Quote Originally Posted by kup View Post
My Uncle emigrated from England roughly 30 years ago as a young man with almost no money. When he arrived he quickly found cheap accommodation and people literally knocked his door to offer jobs. Very soon he purchased his own reasonably large home at something ridiculous like $20,000 or less. After a couple years he and a friend saved enough money went on a trip around the world that lasted over a year. A couple of years after this he met my aunt and went on another trip around the world for roughly the same amount of time.

These days his $20,000 home is now worth well over a million and because he doesn't have to pay a mortgage or rent he has 2-3 Holiday trips overseas per year and is pretty much set.

Very tough life indeed.
I'm not disputing that house prices have soared excessively, just stating that the sentinment is out there. And I agree w/ you. We live in a much different society nowadays.

The market forces have changed dramatically, government social policy has changed, people's values have changed. The gap b/n rich and poor has widened and that carries implications. The middle class is thinning and that places pressures on families. Globalisation has transformed the world and reaped great benefits but it too has sown great detriment. We move forward but what I find grieves me greatly is how the disparity between the rich and the poor. I work 3 jobs. I could gloat on about how much i've done and how I deserve everything I have. But I don't. It saddens me that we forget that. As people, our first priority should be a sense of compassion to one another. Yet so often are interests and agendas put ahead of that. We vigorously defend those interests in a righteous manner when what matters most is not those interests. It is how relate to one another.

The issues are complicated, I acknowledge. There is no easy fix to problems such as negative gearing. There are social and economic forces and motivations here that we cannot pretend to control. I'm not advocating that we sit there and accept it. But at the same time, the necessity of action cannot be ignored. It is not an easy crossroads that we find ourselves at and I believe it is the role of government to shape the direction in which we head, to bridge that disparity. I can't say I'm overly optimisitc, but one has to hope in something.


We have the capacity for self-determination and commitment. We have the capacity to exceed our own expectations of ourselves. We have the capacity to generate an income that enables us to lead the lifestyle we so desire. However, at the same time we possess the capacity for compassion and friendship. We may be stronger willed than others, more prudent than others, more skilled than others but let's not hold that as a bludgeon w/ which we can righteously assert our own selves. Let's use our capacity for compassion, our skill and prudence to help those less fortunate in our society.