Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Sep 15th 2010, 11:10 am
#61
Victorian Evangelist
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Melbourne, by the beach, living the dream.
Posts: 7,704
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Sep 15th 2010, 11:17 am
#62
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2009
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Posts: 76
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
On a high level, let's compare a couple of websites:
www.timeout.com/london gives me just shy of 2000 results for things happening in the next week.
www.onlymelbourne.com.au doesn't have a weekly search, however, the results for 'today' are all events that are ongoing, and returns 162 results.
Now granted, I'm not going to be interested in a lot of the 162 results for Melbourne, nor am I going to be interested in a lot of the 2000 results for London. But of the 162 results in Melbourne, it's going to be hard to find much of interest (to me) whereas I'm sure to find plenty of interest in London. The difference is in the frequency & level of what is available in Melbourne.
Were you interested in giving a more detailed comparison?
Sep 15th 2010, 11:21 am
#64
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Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
However, given that Melbourne prides itself on being so 'European' and cosmopolitan, it probably is apt to remind thos who think that moving to Melbourne will be like 'little Europe' that it's really not.
Sep 15th 2010, 11:25 am
#65
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Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Depends what you class as 'quality of life'. Someone once told me that living in Australia was like dating a gorgeous model, great to look at, a novelty and all your friends are envious but after a while you want something more, like some stimulation of the mind. One man's quality is another's nightmare and I don't believe there is quality of life to be had now in Aus unless you're already cashed up. Double income families working all the hours, kids in child care is what I'm witnessing more and more compared to 8 years ago, quality of life has dropped dramactically.
I couldn't help getting the feeling when I was living there that it was pleasant enough, but that I wasn't ready to retire yet. Nothing wrong if you do happen to enjoy it, but life was a little too pedestrian with not enough stimulation for me. I'm not ready to settle for 'pleasant' yet, maybe at a different stage of life it would be ok.
Sep 15th 2010, 1:12 pm
#67
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Public Debt per Country
- United Kingdom 68.5% of GDP
- Australia 18.6% of GDP
External Debt per Country
- United Kingdom 427% of GDP
- Australia 109% of GDP
Personal Debt excluding Mortgages
- Australian Personal debt = $6,136 (A$135bn / 22m)
- UK Personal debt = £3,511 (£217bn / 61.8m)
- USA Personal debt = US$7,854 ($2,418.9bn / 308m)
Sep 15th 2010, 2:07 pm
#68
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 6,039
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Australia's public debt is lower than that...I think the figure you are quoting was an estimate that never came true thankfully.
Sep 15th 2010, 11:49 pm
#69
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 252
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Really?
On a high level, let's compare a couple of websites:
www.timeout.com/london gives me just shy of 2000 results for things happening in the next week.
www.onlymelbourne.com.au doesn't have a weekly search, however, the results for 'today' are all events that are ongoing, and returns 162 results.
Now granted, I'm not going to be interested in a lot of the 162 results for Melbourne, nor am I going to be interested in a lot of the 2000 results for London. But of the 162 results in Melbourne, it's going to be hard to find much of interest (to me) whereas I'm sure to find plenty of interest in London. The difference is in the frequency & level of what is available in Melbourne.
Were you interested in giving a more detailed comparison?
On a high level, let's compare a couple of websites:
www.timeout.com/london gives me just shy of 2000 results for things happening in the next week.
www.onlymelbourne.com.au doesn't have a weekly search, however, the results for 'today' are all events that are ongoing, and returns 162 results.
Now granted, I'm not going to be interested in a lot of the 162 results for Melbourne, nor am I going to be interested in a lot of the 2000 results for London. But of the 162 results in Melbourne, it's going to be hard to find much of interest (to me) whereas I'm sure to find plenty of interest in London. The difference is in the frequency & level of what is available in Melbourne.
Were you interested in giving a more detailed comparison?
You weren't mentioning London, you said "your small town". So pls stick to that, noone is arguing that Melbourne offers more culture than London, London is a world-leader in that respect. However, Luton, Guildford, Ashford, Milton Keynes etc etc are not.
Sep 15th 2010, 11:54 pm
#70
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 252
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Depends what you class as 'quality of life'. Someone once told me that living in Australia was like dating a gorgeous model, great to look at, a novelty and all your friends are envious but after a while you want something more, like some stimulation of the mind. One man's quality is another's nightmare and I don't believe there is quality of life to be had now in Aus unless you're already cashed up. Double income families working all the hours, kids in child care is what I'm witnessing more and more compared to 8 years ago, quality of life has dropped dramactically.
That's a problem, IMO, we are riding on China's coat tails, nothing else. Manufacturing, retail are all going down the pan here and don't forget Aussies are the most indebted (as a % of GDP) in the world which will be a major problem in the future. Japan, US, UK are all trying to keep their currencies low to compete with Chinese manufacturing - Australia is being left for dust in that field, all we have is mining.
That's a problem, IMO, we are riding on China's coat tails, nothing else. Manufacturing, retail are all going down the pan here and don't forget Aussies are the most indebted (as a % of GDP) in the world which will be a major problem in the future. Japan, US, UK are all trying to keep their currencies low to compete with Chinese manufacturing - Australia is being left for dust in that field, all we have is mining.
Indebtedness, you are right its high - again, mostly because of the unrealistic mortgages people have to take on currently. UK also has same issue on the whole.
As regards China, those are good coat-tails to ride on :-) If China comes down, the crash will be enormous because the rest of the world (Europe, US, Japan at least) is screwed so there would be noone to pick up the slack. IMO that won't happen, at least not in a massive way.
Agree that Aus needs to be careful what type of economy it becomes, but its not doing too bad IMO. Just needs to get a more realistic property market.
Sep 16th 2010, 1:24 am
#71
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 70
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Dude, I think the onus is on you to make the detailed comparison seeing as you made the point. A couple of web links isnt going to do it.
You weren't mentioning London, you said "your small town". So pls stick to that, noone is arguing that Melbourne offers more culture than London, London is a world-leader in that respect. However, Luton, Guildford, Ashford, Milton Keynes etc etc are not.
You weren't mentioning London, you said "your small town". So pls stick to that, noone is arguing that Melbourne offers more culture than London, London is a world-leader in that respect. However, Luton, Guildford, Ashford, Milton Keynes etc etc are not.
As far as Brisbane goes, I have been quite impressed with the amount events going on. Brisbane has no history to speak of but does try to make up for with the cultural centre on the south bank, it's not perfect but it's not bad. Saying that though, as someone who has been to China I struggle to find what attracts the Chinese tourist to Brisbane.
Sep 16th 2010, 2:40 am
#72
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 484
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
I agree with your views 100% although I might add that Australians are up there with the personal debt levels as a percentage of GDP.
Many migrants do not realise the added costs of medical and schooling when they get here which was more or less 'free' in the UK. That alone could cost roughly a $1K a month for a family of 4, of course, you don't have to have it if you choose not to.
Many migrants do not realise the added costs of medical and schooling when they get here which was more or less 'free' in the UK. That alone could cost roughly a $1K a month for a family of 4, of course, you don't have to have it if you choose not to.
Sep 16th 2010, 3:03 am
#73
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 252
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
ABCD - Not sure why you excluded mortgage debt from your personal indebtedness numbers?? Here's a quote from Forbes showing that when you include mortgages, the picture is not pretty...
"Australian households currently hold more than $1 trillion in debt, a record level. The ratio of household debt to disposable income in Australia was 158 percent, at the end of the first quarter. About one in seven Australian taxpayers has an investment property other than the family home. Despite all the talk about Australian lenders being more responsible than those in the U.S., mortgage debt in Australia rose three times faster since 1990, according to Steven Keen. Having started with a mortgage debt to GDP ratio that was just 40% of America’s, Australia’s ratio is now higher than ours and still increasing. No deleveraging here. More punch please."
"Australian households currently hold more than $1 trillion in debt, a record level. The ratio of household debt to disposable income in Australia was 158 percent, at the end of the first quarter. About one in seven Australian taxpayers has an investment property other than the family home. Despite all the talk about Australian lenders being more responsible than those in the U.S., mortgage debt in Australia rose three times faster since 1990, according to Steven Keen. Having started with a mortgage debt to GDP ratio that was just 40% of America’s, Australia’s ratio is now higher than ours and still increasing. No deleveraging here. More punch please."
Sep 16th 2010, 3:41 am
#74
Banned
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,157
Re: Big fall in migrant arrivals -32% in past year
Middleclass Australians have plenty of money and plety of equity. That's the big issue here that people don't realise. They can take on risk.