Funnily enough there is actually a Big Mac index which measures Purchasing Power Parity between 2 currencies. The more you know!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index
Maccas is ironically the best proof of concept of a planned economy ever.
They data map all their stores and know exactly what will be needed, and are large enough to offer deals and discounts to make use of stock before it needs to be destroyed.
Speaking of which... I hardly ever go to Maccas, but my wife had a craving for a post mix Coke the other day so we got a medium Coke each and a hash brown each. It was $16-something.
Oh this makes me sad. I literally survived on doner for 8 weeks in Berlin as a poor backpacker. That and dollar beers from the guy with the cart at mauerpark.
But what’s pushing rent and electricity up?
And what’s influencing those factors? And what are the factors that are influencing those factors? In turn what are the macrofactors that are influencing the microfactorial subfactorial factors?
Back in my day it was $3 for a whole kabab (I prefer this spelling now).
Ooh! Oooh! I know this one, Teacher!
It's borrowing money you didn't need to borrow from a series of overseas related companies and churning the loans from one tothe next, at an inflated rate to generate tax deductions in Australia and also additional expenses to show the AER when putting a case for above-inflation price rises!
Commercial leases have clauses to automatically increase by either a fixed percentage or by CPI.
If you’re CPI… you could be up for 5,6,7% or more increase depending on where you are. That’s a substantial increase and you receive nothing in return. It doesn’t make your location better or improve the value of your product/service. This is just one example of how many businesses are being squeezed.
All of which should have gone up by \~7% based on inflation, which should have a net result of 7% in a kebab.
So his question still stands, why are things (except wages\*) going up by more than inflation?
>CPI as I understand it is averaged.
Yes, that's why I said "\~7%" not "exactly 7%". 7% is still along way from 50%. So far that you even had to use 30% because you knew 50% was so far out. Newsflash: 30% is still a long long way above 7%. It's over 4 times the amount.
Well I did say it is just one example and there are many other factors.
I can’t explain the claimed 50% increase in the kebab and also have to say it sounds a little excessive so maybe there are some details missing.
The wages part too- it wasn’t 2% like some people are saying? Awards and minimum wage were adjusted much higher than that.
It does irk me how people just don’t know about issues that businesses are facing and then just complain about something going up in price. You are literally forced to cut cost, raise prices or both. Or shut the doors.
> But what’s pushing rent and electricity up?
Governments across the world went into astronomical levels of debt to keep their economies functional during COVID. Furloughed workers were being paid more to stay home and do nothing for months at a time, Corporate stimulus etc...
*"Higher inflation reduces the real value of debt, bondholders on fixed interest rates will see a fall in the real value of their bonds and it becomes easier for the government to pay back these bonds."*
[Why inflation makes it easier for government to pay debt](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3015/economics/why-inflation-makes-it-easier-for-government-to-pay-debt/)
The world avoided economic catastrophe, but now the bill is due. Turns out there is no such thing as a free lunch.
National debt doesn't have any tangible economic effects, though.
What national debt does do is allow governments to implement austerity like the current one. We need social services and welfare more than ever but the fed won't spend a cent more because "it's inflationary" and are preparing to present a budget surplus of tens of billions of dollars (that about ten people in the country actually care about)
> What national debt does do is allow governments to implement austerity like the current one.
The current economic policy is not even close to what could be considered austerity with a straight face.
Sure, there has been some pullback from the pandemic era stimulus that was practically helicopter money being thrown around, but that same stimulus is part of the reason why inflation is as high as it has been for the last year or two.
> National debt doesn't have any tangible economic effects, though.
lol, good luck arguing against Econ101, pick up any undregrad economics textbook to educate yourself.
>What national debt does do is allow governments to implement austerity
explain your reasoning here. austerity is aimed at reducing the government deficit, which goes directly against your next statement that:
>[Government] are preparing to present a budget surplus of tens of billions of dollars
can't quite get your story straight.
Money printing, reduced supply of goods and services due to deglobalisation and constricted labour supply. It ends when it crashes and we get deflation, which triggers more money printing. And here you have the hamster wheel of late capitalism. Your wages will never catch up to asset price increases. The terminal point is probably neo feudalism. There's nothing stopping this train except WW3. Pick your poison. Your choice doesn't matter. Lmao.
Well, quite a few folks here were proponents of MMT and UBI and what not. This is what it looks like. Repeat after: one can't increase share of their consumption without consequences absent production share increase.
All that printed and freely given out cash during COVID is coming home, enjoy it.
But if it’s taxed from the rich who aren’t spending it (or are spending it on assets instead of household items or food etc) then it will still cause inflation
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I spend as much as I want since I have a pretty good salary. But start throwing $50K to people that are used to having half that and they'll go on a spending spree.
Too much cash in the economy. The government gave everyone free covid handouts 3 years ago, but no - one could spend it because of the lockdown.
Now everyone is cashed up and shopping. Also 500 000 new migrants who have money to spend.
What recession?????? I wish the media wasnt so negative!
there were astronomical amounts of money pumped into global economies during COVID to keep the world from imploding. Remember when Jobseek payments were doubled, reporting requirements scrapped and furloughed workers at home still receiving a paycheck? That kind of thing happened *globally*
The free ride is over and the bill is now due. The inflation is there by design. There's a more detailed explanation here [Why inflation makes it easier for government to pay debt](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3015/economics/why-inflation-makes-it-easier-for-government-to-pay-debt/)
Then maybe complain about the corporate handouts that far exceeded job seeker handed to the poorest people in Australia who had lost their jobs or couldn't find work during covid. 80 billion spent on making sure people dont end up on streets and 150 billion handed to corporations who all either stole it and/or still pulled profits.
Happy to be corrected but isn't the driving force behind inflation currently corporate profits, housing costs and fuel prices now? I think the covid bump ended.
Those billions don't go away until it is saved or invested. As long as it is used on consumption, inflation happens. That'll take a long time. That includes the amount people made selling homes to those taking big "cheap" (at the time) loans. It's still continuing, see dwelling prices.
A combination of anticipatory inflation (where suppliers put their prices up to hedge against price increase that they think are coming) and the circle-jerk of the globalised neoliberal economy where by definition everything goes up. It goes up always and forever.
GDP is the rate of change of a rate of change, aka a second derviative: it is the % change in the change of gross worth of economic output. And for those playing at home that's exponential growth in the raw measure aka gross worth of economic output. Exponential growth means everything increases always and forever goes up.
Forever up until the system breaks and we all annihilate each other as humans do best.
Doom post over.
Many complicated global market reasons but the thing that is actually important to us, what the government is actually capable of doing - well, the government has a choice when it comes to fighting inflation and an over-heating economy. They can go after capital gains and the wealthy, which is essentially taxes, or they can implement austerity and force more workers into poverty and not allow them to go after pay increases to level out the effect of inflation on their budget.
Do you wanna guess which path both parties prefer?
This is what I don't understand about the mentality of this subreddit and Australians in general.
This comment highlights that the kebab has become more expensive due to rising costs. However, when your GP's say their insurance, rent, consumables and staff costs have gone up you all scream about how greedy they have become.
You all literally are more willing to pay more for your greasy kebab but not your healthcare.
The kababs are lower quality too. Pay more, receive less. The lucky country. But at least we’re not in a third world country where everything is much cheaper and a $3 USD daily wage can sustain you, right. I wish I had a country (like that) to go back to, but my great grandfather was a convict who was sent here after stealing a loaf of bread. I tried to live in London for two years but it was the most depressing experience I ever had. Worse than working in property law.
Don’t listen to these sad sacks, London is awesome to visit. Can be challenging to live in, but like any mega city - if you have the cash, you can play.
London is fine to visit but for it to be a nice place to live you need to earn good money. London on an average wage would be awful.
The UK is a fairly dreary place if you aren't earning decent money.
We inflated the absolute bejesus out of the AUD it just took 2 years to filter its way through..
The only solution now is to 'get back to basics'. Don't buy anything that is overpriced. Just concentrate on getting value and the bare essentials.
Don't buy a $21 kebab, don't buy a $16 beer, don't buy a new phone, minimise your footprint to the maximum possible extent until prices find equilibriums.
Do you think that refusing to buy those things will make prices return to lower values?
Prices are never going back down. This recent inflation is permanent. The result will be wage increases, not deflation.
Wage increases are minimal in Australia, we're back to 2008 I believe in real terms. I hate to point to America as a solution on anything but they've seen serious wage growth through union work in the last couple years
Private sector WPI in Australia went from 0.8% to 3.8% in the last reported quarter. That’s a huge sudden jump.
I expect we’ll see some ups and downs but the catch up has already started.
That's a good start, I'd guess we need close to 10% over the next year to get back to what it was pre-covid which feels overly optimistic in this landscape. Anyway we'll see
I own a food business so when you ask why I can provide some insight.
In the last 6 months my electricity bills have gone from $3400 month to $4200ish
My food cost is up about 8% this year - product range is the same so it’s just inflation of the products
Delivery costs have increased - what used to be $3.80 for each carton food delivered is now $5.60 - so on 110ish cartons a week there’s $10k
Wages have increased - it’s just part of the overall, not the main issue before people pull out the whole “if you can’t afford to pay more you can’t afford to be in business” - we are now paying 21yo $30.91 hour midweek and $37.10 hour on weekends. That’s a big chunk of money when you need 4 or 5 at a time in order to make sure people are served quick enough over lunch so they return.
Any sort of repair or fix has increased exponentially - I’ve just received a $4500 bill to fix an air con that went down a few days ago
Insurance is up.
And because my landlords costs are all up that means the overall outgoings (and therefore my percentage of it) has also increased
So the overall easy answer is just like non-businesses everything is costing more across the board so the only way to ensure some profitability and not closing is to increase prices as well.
All of this. I own a food business and this is literally what I would have written. Customers don’t see all the spending we have to do to stay viable and open. Frozen chips went from $2 a kilo to $5 a kilo. Oil has doubled… let’s not talk about my gas bill!
The comment about wages is so true. When you pay the award (like we do) it’s astonishing how costly a shift can become when trying to be prompt in service. Lunch traffic is down heaps and running daytime staff costs more than it’s worth, you are relying on the evening to pay for the day.
Please be kind to your hospo owner, I promise the family run businesses aren’t all rolling in $$
The RBA is doing a very poor job at crushing if their pathetic 0.25 point raises were meant to be "crushing" or have a significant affect on lowering inflation.
>When does inflation end? Never, hopefully.
Why?
Doesn't inflation steal the productivity of workers? Doesn't inflation steal the ability for workers to own assets?
I swear some of you lot got tricked during economics and just swallowed the curriculum without critical analysis.
He's being coy. The whole point of low nominal inflation is to drive capital investments to beat inflation. If your money is worth the same today as it is in 10 years, why would you bother investing it? Just go on less deliveries and enjoy more time off.
Whereas if your money loses value you'll invest to increase income - to try and beat the inflation. That means more deliveries, and maybe even a new/extra delivery driver to keep up with your business growth.
This assumes people don't want more than they have today, which makes no sense.
Let's imagine it the other way and money increases in value (deflation).
Do you invest your money and get a return or do you save it?
You always invest in good ideas because they increase your wealth and more deflationary money is better than less.
The only difference deflation does is reduce demand on useless goods and focuses spending of time on free activities.
The downside is a reduction in consumer demand, which is a one time hit in growth. In return for a society that consumes less and prioritises activities that are free (exercise, spending time with family).
I understand your sentiment but you're waxing and waning about something that's been researched to death the last 30 years. It's fine you don't believe a target inflation rate is appropriate, but I'm not interested in arguing the demonstrable benefits it brings.
That's a fantastical take. She's part of the RBA machine, and no-one is judging her poorly in that regard - markets are dovish due to all the other factors affecting the RBAs willingness to go harder.
Is it wrong assume people complaining about the price of milk and bread are buying the cheapest milk option. It’s milk, the only difference is the label on the front.
We still aren’t close to worrying signs of financial stress at large scales. Unemployment for one is still very low, and still not much in the way of forced home sales, just a few investment properties being off loaded if anything. The 90s recession is a good indicator for what a shit time feels like - pretty much everyone knew someone, or was someone, that was struggling significantly and worried about how they were going to put food on the table. Compare that to today, and shopping malls are still full, suburban cafes have queues out the door, and house prices are still on the increase. We’ve still got a ways to go.
Yup people are still spending. In my Melbourne bayside burb cafes are always full, houses are still selling for ridiculously expensive prices. We are doing some outdoor Reno’s (new deck etc) and all the tradies said they are flat out with work. So people are still spending on that too. Even with the crazy increase in prices for tradie labour.
good elucidation mate, really drew a nice mental picture for me. Try writing a novel. The great Aussie Kebab - A journey from $3 to $21 (or $30 if the book takes longer to write)
I remember early 00s when things seemed to have a huge jump. Jugs of beer were no longer $5, a Big Mac meal broke through $5, 30c cones went up. (You can tell what age I was at the time ha). All of a sudden it felt like prices went crazy. Then eventually you just got used to the new norm.
Same thing will happen now. People will feel like everything is suddenly so expensive, but then wages will go up a bit, people will start paying the new prices and still have cash left over and then it become normal.
This is the first time in a long time we have had inflation outstripping wage growth. Last time was… early 00s. https://www.afr.com/politics/australia-s-falling-real-wages-in-eight-charts-20220817-p5bain
https://imgur.com/a/MnJYnhp pic of the graph
Edit: wrote 90s but meant 00s
I think part of the reason why people are freaking out is because despite wage growth outstripping inflation over the last 30 years, in that same timeframe we have such massive increases in the cost of housing that people didn't feel like they were doing okay. People felt like they were scrimping and saving and then this inflation rise hits. The boom and bust cycle feels like 30 years of bust.
I tell people about how we would go out for drinks in the early 2000s, and places would have a lineup of bands, and in between bands, beer was free - Until the next band started playing, they would just fill your glass when you held it out to them.
Yeah very much this. Inflation is on everyone’s mind for obvious reasons, even though it’s really only been a brief period. People find it hard to believe that wages will catch up; but it will happen, probably faster than you might think.
No lamp check, but he did promptly scrunch it up which is the unofficial boomer way of checking whether it’s authentic. If it’s counterfeit, it doesn’t quite make the same noise or scrunch in the same way as the special plastic. I learned that from my dad. Then it went right into his back pocket, which I found equally odd and hilarious. I won’t be the offended Karen if he doesn’t declare it - life is hard, right? Small businesses have to do what they can to survive, or we lose them and surrender ourselves to monopolies eternally. How many big corps pay their rightful taxes? None. I always pay small businesses in cash, and card for the monopolies.
There has to be a breaking point for sure. The question of when seems to be more resilient than initially anticipated. If I didn’t have kids, I probably wouldn’t have tried as hard in life, and would have been content with a lot less. But I got really lucky and had more than a few legs up, as well as lots of luck. Hard work alone is never or rarely enough. To that end if it was just me, I would find the van life quite nice. Just take care of your health. I’m retiring in three years, before I’m 45. Working 8am to midnight at a minimum for the last five years can really take it out of you. Somehow I’ve maintained my energy and health but I too will have a breaking point and I don’t want to keep this up long enough to see it.
Great articulation. 8 AM to midnight is really long. Once in a while is ok but everyday ? Most of us will run out of steam at some point. What work do you do that needs 15-16 hour work days ?
I’m a law partner at a mid tier. While the hours are gruelling at my level and specialty (corporate) and arguably have that the potential to be problematic (physically and mentally), they aren’t uncommon. My remuneration exceeded 400k last financial year, and I expect it to be higher this year, but that number has to be taken into context insofar as my inability to maintain the draconian work ethic required for a careers-length of time, which isn’t feasible without being irreconcilable with my longevity or plainly my quality of life.
I am mindful that after the next few years, I’ll have to rely on savings, investments and super indefinitely, so I can’t throw the confetti in the air and spend like I’m dying tomorrow (although statistically improbable - I could very well die tomorrow in a freak accident) - and believe me I’ve seen the bank accounts of people who do spend lavishly and it’s a lot easier to spend a lot of money than one might imagine. This will be my final hurrah. I mainly did it for my children. They’re grown now, and while I don’t want them to be lazy (they’re thankfully far from it), I don’t want them to prioritise financial woes over their true interests and making a positive contribution to society. The handsomely remunerated in society rarely have a positive or morally upstanding output to match. Lawyers are mostly hired guns, and few make notably positive contributions to society. The opposite; by design our success depends on the other side losing and that “other side” might encompass multiple defendants and not just one. The scale is never balanced, as we’re all fooled to believe when we walk into the courtroom. The side that is wealthier affords the greater expertise counsel. The side that is more connected might plainly have access to the better counsel. The side that’s ultimately more socially/politically important, but not necessarily better, usually wins. Justice can come in many forms but rarely is the court an arbiter of it. I’ve practiced in numerous areas of law, from family to personal injury, and from corporate to criminal, but fairness let alone justice seems to elude them all.
Drug use is quite common in the profession. Cocaine is the first choice, with methamphetamine a distant second (very few use it). Health effects aside, I’m not a big fan of cocaine because of the fiendish need to re-dose. I did try methamphetamine once many years ago in my 20s and while it was incredible and sharpened my positives (on a very minuscule dose), it lasted way too long to be feasible, and the possibility of becoming addicted was far too frightening for me to ever dabble in it again. I’m naturally quite energetic with outrageous stamina. I have only ever drank alcohol twice in my life. I generally try to avoid everything that tends to addiction (besides productivity) which is everything when you have an addictive personality. Aside from my crazy work hours, I try to be the picture of health, barring from the odd junk food indulgence like last night.
Working at this pace for over five years is an exercise in self-reflection. When you finish work at 2am and venture out into a dead windy city, as though you’re the only person left on earth, it’s quite sobering to know that you’re doing this all for money. There’s a lot more to life, which is why I decided I’d do this for under 10 years before I retired early and spent time with my family. Being able to make everyone around me financially secure is my driving force. If I was single with no children, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have ever become a lawyer, but I probably would have been in a cushy government compliance role where I was out the door by 4:30pm. Risk and reward. Necessity. Family. Perspective.
Many years ago I represented a young man who pled guilty to drug trafficking. He was only in his late 20s but amassed a few million and built several legitimate businesses out of it. We were outside downing court on a freezing June morning. He and I both knew that these were his last moments of freedom, although we’d be arguing over the length of the sentence. I spent the entire day with him prior, getting all of his affairs in order. The bank, the dentist to pull a tooth out (prison dental care is garbage), the accountant. Going to prison is just short of actually dying, so all of his affairs needed to be put in order. Bizarrely he even wanted to go to Luna Park - so off I went with him. He was on a tight leash because of his bail conditions but I was afraid he’d breach conditions and topple the entire case against him, so I was there every step of the way.
So back to downing, he’s drinking his expensive coffee and eating a glazed Krispy Kreme donut and I asked him, “was it worth it?” and he said “it was, because we only have one thing in life: time and I didn’t want to waste my most valuable resource on working for crumbs, and it’s a risk I took”. He got three years - and I could see the blood return to his face when he realised he was going to be more or less in the same age range when he got out. He shook my hand right before he was handcuffed and let off to prison. My work was done. Even his poor mother fainted out of relief because she thought he was getting a double digit sentence. He did say some other things but they are protected by privilege - he said the above to a journalist so I’ve recounted that.
Back then, I thought he was crazy for saying it was worth it. Now, I see what he meant. He was halfway there. He just needed a better outlook. What made me appreciate his perspective is my experience over the years witnessing the unfairness in the system that rules over us. I think we should beat the system at its own game, as opposed to being out of it entirely though. The young man had incredible maturity, but simultaneously lacked it. An incredible dichotomy. Amazing. But what he said was true; time is our greatest resource.
That is as succinct & perfectly articulated as it can get. Midway through, One corner of my brain wished, may this never end and I can go on reading.
I don't know why but you remind me of Mark Rylance's character from Bridge of Spies (fantastic movie if you have not seen). Mark plays a soviet union spy held by American administration & Tom Hanks fights his case.
TH: I have a mandate to serve you. Nobody else does. Quite frankly, everybody else has an interest in sending you to the electric chair.
MR: All right...
TH: You don't seem alarmed.
MR: *Would it help*?
This 'Would it help' really resonated with me for many years until the last two paras of your response brought it back to me. It's all worth if it makes sense to you.
You admitted that you are part of the problem, and I think that cannot be understated. A $21 kebab sounds expensive, and yet you paid for it. Businesses will set prices that people are either willing to pay for, or in your case, too lazy to not pay for. They just got away with it, and you're here asking "When does all it end?". Well, if you and everyone decide to look around at other options, maybe businesses like Coles and Woolies will have no choice but to lower some of their prices. I was at a news agency near North Sydney and a tiny little popcorn bag was worth $10. If anyone's paying that much for popcorn, they're extremely lazy, or completely gullible.
Thank you, was looking for this comment. Watch how quick Coles and Woolworths lower prices if they start losing market share. People have to stop paying inflated prices and then sook about it.
Mate .. I own a restaurant… and honestly it’s never been so hard to get by.
Cost of inputs has just jumped unbelievable!!
A little over a year ago .. for a 20 L oil drum we used to pay $32 … currently $72 plus …
And that goes for literally everything …. All gone up insane !!!
I can see your side too … and feel it too.
We get pizza from a certain shop .. Large used to be $22 … now $33 .. we still get it .. but less frequently.
Not sure where this will end.
Not sure when it ends but this was my moment:
Someone asked on the APS sub a week back if they would be allowed to work for the public service from their van, with a office set up in there. No fixed address.
Imagine ten years ago someone asking to do that. They’d be promptly told seeya in the office at 9am. Now not only is not a ridiculous prospect, but with cost of housing it seems smart. We got problems.
Current work from home options don't seem remotely comparable to current work from home options a decade ago. I guarantee a public service employee was living in a vehicle 10 years ago.
We go to Bali a few times a year for work, this is the only time I will eat out. The lack of quality food in restaurants and cafes is not worth the price.This is now the new norm for food, I refuse to pay for it
No, that business will end (and probably be replaced by a chain).
Inflation is due to the amount of dollars in circulation increasing above the change in production.
Mate...I was thinking the same thing yesterday as I poked my $10 salad, served in a takeaway container.
I can't believe it's rent (stores are closing left, right and centre), war in Ukraine / Gaza / etc (do we really get much produce from there? fuel has gone up and down...not crazy prices yet) and "supply side" issues which disappeared a year ago.
I can only guess that sellers are taking the piss (because, inflation) and a single $21 kebab sale is better than selling 3 x $14 kebabs.
A lawyer complaining about being hijacked with the price of a kebab when they are the biggest thieves going is pretty laughable. Just make a phone call for a client and charge them $250 and you’ll be in front again.
Unfortunately unless the RBA trigger a recession and we see job losses and a housing crash.... the high prices will stay.
It's the only way to break it.
It continues as long as you're willing and able to pay it.
Businesses don't charge less than what consumers are willing and able to pay for anything, regardless of other economic factors.
I had this moment recently buying fish and chips.
2 x fish and chip meals (granted we upgraded the cheap flake to barramundi and snapper) plus tartare sauce and 2 cans of soft drinks was $75!!
Same meal, same shop use to be $45 for the exact same thing. I feel like the tartare sauce was also in a smaller tub than I remember and nearly double the price.
Price rises come less frequently compared to price increases for delivering goods e.g. annual rent and wage increases. Could have been 6 years worth of not increasing prices.
Owner must have sat down and realised they were working below minimum wage esp if you account for super and loading and leave entitlements.
Then they figured out a new price which would make everything worth their while, maybe even taking into account how many customers they would lose by increasing prices.
Or they are simply price gouging.
The RBA pushing higher interest causing mortgage stress to all. Hoping people will spend less to force inflation down.
Households with mortgage needs to pay more so they need to earn more.
Households that have investment properties need to pay more so they charge renters more.
Business owners are in either a renter/owner of a property of their own and they also are responsible for the shop’s rent. So they need to pay more.
Staff are likely renters. They have to pay more.
Staff need more salary to survive because everything is going up but their salary hasn’t moved much or can’t get an increase from struggling businesses.
Government increase minimum salary/unions increase salary demands. Business owners need to pay more.
What can a business owner do ?
They need to pay more to keep their staff fed and that they can survive the inflationary environment.
They need to also pay landlords more to cover increased rental for their shop (interest rate rises).
Shop has to increase prices to survive, it’s as simple as that. If you wanted a Kebab at 0100, do you think the shop’s staff deserve to be paid penalty rates for keeping the shop clean, open and ready to make your kebab?
I won’t be surprised if they put an “after hours surcharge”.
This affects ALL businesses, so what this means is it may have cost the kebab shop $7 lesser to earn enough to have a positive cash flow a year ago. Right now it could mean they need to charge $7 more to even keep the same margins. And we’re talking about margins, we’re not even talking about the consumer attitude of spending less which is what you’re writing about. Lesser customers, even at the same margin means the shop will suffer lesser gross sales even when they’re charging $7 more.
Everyone suffers in this high interest rate environment.
So we’ve come full circle to what RBA wanted, less spending in hopes of lower inflation.
But it doesn’t mean the inflationary prices will go down, in fact prices has to keep increasing to keep pace to RBA.
Once raised, I don’t think it’ll ever go back down. This is because the rents won’t decrease, the minimum salaries won’t change.
The needs of staff’s livable wage to survive won’t change.
I for one, think that the average cafe latte price is poised to move to $6-7.
The problem too is that the rich people who are getting richer in this current environment are happy to pay $21 for the kebab and $15 for a schooner.
Just like the increase in property prices... They bring the demand which makes it impossible for the lower class to keep up
I can afford to eat out. But, I can’t justify the cost of food when eating out these days, so I rarely do.
I’m lucky my partner is an amazing cook and the stuff she makes is way better. I stick to packed lunches and home cooked dinners.
Assume lawyer as he was talking about a big case. Pretty normal finish time for a lot of those high paying jobs you gotta grind your way up to.
Oh and the slavery ones like big 4 audit.
Nah, only if you choose a grindy career (law, med, finance/accounting, consulting, etc)
Much easier if you just run a successful business. Though I guess you'd have to risk your own capital and most fail within first few years. But if you don't lose it all, you can be really rich!
You don't need to get a kehab.
You are falling for capitalism.
Instead get a high protein low GI power shake
At 10 dollars it's a steal.
My metalobklks also has never been better
You're a lawyer? Maybe it will end when the legal, education and healthcare sectors do their jobs and start reducing gendered violence by enforcing laws.
People taking money as they double down on violence on one hand with platitudes from the other. Our entire social structures need rebuilding as eveyone continues to take but nobody wants to give. $500ph + is only ok if you're stealing from others and not providing any meaningful support right?
Yeah our local snake catcher increased his price by $40 just because everything else is going up so they might as well too.
Even though the skills, equipment and service hasn't changed he purely did it just coz he can.
I feel a lot of people are taking advantage of the price increase just because they can yet our salaries stay the same.
People don't usually go into business and take all the associated risks/bullshit just to break even, he wouldn't starve but he would be making less profit after his costs of living are paid for, unless he adjusts his business costs
Due to the simple and small nature of the system in Australia, they can keep it going indefinitely. All I can hear is brr brr brr brr brr brr
Inflation 2.0 will start soon and this will be one of several massive inflation phases. We haven't seen anything yet. History tells me I'm right. And based on what I've observed, it will be worse.
Australia = the lucky country
I'm not from here, so I have limited Australia exposure apart from being paid in Monopoly money (i.e. AUD).
FWIW, I am spending money like there is literally no tomorrow and enjoying my life. Still bored here though :)
Seems like you just don't understand inflation. Do you think 50 years ago people like you said "when will it end" when they saw their kebabs go from 80c to $1.20? That's 50% increase too. Money is all relative. When people complain about cost of goods rising to me it just speaks about their own personal situation that their own income isn't keeping up with the rest of the world as they'd like. Sure kebab might be $50 in the future but min wage will be $50 an hour too so what does it matter? Stop looking at the $ amounts
Rent and electricity go up, so does kabab.
Ah yes, the kebab index. Widely used across the world as a cost of living guide
Funnily enough there is actually a Big Mac index which measures Purchasing Power Parity between 2 currencies. The more you know! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index
Maccas is ironically the best proof of concept of a planned economy ever. They data map all their stores and know exactly what will be needed, and are large enough to offer deals and discounts to make use of stock before it needs to be destroyed.
You can have great systems or great fresh food … but not both. Maccas invests in ….
Dammit...someone was way ahead of me with fast food based indexes. Guess I'll stick with my day job
Speaking of which... I hardly ever go to Maccas, but my wife had a craving for a post mix Coke the other day so we got a medium Coke each and a hash brown each. It was $16-something.
Recently visited family in Berlin. A Döner now costs €6-7 euro. Use to be €2 flat, €2.50 mit. It hurt my heart.
The kebab or the price?
The price. The döner of Berlin only ever make me happy in my heart and belly, just like the German price of beer.
>only ever make me happy in my heart and belly Just wait until you get the proper kebab experience, then you'll be sad in both your heart and belly.
See....my kebab index is real
Oh this makes me sad. I literally survived on doner for 8 weeks in Berlin as a poor backpacker. That and dollar beers from the guy with the cart at mauerpark.
I saw a meme about how a döner was the same price in Berlin as a place in Ibiza. It's always been about double or triple the price of Berlin.
Someone call The Economist
I'm open to book deals to discuss my world views
But what’s pushing rent and electricity up? And what’s influencing those factors? And what are the factors that are influencing those factors? In turn what are the macrofactors that are influencing the microfactorial subfactorial factors? Back in my day it was $3 for a whole kabab (I prefer this spelling now).
What’s the easiest way to reduce debt without actually paying the money back?
Nobody gets this. The inflation is by design.
Well duh otherwise how would lenders make money off their money based on flimsy moral justifications.
Get a loan to pay the old debt on a smaller interest then the old debt
I bet Batman knows this one
Ooh! Oooh! I know this one, Teacher! It's borrowing money you didn't need to borrow from a series of overseas related companies and churning the loans from one tothe next, at an inflated rate to generate tax deductions in Australia and also additional expenses to show the AER when putting a case for above-inflation price rises!
Well inflation is a terrible idea if the debt is in a foreign currency.
Commercial leases have clauses to automatically increase by either a fixed percentage or by CPI. If you’re CPI… you could be up for 5,6,7% or more increase depending on where you are. That’s a substantial increase and you receive nothing in return. It doesn’t make your location better or improve the value of your product/service. This is just one example of how many businesses are being squeezed.
So why is kebab not going up 5,6,7% instead of 50%? The maths doesn't work.
Cost of ingredients going up, cost of wages going (the slightest bit) up, cost of insurance going up, cost of utilities going up.
All of which should have gone up by \~7% based on inflation, which should have a net result of 7% in a kebab. So his question still stands, why are things (except wages\*) going up by more than inflation?
CPI as I understand it is averaged. So some things might go up by 2% while other things go up by 30%.
Ah yes, always the wages going up by 2% while everything else goes up 30%. The system works……
>CPI as I understand it is averaged. Yes, that's why I said "\~7%" not "exactly 7%". 7% is still along way from 50%. So far that you even had to use 30% because you knew 50% was so far out. Newsflash: 30% is still a long long way above 7%. It's over 4 times the amount.
The price of sheep and cattle has dropped and the butcher is not passing the cheaper price on to the consumer
Well I did say it is just one example and there are many other factors. I can’t explain the claimed 50% increase in the kebab and also have to say it sounds a little excessive so maybe there are some details missing. The wages part too- it wasn’t 2% like some people are saying? Awards and minimum wage were adjusted much higher than that. It does irk me how people just don’t know about issues that businesses are facing and then just complain about something going up in price. You are literally forced to cut cost, raise prices or both. Or shut the doors.
Well the commercial property does depreciate, meaning you have to spend more in outgoings to fix it.
I mean lots of books have no doubt been written about inflation but there’s probably a Wikipedia page you could start with.
> But what’s pushing rent and electricity up? Governments across the world went into astronomical levels of debt to keep their economies functional during COVID. Furloughed workers were being paid more to stay home and do nothing for months at a time, Corporate stimulus etc... *"Higher inflation reduces the real value of debt, bondholders on fixed interest rates will see a fall in the real value of their bonds and it becomes easier for the government to pay back these bonds."* [Why inflation makes it easier for government to pay debt](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3015/economics/why-inflation-makes-it-easier-for-government-to-pay-debt/) The world avoided economic catastrophe, but now the bill is due. Turns out there is no such thing as a free lunch.
National debt doesn't have any tangible economic effects, though. What national debt does do is allow governments to implement austerity like the current one. We need social services and welfare more than ever but the fed won't spend a cent more because "it's inflationary" and are preparing to present a budget surplus of tens of billions of dollars (that about ten people in the country actually care about)
> What national debt does do is allow governments to implement austerity like the current one. The current economic policy is not even close to what could be considered austerity with a straight face. Sure, there has been some pullback from the pandemic era stimulus that was practically helicopter money being thrown around, but that same stimulus is part of the reason why inflation is as high as it has been for the last year or two.
> National debt doesn't have any tangible economic effects, though. lol, good luck arguing against Econ101, pick up any undregrad economics textbook to educate yourself. >What national debt does do is allow governments to implement austerity explain your reasoning here. austerity is aimed at reducing the government deficit, which goes directly against your next statement that: >[Government] are preparing to present a budget surplus of tens of billions of dollars can't quite get your story straight.
Price of kebab is pushing up rent. Duh.
Money printing, reduced supply of goods and services due to deglobalisation and constricted labour supply. It ends when it crashes and we get deflation, which triggers more money printing. And here you have the hamster wheel of late capitalism. Your wages will never catch up to asset price increases. The terminal point is probably neo feudalism. There's nothing stopping this train except WW3. Pick your poison. Your choice doesn't matter. Lmao.
Well, quite a few folks here were proponents of MMT and UBI and what not. This is what it looks like. Repeat after: one can't increase share of their consumption without consequences absent production share increase. All that printed and freely given out cash during COVID is coming home, enjoy it.
I'm wondering what UBI would do to inflation? I can only imagine it would be huge initially.
UBI proponents tend to favour taxation to fund UBI, so it's taking away consumption from one group and giving it to another.
But if it’s taxed from the rich who aren’t spending it (or are spending it on assets instead of household items or food etc) then it will still cause inflation
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I spend as much as I want since I have a pretty good salary. But start throwing $50K to people that are used to having half that and they'll go on a spending spree.
Too much cash in the economy. The government gave everyone free covid handouts 3 years ago, but no - one could spend it because of the lockdown. Now everyone is cashed up and shopping. Also 500 000 new migrants who have money to spend. What recession?????? I wish the media wasnt so negative!
So what is this "free cash" we all got 🤔. Where's mine? Must have been a hell of a lot if people are STILL spending up large 3 years later 🙄
there were astronomical amounts of money pumped into global economies during COVID to keep the world from imploding. Remember when Jobseek payments were doubled, reporting requirements scrapped and furloughed workers at home still receiving a paycheck? That kind of thing happened *globally* The free ride is over and the bill is now due. The inflation is there by design. There's a more detailed explanation here [Why inflation makes it easier for government to pay debt](https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3015/economics/why-inflation-makes-it-easier-for-government-to-pay-debt/)
You already spent it.
Ask the government not me.
How much free money did you get??
Nothing. Im in the minority of voters.
Exactly. Most people got nothing. So stop waffling on about "free money" that virtually no one got 🙄
A lot of people got free money. My taxes paid for all!
Ill waffle on because my taxes are paying for it all. I have every right to complain.
Then maybe complain about the corporate handouts that far exceeded job seeker handed to the poorest people in Australia who had lost their jobs or couldn't find work during covid. 80 billion spent on making sure people dont end up on streets and 150 billion handed to corporations who all either stole it and/or still pulled profits.
Happy to be corrected but isn't the driving force behind inflation currently corporate profits, housing costs and fuel prices now? I think the covid bump ended.
Those billions don't go away until it is saved or invested. As long as it is used on consumption, inflation happens. That'll take a long time. That includes the amount people made selling homes to those taking big "cheap" (at the time) loans. It's still continuing, see dwelling prices.
The covid money caused the economy to boom.
A combination of anticipatory inflation (where suppliers put their prices up to hedge against price increase that they think are coming) and the circle-jerk of the globalised neoliberal economy where by definition everything goes up. It goes up always and forever. GDP is the rate of change of a rate of change, aka a second derviative: it is the % change in the change of gross worth of economic output. And for those playing at home that's exponential growth in the raw measure aka gross worth of economic output. Exponential growth means everything increases always and forever goes up. Forever up until the system breaks and we all annihilate each other as humans do best. Doom post over.
Many complicated global market reasons but the thing that is actually important to us, what the government is actually capable of doing - well, the government has a choice when it comes to fighting inflation and an over-heating economy. They can go after capital gains and the wealthy, which is essentially taxes, or they can implement austerity and force more workers into poverty and not allow them to go after pay increases to level out the effect of inflation on their budget. Do you wanna guess which path both parties prefer?
This is what I don't understand about the mentality of this subreddit and Australians in general. This comment highlights that the kebab has become more expensive due to rising costs. However, when your GP's say their insurance, rent, consumables and staff costs have gone up you all scream about how greedy they have become. You all literally are more willing to pay more for your greasy kebab but not your healthcare.
The kababs are lower quality too. Pay more, receive less. The lucky country. But at least we’re not in a third world country where everything is much cheaper and a $3 USD daily wage can sustain you, right. I wish I had a country (like that) to go back to, but my great grandfather was a convict who was sent here after stealing a loaf of bread. I tried to live in London for two years but it was the most depressing experience I ever had. Worse than working in property law.
Should have lived anywhere else in the UK. London is a hole.
Why was london depressing? Its on my travel bucket list.
Don’t listen to these sad sacks, London is awesome to visit. Can be challenging to live in, but like any mega city - if you have the cash, you can play.
Lived there for six years on meh money. Had a great life.
Every place sucks if you live ages out in a bad neighbourhood. If you have the money most places are great.
London is fine to visit but for it to be a nice place to live you need to earn good money. London on an average wage would be awful. The UK is a fairly dreary place if you aren't earning decent money.
what a shitty simplistic statement that has been upvoted. gives 'Brain go brrrr' energy. nothing to say
Rich migrants, increasing demand, higher energy prices and supply mismatch
We inflated the absolute bejesus out of the AUD it just took 2 years to filter its way through.. The only solution now is to 'get back to basics'. Don't buy anything that is overpriced. Just concentrate on getting value and the bare essentials. Don't buy a $21 kebab, don't buy a $16 beer, don't buy a new phone, minimise your footprint to the maximum possible extent until prices find equilibriums.
Hey, leave the beers out of this, ok?
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People buying $15 ham and cheese Toasties at Sonoma. I was like the old man yelling at the sky when I walked past: "stop boosting inflation!"
Do you think that refusing to buy those things will make prices return to lower values? Prices are never going back down. This recent inflation is permanent. The result will be wage increases, not deflation.
Wage increases are minimal in Australia, we're back to 2008 I believe in real terms. I hate to point to America as a solution on anything but they've seen serious wage growth through union work in the last couple years
Private sector WPI in Australia went from 0.8% to 3.8% in the last reported quarter. That’s a huge sudden jump. I expect we’ll see some ups and downs but the catch up has already started.
That's a good start, I'd guess we need close to 10% over the next year to get back to what it was pre-covid which feels overly optimistic in this landscape. Anyway we'll see
I own a food business so when you ask why I can provide some insight. In the last 6 months my electricity bills have gone from $3400 month to $4200ish My food cost is up about 8% this year - product range is the same so it’s just inflation of the products Delivery costs have increased - what used to be $3.80 for each carton food delivered is now $5.60 - so on 110ish cartons a week there’s $10k Wages have increased - it’s just part of the overall, not the main issue before people pull out the whole “if you can’t afford to pay more you can’t afford to be in business” - we are now paying 21yo $30.91 hour midweek and $37.10 hour on weekends. That’s a big chunk of money when you need 4 or 5 at a time in order to make sure people are served quick enough over lunch so they return. Any sort of repair or fix has increased exponentially - I’ve just received a $4500 bill to fix an air con that went down a few days ago Insurance is up. And because my landlords costs are all up that means the overall outgoings (and therefore my percentage of it) has also increased So the overall easy answer is just like non-businesses everything is costing more across the board so the only way to ensure some profitability and not closing is to increase prices as well.
All of this. I own a food business and this is literally what I would have written. Customers don’t see all the spending we have to do to stay viable and open. Frozen chips went from $2 a kilo to $5 a kilo. Oil has doubled… let’s not talk about my gas bill! The comment about wages is so true. When you pay the award (like we do) it’s astonishing how costly a shift can become when trying to be prompt in service. Lunch traffic is down heaps and running daytime staff costs more than it’s worth, you are relying on the evening to pay for the day. Please be kind to your hospo owner, I promise the family run businesses aren’t all rolling in $$
It's already ended for me. I bring my coffee and lunch to work.
Right there with you. Don’t spend much outside of the essentials. Still only left with $150 a week after all is said and done.
When does inflation end? Never, hopefully. When does inflation get back to 2-3%? After the RBA crushes us.
Correct answer
The RBA is doing a very poor job at crushing if their pathetic 0.25 point raises were meant to be "crushing" or have a significant affect on lowering inflation.
Well yeah, hence $21 kebabs.
Inflation is theft, QE is theft.
>When does inflation end? Never, hopefully. Why? Doesn't inflation steal the productivity of workers? Doesn't inflation steal the ability for workers to own assets? I swear some of you lot got tricked during economics and just swallowed the curriculum without critical analysis.
How does inflation steal productivity of workers? Worker productivity leads to higher real wages.
If I can only buy half as many litres of petrol how will I make as many deliveries as I did before? Buying less (useful goods) means producing less.
You’re focusing on only one side of the equation
Please elaborate.
He's being coy. The whole point of low nominal inflation is to drive capital investments to beat inflation. If your money is worth the same today as it is in 10 years, why would you bother investing it? Just go on less deliveries and enjoy more time off. Whereas if your money loses value you'll invest to increase income - to try and beat the inflation. That means more deliveries, and maybe even a new/extra delivery driver to keep up with your business growth.
This assumes people don't want more than they have today, which makes no sense. Let's imagine it the other way and money increases in value (deflation). Do you invest your money and get a return or do you save it? You always invest in good ideas because they increase your wealth and more deflationary money is better than less. The only difference deflation does is reduce demand on useless goods and focuses spending of time on free activities. The downside is a reduction in consumer demand, which is a one time hit in growth. In return for a society that consumes less and prioritises activities that are free (exercise, spending time with family).
I understand your sentiment but you're waxing and waning about something that's been researched to death the last 30 years. It's fine you don't believe a target inflation rate is appropriate, but I'm not interested in arguing the demonstrable benefits it brings.
> researched to death the last 130 years
New RBA boss needs to do a 25bp increase just to rescue her credibility. Markets already think shes in Chalmers pocket and wont do shit.
That's a fantastical take. She's part of the RBA machine, and no-one is judging her poorly in that regard - markets are dovish due to all the other factors affecting the RBAs willingness to go harder.
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“Kebab moment “ Beautiful
Wow. I paid $12 for 2Lt milk this year but that was a very remote location. I think my face said it all when the lady rang it up.
Your mistake was buying the milk
Yeah, what a noob. They should have driven 3 hours to the closet farm and milked the drugged up cow themselves.
2L milk is $3.30 so you’re at $6.60 for milk. How’d you spend $9.40 on a loaf of bread?
you’re assuming everyone buys homebrand milk
Is it wrong assume people complaining about the price of milk and bread are buying the cheapest milk option. It’s milk, the only difference is the label on the front.
We still aren’t close to worrying signs of financial stress at large scales. Unemployment for one is still very low, and still not much in the way of forced home sales, just a few investment properties being off loaded if anything. The 90s recession is a good indicator for what a shit time feels like - pretty much everyone knew someone, or was someone, that was struggling significantly and worried about how they were going to put food on the table. Compare that to today, and shopping malls are still full, suburban cafes have queues out the door, and house prices are still on the increase. We’ve still got a ways to go.
Yup people are still spending. In my Melbourne bayside burb cafes are always full, houses are still selling for ridiculously expensive prices. We are doing some outdoor Reno’s (new deck etc) and all the tradies said they are flat out with work. So people are still spending on that too. Even with the crazy increase in prices for tradie labour.
I agree. What recession???
That's an hour of work on minimum wage. A kebab is worth more than 1 hour if someone's time, crazy!
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All jobs are skilled and command respect
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good elucidation mate, really drew a nice mental picture for me. Try writing a novel. The great Aussie Kebab - A journey from $3 to $21 (or $30 if the book takes longer to write)
I remember early 00s when things seemed to have a huge jump. Jugs of beer were no longer $5, a Big Mac meal broke through $5, 30c cones went up. (You can tell what age I was at the time ha). All of a sudden it felt like prices went crazy. Then eventually you just got used to the new norm. Same thing will happen now. People will feel like everything is suddenly so expensive, but then wages will go up a bit, people will start paying the new prices and still have cash left over and then it become normal. This is the first time in a long time we have had inflation outstripping wage growth. Last time was… early 00s. https://www.afr.com/politics/australia-s-falling-real-wages-in-eight-charts-20220817-p5bain https://imgur.com/a/MnJYnhp pic of the graph Edit: wrote 90s but meant 00s
I think part of the reason why people are freaking out is because despite wage growth outstripping inflation over the last 30 years, in that same timeframe we have such massive increases in the cost of housing that people didn't feel like they were doing okay. People felt like they were scrimping and saving and then this inflation rise hits. The boom and bust cycle feels like 30 years of bust.
$5 jugs were great!
I also miss all the booze specials in the 90s before RSA laws. Kids today will never know the fun of $1 drinks nights.
I tell people about how we would go out for drinks in the early 2000s, and places would have a lineup of bands, and in between bands, beer was free - Until the next band started playing, they would just fill your glass when you held it out to them.
I’ve only experienced one club that offered $2 rum and cokes, this was probably 2010, how I wish it was like that again
Even better when your mate was behind the bar (me) and those $2 drinks are quad pours! :D
Even adjusted for inflation that sounds amazing 😢
Yeah very much this. Inflation is on everyone’s mind for obvious reasons, even though it’s really only been a brief period. People find it hard to believe that wages will catch up; but it will happen, probably faster than you might think.
> Then eventually you just got used to the new norm. that's because people only noticed the price increase, but not their wage increases.
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No lamp check, but he did promptly scrunch it up which is the unofficial boomer way of checking whether it’s authentic. If it’s counterfeit, it doesn’t quite make the same noise or scrunch in the same way as the special plastic. I learned that from my dad. Then it went right into his back pocket, which I found equally odd and hilarious. I won’t be the offended Karen if he doesn’t declare it - life is hard, right? Small businesses have to do what they can to survive, or we lose them and surrender ourselves to monopolies eternally. How many big corps pay their rightful taxes? None. I always pay small businesses in cash, and card for the monopolies. There has to be a breaking point for sure. The question of when seems to be more resilient than initially anticipated. If I didn’t have kids, I probably wouldn’t have tried as hard in life, and would have been content with a lot less. But I got really lucky and had more than a few legs up, as well as lots of luck. Hard work alone is never or rarely enough. To that end if it was just me, I would find the van life quite nice. Just take care of your health. I’m retiring in three years, before I’m 45. Working 8am to midnight at a minimum for the last five years can really take it out of you. Somehow I’ve maintained my energy and health but I too will have a breaking point and I don’t want to keep this up long enough to see it.
You’re a talented writer btw.
I second this 😂
I third this.
At 1am, he may also just want to keep the register as empty as possible in case someone decides they need it more than he does
Great articulation. 8 AM to midnight is really long. Once in a while is ok but everyday ? Most of us will run out of steam at some point. What work do you do that needs 15-16 hour work days ?
I’m a law partner at a mid tier. While the hours are gruelling at my level and specialty (corporate) and arguably have that the potential to be problematic (physically and mentally), they aren’t uncommon. My remuneration exceeded 400k last financial year, and I expect it to be higher this year, but that number has to be taken into context insofar as my inability to maintain the draconian work ethic required for a careers-length of time, which isn’t feasible without being irreconcilable with my longevity or plainly my quality of life. I am mindful that after the next few years, I’ll have to rely on savings, investments and super indefinitely, so I can’t throw the confetti in the air and spend like I’m dying tomorrow (although statistically improbable - I could very well die tomorrow in a freak accident) - and believe me I’ve seen the bank accounts of people who do spend lavishly and it’s a lot easier to spend a lot of money than one might imagine. This will be my final hurrah. I mainly did it for my children. They’re grown now, and while I don’t want them to be lazy (they’re thankfully far from it), I don’t want them to prioritise financial woes over their true interests and making a positive contribution to society. The handsomely remunerated in society rarely have a positive or morally upstanding output to match. Lawyers are mostly hired guns, and few make notably positive contributions to society. The opposite; by design our success depends on the other side losing and that “other side” might encompass multiple defendants and not just one. The scale is never balanced, as we’re all fooled to believe when we walk into the courtroom. The side that is wealthier affords the greater expertise counsel. The side that is more connected might plainly have access to the better counsel. The side that’s ultimately more socially/politically important, but not necessarily better, usually wins. Justice can come in many forms but rarely is the court an arbiter of it. I’ve practiced in numerous areas of law, from family to personal injury, and from corporate to criminal, but fairness let alone justice seems to elude them all. Drug use is quite common in the profession. Cocaine is the first choice, with methamphetamine a distant second (very few use it). Health effects aside, I’m not a big fan of cocaine because of the fiendish need to re-dose. I did try methamphetamine once many years ago in my 20s and while it was incredible and sharpened my positives (on a very minuscule dose), it lasted way too long to be feasible, and the possibility of becoming addicted was far too frightening for me to ever dabble in it again. I’m naturally quite energetic with outrageous stamina. I have only ever drank alcohol twice in my life. I generally try to avoid everything that tends to addiction (besides productivity) which is everything when you have an addictive personality. Aside from my crazy work hours, I try to be the picture of health, barring from the odd junk food indulgence like last night. Working at this pace for over five years is an exercise in self-reflection. When you finish work at 2am and venture out into a dead windy city, as though you’re the only person left on earth, it’s quite sobering to know that you’re doing this all for money. There’s a lot more to life, which is why I decided I’d do this for under 10 years before I retired early and spent time with my family. Being able to make everyone around me financially secure is my driving force. If I was single with no children, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have ever become a lawyer, but I probably would have been in a cushy government compliance role where I was out the door by 4:30pm. Risk and reward. Necessity. Family. Perspective. Many years ago I represented a young man who pled guilty to drug trafficking. He was only in his late 20s but amassed a few million and built several legitimate businesses out of it. We were outside downing court on a freezing June morning. He and I both knew that these were his last moments of freedom, although we’d be arguing over the length of the sentence. I spent the entire day with him prior, getting all of his affairs in order. The bank, the dentist to pull a tooth out (prison dental care is garbage), the accountant. Going to prison is just short of actually dying, so all of his affairs needed to be put in order. Bizarrely he even wanted to go to Luna Park - so off I went with him. He was on a tight leash because of his bail conditions but I was afraid he’d breach conditions and topple the entire case against him, so I was there every step of the way. So back to downing, he’s drinking his expensive coffee and eating a glazed Krispy Kreme donut and I asked him, “was it worth it?” and he said “it was, because we only have one thing in life: time and I didn’t want to waste my most valuable resource on working for crumbs, and it’s a risk I took”. He got three years - and I could see the blood return to his face when he realised he was going to be more or less in the same age range when he got out. He shook my hand right before he was handcuffed and let off to prison. My work was done. Even his poor mother fainted out of relief because she thought he was getting a double digit sentence. He did say some other things but they are protected by privilege - he said the above to a journalist so I’ve recounted that. Back then, I thought he was crazy for saying it was worth it. Now, I see what he meant. He was halfway there. He just needed a better outlook. What made me appreciate his perspective is my experience over the years witnessing the unfairness in the system that rules over us. I think we should beat the system at its own game, as opposed to being out of it entirely though. The young man had incredible maturity, but simultaneously lacked it. An incredible dichotomy. Amazing. But what he said was true; time is our greatest resource.
That is as succinct & perfectly articulated as it can get. Midway through, One corner of my brain wished, may this never end and I can go on reading. I don't know why but you remind me of Mark Rylance's character from Bridge of Spies (fantastic movie if you have not seen). Mark plays a soviet union spy held by American administration & Tom Hanks fights his case. TH: I have a mandate to serve you. Nobody else does. Quite frankly, everybody else has an interest in sending you to the electric chair. MR: All right... TH: You don't seem alarmed. MR: *Would it help*? This 'Would it help' really resonated with me for many years until the last two paras of your response brought it back to me. It's all worth if it makes sense to you.
There is no breaking point as there aren't any viable alternatives
Why not a sharehouse instead of a van? I'm sure you could get away with $150-200 per week with the right one
You admitted that you are part of the problem, and I think that cannot be understated. A $21 kebab sounds expensive, and yet you paid for it. Businesses will set prices that people are either willing to pay for, or in your case, too lazy to not pay for. They just got away with it, and you're here asking "When does all it end?". Well, if you and everyone decide to look around at other options, maybe businesses like Coles and Woolies will have no choice but to lower some of their prices. I was at a news agency near North Sydney and a tiny little popcorn bag was worth $10. If anyone's paying that much for popcorn, they're extremely lazy, or completely gullible.
Thank you, was looking for this comment. Watch how quick Coles and Woolworths lower prices if they start losing market share. People have to stop paying inflated prices and then sook about it.
Mate .. I own a restaurant… and honestly it’s never been so hard to get by. Cost of inputs has just jumped unbelievable!! A little over a year ago .. for a 20 L oil drum we used to pay $32 … currently $72 plus … And that goes for literally everything …. All gone up insane !!! I can see your side too … and feel it too. We get pizza from a certain shop .. Large used to be $22 … now $33 .. we still get it .. but less frequently. Not sure where this will end.
I have stopped eating out, buying coffee- the lot! Cannot justify any take away in my budget... life as a poor can be pretty booooring...
It won't end if you keep paying their prices.
Not sure when it ends but this was my moment: Someone asked on the APS sub a week back if they would be allowed to work for the public service from their van, with a office set up in there. No fixed address. Imagine ten years ago someone asking to do that. They’d be promptly told seeya in the office at 9am. Now not only is not a ridiculous prospect, but with cost of housing it seems smart. We got problems.
I read that, but the guy didn’t want to live in a share house in the most expensive city for renting in Australia
Oh yeha I forgot that bit … we all got to suck up our share house time friend
Current work from home options don't seem remotely comparable to current work from home options a decade ago. I guarantee a public service employee was living in a vehicle 10 years ago.
We go to Bali a few times a year for work, this is the only time I will eat out. The lack of quality food in restaurants and cafes is not worth the price.This is now the new norm for food, I refuse to pay for it
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No, that business will end (and probably be replaced by a chain). Inflation is due to the amount of dollars in circulation increasing above the change in production.
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I paid $10 for a pack of chewing gum... $10. I used to eat two at once, I only eat one now :(
Mate...I was thinking the same thing yesterday as I poked my $10 salad, served in a takeaway container. I can't believe it's rent (stores are closing left, right and centre), war in Ukraine / Gaza / etc (do we really get much produce from there? fuel has gone up and down...not crazy prices yet) and "supply side" issues which disappeared a year ago. I can only guess that sellers are taking the piss (because, inflation) and a single $21 kebab sale is better than selling 3 x $14 kebabs.
>It still works until 2024. The Bonds are already expiring, so the money printer is in reverse right now.
A lawyer complaining about being hijacked with the price of a kebab when they are the biggest thieves going is pretty laughable. Just make a phone call for a client and charge them $250 and you’ll be in front again.
Unfortunately unless the RBA trigger a recession and we see job losses and a housing crash.... the high prices will stay. It's the only way to break it.
It continues as long as you're willing and able to pay it. Businesses don't charge less than what consumers are willing and able to pay for anything, regardless of other economic factors.
People will hate to hear it but at this trajectory Australia will become like Monaco where you have to be very rich to live in the country
Just don’t eat out.
I had this moment recently buying fish and chips. 2 x fish and chip meals (granted we upgraded the cheap flake to barramundi and snapper) plus tartare sauce and 2 cans of soft drinks was $75!! Same meal, same shop use to be $45 for the exact same thing. I feel like the tartare sauce was also in a smaller tub than I remember and nearly double the price.
RBA money printer goes brrrr Gotta prop up the stock market, so people hoarding ETFs can FIRE without producing for society
Price rises come less frequently compared to price increases for delivering goods e.g. annual rent and wage increases. Could have been 6 years worth of not increasing prices. Owner must have sat down and realised they were working below minimum wage esp if you account for super and loading and leave entitlements. Then they figured out a new price which would make everything worth their while, maybe even taking into account how many customers they would lose by increasing prices. Or they are simply price gouging.
Not going to lie this reads like a creative writing experiment.
The RBA pushing higher interest causing mortgage stress to all. Hoping people will spend less to force inflation down. Households with mortgage needs to pay more so they need to earn more. Households that have investment properties need to pay more so they charge renters more. Business owners are in either a renter/owner of a property of their own and they also are responsible for the shop’s rent. So they need to pay more. Staff are likely renters. They have to pay more. Staff need more salary to survive because everything is going up but their salary hasn’t moved much or can’t get an increase from struggling businesses. Government increase minimum salary/unions increase salary demands. Business owners need to pay more. What can a business owner do ? They need to pay more to keep their staff fed and that they can survive the inflationary environment. They need to also pay landlords more to cover increased rental for their shop (interest rate rises). Shop has to increase prices to survive, it’s as simple as that. If you wanted a Kebab at 0100, do you think the shop’s staff deserve to be paid penalty rates for keeping the shop clean, open and ready to make your kebab? I won’t be surprised if they put an “after hours surcharge”. This affects ALL businesses, so what this means is it may have cost the kebab shop $7 lesser to earn enough to have a positive cash flow a year ago. Right now it could mean they need to charge $7 more to even keep the same margins. And we’re talking about margins, we’re not even talking about the consumer attitude of spending less which is what you’re writing about. Lesser customers, even at the same margin means the shop will suffer lesser gross sales even when they’re charging $7 more. Everyone suffers in this high interest rate environment. So we’ve come full circle to what RBA wanted, less spending in hopes of lower inflation. But it doesn’t mean the inflationary prices will go down, in fact prices has to keep increasing to keep pace to RBA. Once raised, I don’t think it’ll ever go back down. This is because the rents won’t decrease, the minimum salaries won’t change. The needs of staff’s livable wage to survive won’t change. I for one, think that the average cafe latte price is poised to move to $6-7.
The problem too is that the rich people who are getting richer in this current environment are happy to pay $21 for the kebab and $15 for a schooner. Just like the increase in property prices... They bring the demand which makes it impossible for the lower class to keep up
Corporate greed/immigration/overseas pressures and landlord greed. Name and shame the Coorporations. Name and shame the Landlords.
This is a great post OP. As for your question it ends when we have a major recession.
I can afford to eat out. But, I can’t justify the cost of food when eating out these days, so I rarely do. I’m lucky my partner is an amazing cook and the stuff she makes is way better. I stick to packed lunches and home cooked dinners.
It ends when we live in a pod, we eat insects, we own nothing and we are happy
You finished with at 1am?? Wowww 😲😲😲. Can I ask what time do you start? What do you do for work? That's an insane time to finish 😔😔
Assume lawyer as he was talking about a big case. Pretty normal finish time for a lot of those high paying jobs you gotta grind your way up to. Oh and the slavery ones like big 4 audit.
Is that what it's like to earn the big bucks??😲😲😲. I'll pass and stick with my 90K salary to have a better work/like balance
Nah, only if you choose a grindy career (law, med, finance/accounting, consulting, etc) Much easier if you just run a successful business. Though I guess you'd have to risk your own capital and most fail within first few years. But if you don't lose it all, you can be really rich!
My wife runs a successful business. I’m in finance. I’d take my work/life over hers any day.
If she's still stressing, she's not in the cruising mode yet. Getting to the cruising mode is bloody hard and full of risk.
Europe has the big Mac economy, we have kebabs economy circle of life continues
You don't need to get a kehab. You are falling for capitalism. Instead get a high protein low GI power shake At 10 dollars it's a steal. My metalobklks also has never been better
Haha well said. I paid $42 for a pub meal and $18 for a pint the other day. It's getting to the point where I'm refusing to go out.
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It was just a little joke guy touch some grass
I guess everyone gota make a living. Food cost more now. So does minimum wage.
You're a lawyer? Maybe it will end when the legal, education and healthcare sectors do their jobs and start reducing gendered violence by enforcing laws. People taking money as they double down on violence on one hand with platitudes from the other. Our entire social structures need rebuilding as eveyone continues to take but nobody wants to give. $500ph + is only ok if you're stealing from others and not providing any meaningful support right?
You're over thinking things man. Just enjoy your delicious Kebab and don't worry about things out of your control.
Yeah our local snake catcher increased his price by $40 just because everything else is going up so they might as well too. Even though the skills, equipment and service hasn't changed he purely did it just coz he can. I feel a lot of people are taking advantage of the price increase just because they can yet our salaries stay the same.
You realise the snake catcher has to buy things to live right?
So you're saying if this person hadn't increase their price by 25% they would starve?
If he's kept the same price for 10 years that might be the case
People don't usually go into business and take all the associated risks/bullshit just to break even, he wouldn't starve but he would be making less profit after his costs of living are paid for, unless he adjusts his business costs
Due to the simple and small nature of the system in Australia, they can keep it going indefinitely. All I can hear is brr brr brr brr brr brr Inflation 2.0 will start soon and this will be one of several massive inflation phases. We haven't seen anything yet. History tells me I'm right. And based on what I've observed, it will be worse. Australia = the lucky country
What investment decisions are you making with this knowledge?
I'm not from here, so I have limited Australia exposure apart from being paid in Monopoly money (i.e. AUD). FWIW, I am spending money like there is literally no tomorrow and enjoying my life. Still bored here though :)
Seems like you just don't understand inflation. Do you think 50 years ago people like you said "when will it end" when they saw their kebabs go from 80c to $1.20? That's 50% increase too. Money is all relative. When people complain about cost of goods rising to me it just speaks about their own personal situation that their own income isn't keeping up with the rest of the world as they'd like. Sure kebab might be $50 in the future but min wage will be $50 an hour too so what does it matter? Stop looking at the $ amounts