[femto]

And it's nothing new. In 1964 Donald Horne penned a book "The Lucky Country", which caused many Australians to start referring to Australia as "The Lucky Country". The bit they miss is that the full quote was.

"Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck."

Ouch! It's a bit harsh, in that Australia does punch above its weight in some areas (eg. excellent radio astronomy program and some very good medicos). It's spot on for other areas though, such as the majority of business and political leadership. One gets the feeling that the things that succeed in Australia do so in spite of the leadership, not because of it.

[brc]

Exactly! One of the less-discussed effects of 'Dutch Disease' is that it creates a political class who are determined to capture the inflow of new money and distribute it for their own needs.

The thing I get frustrated about is that people continuously say 'look we're better than Japan or the USA or the UK'. But what I want to say is 'well, why aren't we the richest country on the planet with the highest standard of living for all?'. Comparing yourself to mediocre performance just leads to reversion to the mean because people -as you say - become second rate and share in the luck, convincing themselves it was their wise stewardship that made the luck happen.

[vacri]

when you say 'political leadership', are you including things like the world-first legislated 8-hour work day? The world-second women's vote? Or more recent world firsts, like the mining profits tax? Australia has it's downsides (like the WAP that only ceased half a century ago) but it's a pretty progressive nation, if you bother to compare it to other nations rather than utopia. Where are the other powerful, inspiring leaders? There's nothing unusually bad about ours.

[grecy]

(I'm Australian)

It's interesting to note, if you say "The Luck Country" to Aussies under about 25 years old, they have no idea what you are talking about.