[grecy]

FWIW, I’m an Aussie who went back during covid for the first meaningful stretch in 20 years. Explored the who country.

I saw with my own eyes what you’re talking about and you are spot on. It’s depressing and sad to see how Australia can’t organize a free one in a brothel, is stuck in the past and has no real interest or plan on how to improve anything at all.

Their problem is life is pretty good, so they’re not interested in a bit of work to make it incredible. Like you said, a modest sovereign wealth fund could easily let every Aussie work 4 or even 3 days a week. Or more solar, or making use of all the uranium or one of dozens of things

[bigfatkitten]

David Horne said it best in 1964.

"Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people’s ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise."

[grecy]

Thanks, I've never seen that quote. 100% spot on.

Sadly as true today as it apparently was back then.

[fakedang]

That's such a beautifully relevant quote.

[fakedang]

It's what they call the resource curse, something that has plagued Norway too, but at least in Norway's case, they have opted to do it in a way that sustains it for the future. Compared to the Swedish and Danish, the Norwegians are also considered lazy for the same reason - life is good, so why bother with ambition?