Materialism? I think that has always governed the minds of many families. Most I knew aspired to own a home and buy whatever was available whether it be a home, entertainment and white goods.

Only difference in old days is that most had far less resources to buy so many things, as is the case today with offshore manufacturing and technology delivering so many more consumer products.

I quickly read report, impressive research of data.

But nothing about how and why we got there, and what can be done to avoid the situation.

Chris,

It's not John Roskam's "opinion". If you read the report, you will see percentage declines in 23 of the 25 areas. The report is not right or left; it is based on statistics.

As you won't reveal your age, I have to assume that your experiences are limited. We are talking about a decline over 20 years only, here, so your memories appear to be very limited.

Your list of grievances against the past are personal and ideological, not connected to Australia and Australians as a whole. And we don't know if they are first or second hand.

Nevertheless, if you are happy with the way things are, and the way they are going, it is not my place to try to convince you otherwise. You will have to put up with whatever is coming our way a lot longer than I will.

ttbn,

I am in my 50s.

Yes, I understand the research, but all it is a list of statistics. There is nothing intellectual at all about the research.

I want to know what the IPA proposes to avoid the negative data it presented.

It talks about prison rates and car ownership, but there are many stories that could be told to explain the trends.

It depends on your employment situation. Public Service = full time without the burden of accountability vs private sector = being screwed by bureaucrats, fleeced to no end & job security nil !

ttbn,
If you've read the report rather than just regurgitated the press release, why didn't you provide a link to it? It's at http://ipa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IPA-The-Fair-Go-Going-Gone-Jan-2021.pdf

Having looked at the categories they chose, I see many of them have far more to do with the IPA agenda than a fair go.

I'm too busy to write a meaningful response right now, but any questions you have I'll answer tomorrow.