The state of the economy at the street level

[SirRumpole]

you make that sound like a bad thing , given the current Australian tactic of slowly inching the pension age to 100 ( or is it 200 ) ( government officials and politicians excepted , of course )

i back the French unionists on this ( as much as it makes me choke to support any union )

I guess it depends on how much the pension system can afford.

Would people trade higher taxes through their working lives for an earlier retirement?

 

[wayneL]

I guess it depends on how much the pension system can afford.

Would people trade higher taxes through their working lives for an earlier retirement?

I'd go for less pork barreling, personally.

 

[SirRumpole]

I'd go for less pork barreling, personally.

Sure but the cost of pork barreling is minute compared to the cost of pensions.

66 is a reasonable retirement age for most people these days . My original post was to contrast the reaction of the French compared with our grudging acceptance of 65 going to 67. We probably realised it had to be done even though we didn't like it.

 

[divs4ever]

Heard an interesting bit of (brief) convo on Triple J. One of the young girls said she was a workaholic, mainly due to the fact she had worked through COVID and wasn't locked down.

I'm not sure that's the overriding answer. But it is hugely noticeable that people have changed. Guys I know that were 100% driven have come to me and said they are "downsizing" for less stress and time at work.
A lot of guys as well.

So I wonder how it will affect future generations of workers?
Obviously we have new workers every year. So how many generations to breed it out again.

well that would have been OK ( apart from the fact they will reach pension age , healthier ) if they worked smarter ...

now back in my younger days , ( blue collar/no collar ) workers unwound at the pub ( or drank slyly on the job )

... but now the taxes are piling up on the earners , the pension age is creeping into the distance , company loyalty is looked on as a mental deficiency .... how many generations is it back to the Stone Age ( nomadic hunter-gathers )

oh , and did i mention most super payouts will be nearly worthless ( even if the fund-manager brings in 8% annual returns regularly )

and shush don't mention robots/AI ( in case folks believe there will always be jobs )

 

[qldfrog]

I guess it depends on how much the pension system can afford.

Would people trade higher taxes through their working lives for an earlier retirement?

How many years of pensions for half a trillion of nuke subs and jet fighters?
As pensions are mostly spent, in a high taxation country like ours, I suspect this could be quite a few years as for each of these dollars, most. Probably comes back in the ATO coffers.. especially as pensioners rarely spend it all on OS trips and flashy foreign TVs or cars

 

[qldfrog]

well that would have been OK ( apart from the fact they will reach pension age , healthier ) if they worked smarter ...

now back in my younger days , ( blue collar/no collar ) workers unwound at the pub ( or drank slyly on the job )

... but now the taxes are piling up on the earners , the pension age is creeping into the distance , company loyalty is looked on as a mental deficiency .... how many generations is it back to the Stone Age ( nomadic hunter-gathers )

oh , and did i mention most super payouts will be nearly worthless ( even if the fund-manager brings in 8% annual returns regularly )

and shush don't mention robots/AI ( in case folks believe there will always be jobs )

"how many generations is it back to the Stone Age ( nomadic hunter-gathers )"
So this is what the voice is about? caring for our future masses ?

 

[divs4ever]

Sure but the cost of pork barreling is minute compared to the cost of pensions.

66 is a reasonable retirement age for most people these days . My original post was to contrast the reaction of the French compared with our grudging acceptance of 65 going to 67. We probably realised it had to be done even though we didn't like it.

well the French realize that ( manual ) workers are fairly well stuffed at 64 ( i didn't even make that before i qualified for a disability pension ) , the truck drivers have wrecked backs and kidneys , others have wrecked arthritic hands and arms , others spotted with Melanomas , but the French are willing to protest and strike , and protest and strike

( personally i would have boycotted services to all government buildings as an opener , but the French choose protests first )

 

[SirRumpole]

especially as pensioners rarely spend it all on OS trips and flashy foreign TVs or cars

Yes but quite a lot of superannuants take a lump sum, blow it on what you just said, then go on the pension.

 

[divs4ever]

"how many generations is it back to the Stone Age ( nomadic hunter-gathers )"
So this is what the voice is about? caring for our future masses ?

i grew up on the Western fringes of Brisbane , i have seen what the future might be two teenage gangs of professional car thieves ( 12 to 15 year olds ) , at least one commercial premises burglar , one jewel thief , and that was just the grade 9 class ( in a thousand student school ) ( BTW that was the academic class as well )

any wonder i truanted so much to avoid a police record ( and earn money in the pool halls in the inner city ) ( Atko was smarter he monstered another student got expelled got a job in a small super-market and was manager there a year after i finished high school )

interesting times ahead

 

[divs4ever]

I guess it depends on how much the pension system can afford.

Would people trade higher taxes through their working lives for an earlier retirement?

well if the taxes were well invested in the future of nation prosperity ... but all we get is second rate stuff highways that take 50 years to expand , main roads that are never fixed properly and if it was well built ( usually before WW2 ) they wreck it 'during maintenance ' ( 'cos someone's mate wants to build a newer one next door )

remember higher taxes means a higher cost of living ( with GST even beggars get taxed ) ( lower costs of living and a pension goes further )

 

[farmerge]

A lot of businesses were started in the wake of COVID in the belief that that world had somehow changed forever. And in a sense it has changed forever, but perhaps not as fast or as permanently as those entrepreneurs might have expected.

Ultimately good businesses prosper and bad businesses fail. The home delivery niche had become just as crowded as the BNPL niche and it is inevitable that a substantial amount of rationalisation was bound to occur when it became clear that the market wasn't big enough to support all the companies trying to service it.

Home delivery is still a growth market but the growth is going to be organic rather than explosive. MilkRun tried to grow too fast too quickly and in the end that is what brought it down.

We have a "milkrun" service in out household. It's called My Wife and low and behold if anyone is around when she comes home from the excersion with the weekly shopping done. As wise person keeps his distance for a period of time.

 

[farmerge]

Heard an interesting bit of (brief) convo on Triple J. One of the young girls said she was a workaholic, mainly due to the fact she had worked through COVID and wasn't locked down.

I'm not sure that's the overriding answer. But it is hugely noticeable that people have changed. Guys I know that were 100% driven have come to me and said they are "downsizing" for less stress and time at work.
A lot of guys as well.

So I wonder how it will affect future generations of workers?
Obviously we have new workers every year. So how many generations to breed it out again.

So will the off-spring of these wanting less stress and downsizing also be wanting to do less but have all the benefits that full time employment will offer.

 

[wayneL]

We have a "milkrun" service in out household. It's called My Wife and low and behold if anyone is around when she comes home from the excersion with the weekly shopping done. As wise person keeps his distance for a period of time.

This is why we should actually thank our incompetent government for raising the pension age

 

[divs4ever]

the pension age raising seems to have bi-partisan support , so it seems seniors only matter when it comes to new ways to entice the seniors into depleting the nest egg ( so it can be taxed faster )

at least my nest egg isn't 40% ( or more ) in Treasury bonds

 

[farmerge]

the pension age raising seems to have bi-partisan support , so it seems seniors only matter when it comes to new ways to entice the seniors into depleting the nest egg ( so it can be taxed faster )

at least my nest egg isn't 40% ( or more ) in Treasury bonds

I've decided to spend unwisely have a good time when i finally decide to retire and then let the Govt support us to a standard that is acceptable.!!!!!

 

[divs4ever]

I've decided to spend unwisely have a good time when i finally decide to retire and then let the Govt support us to a standard that is acceptable.!!!!!

good luck on that !! i decided to accept the pension while i can , and ( try to ) prepare for when the pension vanishes ( for most citizens )

 

[farmerge]

Though in my early 70's now I did not want to finish my working career as an invalid, so against the wishes of Her, I decided late last year to re-start the contracting business again. My aim is to finish up working as able bodied. So far to date realising that scenario.

 

[farmerge]

So when the time comsto sell up and the move to the Southrn end of the State comes to fruition, I guess we will be sort of self funded till it is blown.

 

[divs4ever]

Though in my early 70's now I did not want to finish my working career as an invalid, so against the wishes of Her, I decided late last year to re-start the contracting business again. My aim is to finish up working as able bodied. So far to date realising that scenario.

that is not an option for me , i planned to retire in 2020 , but the government paid me to stop work in 2017 ( and even back-paid me to do so , so technically they retired me midway through 2016 )

 

[farmerge]

that is not an option for me , i planned to retire in 2020 , but the government paid me to stop work in 2017 ( and even back-paid me to do so , so technically they retired me midway through 2016 )

I wastold by the GP's and Specialists that I would qualify for disability pension etc, but I wasn't ready mentally for it, and am now glad that i chose the current path that I am travelling on.
A limited intake of pain-killers do make this road an little easier to traverse though.
These will be with me until I am ashes floating around somewhere.