What cheeses me off

[Quickstatus]

RBA reluctant to let interest go back up to the average of 10% they were for most of the 20th century.

The RBA won't. The interest rates (actually the overnight interbank unsecured loan rate) is used as the monetary policy to facilitate price stability and full employment

Before that term deposit rates were 15% which made saving deposit much easier.

No what made it easier was that the % of income required was much lower

 

[JohnK]

No what made it easier was that the % of income required was much lower

It's a number of factors.

Property prices in Australia have increased based on overseas factors not local. Salaries have not kept up and never will. Why are we allowing overseas investors to dictate property prices in Australia? Dumb plan. Really dumb plan. It will be worse in 20 years time. We may have some hope if we restrict foreign ownership. In fact start enforcing local ownership only effective immediately and force overseas investors to sell.

Rent in 1989 in Belmore was $140/week. Same place is now renting between $420-$500. There is no way salaries have tripled in the time.

In fact most things have gone up disproportionately in that time.

 

[drron]

I'm 61 and to be honest have never heard of iron lung until just now.

Here is a history of wouldn't work in an iron lung.

‘wouldn’t work in an iron lung’: meaning and origin

Australia, 1953—used of an extremely lazy person—refers to the artificial respirator that kept polio patients alive by “breathing” for them

wordhistories.net

Many other sources say the phrase originated in the 1970s but i can certainly remember my father using it in the 1950s so this account is more accurate. Possibly mainly a NSW thing as I remember seeing articles on few occasions about the woman in Peak hill who was in an iron lung at home.

 

[Pushka]

Here is a history of wouldn't work in an iron lung.

‘wouldn’t work in an iron lung’: meaning and origin

Australia, 1953—used of an extremely lazy person—refers to the artificial respirator that kept polio patients alive by “breathing” for them

wordhistories.net

Many other sources say the phrase originated in the 1970s but i can certainly remember my father using it in the 1950s so this account is more accurate. Possibly mainly a NSW thing as I remember seeing articles on few occasions about the woman in Peak hill who was in an iron lung at home.

Well known in SA too.

 

[JessicaTam]

It's a number of factors.

Property prices in Australia have increased based on overseas factors not local. Salaries have not kept up and never will. Why are we allowing overseas investors to dictate property prices in Australia? Dumb plan. Really dumb plan. It will be worse in 20 years time. We may have some hope if we restrict foreign ownership. In fact start enforcing local ownership only effective immediately and force overseas investors to sell.

Rent in 1989 in Belmore was $140/week. Same place is now renting between $420-$500. There is no way salaries have tripled in the time.

In fact most things have gone up disproportionately in that time.

Average salary in 1989 was $501.10
Average salary in 2024 was $1975.80

So nearly four times. They should be putting the rent up!

 

[RB]

Average salary in 1989 was $501.10
Average salary in 2024 was $1975.80

So nearly four times. They should be putting the rent up!

Maybe the place hasn't had any work done on it since 1989 and indeed is the same

 

[SYD]

Maybe the place hasn't had any work done on it since 1989 and indeed is the same

Might be one of these…

The toxic blooms hiding in many of our homes – and a new way to find them

Scientists are repurposing an agricultural device to better detect indoor levels of an airborne health hazard.

www.smh.com.au

Mind you, if one of my rental properties suddenly started growing mushrooms I’d be asking questions also.

 

[Quickstatus]

Following up for MstrQS2 first rear end.

Minor ding but Car deemed uneconomic to repair so NRMA writes it off

The car is still drivable and Mr QS was driving it when NRMA rings up with the news the car is written off
The problem is when the insurer writes it off, they notify the RMS who promptly cancels the Rego.
So MstrQS2 goes from driving a registered car down the motorway one second and in the nexrt second it's unregistered.

I then rang MstrQS2 to tell him the needs to urgently pull over. Now he is late for work.So now a frantic search for a suitable spot to pull over on the M2 motorway

I then complained to NRMA that they need to give us notice because someone could be driving the car when the rego gets cancelled.

This is not WCMO its WPMO

 

[Pushka]

Following up for MstrQS2 first rear end.

Minor ding but Car deemed uneconomic to repair so NRMA writes it off

The car is still drivable and Mr QS was driving it when NRMA rings up with the news the car is written off
The problem is when the insurer writes it off, they notify the RMS who promptly cancels the Rego.
So MstrQS2 goes from driving a registered car down the motorway one second and in the nexrt second it's unregistered.

I then rang MstrQS2 to tell him the needs to urgently pull over. Now he is late for work.So now a frantic search for a suitable spot to pull over on the M2 motorway

I then complained to NRMA that they need to give us notice because someone could be driving the car when the rego gets cancelled.

This is not WCMO its WPMO

Just. Wow. Disgraceful. Scary. And completely unnecessary re timing. Not a safety issue with the car but pure money.

 

[JohnK]

Average salary in 1989 was $501.10
Average salary in 2024 was $1975.80

So nearly four times. They should be putting the rent up!

That's not a realistic comparison.

The median salary in 1989 was ~$25,000 for males and ~$20,000 for females.

The median salary in 2024 was $65,000.

So let's say 250% increase which is not 400%? And I used one example, some of the other ones are even worse.

The median cost of a house in Toowong in 1989 was ~$150,000 and apartment ~$120,000.

The median cost of a house in Toowong in 2024 was ~$1,300,000 and apartment ~$700,000.

Salaries increase but disposable income decreased by 1.1% in 2024 in Australia which is the highest decrease in the developed world.

I know my salary increases every year but my disposable income decreases even more. Grocery shopping for us has increased 25%-50% in the past 5 years and that's not taking into consideration my daughter is growing. Eggs were $3.60 a dozen not that long ago and now $5.90 a dozen. Insurance premiums go up each year. Rents go up each year. General utilities go up each year.

If I get a 3% pre-tax salary increase each year its not enough to cover the basic essentials for my family. And that's not looking at overseas holidays either.

 

[Quickstatus]

Not a safety issue with the car but pure money.

It's a legislative requirement apparently. Once a car is written off the rego is cancelled. The issue is a timing one. They could have given some notice to say when it would happen

 

[Quickstatus]

The median salary

More accurate to use median because average is skewed by high income earners.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

Just. Wow. Disgraceful. Scary. And completely unnecessary re timing. Not a safety issue with the car but pure money.

Was the car still roadworthy with the damage? I am of the impressi5 dorsn5 tak3 much to make a damaged car unroadworthy..e.g risk of harm to a pedestrian from a sharp edge.

 

[VPS]

I'm in a lovely quiet part of Cornwall and the holiday house next door has had very quiet tenants until now. Today the new tenants have a child that is banging his ball against the wall and a crying baby - SIGH

 

[Lat34]

Was the car still roadworthy with the damage? I am of the impressi5 dorsn5 tak3 much to make a damaged car unroadworthy..e.g risk of harm to a pedestrian from a sharp edge.

Insurance company “written off” is all about uneconomic to repair, not a specific reflection of roadworthy status.

 

[OZDUCK]

We have been sitting at the Railway station in Vienne for our train to Lyon for an hour. The train we were catching arrived 20 minutes late and was jammed to the rafters. Only about a third of the people waiting got on.

The next one is due in about 30 minutes but who knows if there will be space. All the trains on this Avignon -Lyon route appear to be running late today due to overcrowding.

 

[OZDUCK]

We have been sitting at the Railway station in Vienne for our train to Lyon for an hour. The train we were catching arrived 20 minutes late and was jammed to the rafters. Only about a third of the people waiting got on.

The next one is due in about 30 minutes but who knows if there will be space. All the trains on this Avignon -Lyon route appear to be running late today due to overcrowding.

Another train went through running 35 minutes late. We didn't even bother trying to get on. If it wasn't electric people would have been lying on the roof.

Just now leaving the station on a small 2 carriage train that had been sitting on another platform ever since we arrived at the station. It left about 6 minutes late but is almost empty. This means we are running about 70 minutes late and this train appears to be the local all stops train. But it's comfortable and the A/C is working well.

Maybe I shouldn't bad-mouth DB so much.

 

[OZDUCK]

We eventually got back to our apartment about 80 minutes late. But to cheer us up my wife, who always keeps her eyes down, spotted a 20 Euro note blowing down a empty street So our train fare was almost covered

 

[VPS]

We eventually got back to our apartment about 80 minutes late. But to cheer us up my wife, who always keeps her eyes down, spotted a 20 Euro note blowing down a empty street So our train fare was almost covered

you're posting in the wrong thread - this should be in Little things I like

The neighbours have invited another family and they are having a BBQ outside

 

[Pushka]

We have been sitting at the Railway station in Vienne for our train to Lyon for an hour. The train we were catching arrived 20 minutes late and was jammed to the rafters. Only about a third of the people waiting got on.

The next one is due in about 30 minutes but who knows if there will be space. All the trains on this Avignon -Lyon route appear to be running late today due to overcrowding.

Brother and SIL will be catching train from Lyon to Avignon tomorrow. Currently in Lyon. You might end up seeing them in Lyon today, Monday. They have tickets so trust they hold?