australian families have never been better off under Howard ???

Question

Yeah ??? well what about THIS ???

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Home-repossessions-double-in-three-years/2007/11/10/1194329562331.html

"The ALP's first home saver account will reduce the rate of home repossessions in Sydney that have more than doubled in the past three years, opposition federal treasurer Wayne Swan says.

The Labor Party has obtained official data from the NSW Supreme Court under Freedom of Information (FoI) that shows mortgage repossessions rose from 1,170 in 2003 to 3,642 in 2006 across NSW.

Mr Swan said figures showed a further 2,196 applications have been issued in the year to August this year.

"Mr Howard still thinks working families have never been better off, while his successor Mr Costello denies there is a housing affordability crisis at all," Mr Swan said"

read on
and what is your opinion ?

Edit:
that's right Dickie keep the lowlife scum where we want them ... and then they will work for peanuts.. or better yet Peanut shells. ;)

EDIT: Is your life really that bad?

Ummm NO.but my life isn't that bad because i have a great work ethic and I bust my guts and I have no debt and I do NOT live outside my means.. absolutely NOTHING to do with John Howard .. THANK-YOU very much!!!!!
BUT... there are people out there who still have a great work ethic and still bust their guts.. BUT due to circumstances BEYOND their control .. HAVE to subject themselves to AWA in line with the IR laws .. and they are damn well struggling ..
THEN we have the fact that Howard practically ignored Climate Change and the issues surrounding it ..

So yeah My life's not that bad.. BUT as I wrote NO THANKS TO HOWARD but my OWN personal situation

Answer 1

but we've never been better off, since old man stinky turned up we have all been so wealthy .....??? what a load of sh!t, i mean if he is working off statistics as a measure of personal wealth, he may be right when you average the amount of personal weath the top end of town has, and when averaged amongst the total population of course it looks great. Buts lets have a breakdown of the broad statistics being used here, the last 5 years has seen a significant increase, year on year of mortgage default, and if not defaut, mortgage stress. Banks and non bank lenders are now considering increasing rates outside of the RBA instructions as a result of increased wholesale borrowing costs between banks internationally. i tell you i feel pretty lucky that i was on the right side of the wall when they were "writing on the wall" what was gonna happen, i am ok, but for those living the monthly stress of the RBA board meeting outcome, it is a matter of pay the loan this month or eat for the month, but not both. I live in a mortgage belt, there is houses for sale everywhere, i know whats going on behind closed doors, these people cant afford to live in an outer suburb, the cheapest end of town. Howard cant tell us we have never been better off when people are going under constantly, the latest rate rise and the next one will surely push more of my neighbors over the edge, mortgagee sales everywhere you look, great.......doesn't do us any good for the local property values does it when houses are being auctioned by the banks at any old price. Oh but hang on, didn't Steve Vizard make a cool $18 million on the sale of his toorak mansion? It's tough at the top end of town, all those stats saying how we've never been so well off.....
howard sucks!
go kevin07

Answer 2

It's a fact that there have been historic high levels of mortgages taken out in the past decade, as more and more people, many of them immigrants and young Australians have used newly relaxed lending regulations, non-bank lenders and the first home owner's grant to buy their way into the new suburbs which are flooding out from our cities.

But it's also true that the cost to the consumer of this housing has risen by 100s or per cent in the same time period, so that the mortgages are much bigger, and because people can now borrow up to 100 per cent of the valuation price of the home, the margin for default has increased correspondingly.

At the same time, the cost of housing has put it out of reach for many young people, and rents continue to rise to such an extent that in some suburbs tenancies are informally 'auctioned'.

While there's no doubt at all that there is a LOT of money about the top end of town, there is also a lot of financial pressure on the ordinary person, and in many cases a very small nudge is enough to upset the applecart.

Governments like to see mortageg numbers up, because it is regarded as an indicator of consumer confidence, but I do think that at least some of what has happened in these 'low interest/resources boom' years has been buying generated by the constant talk of how good things are.

People who are not financially sophisticated have bought into the constant promotion and paid more than they can really afford, via loans that would not have been legal ten years ago.

$30 a month can, and does, make a difference to them, not because they aren't working or don't have the money, but because as well as the home loan they also have a car loan and credit cards to worry about.

My opinion is, that we'll be seeing more of this as world trends start biting and interest rates start rising.

Not everyone will be affected, but those who are will face hard times :-(

Answer 3

I have to say that I personally am better off ... but that is because I don't have a mortgage, credit card, personal loan, my kids have grown up and so I don't need child care, I (and those close to me are not sick at this point in time) and both myself and my partner are fortunate enough to be working in fields that have a high demand at the moment. This is because we are older, have been lucky and didn't believe the crap the pollies like to pass off as the truth.
We are a dual income couple, no debts (just the usual rent, power, phone and stuff) and yet we have no hope of ever buying our own home .... Families have never been better off? Wake up Johnnie ... go spend some REAL time with REAL Australians.
I can remember in the 70's when Howard was Treasurer, he admitted on national TV that he had no idea what it cost the average family at the supermarket each week. That was 30 odd years ago and nothing has changed. How can he represent ALL Australians when he has no idea what it is like for the average working people? I was a teenager at the time and it has stuck in memory as if it was yesterday. And Peter Costello is a chip off the old block.
Get rid of them both - they aren't worth the breath they spend on the garbage they keep telling us.....
Labour may not have all the answers but at least they have a better idea what it's like to be an ordinary, everyday, working Australian.

Answer 4

Howard would not know the meaning of the word" Better Off " to justify that would be more for his little brain to handle,

Tax cuts Huh, the tax cuts that he mentions have all been gone up in smoke, Price of = Petrol , Food, Rent, School, Mortgages, and the lists goes on.

No wonder so many people on the low end of the so called better off cannot even afford the rent of a house, so that they can live in, and most live in A caravan if they can afford that,

Work choices what a joke to the Australian people, no likely hood of ever owning a home with the average cost of actually buying one under such harsh work conditions that they have to sign AWA and never know what they are signing and never being told what pay rate they are giving up.

When Howard says that Australian are better off, he's in denial of ever knowing the truth like the wise monkey holding his hands over his eyes,

The future is not going to be very easy if Liberal Party gets back in it will be much severe.

So who will they blame then, not themselves

The sale of Australian assets that the Liberal Party has done since this Howard has been in Office has been a disaster for all Australia.

It took the previous generation of Australian people to have these assets for their childrens future and it has taken this Liberal Government to get rid of all of them one by one.

It is the Liberal Party that is the worste party for a government and not a Labour Party.

Yes I did read that artical , If Howard gets back in, there will be more people who will default because they cannot afford the money to pay the mortage because of a low pay packet
and Howard say Australians " Better Off ". What a Liar

Go Kevin Rudd, lets get a Labour Party back in an set one for a decent future that cannot be undone again by a Liberal Party Government.

Answer 5

Exactly "Wakeup" and "Click" This problem has nothing to do with the Government, if you cant afford it, dont buy it. So is that true? the average mortgage is $300,000 ? Well there is the problem. I cant afford a mortgage that big, not when you can buy a brand new house for under $200,000 we have had our house for about 18 months and we paid $195,000 less the first home buyers grant (which paid the stamp duty) with carpet, blinds, fences, driveway and even a dishwasher. We borrowed $185,000 and our payment is $322 per week. its really not that hard, get a cheaper house.

Answer 6

Those figures come as no surpise if you consider that with all these low doc home loans and builders "double your grant" crap, there are too many people buying houses above their income level. The average mortgage is now in excess of $300,000.00 and that requires a payment of over $500.00 p/w. If you take the "old fashioned" method of your mortgage payment should only consume 30% of your after tax income then unless you are on $100,000.00 per year, you should not have a mortgage that big. When that was the banks rule of thumb, house repossessions were far less frequent. House prices reflect what people are prepared to pay and absolutely nothing else, if more people cant afford to "upsize" or even buy in the first place, house prices would not get so ridiculously high. You should not comment on these statistics unless you understand them, home repossessions has nothing to do with the government and everything to do with people buying houses they shouldn't and that in turn drives prices into the stratoshpere. NEXT!

Answer 7

Oh be fair now, I'm sure the Packer family are much better off under Howard, I mean...you have to look at the families who *count*. Just look at the tax the Packer family have saved, not to mention the State Funerals...

And anyway isn't it obvious that people whose houses are up for repossession are basically just UnAustralian? Real Australians don't overextend themselves. Well...unless they are managing OneTel or HIH....

oops sorry. Wrong Meeting. That was the Liberal thinktank media damage control meeting.

My opinion is that quality of life under the Howard government has gone down. People on the whole are worse off.

* They work longer hours.
* Spend more of their money paying for their homes and putting fuel in their cars
* Suffer from poorer healthcare
* Have less job stability
* Have poorer working conditions

time for a change.
.

Answer 8

What he means is that SOME Australians have never been better off. But he thinks that the average wage is $80,000 pa!! Anyone who earns less than that doesn't exist as far as the Liberals are concerned. They have this arrogant attitude that Haydos has quite clearly adopted where they firmly believe that anyone who is NOT better off only has themselves to blame no matter what kind of draconian and neo-conservative crap we get dumped on us.

The Liberal philosophy is that if you can't afford a house - don't live in one. If you can't afford to have a decent meal everyday - don't expect one. If you can't afford good medical care - don't try to get it. If you work for a pittance - be grateful you have a job at all. And so on, and so on........

Well, that is absolute and utter bollocks!! And it is not Australia - at least not the kind of Australia I want to live in and it is not prosperity by any definition.

Answer 9

Some Australian families are obviously better off under Howard: those in the upper income backets. And that really means that they are only better off financially
However, those with a disabled family member, with children in child care, with elderly parents, with sick family members, with unemployed youth etc, are certainly not better off.
And think of the families in Irak...Are they better off because Howard joined the co-alition of the killing and rendered Irak a tangled mass of horror? Family Values!!!!!! For whom?
And where will those so called family values be when the repercussions of global warming come home to roost? Fried?????
Good on you little Johnnie, you've done a wonderful job , both nationally and on the internation stage........

Answer 10

I thought the situation was bad but it came as a bit of a shock that home defaults have tripled in three years. At my age I long ago gave up the idea of buying a house looks like i had the right idea. If this is Australians have never been better off under John Howard give me back a Prime Minister I was struggling with please.