How do we get them to listen - Bernard?

Another great article by Bernard Salt in The Australian today - this is a must read for anyone who knows they have been screwed but don’t yet understand how or why.

It’s really about who the winners and losers are and where they live - relative to our cities and the inner and outer suburbs. And the results are?

Well the results are the same as they have always been - the poor folks with little or no prospects live in the "burbs" or the "sticks" and the rich folks with great prospects live in the "inner cities".

Why is anyone surprised by this? As Bernard says:

"Between 1996 and 2006 the average income per person in the outer suburbs of Australian capital cities hovered a few percentage points above or below the Australian average".

"For this entire decade, these edges of our largest cities represented the heartland of (very) average Australia".

"However, it was a different story in the city centres - where income levels moved from 27% to 73% above the Australian average in a decade".

"The bottom line is that income levels in the outer suburbs remained average during the boom but in the inner city the gains were anything but average".

"At the heart of the differences is education. In the inner suburbs it is not uncommon for two thirds of adults to hold a bachelor degree or higher. In the outer suburbs this proportion is less than a third".

So there you have it - the single most important thing that anyone can do to improve their prospects and that of their family and offspring is to become - educated.

It’s always been thus and always will be - what amazes me is that so many people don’t get it. Actually I do know why - they don’t read - and so Bernard’s message is missed. Perhaps the smartest thing he can do is go to work on the Kyle and Jackie O show ;-)