personally, I dislike Howard
Woo hoo! Something else we agree on.

Euro countries also protect workers’ jobs better, have better public education systems, better public health systems etc…
I agree entirely. Believe me, my political views are a million miles from Greg Sheridan’s and pretty much anything that comes out of the Murdoch propaganda machine.

What I’m trying to say is, if Howard is going splurge $20…[Read more]

Putting aside the fact that Australia’s top tax rate is much higher than most OECD nations (outside of Europe) the real problem is that corporate, capitals gains, and personal income taxes are levied at very different rates; 30%, 24.25% and 48.5% respectively.

These distortions mean that high income earners “spend much of their lives trying to…[Read more]

I knew I should not have followed that link. You don’t know me at all. Why would I find that babbling rubbish of any interest?
True, I have absolutely no idea where you stand on economic reform. You seem entirely satisfied that there are no problems whatsoever with the economy and that the Howard government can do no wrong. Government…[Read more]

highlights our insane obseesion with fair go, socialism, blue collar first, onya farmer jack, tax the rich, books are for nerds mentality.
Well, I think that Australia is long gone. The point I took from the article is if we’re going to a pro-business, pro-free market government, for Christ’s sake lets have one! They don’t have any excuses after…[Read more]

You know I get booted every 1-2 months
Can you get booted off this forum? I assumed it was unmoderated otherwise someone would have kicked me off weeks ago. [biggrin]

I think they will achieve this though. Watch this space after July Senate take over by the Libs.
Indeed, they have a historic opportunity to reform the Australian economy without an obstructionist Senate. Lets hope they show a bit more courage after July than they did in the budget.

I think you may find this article…[Read more]

I am really sick of repeating myself to you so I really think we should go our seperate ways
Please, lets agree to disagree and let this be the end of it.

Of course I would be in a position to buy a better house if prices fell, and yes I would be looking for a house in the $1M+ range. I haven’t attempted to suggest otherwise.

As for battlers (i.e. non home owners) being better off if prices fell, of course they would be. They might finally have a chance of owning their own home.

The challenge…[Read more]

That is the problem David. Your “serious” discussion is looking at one point of view only and discarding almost all others. A “serious” discussion looks at both sides. You continue to fail to do this.
If it is true of me, it is equally true of you.

Please tell me why you think a strong AUD and continued high house prices are a good thing. I’d…[Read more]

David, you are not a battler mate
Did I at any point say I was a battler?

The personal attacks continue. Why? I don’t know.

Are these the ‘battlers’ you speak off that benefit from decreasing home prices and a decreasing AUD?
I’m not going to tell you that the northern beaches are the home of the battler, but yes, FHBs actually have a hope in hell of buying something up here now.

The lower AUD is vital to save our exporters and ensure Australia’s long-term economic…[Read more]

Don’t be a hypocrite David. You want home prices to crash so you can get a bargain

Hmmm … rather than respond in kind, I’ll let other readers make up their own mind. I’d rather have a serious economic discussion that continue with this childishness.

I would rather see exporters go down
That would be a tragedy far greater than a correction in…[Read more]

You obviously consider your own product as ‘nothing’. How about the services provided? Aussies working overseas are also considered exports. There are also farmers products, aquaculture, processing of commodities, finished building materials, etc… None of these are commodities.
Agricultural products are commodities also, but not in demand like…[Read more]

dmichie, the more you post, the more I want to see our dollar go through the roof to destroy the export markets
Charming.

After all, their are a lot of first home buyers looking to buy a house on the Northern Beaches!!! (Please note my sarcasm!)
You’d be surprised, there are quite a few houses asking in the mid 500s on the northern beaches these days, and the actual selling prices are probably under 500K.

My point was that the FIRB exists to prevent the sale of all our real estate to other countries.
So we’ve got nothing to sell to the rest of the world then (apart from commodities we dig up out of the ground)

Yes 1 property sold out of 14. I know of at least two more auctions that were withdrawn prior so the clearance rate was possibly worse than 7%
Actually the situation on the northern beaches is much worse than this. Unbeknownst to me, LJ Hooker held an auction fest at a big BMW delear on Tuesday night. 13 properties were put to auction, none…[Read more]

Actually, a huge number of new properties and specialised properties (the most expensive ones) are sold each year to overseas investors.
True I will concede this point (as I did previously) but I defy you to name a successful economy that built its wealth on selling off its real estate to other countries.

obiwan, you mustn’t post that link, people might actually start believing this is a bubble [biggrin]