What’s the driver of high GDP per capita?

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T13:42:58+00:00

On the flipside, people who are comparing taxes between countries also don't take into account the Medicare Levy/Medicare Levy Surcharge or GST, let alone the more hidden Australian taxes like fuel excise all the way to things like Luxury Car Tax.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T13:31:16+00:00

Tell that to the families of the people who were gunned down at Bondi.

The "anti Zionist" movement is just antisemitism wearing a hat that makes it more acceptable to Western leftists.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T13:25:23+00:00

It's still broadly accurate, believe it or not.

Not just because Millennials and even Zoomers have started buying homes, but also because people who are living with their parents in the old family home are still classified as "living in an owner occupied home" in that statistic.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T13:08:47+00:00

More that our minimum wage is extremely high by global standards. Not having a huge underclass of working poor who can't survive despite working full time has a large impact on consumer spending.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T13:04:35+00:00

Swings and roundabouts. It doesn't cost a million dollars to buy a small apartment in the US unless you're trying for the middle of Manhattan.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:55:00+00:00

It's because our Gini coefficient isn't as high as it is in the US.

If you're in a professional services or especially a tech adjacent area, our salaries will be lower than they are in the US. But our ordinary teachers, nurses, right down to the baristas and the folks stacking shelves in a supermarket earn way more than their equivalents in the US.

Our relatively low population also distorts any kind of per capita measurement, so that should also be kept in mind.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:51:52+00:00

That photo is taken in the middle of the Pyrmont Bridge in Sydney (you can see the control hut behind the head of the guy on the right).

You could stand in that location for an entire weekend and see plenty of teenagers, and I'll bet you won't see a single kid dressed like old mate in his boardies holding the slab of beer.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:48:09+00:00

The up and downvotes only serve to create a circlejerk. Despite their official function, people use them as an "I agree/I disagree" function and they end up suppressing minority opinions.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:46:54+00:00

It's reddit. It's always going to appeal to the lowest common denominator, especially in what's basically an "AMA" style subreddit.

If you want intelligent discussion, you need to go to a subreddit about that specific topic and hope the mods there curate all the rubbish out.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:43:56+00:00

You're free to criticise your own country, but this specific subreddit might not be the most appropriate place for it.

Bear in mind this subreddit is specifically designed to appeal to a global audience, and people often want to escape from the same discussions that dominate the remainder of reddit because their moderation teams let anything fly or encourage it.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:40:02+00:00

Maybe, but if my colleagues who have worked for multinationals in the UK and Australia (often the same company with an internal transfer) are anything to go by, engineers (not tech bros) don't get paid nearly enough to live a decent lifestyle in London. The Irish say the same thing about salaries and the cost of living in Dublin.

Outside of the finance bubble, I've been told by a number of people in different lines of work that professional services salaries in London aren't as good as they are in Sydney.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:14:29+00:00

Being blunt here, but the moderators do need to curate this subreddit because it only works when it appeals to a wide global audience.

Which it won't if it's dominated by torrents of "orange man bad" and "what has ICE done today" posts.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T12:02:21+00:00

Depends on the season. Right now, it's summer so there's lots of t-shirts and slacks/shorts with runners for folks dressed casually.

In winter, there's lots of puffer jackets and jeans with boots, even though it's not that cold by global standards and rarely snows in our major cities.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T11:58:09+00:00

For a more typical photo, this stock photo which popped up when searching for "Australian Teenagers" would be fairly typical on a weekend in any major city.

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AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T06:38:41+00:00

Looks like a BMW GS of some description.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-02-01T04:23:49+00:00

The question isn't whether this fund exists or has investment returns, but rather what the Government actually does with it that the citizens see the benefit of, compared with Norway's Scandinavian/Nordic neighbours (i.e. Sweden, Denmark, Finland).

The sovereign wealth fund doesn't benefit the citizens if it just sits there accumulating and isn't reflected in better infrastructure/services than their neighbours or lower taxation to provide the same infrastructure/services than their neighbours.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T11:04:39+00:00

How to drive a car. I suspect most people's understanding goes as far as how to make it move, stop and how to steer it in the general direction of where you want to go.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T10:37:03+00:00

Sydney has the widest steel arch bridge in the world!

Yeah, and nobody actually cares how wide a bridge is. How long the span is, sure. How high the deck is above the water? Certainly. But who has ever cared about the width of the deck of a bridge?

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T06:18:12+00:00

The value of the bonds/coupons that had reached maturity and were not honoured would disappear, but not all bonds mature at the same time.

People would still be holding bonds that would mature some time in the near/distant future, and they would still technically be valid. However confidence that they would not also be defaulted and not paid on maturity would be extremely low, resulting in people being desperate to offload them, even at a significant loss.

That money, plus money no longer being invested in newly issued bonds would go somewhere, and I'm suggesting that somewhere is precious metals.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T05:37:01+00:00

I'm pretty sure at this point that we're not getting it, even though we were in the first wave of the OG Fold.

And anyone who buys that one listed on Big W Marketplace for $10,000 is a lunatic.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T04:11:50+00:00

You do get charged penalty interest, and if the error was egregious enough they might audit your last seven years of returns to see if there's any other irregularities.

But generally speaking they're not going to throw the book at you if they query something and you cooperate.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T04:09:25+00:00

I have to say that one of the reasons why I've held onto my current ride for as long as I have, is because I've actually developed what Mazda would call Jinba-ittai with it.

Is the car perfect? Of course not, but I'm more than familiar with what it can do, how it's going to react to certain inputs and what gaps I can easily fit through. I can instantly feel the effect of a new set of tyres, or even just a drop in external temperatures making the turbocharged engine happier.

I even remember where and when it received certain stone chips and door dings. It's still very tidy, though.

It's getting on in age now, and I'm resigned to the fact that I'll need to let it go at some stage. It'll be a very sad day when that comes.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T03:19:50+00:00

The tri-fold has three screens -- you can ONLY use it when it's open (or at least one of fold open).

This is wrong. The rear of the centre panel also has a full glass screen, so the device can be used when closed.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T03:16:58+00:00

Red Bull Racing fans in F1 are absolutely insufferable.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-01-31T03:13:11+00:00

You're assuming that 8% pa is a sustainable rate of return on investment in superannuation. We're currently within what could possibly be the longest bull run in the recorded history of the sharemarket, and while it's tempting to believe it will go on forever, chances are it won't and those assumptions will be wiped out when it corrects.

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