving the population well. The Fairfax broadsheets are even worse when it comes to selective ranking and frequency of reporting. I again give the example of the children overboard, no fatalities and the issue ran for months, the Christmas Island deaths ran for two days then the media buried it. One of the first tasks the Rudd government implemented was to scrap the licensing fees for free to air TV, this bribe saw the TV stations report the news but certainly keep the anti government editorializing to a minimum.

Dear SOG,

I agree with you. It's hard to find newspapers that don't follow some sort of journalistic bias. And don't get me started on Mr Bolt. That's why resourcing as many overseas sources and news reports as possible sometimes helps to get a better general global overview.

Ahhh yes it is all very difficult.
Re the children overboard.
Of course they threw the children overboard.
Wouldn't you if you were on a scuttled boat ?

Barnaby Joyce pointed out where our debt had gone and because he called
billions millions by mistake they made fun of him, but when you look
into what he has been saying, we are in very deep dodo.

Even to the extent that our banks are at risk due to their very heavy
indebtedness. I suggest you go and have a look at his web site.
He usually has the references to the Office of Financial Management
so you can see the borrowings yourself.
I doubt we will be out of debt in the next 40 to 50 years.
If there is a crash in the US & or Europe there is no way we will escape it.

Sonofgloin “The Fairfax broadsheets are even worse when it comes to selective ranking and frequency of reporting.”

Do what I do… don’t read them

I advertise in them but would not pick up a copy of The Age to save my life…. for Melbourne newspapers I prefer the Herald-Sun (when lost over a lunch break) and never read the Age, which always seems full or pretentious crud about wine bars and this week’s barista moment – it always has been since before I arrived in Australia

If you want something on a national level well try the Australian, it’s a bit dull but nowhere near as boring as the Financial Review.

Personally, in these days of the internet, I prefer to pick up the UK Daily Telegraph, which I used to read daily, when I lived in UK.

Ah Lexi has a view on Andrew Bolt… how predictable… doubtless she sounds like one of those small minded lefties who cannot handle the truth and prefer to take their hissing fits out on a journalist of national repute because he tells them what is really happening. I do look forward to more when the battle over carbon tax (ie the sane versus the left) ramps up