Donno47

Yep, afraid so

Disclaimer; I don't know of my perception is based on reality, or simply the conservatism often seen in the aged.

I'm 78, a retired public servant.. This is how I see it: In broad terms, fewer and few people seem to have an ever increasing amount of the property and wealth in our society. That has meant those even in the middle are being squeezed, the result being far more struggle to even keep what they have. Certainly seems to be the case compared with when I wore a younger man's clothes.

Bought my first house in 1976. At that time the average mortgage was around $18,000. At that time, prime interest rates were around 10%. That meant that repayments were between 25-35% of household income. Based on a one income family..

I just looked this up. The figure for an average mortgage in South Australia was given as $658,000. Based on a two income family earning $130,00 PA. That figure seems low to be because the current median price of a house in South Australia is $1 million.

I've been retired for many years and have a comfortable retirement. This is not because of my income, which is modest. It's because of the things on which I do not spend money: The house and car are paid for and I do not use credit (I have only a bit card) I stopped drinking in 2002 and smoking in 2003 . I have never gambled or taken illegal drugs.

Australians still seem to largely be middle class by aspiration. That huge lump of our population has been based on the notion of the affluent working class. Seems to me that it has become so much harder for even a couple to become affluent no matter how hard they work.

So yes, it seems clear to me that our middle class is significantly smaller than it was even 20 years ago. Their wealth seems to have gone to an ever smaller and less deserving number of people. I won't give a list. I'm sure most people are able to name some of the obscenely wealthy oligarchs who give little if anything back to the societies which made them rich. Those people (with a few exceptions) seem to have only one mantra; "MORE!!"

Probably seemed like a good idea at the time. But perhaps not; the "Church" of Scientology has the same protection [and tax free status] of any other church.

That a great many people see Scientology as a ruthless cult which exploits its members matters not at all.

Dialed down just a bit, it seems to me "many people" simply do not see Scientology as a religion/church in the same way as say Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or even Mormonism.. Consequently, many people don't revere or respect their spaces. They seem to think that gives them the right to raid/ trespass upon of those spaces. ==it doesn't. Those fools may find themselves in court. Apparently haven't yet learned to think abstractly or to understand that many acts can have serious consequences.

There are a couple of issues here I think, assuming one accepts the basic claim..

The cause of the present situation and whether this is necessarily a bad thing for our society.

The cause; in part I suspect the IT revolution, which took off for ordinary people from the early 2000's. A few years ago, I made the flippant observation that mobile phones and some social networks were producing a generation of illiterates. Today I'm no longer sure that's completely wrong, at least as part reason.

In recent years, I keep hearing the complaint that today's young adults can't read an analogue clock and cannot read or write cursive script. That's true of some 30 year olds I know.

Is this a bad thing? People learn what they need to learn to function. It seems to be a fallacy that illiterate/functionally illiterate people can't function in our society. That depends on the tasks they need to do domestically and to earn a living. My observation is that these days [and earlier] people were often trained by their employers.

Perhaps the need for universal literacy began with the Industrial revolution and the emergence of a large middle class. Perhaps the hoi poloi were eventually taught a basic level of literacy because their work required them to be able to read at a basic level. Learning to keep time became essential for even unskilled labour.

So, what happens to the functionally illiterate today? In many Western countries, economies have moved away from secondary industry into service industries.

Now I'm aware these ideas are a bit simplistic. It isn't my intention to prove a point, but only to question the assumption.

Yeah, I've lived in Melbourne and loved it. But that was in 1966, I was 18, and the joint was jumpin'.

I was born and spent most of my life in Adelaide. A 14 month overseas posting to Malaysia/Singapore as a conscript 1969-70. Did extensive over seas travel in the 1980's.

From memory, I think about three Australian cities are rated among the world's most liveable. But, liveable is not a synonym for "affordable". Will it change for the better? I really don't know.

One life observation is that once housing prices have gone up, they don't tend to go down, although the rate of increase may slow.

Up to last year, I've been optimistic about dying before climate change and other catastrophes become personally inconvenient. Today I'm not so sure

"Can't afford" is a loaded phrase. I think it depends on one's life gaols. IE A high standard of living or a lower standard of living, but high quality of life.

I just looked it up. In Australia it costs between $300,000 to $450,00 to rear a child to age 18. The assumption is that a couple will both work, producing an AFTER TAX income of about $130,000 PA.

We have been conned. Somewhere along the line we came to believe that a high standard of living equals a high quality of life. Good little consumers buy lots of "stuff"

BUT yes, there is certainly a housing bubble in Australia, making our houses among the most expensive in the world. Today, the median house price in Adelaide is between 900-$1 million.==== I live in a so-called dormitory suburb. Today my modest, 120 square metre house has a council valuation of $700,000.

Today, cheap houses can still be bought. That's fine, as long as you don't mind living from 150 km [and more] from the City.

I have no answers. I'm 78 years old. I can't tell if things are distorted through the lens of advanced age, or things really are as bad as they seem for young adults just starting out in life.