Forum Replies Created
We’re in a funny period. Sluggish growth but with very low unemployment, and wage pressures suggesting future inflation. Prior to the 1970s economists didn’t believe you could have slow growth and inflation at the same time, but then it happened, so they called it “stagflation”.
Is stagflation making a come back? Who knows. The Economist looks at the issues here:
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3941024personally, I dislike HowardWoo 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 billion on tax cuts, he could have at least done it in an economically efficient way.
Australia is neither a Euro-style social democracy (with all the benefits you described) nor a lean and mean free-market economy, we’re some kind of mish-mash inbetween with (as big Kim said) a tax act that has to be weighed not paginated. If we are going to have Emperor Howard after July 1, can he at least show some reformist zeal and clean up the tax system.
Where’s Hewson when you need him?
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 shift income into the lower brackets through contracting, leaving money in corporate structures and/or running fiddles to get it out as something other than income, and risky investment negative gearing, especially on property (a big part of the reason for the recent property boom)” (as Alan Kohler put it after the last budget)
http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/14/1084289886748.htmlSure, it keeps a lot of accountants employed, but we’d be much better off as a nation if all that time spent avoiding tax was used more productively.
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 backbenchers are more critical.
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 July 1.
They have lower income taxes in the UK and NZ and they have Labour governments.
BTW, can you tell me who was Prime Minsiter the last time the top marginal rate was lowered (from 60% to 47%)?
You know I get booted every 1-2 monthsCan 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 interesting:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15256514%5E25377,00.htmlI am really sick of repeating myself to you so I really think we should go our seperate waysPlease, 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 for the RBA and government is to engineer a ‘soft landing’ whereby house prices ease, but we don’t end up with a recession and mass unemployment. Unfortunately the excesses of the recent property boom have been so extreme, it seems unlikely we will escape a recession.
Am I not entitled to my own opinion as to the economy and your motives?I’d much rather you actually express an opinion on the economy rather than continually harp on about my dark alterior motives.
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 much rather that than these continual accusations. A few days ago I was posting under aliases, now its email bombardment. What next?
David, you are not a battler mateDid 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 future.
As for a low AUD pushing up prices of imported goods, the ‘battlers’ are more likely to buy a Holden and a Whirlpool than a Beemer and a Miele, so the real pain will be felt at the high end.
Don’t be a hypocrite David. You want home prices to crash so you can get a bargainHmmm … 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 downThat would be a tragedy far greater than a correction in the housing market.
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 coal, gas and minerals. The poor bloody farmers have to endure an 80c dollar and a drought while they watch their city cousins splurge on imported plasma TVs with “equity mate” loans.
Obviously I am aware that there are companies in Australia that export non-commodity goods and services (I am aware of my own existence I would hope). The point is, these companies represent a tiny (and diminishing) fraction of Australia’s overall export income. Many of these businesses (especially the farmers) will go bust soon if the AUD remains in the 80c range.
If you think that’s all fine and dandy then great. I don’t.
dmichie, the more you post, the more I want to see our dollar go through the roof to destroy the export marketsCharming.
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 sold, and three more were withdrawn prior. So last week there were 27 auctions up here with one sale, plus another half-a-dozen withdrawn prior.
For anyone on the northern beaches the details are on page 2 of the glossy real estate liftout in today’s Manly Daily.
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.
