In Australia it is a well known fact that house prices are a goldmine for those in the right position. Banks, Real Estate Agents, Investors, Developers, so many people making extraordinary amounts of money while house prices have for decades increased at multiple times the average wage.

Now many say that there is nothing that can really be done about this as its just the way it is, bar a few government schemes over the years that mostly just support the entire process by making it easier for people in the lower levels of the economy to get more money to throw into the maw of this voracious monster of real estate.

Of course we don’t mean the real low levels of the economy, as those peons have no real influence, or value to the higher levels of the Australian Economic Movers and Shakers.

(this is not our opinion, its shit at the bottom or close to it, but looking at how much has been done to address poverty over the last few decades, its obvious no one with real power gives a flying fuck)

Now we know Australian Federal and State Governments can essentially instigate nothing truly useful without being forced too, because they have spent decades at the high end of town being wined and dined by every powerful business that contributes to their coffers, while also being cowed from being honest or courageous by a media environment that is so beholden to the status quo that most of them wouldn’t know how to cover a decent idea if it got up and gave a 20 minute speech at the press club in really small words.

But there are two groups that are closer to the pointy end of the economy, with staff who interact with customers and members of the general public, who will hear directly the stories from people having  difficulty making ends meet, the truth of every day Australians lives and have to listen and often really feel it.

Unions and Local Councils.

Now Unions are (mostly) beholden to their members and will have to hear the stories of people trying to survive, and by their very nature have to do something about it, or appear powerless and a waste of time.

Local Councils, beholden in many ways to rate payers, not only have to deal with their paying customers having issues paying their bills, but have to deal with local issues of poverty and homelessness at what are increasingly alarming rates.

Now what can these too groups do?

Two of the factors that any honest economist will admit have dramatically influences House Prices, and the CPI, in Australia are Negative Gearing and the Capital Gains Tax Discount.

Both of these polices were introduced in the late 90’s and any decent graph of how house prices have risen compared to the average weekly wage will show you how truly distorted the ratio has been ever since.

(Don’t take our word for it, go look it up. The Australia Institute is a good resource)

Now recent figures indicate that over 25% of rental housing is owned by 1% of tax payers, which is hardly an equitable arrangement for renters that we would expect a lot of renting Union Members would agree.

Now another interesting statistic is that over 90% of Australians earned less than $150,000 a year.

That 90% earn about 72% of all wages and salaries but earn just 19% of Capital Gains.

By contrast over 20,000 Australians who earned more than $1 million a year make up 0.2% of all tax payers but earned 46% of Capital Gains.

So the majority of that 90% have no actual financial interest in Capital Gains discounts, but the rich million dollar a year do.

Anyone think the situation with Negative Gearing is much different?

The facts are that these two economic polices have twisted housing affordability, and the cost of living for decades and the majority of Australians are not benefiting.

Oh, and I’m sure the argument about building more housing will come up, but did you know that over the last 20 years the Australian Population increased by 35%, while the number of dwellings increased by 39%, so it can’t be the number of houses can it?

So not only are the facts that the property market, and therefore the cost of living skewed to the rich, but the effects, on the 90% of Tax Payers, and worse, those who make so little they don’t even pay tax (Unlike the rich who can just avoid it) are increasingly horrendous.

And to top it all off, the popular trend in racist Australia (Yes Racist, the White Australia Policy inspired South Africa’s Apartheid so it inspired the murder of Stephen Biko and imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, so credit where credit is due) is to blame house prices and scarcity on immigration.

This tired old bullshit of racists and those who seek power by courting them not giving a fuck about facts, about comfortable rich people (who may even be those seeking power, check their financials some time…) are using the scare tactics of non white people instead of learning how to properly count.

Now what can Local Councils and Unions do?

Get some of their accountants to work the numbers, look at these facts, and look at the costs they are incurring because of the financial hardship of the people they deal with, the extra costs, and not only financial, but psychological, of having their people deal with this day in, day out, and see the true value of bringing this up at every opportunity.

Australians, millions of Australians, are paying the cost of supporting economic polices that do not benefit them but actively harm them. They increase the cost of living, they fuel the arguments of racists who would happily destroy the nation everyone lives in, taking away a way of life that can be peaceful and happy, and succumbing to serious Nazi like shit that will harm your members, your employees, and your families with its anger and hate.

Your staff, your members, your people, know things are bad, so do something, do something truly meaningful, and force State and Federal Governments to actually do something effective, take a stand, make a statement on what they truly think about the 90% of Tax Payers, what they think of those doing it tough, those that you hear from every day looking at their bills and having to admit they are suffering hardship and need assistance.

You have the power, you have the influence to truly do something that will make the future safer and more equitable for so very many.

And if you don’t choose to do this, if you choose to ignore this potential, ignore the threats to safety and security that these economic polices are feeding, well then expect the future will give you a curse that Shakespeare wrote in a line so many years ago.

A Plague On Both Your Houses.