It seems a good time to remember, in amongst the rhetoric of election campaigns that all parties will keep house prices where they are.
The way back to affordability is 10-20 years of marginal house price growth, to enable housing to come into line with long term trends. Fluctuations that are radical pose radical problems for politics. So they opt for the sustained. This is what I think Australia’s (and others) future housing comes down to the (continued) debasement of currency through broad (stealth) taxation.
What a game.
I suspect voting preferences will swing around the late 30s quite bad :-/
Unions are great and everyone should have one, but unfortunately there are some professions where unionisation is beyond the current imagination. Software engineers for example. They didn’t need one historically because wages were higher than many other professions, but that has changed over time due to an over supply of professionals. Its the kind of profession that encourages individuals to compete against each other for salary increases. I see many people doing unpaid overtime, partly because the field attracts people who work compulsively for reasons of professional pride.
I take it the down vote is coming from someone misinterpreting my points. Lack of unionisation in many industries is partly due to the fact that they are very individualised in nature (individual works hard to distinguish themselves amongst their colleagues and get an individual pay rise). I don’t know the best path forward to change this mindset, but we need to recognise it and talk about it.