This statement from the article is so poignant, **“I’ve got a full-time job, you know, I’ve got a life. I don’t want to be spending all my time thinking about this.” **
We are obsessed with increasing our productivity in this country. A measure i’m unsure is appropriate, or even directly comparable historically in an economy that has switched from agrarian and closed off manufacturing, to mining and services.
I see the housing system we have as a great example that fails Banerjee and Duflo’s second key lesson about improving the lives of the poor.
“the poor bear responsibility for too many aspects of their lives.” (Poor Economic, Banerjee and Duflo)
By increasing housing pressure by,
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Increasing buyer competition for a home,
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inflating prices in comparison to wages,
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Rising insurance costs, and now finally,
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interest rates
we are tamping down on the productive potential of generations of Australians coming through the system.
I am sure, (but have no evdence for this), these generations of people are spending more time, capital, and energy on housing themselves than the generations in later half of the 20th Century. In other words, we are actively making each generation relatively poorer than the last. I think there is a productivity dividend that we are leaving on the table by making housing oneself relatively more difficult.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The ABC has spoken to numerous clients of Niche Living whose homes are still not finished, more than a year after promised completion dates.
Sandra, who worked for the home builder for six months until October this year, said many clients would tell her about the distressing impact the delays were having on their lives.
Sandra claimed the company did not pay her superannuation entitlements, and she had lodged a complaint with the Australian Taxation Office.
The company has told Sandra and other former employees that it has complied with relevant tax office requirements, something the former staff dispute.
Customer Richard Hamilton said he decided to buy a new-build house in a Niche Living development in Orelia, south of Perth, at the end of 2020.
By January 2023, Mr Hamilton had been paying a mortgage on the unbuilt house for several years and had given up his rental property in the expectation of being able to move in in early 2023.
The original article contains 553 words, the summary contains 161 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
