10 November

The Block is good drama. It’s also a window into Casino Oz. Capital gains on housing are the engine room of the Oz economy. Really it’s just a fancy word for gambling. The trick is flogging off a place for zillions more than it actually cost, and calling it ‘what the market will bear’. For any other product it’d be illegal, adding a coat of paint and selling on for several hundred percent more than you paid for something. Look at the faces here, like they won the lottery. This is the Australian Dream. All economic armaggedons start in this exact way.