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Economic Depression may be "in the mind"
CommSec chief economist Craig James has accused Australians of dwelling on the bad news about price hikes, ignoring the wage rises and tax cuts that he argues have left most families better off financially
Mr James said that fall in consumer confidence was in spite of evidence showing the average Australian wage earner who took out an average mortgage more than two years ago was actually in front financially.
Repayments on an average mortgage taken out five years ago had gone up by $354 a month. But that, and other cost-of-living increases, would have been more than offset by an increase in the average after-tax wage in the same period, worth $832 a month.
Mr James said Australians' unnecessary worry about their family budgets could turn into a bout of economic hypochondria.
"The risk is there," he said. "The risk is that people could talk themselves into a depressed state. They'll react to the bad news out there without sitting down and looking at the actual dollars."
His concern was backed by social commentator Clive Hamilton, former head of the Australia Institute and co-author of Affleunza. "I think there is far more imagined hardship in Australia than real hardship," he said.
"I think we just like whingeing. It doesn't reflect very well on the view that Australians have of themselves as stoic individualists who get through life with little complaint.
"We've become a nation of middle-class whingers."
CommSec chief economist Craig James has accused Australians of dwelling on the bad news about price hikes, ignoring the wage rises and tax cuts that he argues have left most families better off financially
Mr James said that fall in consumer confidence was in spite of evidence showing the average Australian wage earner who took out an average mortgage more than two years ago was actually in front financially.
Repayments on an average mortgage taken out five years ago had gone up by $354 a month. But that, and other cost-of-living increases, would have been more than offset by an increase in the average after-tax wage in the same period, worth $832 a month.
Mr James said Australians' unnecessary worry about their family budgets could turn into a bout of economic hypochondria.
"The risk is there," he said. "The risk is that people could talk themselves into a depressed state. They'll react to the bad news out there without sitting down and looking at the actual dollars."
His concern was backed by social commentator Clive Hamilton, former head of the Australia Institute and co-author of Affleunza. "I think there is far more imagined hardship in Australia than real hardship," he said.
"I think we just like whingeing. It doesn't reflect very well on the view that Australians have of themselves as stoic individualists who get through life with little complaint.
"We've become a nation of middle-class whingers."
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