Schadenfreude
I'm not sure about you, but I have a creeping feeling of smugness about events taking place in Australia at the moment.
Call it schadenfreude, or just good old-fashioned leftist hating, but I can't help but feel things are starting to swing our way, or at least in the right direction.
I can't say I feel sorry for those who are in debt to their eyeballs, who drive enormous and completely ridiculous cars around and are principally responsible for ignoring the various deceipts heaped upon us by the Howard Government, voting them in with the infuriating slogan "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". These are people who vote with their wallets and petrol tanks. Here's a slogan people should try: "if you can't afford it, don't buy it".
The Federal government has spent the last ten years encouraging people into debt. Figures show that while interest rates are nowhere near the 17% of the early 90's, the ratio of household debt to disposable income is higher. This is of serious concern and one of the main reasons behind the recent RBA decision to raise official rates and the predictions they will rise again before the end of the year. Foreign debt has also continued to climb. And yet the orgy of borrowing and spending that has marked the last ten years was joined eagerly by the "aspirationals", "Howard's Battlers" leaping into the housing market, buying new cars, plasma TV's, surround sound systems. "Fuck the refugees, check out my sub-woofer!" or as is so eloquently put on a t-shirt belonging to Peter, "forget about the war, let's go jet skiing!"
Apparently, to be "relaxed and comfortable" means looking after yourself and screwing the rest - as long as you gain personally, who cares about the wider cost? After all, as everyone's favourite poster girl of the the Right once said, "there is no such thing as society".
So I don't feel sorry for these people now that petrol prices are starting to bite, I don't feel sorry for them now that interest rates are starting to climb, I'm quite content to just sit back and enjoy the show. Call me a sick and bitter leftist if you will, but I think we can all agree there is a certain poetic justice to it all.
Call it schadenfreude, or just good old-fashioned leftist hating, but I can't help but feel things are starting to swing our way, or at least in the right direction.
I can't say I feel sorry for those who are in debt to their eyeballs, who drive enormous and completely ridiculous cars around and are principally responsible for ignoring the various deceipts heaped upon us by the Howard Government, voting them in with the infuriating slogan "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". These are people who vote with their wallets and petrol tanks. Here's a slogan people should try: "if you can't afford it, don't buy it".
The Federal government has spent the last ten years encouraging people into debt. Figures show that while interest rates are nowhere near the 17% of the early 90's, the ratio of household debt to disposable income is higher. This is of serious concern and one of the main reasons behind the recent RBA decision to raise official rates and the predictions they will rise again before the end of the year. Foreign debt has also continued to climb. And yet the orgy of borrowing and spending that has marked the last ten years was joined eagerly by the "aspirationals", "Howard's Battlers" leaping into the housing market, buying new cars, plasma TV's, surround sound systems. "Fuck the refugees, check out my sub-woofer!" or as is so eloquently put on a t-shirt belonging to Peter, "forget about the war, let's go jet skiing!"
Apparently, to be "relaxed and comfortable" means looking after yourself and screwing the rest - as long as you gain personally, who cares about the wider cost? After all, as everyone's favourite poster girl of the the Right once said, "there is no such thing as society".
So I don't feel sorry for these people now that petrol prices are starting to bite, I don't feel sorry for them now that interest rates are starting to climb, I'm quite content to just sit back and enjoy the show. Call me a sick and bitter leftist if you will, but I think we can all agree there is a certain poetic justice to it all.
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