Australian wealth inequality frays the social fabric

"The top 10% of households now control 44% of all wealth in Australia. The collective wealth of the richest 200 Australians has nearly tripled over two decades, mostly from property and resources – economic activities that extract value from existing assets rather than new productive capacities; what economists call “rent-seeking”.

"Rent-seeking concentrates wealth away from productivity-enhancing investments – in business innovation, public infrastructure and worker wages. This leaves ordinary people paying ever-higher proportions of their income for necessities. Ordinary Australians have little to celebrate."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/15/neoliberalism-lite-is-no-solution-to-australias-cost-of-living-and-productivity-crises-its-time-to-curb-wealth-concentration
#inequality #WealthCapture #RentSeeking #housing #rentierism #unproductivity #ActiveProduction #wages #extractivism

Housing - YIMBYs, NIMBYs and mass evictions at gunpoint

Lily Sánchez, You’re Not Angry Enough About Homelessness in America
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/youre-not-angry-enough-about-homelessness-in-america

"We need to ensure we’re building homes, not investment portfolios."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-13/yimby-nimby-housing-crisis-battle-for-your-backyard/105510984

Great job, good education, no home: is Australia’s bloated property market destroying the middle class?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/13/great-job-good-education-no-home-is-australias-bloated-property-market-destroying-the-middle-class
>>
#housing #unhoused #sprawl #affordability #AffordableHousing #wages #speculation #rentierism #mobility #relocation #cars #Carparks #warehousing #camp #nomos #biopolitics #NIMBY #YIMBY #SettlerSociety

The presence of koalas devalues land in settler society

"The Myrtle Beach centre was once on virgin land (?) and is now surrounded by high-rise buildings on three sides, with the ocean on the remaining side. A stunning eastern vista offers views of Mudjimba and Maroochydore beaches, Mount Coolum, the Maroochy River and protected wetlands. Several real estate experts placed the value of Avatar's Abode at more than $20 million, at a time when similarly sized Wises' farm at nearby Buderim is expected to fetch more than $50 million."

"However, one valuer said a significant koala habitat on the land and its rural zoning could diminish the land's worth to as low as $5 million for prospective developers."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-25/avatars-abode-sunshine-coast-property-meher-baba-followers/104246626
#koalas #values #SettlerSociety #rentierism #biodiversity

OnlineFirst - "Corporate power and the rise of intangibles: A study of Indian firms" by Rahul A Sirohi:

#rentierism #intangibles #neoliberalism #monopoly #corporatepower #India

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0308518X231216536

Chokepoint Capitalism review – art for sale | Books | The Guardian “We have entered a new era of “chokepoint capitalism”, in which businesses snake their way between audiences and creatives to harvest money that should rightfully belong to the artist.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/24/chokepoint-capitalism-review-art-for-sale #rentierism #ChokepointCapitalism