The government is talking down the economy. The only message Im hearing is unless there is major structural tax reform then we will be in serious economic trouble in years to come. The government is spending more than it earns and the interest bill is growing. There are too many lobby groups to get major cuts to government expenditure without voter backlash. No government will have the courage to increase taxes or go after superannuation benefits cuts. The opposition are playing the LNP game (when they were in opposition) which is to oppose everything and point to the lack of achievements come next election. They do this (as did the LNP) at the expense of the economy and us. We have inverse bond yields and the economists are now mentioning the "R" word. There's and Equity boom going on but no yield growth. This can only end badly.

The government (and previous ones ) are squandering our money by the $100M's. The money being wasted on the NBN rollout (and its predecessor) is obscene. Even those at the highest levels shake their heads behind closed doors but feel their hands are tied. Politics comes first ...

Had an interesting conversation with the head of one of the largest training and employment contractors engaged by govt. in the country who is operating at the coal face of the unemployment issues. His view is that half of the 6% unemployed are unemployable for a variety of reasons incl. drug addiction, mental health issues, alcoholism, or they don't want to work. One of the big factors that goes unreported with the huge youth employment issues are that many simply don't want to take the jobs on offer and would rather wait till the right one comes up. This is the biggest problem with this demographic. There is an unrealistic expectation of what a university degree is actually worth when it comes to getting a job and how much $ you start on.

We've got too many people on too many forms of welfare. The system was designed as a safety net but it is being exploited. Retirees with a $2m house and $1M in savings being eligible for a part pension !!?? Welfare recipients who couldn't be bothered working getting free money for nothing..!!??

With Australia becoming more and more uncompetitive in manufacturing, the commodity sector in a slump, and an ongoing and ever increasing move to outsource services offshore (e.g.. processing and call centres) the future looks cloudy to say the least. I even know an architect who has his documentation done in Manilla FFS!

I am now hearing mixed messages from industry sources on the Chinese economy (as opposed to ALL positive) which is a concern as that will have a pretty big impact on us if their growth stops.

The media are a major part of the problem as they will beat up and report anything to get a headline. This in turn has had both parties too gun-shy to do the best thing for the country as they fear a media induced voter backlash.

This Government (incl. senate) is failing the country and before the Labour zealots start crowing, so did the previous one. 10 years ago the mining boom was going to run for ever and the Govt coffers would always be full. Now it's really not obvious of our way forward.

One good start would be for the current crop of politicians to put the country first and start providing some positive news. And it would be great for the media to start reporting it.