Is Australia the new 'Murica? (Has Australia become shit)

[nathanm]

I've been having an "OK Boomer" period lately and I think Australia really has become shit. I would once proudly defend our country to any loud mouth braggart Yank but I really think we've followed them into the quagmire.
Personally I think for a very long time, perhaps during or towards the end of the K-Rudd days we've lacked any quality leadership at the political level. Un/un-deremployment and stagnant/backward wage growth is killing the economy and we are killing the environment quicker than most countries. Healthcare is poor and we are only years away from an American style user pays system. In Tasmania we can't even build a new hospital without fucking it up royally and the ramping of Ambulance's plus the lack of beds is literally killing people.
Public school systems are underfunded and private schools are breeding grounds for bullying and elitist attitudes (including sexist train singing) the a/effects of are being seen in society. i really think people have become more stupider
The media is biased and to stay relevant, resort to sensationalist stories to drive anger, fear and panic in the sheeple.
The periodical return of a "pandemic" see's people panic buying of toilet paper, (sex jokes aren't funny) but come on people.

If it wasn't for the Mountain bike tracks I'd be so "fuck this shit I'm out"

Thoughts? ($10 says moorey just says...."OK boomer")

 

[moorey]

$10 please

 

[Haakon]

No arguments from me. Its just another Murdochracy.

 

[nathanm]

$10 please

I'm not gay but............

 

[Lazmo]

In '81 when I was cursorily planning my first overseas world trip, I had Asia, India, Russia, UK and Europe in mind.

A few friends asked me why I didn't have America on the list, and my thoughts then were, and still are, that we are just like them, but ten years behind.

I wanted to go to places that had different cultures to ours, to see how they lived, not to look into a future mirror.

 

[Jpez]

51st state

 

[frenchman]

 

[silentbutdeadly]

There are many places and cultures in a worse state than ours and there are perhaps ones that are better.

I feel that the reality is that we typically lack sufficient perspective and it's actually unlikely that we've ever had it so good (in general terms).

Sure there are a multitude of different pressures but there has always been something in here or out there that one could perceive as a threat to your current lifestyle. The internet just helps make it a longer and even more meaningless list.

There is not more shit. Just different shit. And the depth rarely varies...even across the decades.

 

[mas2]

Agree on the media aspect being out of control but don’t know how on earth you are comparing aus vs USA. Our health care is way better, University education way cheaper, politicians are politicians but ours aren’t anything like theirs. We also have the metric system and go by day month year.

Serious time though: I used to think similar, turns out I was depressed. One thing that helped a lot was to stop watching and listening to the news. Out of 10 how you doing, when’s the last time you had a good laugh, and do you find joy in anything?

 

[hifiandmtb]

This sums it up nicely:

 

[gillyske]

There is not more shit. Just different shit. And the depth rarely varies...even across the decades.

No quality of life in Australia is definitely worsening as wages stagnate in the services industries.
Inherited capital is causing an effect on class fluidity and we will soon see, if not already see a generation priced out of home ownership.

My parents were able to buy their 120k house with savings in their late 20's they didnt need to take a loan because it wasn't worth it. 20 years later that same house is worth 900k.
My partner and I earn same as my parents did when adjusted for inflation but theres no way we'd be able to buy a house with savings. It's unimaginable now.
Factor in the population boom Melbourne has experienced with little done to plan for it and now you have people that are priced out of the suburbs they grew up in and are forced to commute further distances than ever into the CBD.
Couple that with FEE-HELP debt and the uni fees which exploded in the mid 2000's.
Now with more and more people buying fucking private health insurance to offset their taxes by a dollar the libs think its time to move in on medicare? So we'll soon have health to worry about.
All the while the rich continue to receive government grants for the club houses and tax cuts.

Theres definitely more shit and if you aren't up to your neck in it you need to check your privledge.


All this being said, I may not have a house but I do have a sick bike so I got that going on I guess.

 

[Nambra]

I've said it here before; Howard was the last PM to put the nation before self-interest (although probably not at the end), all those since are disingenious career politicians intent on one thing only - keeping the job. The fallout of that is what we see with health, education, monopolies in retail sectors, high cost of living, cronyism and corruption, identity politics and basically incompetence at every level of governement. If you want a laugh, look up scomo on Urban Dictionay.

Whilst typing this, @mas2 has somewhat segwayed himself into what I was going to say next, and that is that as a parent I can't go around complaining about how fucked the country/planet is in front of my kids. They need to grow up with positive attitudes, knowing there's a whole world out there to explore and experience which indeed there is, it's just hidden from sight by a thick layer of modern day dross and banality. You just have to unplug and remember how to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

 

[moorey]

Agree on the media aspect being out of control but don’t know how on earth you are comparing aus vs USA. Our health care is way better, University education way cheaper, politicians are politicians but ours aren’t anything like theirs. We also have the metric system and go by day month year.

Serious time though: I used to think similar, turns out I was depressed. One thing that helped a lot was to stop watching and listening to the news. Out of 10 how you doing, when’s the last time you had a good laugh, and do you find joy in anything?

Can relate

 

[nathanm]

Serious time though: I used to think similar, turns out I was depressed. One thing that helped a lot was to stop watching and listening to the news. Out of 10 how you doing, when’s the last time you had a good laugh, and do you find joy in anything?

cheers man, am doing ok but could really do with a holiday. You're right, I could really do with a laugh as you said, too much doom and gloom in the world, thus spending working hours cruising here as there's normally plenty of laughs to be had. Off to confessions from the fuckwits to lighten up I think.

 

[Scotty T]

I've said it here before; Howard was the last PM to put the nation before self-interest (although probably not at the end), all those since are disingenious career politicians intent on one thing only - keeping the job. The fallout of that is what we see with health, education, monopolies in retail sectors, high cost of living, cronyism and corruption, identity politics and basically incompetence at every level of governement.

I wouldn't be so glowing in my praise. It was in the interest of the nation to go to Iraq? The guy still did his fair share of self interested stuff, and IMO you don't stay leader for that long without looking after the party room interests. Capital gains tax concessions, middle class welfare, increased fed funding to private education, WorkChoices, tax breaks for wealthy people. All that stuff increased inequality. How about all the money we didn't get as a nation from the mining boom? That was just a different set of cronies to the ones Labor had before Howard.

Wouldn't even apologise to the stolen generation. I'm not saying anyone was much better, maybe given the chance Gillard would have been, I think so. She apologised, and how about the thing she did that put his pedo mate in jail?

Sure, lots of good stuff happened for all us middle class or richer people but I would say he wasn't ever thinking about the whole of the nation, except for the gun laws. He said "for all of us" and perhaps he had a bit of a go at that with some of the policies that have served us well but he also did some of the shittiest things in the history of Australian prime ministers.

 

[gillyske]

cheers man, am doing ok but could really do with a holiday. You're right, I could really do with a laugh as you said, too much doom and gloom in the world, thus spending working hours cruising here as there's normally plenty of laughs to be had. Off to confessions from the fuckwits to lighten up I think.

You're not a fuckwit you're just a person, disenfranchisement in a consumerist world is probably the most common cause of mental illness our society faces today.

 

[Kerplunk]

cheers man, am doing ok but could really do with a holiday. You're right, I could really do with a laugh as you said, too much doom and gloom in the world, thus spending working hours cruising here as there's normally plenty of laughs to be had. Off to confessions from the fuckwits to lighten up I think.

Nah mate, what you are feeling is pretty common across the people around my life. I went to europe last year and it really dawned on me what a nanny joyless state we have become. Never felt that before, maybe it is a an older age thing.. or not..
I still have a laugh and I would take the advice mas gave you, stay clear of the media as much as you can and stop reading the echo chamber that your social media has become..

 

[nathanm]

stop reading the echo chamber that your social media has become..

I've culled my facebook down to sub 20 close friends and family but am a member of a good dozen or so dog, cat and mtb related sites only. makes facebooking so much more enjoyable. Oh and of course Betoota, the only reliable source of news.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

No quality of life in Australia is definitely worsening...

Perhaps you should ask your parents or older relatives for their perspective.

Speaking for myself...my quality of life has (by my own personal yardstick) improved over the last twenty years despite many of the typical measures of these sort of things (like wages, employment etc) actually going backwards. I was paid more in 2005 than in 2015...and now I work only for food, board and hugs.

Every generation past has done it tough in its own way and so will future generations. But things have definitely got better for most people over the last 50 years...though few would recognise that at an individual scale.

 

[Calvin27]

Country is going down the US path and by definition the lurger at a steady pace.

We seem to have all the cons of moving towards a US trajectory without and of the benefits. We get screwed on every single trade deal we've ever done in the last 30 years and we have none of the purchasing power or consumer power (sramano geo-pricejack-blocking for example). We have huge abundance of resource but manage to make it cost more for local markets (looks at gas) and we are like the virgin that is being deflowered by large multinational corporates. They see us as a big pot of money to milk from and do so accordingly. We keep ourselves economically alivve by doing the most basic thing possible - pumping immigration and then to make it worse we don' actually plan or invest for this growth, we do it long after the horse has bolted and when it costs a tonne more and when the actual upgrade cannot be done without screwing the existing system. By the time we finish, we are 2 squares behind where we were. Life by any metric is getting worse. Yes there are the BS numbers pollies spew but by enlarge, it is harder to own a home, there is more red tape (and hence costs) in everything we do,prospects have gotten worse on the job market and the important metrics like disposable spare time, time with family and recreation measurably fall and fall each year.

Only thing that keeps me here? Well the rest of the world is either shitter to start with or is going down the same path. The good places won't let you live there - I'd take anywhere in scandinavia if possible though.