Examining the numbers

The story “Trust deficit threatens Covid-19 response” (Mike Seccombe, March 14-20) contained two related issues: a decline in trust of governments and an assertion that the economy has almost doubled since 2008. We are continually bombarded by economic data including the line that Australian hasn’t had a recession in 27 years. It’s a smokescreen designed to obscure the reality of the terrible mess governments have made via market economics. Our GDP, the tool used as an indicator of performance, was according to Google either $US1.45 trillion or $US1.89 trillion, which puts Australia 14th out of 196 nations surveyed. This sounds great until you realise that GDP has become the best indicator of environmental impact, including climate change. Our household debt, largely from mortgages, is about $US1.7 trillion, which suggests that the muchvaunted GDP is based entirely on debt. On average we are spending almost twice our income, borrowing mostly from overseas to buy what are often shoddy dwellings approved by corrupt councils and that have been set up by government policies to increase in price. It’s a cruel scam disguised as a housing boom that leaves more than 100,000 people homeless and many more trapped in mortgage stress. Local objections to developments are ignored; protests are met with threats of new laws to silence us. And while our economy grew, the number living below the poverty line followed, with one person in seven falling into this category, largely because we have about 2.5 million either unemployed or underemployed and only 237,100 job vacancies.

– Don Owers, Dudley, NSW