• PeelerSheila
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    15 days ago

    It’s great to be frugal, but shitty to have absolutely no other choice but to have it so ruthlessly rammed down your throat. The farmer struggles for a minimal return, consumers pay a premium for bare essentials and the fat cats and shareholders in the middle get all the cream. Grocery shopping is essential and should be treated as such, with essential items price protected, but time and time again governments are gutless wonders.

      • PeelerSheila
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        14 days ago

        Yes, I totally agree. When I was young I used to think, if you’ve worked hard and bought yourself a little weekender or property to one day retire to, like some of my friends did, then good on you. But with negative gearing, stagnant wage reform, stagnant social security payments, the air bnb situation, and people owning not “a little weekender” but 10, 20, 100 properties, it’s beyond a joke. Housing is a right and should never be treated like it isn’t.

        • Jay Stephens@mastodon.social
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          14 days ago

          @PeelerSheila @melbaboutown Not to mention the way the outsize returns from property investment once you’re rorting the tax breaks and negative gearing means it is sucking investment money out of the productive sectors of the economy, and thus hurting the skills base and our capacity to continue as an advanced economy.