Kodak! it is closing! 1600 jobs to go!
Gillard did it!
Well no, just thought I would jump in first Technology did.
Just as trucks killed the horse and dray.
Back hoes took the ditch diggers work.
Chain stores are taking the small business ones.
Next? some one will ignore the truth , price wars is a constant in such stores and warn of future price rises.

*A married couple could afford to have one of them at home to raise kids if desired. Now that is out of reach for most*

They still can, Pelican, but they have to drop their expectations.
Where I live, in the country, plenty still do. But they arn't
trying to buy a house in some leafy suburb, which is twice the
size of your average house of 25 years ago. How many houses
were air conditioned, 25 years ago? The list goes on.

People want things now and it is double income couples which
have driven up house prices in the cities, as they compete
with one another and with town planners who want them to live
high density rather then in houses, so limit land releases.

Yabby is right on this one, people can still live on one wage if they go back to living how my parents did. No internet, no mobile phone, no aircon, no bar fridge, only one TV, only one car, no house insurance, no car insurance, only eat real food. Kids wore generic brand clothing, and built billy carts for fun which are banned now anyway so the kids will have to fly a kite, errr um they're banned to. Maybe they can catch frogs and tadpoles, um nup, banned as well. Make sky rockets, hmm banned also. build cubby houses in the back yard, hmm neighbours complained so banned by councils. Ride their pushies, damn, can't find those Rockbank helmets. Shoot their air rifles, whoa! "BIG" ban on those, hmm can't make sling shots anymore and keep the starlings and possums outta the peach tree. I guess they could smoke dope and play on their Imeds. Nope, mum has to go to work for that. I wounder why they're so unsociable?

Belly, of cause JG didn't cause the demise of Kodak, that's technology at work. I would also suggest the boom in photo printing and sharing, combined with the spike in camera/phone sales, accessories and consumables has pretty much filled the gap.

What Julia Gillard did cause, and should be very ashamed of, is the tax free haven for off shore Internet sellers.

An 11% discount before a discount is very attractive.
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Here we have our Aussie retailers and wholesalers, doing the right thing, collecting the GST and passing it on, only to be stabbed in the heart because taxing the off shore traders is just to hard.

If every local trader, as one, chose not to charge the GST on items under $1000' what do you think she would do then?

And why shouldn't they!