by Philip Soos reposted from The Guardian Australia’s historically high and rising housing prices are widely debated and have prompted a number of government inquiries into housing affordability. The question stands open: is housing affordable in Australia?...
BLOG: Philip Soos
The EJ Craigie Writing Award 2016
The 2016 EJ Craigie Writing Award was presented at the 125th Annual Henry George Commemorate Dinner to Philip Soos for his excellent article Australia’s Real Lifters and Leaners published by Independent Australia on June 2. While the award is for a single piece of...
Private tax is the great unspoken of neoliberal philosophy. And the rich are the winners
by Philip Soos reposted from The Guardian When we hear talk about taxation, it is naturally assumed to refer to those taxes which are levied by the government. After all, no individual or business can charge anyone else a tax, right? From the 1980s onwards in the...
Australia’s real lifters and leaners
by Philip Soos When the infamous duo of Abbott and Hockey came to power in 2013, they embarked upon a polarising rhetoric of "lifters" versus "leaners" separating Australians into one of two camps. The split was a simple one: those who earn and engage in productive...
The property holdings of members of the Queensland Parliament
The Queensland election this Saturday has the nation holding its breath. Will the Liberal/National Party government of Campbell Newman with 78 of the 89 seats in the parliament be displaced by a very angry electorate, or merely have their huge majority...
Soos and Egan – Australian Property Chart Pack
By Philip Soos and Paul D. Egan This chart pack presents the latest statistics for 2014, updating the dataset provided earlier last year. When adjusted for inflation and quality, housing prices have boomed nationwide since 1996, hitting a peak in 2010, before...
ASIC ignores reports of mortgage fraud by lenders
by Paul Egan & Philip Soos- Co-Author’s ‘Bubble Economics: Australian Land Speculation 1830 – 2013’ Exuberant household credit growth over the last twenty years has a sinister dimension: the likelihood of widespread predatory lending and bank fraud. Every...
Australia’s Addiction to Private Debt
by Philip Soos and Paul D. Egan A perennial and divisive issue in politics and economics today is the matter of public debt. It is commonly asserted that rising public debt threatens the economy and needs to be reined in. Governments are often portrayed...
The Housing Supply Chimera
Australia is a mirror of other countries where high housing prices were also blamed on a shortage, always revealed, in hindsight, to be a chimera.
Shortage-sceptic Prosper Australia shocks Senate committee
Prosper Australia shocked the Senate Economics Committee inquiry into Housing affordability with the view we have no supply constraints - because rents haven't budged. They have been hearing from every vested interest that Supply! Supply!! Supply! is the key...