#1
"What sort of peculiar capitalist country is this, in which the workers’ representatives, predominate in the Upper house and, till recently, did so in the Lower House as well, and yet the capitalist system is in no danger?" - Vladmir Lenin

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/12/08/australian-exceptionalism/

So let us take a hard look at our economic reality.

Over the medium term, our broader economic performance has been nothing short of astonishing. Before the resources boom was even a twinkle in the eye of Chinese poverty alleviation, our performance was world beating – that is worth keeping in your thought orbit. Big Dirt has a bad habit of propagandising about their own contributions and the Australian public has a bad habit of believing them when it comes to our own national development of late.

Imagine if, in 1985, all OECD economies had exactly 100 units of GDP each. If we then tracked the growth of that GDP (using OECD data) over time with the actual growth rates achieved during that period (creating a basic index) – this is how economies changed (click to expand the charts)



Only Turkey, Israel, Ireland and Korea have experienced more growth – with Turkey and Korea pursuing the change from developing to developed status, Israel partially so as well and Ireland recovering from the economic lethargy of civil war, we are the highest growing country that can be remotely called a developed country with no unusual circumstances. Putting this into context, let’s trace that growth over the last 25 odd years with some of the countries we are often compared to.



It’s kind of mind blowing – we grew faster, significantly faster, than all of the countries we are usually compared to, including over the period before the resources boom. But you ain’t seen nothing yet.

“What about the distribution of that growth”, I hear you ask. “The poor missed out” you might also be tempted to add.

Using data from the freshly minted OECD report on international comparisons of income distribution and inequality, where the average income growth per year was measured among countries between the mid 1980’s and the late 2000’s, what we find is that Australia left just about everyone else for dead. Not just at the average, or total household income level, but also with the size of the income growth among the poorest 10% of our households *and* the richest 10% of our households.

First up, total population income growth in blue, bottom decile income growth (the poorest 10% of households) in red and the top decile income growth (the wealthiest 10%) in green for all OECD countries.







It’s interesting to note that the only countries where the poorest 10% of households experienced faster income growth than Australia was 4 of the five PIIGS countries – the current basket cases of Europe. Something might be said there about false growth and swings and roundabouts.

Looking at how our growth here compared to the usual suspects:







And for direct comparison:



It is true that the income of the wealthiest 10% of households in Australia grew faster than the income of the poorest 10% of households – the income of Australia’s wealthiest 10% of households grew faster than any other cohort in the OECD. But it’s also true that our poorest 10% of households experienced faster income growth than any country other than Spain and Ireland (who are now quickly reversing that growth with their economic woes) , and faster income growth than the top 10% of wealthiest households in *every other country*.

The income of our poor grew faster than the income of everyone else’s rich. Just chew on that reality for a bit. Let it roll around in your head.

While you’re chewing on that, let’s take a quick squiz at minimum wages. Again, using OECD data, if we turn hourly minimum wages into US dollar equivalents using purchasing power parity adjustments (so we can compare like with like), we can see how the real hourly minimum wage has operated in Australia compared to the nations we’re usually put in the same bucket with.



We have the highest minimum wages in the OECD. Worth noting too that despite the incessant whinging from the usual business lobbies in Australia, it hasn’t done our economic activity any harm. Now if we compare the ratio of these minimum wages to the average wage for each country, giving us a simple glance at the distribution of wages for each country (which the OECD also fortuitously provides, saving us time), what we find is that Australia, again, sits on top.



Our minimum wage is a lot closer to our average wage than comparable nations.

So our economy has grown faster than nearly all others, our household income has grown faster than nearly all others (including our poor having income growth higher than everyone else’s rich) and we have the highest minimum wages in the world. But wait, there’s more!

“It’s unsustainable” I hear the skeptics say – “it’s fuelled by debt!”

Well, let’s have a quick look at government debt as a percentage of GDP. Here’s all OECD countries – I’ve thoughtfully pointed out Australia in the chart because it’s easy to miss:



And again, let’s look at the comparison with the usual suspects over time:



OK – So our economy has grown faster than nearly all others (certainly faster than all developed countries), our household income has grown faster than nearly all others (including our poor having income growth higher than everyone else’s rich), we have the highest minimum wages in the world and the third lowest debt in the OECD.

But “what about the taxes” I hear the skeptics say. “We have great big new taxes on everything!”

Well let’s have a look at tax as a percentage of GDP for OECD nations:



And again, let’s look at the comparison with the usual suspects over time:



We are pretty much the definition of a low tax country.

So our economy has grown faster than nearly all others (certainly faster than all developed countries), our household income has grown faster than nearly all others (including our poor having income growth higher than everyone else’s rich), we have the highest minimum wages in the world, the third lowest debt and the 6th lowest taxes in the OECD.

Now let’s talk about wealth – not income, which we’ve mostly looked at so far, but wealth – the value of our accumulated assets – housing, super, savings etc etc. Here, we’re going to use the The Credit Suisse 2011 Global Wealth Report.

Not only did this find that Australia has the second highest average wealth in the world at $397,000 US dollars per adult (with Switzerland ranked first), but we have the highest median wealth in the world – the wealth of the middleth adult in Australia – coming in at $222,000 US dollars.

The report also gives a number of stats among selected countries which is worth taking a good, long look at.

First up, mean and median wealth per adult:





Next up, GDP per adult in US dollars:



Getting the picture?

Now let’s look at the proportion of the adult population worth over $100,000 US dollars:



Finally from Credit Suisse, for some real global context, let’s look at the proportion of the adult population that is in the top 10% of *ALL* global wealth holders.



A full 75.5% of all Australian adults are in the world’s wealthiest 10% of total population.

And to throw a cherry on top in terms of just how our enormous economic growth, income growth and wealth accumulation has flowed through to our human development in a low taxing, low debt country – here’s the latest United Nations Human Development Index for the usual suspects:



We’re second, behind Norway, who knocked us off from our number 1 spot at the beginning of the 21st Century.

So this is our economic reality – we are the wealthiest nation in the world with 75.5% of our adult population making it into the global top 10%, our economy has grown faster than nearly all others (certainly faster than all other developed countries), our household income growth has been one of the fastest in the world (including our poor having income growth larger than everyone else’s rich!), we have the highest minimum wages in the world, the third lowest debt and the 6th lowest taxes in the OECD and are ranked 2nd on the United Nations Human Development Index.

And this didn’t happen by accident.

This happened by design.

This happened because of 30 years of hard, tedious, extraordinarily difficult policy work that far, far too many of us now either take completely for granted, or have simply forgotten about. We have, without even realising it, created the most successful and unique economic and policy arrangement of the late 20th and early 21st century – the proof is in the pudding. A low tax nation with high quality, public funded institutions. A low debt nation with world leading human development and infrastructure. The wealthiest nation in the world where even though our rich get richer, our poor have income growth so extraordinary that it increases at a faster rate than the rich expect to experience anywhere else in the world but Australia. A nation where we enjoy the highest minimum wages in the world.

But so many of us simply deny it – the conservatives deny it because it’s more convenient to whip up hysteria about their political enemies. Filling the heads of Australians with complete lies for partisan advantage and not giving a pinch of the proverbial about the human damage that would be wrought if they ever succeeded in getting us to talk ourselves into a recession of our own making . That’s not to mention many of their ideologues – denial is an absolute must when any acknowledgement of our actual economic and social reality would be to admit that their extreme policy fetishes are just pissing in the wind.

The broad left in Australia deny it, because to admit our economic and social reality is to admit that we’ve actually solved most of the big problems that other nations are still grappling with, and they had little to do with it. The problems we have left in Australia are difficult and sophisticated, requiring a level of thoughtful engagement far beyond the scope of occupying Fuck Knows Where in tents. If the US government responded to the Occupy Wall Street movement by implementing a large policy program that Australia already has – Occupy Wall Street would declare victory and go to the pub!

Then we have the ordinary Australian – who appears to be getting more ordinary with every passing day.

It might be time that Australia grew its reality based community – perhaps acknowledging maybe not Australian Exceptionalism, but certainly our exceptional results and what has actually caused them. Maybe a little pride in our achievements, a recognition of our triumphs, a grasp of where we indeed sit in a global context – if for no other reason than to crystalise out exactly what it is that we need to solve next, free from the noise of the drum bangers and their oxygen thieving ways when it comes to what passes for our national public debate.

Maybe just a little less unhinging.

And from Today:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/australian-economy-leads-the-world-20120418-1x6ac.html

Australia has the strongest economy in the developed world and it is expected to outperform all comers for at least the next two years, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, says this update is consistent with the reasons he has given for bringing the budget back to surplus.

The IMF - which issued its World Economic Outlook in Washington overnight - said it expected the Australian economy to expand by 3 per cent this year as fiscal tensions from Europe and the United States continue to ease.

The body stated that after a major setback last year with the Eurozone crisis, the global prospect of far more stable financial conditions was gradually improving.

The update said that it expects the Australian economy will outstrip growth over all other advanced economies over the next two years, noting we live in a region where exposure to troubled European banks was less than for other parts of the world.



Social democracy works?

#2
some shithead taxi driver just ran a red light and hit my dog
#3

littlegreenpills posted:
some shithead taxi driver just ran a red light and hit my dog



is it ok? sorry bro

#4
happy birthday IWC
#5
yes she's fine not in any pain thx. thought her tail was broken but looks like just a bruise
#6
does the australian government provide historical-cost profit analysis in its economic statistics agency
#7

statickinetics posted:
does the australian government provide historical-cost profit analysis in its economic statistics agency



i don't know what that is, sorry.

#8
well its too bad yall got a massive housing bubble and its about to snap crackle pop
#9
[account deactivated]
#10
clearly the close proximity to all manner of poisonous beasts has transformed the common British cutpurse and bloke-bludger into an evolutionary economic superman
#11

discipline posted:
what's the catch



muslims are trying to undermine it all and create austrabia

#12

statickinetics posted:
well its too bad yall got a massive housing bubble and its about to snap crackle pop



possibly, it won't pop like the US though, house prices are ridiculous but we don't really have the subprime crap, plus the reserve bank has plenty of room to move with interest rates

#13
im seeing government debt but not privately held debt (which is just government debt-to-be), are there numbers for those?

also im wondering how much of that growth is capital flight from the UK but thats more a kneejerk hunch of mine than anything i know about
#14
once your conservatives realize they have nothing left to bitch about or paint themselves as eternavictims with theyre going start false-flagging all over the place and before you know it its going to be Mad Max part 3: Fury Road
#15

cleanhands posted:
im seeing government debt but not privately held debt (which is just government debt-to-be), are there numbers for those?

also im wondering how much of that growth is capital flight from the UK but thats more a kneejerk hunch of mine than anything i know about



Private household debt is pretty big, people have very big mortages, the median house price for the entire Sydney metro area is half a million dollars, i'll see if I can find some figures.

The UK really doesn't factor into our economy in any real substantial way anymore and hasn't for some time, the big watershed was their integration into the EU when we started looking to Asia instead. Huge amounts of capital are coming into the country for mining projects at the moment (and China buying agricultural land!) and we are exporting to them giant quantities of minerals. If they go down, so do we as well, but we're locked onto them like a pilot fish at the moment.

Despite our incredibly low public debt, the governing Labor party has promised to provide a budget surplus next year to please idiot middle Australia and the business sector and is now stuck having to make cuts that they absolutely don't need to at all, it's retarded.

My generation has never ever known a recession, it's been economic growth since i was 6 or 7, unemployment has been under 6% for years. It's all going to come off the rails one day of course and Australians are going to be in for a big shock.

Murdoch columnists literally call the Labor party communists for introducing a carbon price or mining tax, the green party are "Stalinists" for wanting increased media watchdog powers. there is no sense of perspective whatsoever over here, it's unbelievable just how worthless and self-absorbed the Australian commentariat, and to some extent, the Australian people are.

#16
thats cool, i dont plan to leave the uk but i like to keep tabs on possible exits 'just in case'
#17
i think you guys might want to look into some increased military spending, to protect all that wealth you have
#18

Superabound posted:
i think you guys might want to look into some increased military spending, to protect all that wealth you have



Up to 2,500 US Marines will be stationed in Australia by 2017 under a new agreement announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US president Barack Obama.

Ms Gillard confirmed the deployment during a joint press conference with Mr Obama only hours after he touched down in Canberra on his whirlwind visit.

She says 200 to 250 Marines will be stationed in Darwin for training from next year, with numbers building up to 2,500 over the next five years.

"It is a new agreement to expand the existing collaboration between the Australian Defence Force and the US Marine Corps and the US Air Force," she said.

Our alliance has been a bedrock of stability in our region, so building on the alliance through this new initiative is about stability.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard
"What this means in very practical detail is from mid-2012 Australia will welcome a company-sized rotation of 200 to 250 Marines in the Northern Territory for around six months at a time.

"Over a number of years we intend to build on this in a staged way."

The US Air Force will also be given more access to Australian bombing ranges and training facilities in remote areas of the Northern Territory.

The announcement by the two leaders comes as Australia and the US mark the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance, the central security agreement between the two countries

#19
look, if you guys cant even keep Pine Gap safe from a bunch of abbos and tree-huggers dont be surprised when G.I. Joe has to come down and TCB for you
#20
do you guys still skull that drink called solo
#21
do ya still do tha tim tam slam
#22

littlegreenpills posted:
do ya still do tha tim tam slam


#23
Good question. IWC???
#24
ANSWER THE QUESTION IWC!!
#25
canadian exceptionalism
#26
Yeah we slam solo: it comes in a wide-mouth can for easy slammage

And i'm constantly doing the tim-tam slam.

Here's the shadow Treasurer who is actually my member of parliament

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/hockey-blasts-attitude-of-entitlement-20120418-1x7zs.html

They're still preparing us for neo-liberal austerity despite absolutely zero conceivable reason for it

SHADOW treasurer Joe Hockey has condemned systems of ''universal entitlement'' in Western democracies, contrasting this attitude with the concept of ''filial piety'' thriving across Asia where people get what they work for and families look after their own.
Speaking in London, Mr Hockey said that by Western standards the highly constrained public safety net in Hong Kong and other Asian places might seem brutal ''but it works and it is financially sustainable''.

''Contrast this with what we find in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. All of them have enormous entitlement systems spanning education, health, income support, retirement benefits, unemployment benefits.''

Government revenues fell far short of meeting the cost and the difference had to be made up by borrowing.

While he was less critical of Australia, saying that over the years there had been some key decisions to reduce spending, Mr Hockey said it still had ''a lot of spending by government which many voters see as their entitlement''.

He said a lower level of entitlement meant countries were free to allow business and individuals to be successful. ''It reduces taxation, meaning individuals spend less of their time working for the state, and more of their time working for themselves and their family.''

Both sides of the Western political spectrum were to blame for the entitlement mentality. Socialist governments had created a huge array of entitlements, and conservative governments had promised to fix the problem but just trimmed round the edges.

''Perhaps the real problem is the exuberant excesses of politicians who do not seem to understand or care about the fact that, like a household, a nation needs to balance its budget over time,'' he said.

But now ''the age of unlimited and unfunded entitlement to government services and income support is over'', he said. ''We are now in an era where leaders are much more wary about credit risk.''



#27
So "entitlement" is the buzzword of choice down under.
#28
ahahaha his name can't possibly be joe hockey
#29

Ironicwarcriminal posted:
They're still preparing us for neo-liberal austerity despite absolutely zero conceivable reason for it



stop making everyone else look bad, thats why

#30

LandBeluga posted:
So "entitlement" is the buzzword of choice down under.



its the buzzword up over too

#31

Superabound posted:

LandBeluga posted:
So "entitlement" is the buzzword of choice down under.

its the buzzword up over too


I don't think I've read any articles from elsewhere wherein it's 3% of the words used.

Entitlement vs Privilege Death Match Australia 2012.

#32

shennong posted:
ahahaha his name can't possibly be joe hockey



It is.

Also he's of Palestinian decent hahahaha. "Entitlement" isn't really a thing here which is why this stuck out, it's being imported from the US. I've heard American conservatives prattle on about "entitlement programs" with regards to social security and medicare all the time.

#33
Oh yeah and speaking of “entitlements” when his party was last in power they threw massive amounts of middle class welfare out to shore up support in the battleground electorates, nearly all of which are outer suburban areas with young families (which is why interest rates are an election-winning issue). The funniest of these is the “baby bonus” – The government literally gives 4 or 5 grand for popping out a kid.

When the GFC hit the government mailed everyone in the country over the age of 18 a cheque for $900. It was sweet, I spent it on drugs from what I recall.
#34
and yet its still australia
#35

deadken posted:
and yet its still australia



my beautiful homeland....

i've been to hampstead, i've been to LA, they got nothing on here....

#36
australia would be ok if it didnt have australians in it and if it wasnt australia
#37
australia is exceptional, anyone lucky enough to live here will tell you how everyday is super fun. gotta watch out for those deadly animals though lol
#38
Hi Vivian
#39
IWC if you came to brooklyn would you call the guy with me?
#40
Sure