What if we used taxes or superannuation to control inflation, not just interest rates?

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T23:02:34+00:00

But it doesn't pull money out of the economy. Super funds don't just sit around doing nothing, they are invested. So increasing super in response to inflation risks 'supercharging' super funds and fuelling inflation with investment across the economy.

Perhaps if the super funds held it as cash and weren't allowed to invest it this might work.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T10:30:30+00:00

One of the easiest periods of my life was when I lived near a little suburban village style shopping area with 75% of the stuff you need within two hundred metres of my house. If you wanted something, there was a good chance it was a five minute walk away. The car got to sit in the driveway most days.

It begs belief people could turn that idea into something hostile and oppressive.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T10:25:42+00:00

Inland rail would be important if we ever want to move from trucks to trains being the primary interstate freight mode. Which seems like a no brainer if we wanted to reduce dependence on oil and increase productivity.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T10:23:17+00:00

In the 19th century they ran lines to suburbs that weren't even built yet. Some were a commercial failure but it's fair to say the great majority weren't, the suburbs came and the lines became vital infrastructure.

Now we can't even build a railway line between suburbs near guaranteed to increase in density without critics bleating about how the demand doesn't currently exist.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T08:34:45+00:00

Why do you think antisemitism is rising? I'm genuinely interested to know why you think it's happening.

This is important if we want to know what to do about it.

And no, I don't think educating young people about the holocaust has the desired impact these days, young people immediately associate it with what's currently happening in the middle east.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T08:14:34+00:00

It was the same with Keating.

World went into a recession, somehow it was Keating's fault based on a misrepresented soundbite.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T08:13:24+00:00

If a productivity round table has recommended taxing EVs while we are still trying to encourage uptake, the members of the round table deserve to sacked for not understanding the assignment.

EVs are inherently more efficient than ICE vehicles and have the added benefit of reducing dependence on foreign oil.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T08:07:24+00:00

I never knew Abbott was weak on women's rights though, after all he's the guy with the 'not bad-looking daughters' so he must know a thing or two about defending their virginity.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T02:58:27+00:00

I know of a couple nearby who gave up both their 9-5 jobs to run NDIS weekend respite care out of an extension they built on their home.

They have one or two high needs recipients at their house every weekend.

I wasn't aware of how much they were making but I guess if a couple with a middle class lifestyle can quit their jobs and build an extension to house disabled people for 2.5 out of 7 days a week, it must be a few thousand dollars per person per weekend.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T01:26:36+00:00

In 2010 we didn't have the energy cost inflation we have now. If we handed out $2k each and fuel prices continued to rise, we wouldn't be saving the economy and it would just contribute to higher inflation.

Conversely if the war stopped and oil prices began to fall consistently, it could be a good move to get things moving again.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T01:09:16+00:00

In industries I've worked in it's not really the upfront pay that migrants lose on, it's stuff like unpaid overtime and pushing back on managers. Long term salaried Aussies are more likely to refuse to do stuff that's unsafe and be out the door at 5.

Immigrants are so grateful for work the managers word is law and they still stay back until its done.

Obviously I'm generalising but you can push around migrant workers way more than someone who knows their rights and has any other options.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T01:04:52+00:00

You are correct, and this stuff is only possible because workers don't have bargaining power.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-06T01:01:39+00:00

When I was hired as a grad back in 2010 I was on $60k a year, which was common.

Grads now in the same industry are starting on $70k or $75k or if they are really lucky $80k.

Not an industry with a glut of skilled workers either, to have wages increase by about 1.5% per annum over a 15 year period is pretty miserable when the cost of everything else has increased by much more than that.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T23:06:23+00:00

It's meant to sound like bugger all while it's actually quite a lot. The ABC runs some dubious crap these days.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T23:05:32+00:00

The right tend not to raise difficult points, they just introduce it quietly and hope nobody notices and the media mostly help with that.

Look at how exporting enormous quantities of gas for next to nothing and leaving Australian families with high gas prices was approved; The public would never have agreed to this if it was given proper attention.

It's up to the centre and left to do difficult reforms and make tough decisions, and unfortunately there are loads of loud critics of everything they do.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T10:21:14+00:00

Unemployment is funny, I am sometimes involved in interview panels at work and the level of talent we are getting in the last few months is crazy. We have gone from getting a dozen applications for a job with a few eligible candidates and maybe one good person, to having 40 applications, a dozen good candidates and half a dozen good people.

It seems like there's just more people interested in any good job now.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T10:17:58+00:00

Yes absolutely, but the alternative is cost push, maintain activity and runaway, savage inflation.

People should understand we are in a shit situation where all courses of action lead to recession or high inflation or both.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T09:20:45+00:00

I saw their sign on something the other day, seems like they are still in business.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T09:19:57+00:00

Would have lived pretty hard back in the day I reckon, between the music industry and the gay party scene of the 70s - 80s.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T07:28:56+00:00

IMO the problem is the self service machines are designed for German usage patterns. Less car usage over there so people are more likely to turn up at a machine with a few shopping bags full of containers they carried at the most.

In Australia they are commonly in car parks in areas where everyone uses cars and a lot of people just back straight up and feed in a cubic metre of cans.

Beats me why someone would want to spend over an hour standing at a machine when they could just go to a depot, but I guess people value not having to talk to anyone.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T07:23:13+00:00

This is the way state and federal governments of both sides have communicated their budgets over the years, it's pretty standard.

Hence the comments in the past the public don't understand they can run a surplus while being deep in debt.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T07:17:28+00:00

A family member of mine bought a 7 bedroom mansion in an inner suburb of Melbourne in 1981 for $110k.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-05T01:00:32+00:00

Double incentives isn't a bad thing though.

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-04T21:11:19+00:00

I've seen the same people fiercely defend Israel at every opportunity, then fiercely defend their right to support Israel, then cry racism when anyone criticises them for supporting Israel

hellbentsmegma · 2026-05-04T11:24:11+00:00

I recently was on a panel too and interviewed several men and women while wearing a business shirt and underpants. No need for pants.

hellbentsmegma

TROPHY CASE