
Australia's economy is a house of cards - siquick
https://medium.com/@matt_11659/matt-barrie-australias-economy-is-a-house-of-cards-6877adb3fb2f
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joneil
As an Aussie, a very confronting read. You're kind of aware of various
problems brewing on the horizon, that China's demand for iron ore is low, that
our housing costs are too high, and therefore mortgages / household debt are
too high, all of this. But then when you weigh it all up the feeling of being
in trouble is very real, and we've had 6 years of flaky leadership that's too
worried about political maneuvers to worry about these structural problems.

There are some things that give me hope though. We've built a number of great
marketplace startups, including Freelancer (where the author works), Envato,
99 designs etc. So that's a strength, and the tech scene in general has grown
massively in the last 5 years. Our mining industry might be in the slumps but
we pioneered some pretty great drone tech, self-driving tech, and remote
operations stuff. And if you get creative with remote work and global teams,
the timezones we're in can be seen as strategic assets.

There are smart people here. But like most other liberal democracies, we're
really divided and have a large voting block that just wants to keep the
status quo and isn't being honest about the challenges. But hey, we just voted
yes to marriage equality so the electorate has some hope left.

~~~
siquick
As an Englishman living in Australia for 6 years, its become clear over time
that people here just don't really seem to care that much about what's going
on outside of their own sphere.

The "she'll be right" attitude has its merits but I can't help but be
concerned that the country is sleepwalking into rough periods.

The overarching reliance of the government on tax (from tobacco, to pokies, to
cycling fines) that the author touched upon is truly worrying when there
aren't really any solid earners for the economy. And that's without even
addressing the real estate horrorshow that's going on around us. Uber drivers
owning 8 properties?!

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Sag0Sag0
As an Australian 16 year old I feel a bit fucked.

~~~
joneil
If you're reading HN as a 16 year old I like the chances that you'll be
entrepreneurial enough to make your own way even in a bad economy. Either just
finding the opportunities locally, or creating things for a global market, or
packing a bag and going somewhere more promising. If you're willing to keep
growing / hacking / changing, and especially if you have tech skills, you'll
probably do a lot better in a downturn than much of the rest of the country.

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skintor
The focus on real estate as the means to wealth is spot on. It's essentially
the go-to retirement strategy for essentially every Aussie I've met

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bruce_one
Previously posted:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15691154](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15691154)

