24 September

Isn't the problem obvious here? A whole bunch of individuals (with views I agree with btw), whose only collective action is to stand together and complain. They have an industrial-scale political weapon they can use, but they don't. Unions. I don't bang on about unions because I'm a union organiser, but everything that started going wrong in society started the second these same people stopped joining their unions. Their wages and working conditions went backwards. Politics was overtaken by a deeply conservative ageing population. What even the smart people in the top end of the town like the Governor of the RBA now acknowledge is that without strong political institutions representing people, the whole 'economy' tanks too. It's a win for everybody, not just unions. Progress has two fronts. Persuasion, and force. You need industrial muscle to bring the other side to the table, otherwise they just ignore you.