Before finally retiring (again!), I had an Australian research assistant working for me who was just the nicest darn guy. He had a great sense of humor and would do just about anything for anybody, and was always concerned for the wellbeing of others.
Yet he referred to all non-white people by every racial epithet known, seemingly without even being aware that he was doing so. It wasn't ill-intentioned. He didn't seem to be trying to offend or insult any of them. It was apparently the way he was brought up to speak about such people.
Workplaces are changing very rapidly - In my work place, Im probably only one of two people that have parents born in Australia, so Its going to be pretty hard to maintain that sort of view and remain employed (and with good reason)
AUSTRALIA is second best - almost but not quite the greatest place in which to live, according to the latest United Nations human development index.
Norway pips us by a flared nostril. Australia scores 0.93 on a scale of 0 to 1, where 1 is the highest score possible.
At 0.94, Norway's margin over Australia is close to invisible...
The UN says the worst places in the world to live are in Africa. The bottom five are Chad, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The five best places to live are Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand. http://www.smh.com.au/national/not-q...102-1mvnz.html http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
The amount of sanctimonious rubbish we hear from a number of commentators in recent times you wouldn't know it huh? our overall score has even improved over the last 4 years
Australia's median wealth the highest in the world
"In 2011, average wealth in Australia, at
USD 397,000, was second highest in the world – after
Switzerland and ahead of Norway. More surprisingly, perhaps,
its median wealth of USD 222,000 is the highest in the world." https://infocus.credit-suisse.com/da...lth_report.pdf
My eyes and senses must be deceiving me. Most of my friends must be deceiving me. My family must be deceiving me. The people I meet must be deceiving me. My bank must be deceiving me. My body must be pretending its a little stressed. The circles I move in ( which involves many and varied types of business, some big enterprises too ) the people I meet out and about ... there is no-one who is confident, who is experiencing growth, who thinks they are better off in these times ... worst is, absolutely no-one thinks they have seen the worst yet either. I will back first hand knowledge against some report anyday. The report is intersting, but in view of my opening statement reminds me once again about statistics.
My eyes and senses must be deceiving me. Most of my friends must be deceiving me. My family must be deceiving me. The people I meet must be deceiving me. My bank must be deceiving me. My body must be pretending its a little stressed. The circles I move in ( which involves many and varied types of business, some big enterprises too ) the people I meet out and about ... there is no-one who is confident, who is experiencing growth, who thinks they are better off in these times ... worst is, absolutely no-one thinks they have seen the worst yet either. I will back first hand knowledge against some report anyday. The report is intersting, but in view of my opening statement reminds me once again about statistics.
Hmmm? You sure about that.....
"BRC250, TSA102S, Sky-90, HGM Titan
STL11000M, ST2000XM CFW9, SBIG RGH
Astrodon Series 2 LRGB Filters, CS HA 10nm
Robo Focus, FLI PDF focuser
Canon 40D."
...in comparison many places in the world don't even have access to reliable electricity or even a proper surage system....I dunno, I think we might be doing ok
"In 2011, average wealth in Australia, at
USD 397,000, was second highest in the world
Since housing represents much of an individuals wealth, the comparison to other western countries is distorted by us being at different stages of the housing boom cycle. Japan's boom ended 2 decades ago and the US and Europe have had falling house prices for several years while we're near the top of our boom. In another decade we will feel significantly less wealthy having seen house values evaporate but still needing to service the debt.
We'll still be well off compared to most other humans on the planet though - plenty of natural resources for a relatively small population.
My eyes and senses must be deceiving me. Most of my friends must be deceiving me. My family must be deceiving me. The people I meet must be deceiving me. My bank must be deceiving me. My body must be pretending its a little stressed. The circles I move in ( which involves many and varied types of business, some big enterprises too ) the people I meet out and about ... there is no-one who is confident, who is experiencing growth, who thinks they are better off in these times ... worst is, absolutely no-one thinks they have seen the worst yet either. I will back first hand knowledge against some report anyday. The report is intersting, but in view of my opening statement reminds me once again about statistics.
While I don't have a huge amount of confidence in the world's economic outlook, right now I can honestly say I am better off now than I have ever been. And I don't work in mining.
"BRC250, TSA102S, Sky-90, HGM Titan
STL11000M, ST2000XM CFW9, SBIG RGH
Astrodon Series 2 LRGB Filters, CS HA 10nm
Robo Focus, FLI PDF focuser
Canon 40D."
...in comparison many places in the world don't even have access to reliable electricity or even a proper surage system....I dunno, I think we might be doing ok
Yeah Mike .. Im REALLY sure ... and whats more Ive had reliable electricity for all my life and proper sewerage for 3/4 of it ... I dont know what any of that has to do with anything I said.
Your reply about sanctimony and that we have improved over that last 4 years induced my comment. (Im not confusing the issue of wanting to be anywhere else but Australia) Talking the same time frame you suggested however, I am at odds with your view. MY equipment list was also provided for in times well before this too which is fortunate because I wouldnt have a hope of being able to purchase that now ... And so if you want to compare my existance to any place worse of than here, then I have no argument ... but I can assure you that in your 4 year time frame what I mentioned is whats happening for me.
Yeah Mike .. Im REALLY sure ... and whats more Ive had reliable electricity for all my life and proper sewerage for 3/4 of it ... I dont know what any of that has to do with anything I said.
Your suggestion that Aussies are doing it tough is a complete nonsense in a global sense, that's what it was meant to highlight
Quote:
Your reply about sanctimony and that we have improved over that last 4 years induced my comment.
(Im not confusing the issue of wanting to be anywhere else but Australia) Talking the same time frame you suggested however, I am at odds with your view.
Well it's true, the human development index for Australia has indeed improved over the last 4 years - fact! Look it up
Quote:
MY equipment list was also provided for in times well before this too which is fortunate because I wouldnt have a hope of being able to purchase that now
Fair enough
Quote:
... And so if you want to compare my existance to any place worse of than here
My point exactly every other country is worse off, yet people here are still complaining...pretty simple concept really
Quote:
... but I can assure you that in your 4 year time frame what I mentioned is whats happening for me.
Again fair enough, not the best result for you perhaps in comparison but the fact is that on a global scale Australians enjoy the highest standard of living, one of the highest income/capita, one of the best education systems, one of the best standards of health care, one of the highest levels of political freedoms, the best status forf women, one of the highest life expectances etc etc and this HAS even improved over the last 4 years... which in a nut shell ranks us No2 in the World and only by a hairs breath of being No1
Sorry if I have offended in any subtle way but you can look it up for yourself..and it is these facts that drew my sanctimonius comment in relation to the garbage that eminates form the mouths of spoksmen like Bolt, Smith, Edwards, Jones and Akerman et al who would have us believe that the place is going down the tubes - the reality is that we simply are not
It makes sense the Banking country would be number 1. I bet you they did all right out of the GFC. Perhaps even wanted it.
Its also interesting they do not use the Euro.
I see the point about the wealth not flowing around. I am sure those statistics are skewed by the mining sector boom.
Wages in mining areas are much higher than in other sectors.
Also, when it comes to managing the economy I believe that interest rate adjustments are always too late in coming. Then retail gets hit first. Not helped by the shift to an online economy. Then the construction industry, which some would argue probably never lifted back up after the GFC too much except for the Govt prop up from the Schools upgrades.
Comparing Australia to Norway is ludicrous as who wants to live with the Penguins? Of course Australia is better than Norway (no offence to Norwegians) as climate would make a massive difference in quality of life not to mention the fact we are a continent whilst they are tiny. In terms of money I suppose they must have a lot of gas or oil. Or perhaps they sell whale meat at really high prices to the Japanese.
Comparing Australia to Switzerland is closer but still they have a cold climate - reasonably good skiing and great scenery but a very small country and no food that is worth eating.
I reckon he eats three penguins every morning. How many do you do?
Although I was competing in his time, I never had the opportunity to compete against Svend (neeeearly did in 1999 when I was a single point away from representing Australia at World's Strongest Man 1999) but a fellow competitor and friend here in Oz did and he said although a little crazy Svend was a nice guy
As for the penguins...I am sure he would rather photograph them than eat them
(and with good reason)
our overall score has even improved over the last 4 years 
