I had to steal this shitty graph from a site, because it doesn't come directly from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but is interesting nonetheless. What it shows is the spending on "out of home" food over the last 40 years against percentage of GDP and the change is stark, where there is essentially a 4x growth.
To put this into perspective, the Australian GDP in 2020 was 1.33 trillion - at the 0.6 percent in the early 80s, it would be around 8 billion spent on takeaway. At the current rate of around 2.3%, it is 30.5 billion. And, to put this further into perspective, the difference would be the same as 22,500 million dollar houses.
Now of course, there is the fact that this is spending, so it is going back into the economy because that is what a consumer market is, but it should be noted that this spending is not generative for the person spending. What I mean by this is that while money is being made by workers for example, the majority of the wealth is generated for owners.
Again, this is a good thing if the owners are invested locally, but that is not the case, especially over the last few decades, where creative accounting practices are taking increasing amounts offshore. Then, factor into it things like advertising revenue, where for example Facebook took in 1.1 billion in Australia, but paid just 24 million in tax, and Google took in 7.2 billion, but paid just 85 million in tax - and you start to recognize the scope of what is actually happening. Google employs less than 1900 people in Australia, which means each employee is generating 3.8 million in revenue, but suffice to say, that isn't close to what they are earning on average.
This is the "problem" with the consumer economy, especially when what is being consumed is *very cheap to generate, like ad revenue. The entire economy is based on "fast food" where there is no economic nutrition involved for those consuming, just the filling of the consumer belly. This means that rather than getting the energy needed to grow financially stronger, it is a degradation into a unhealthy finances and once sitting on the metaphorical couch, completely out of financial shape and energy, it is very, very hard to come back from it.
What would also be interesting to see, is a cross-reference of what percentage of this type of fast food expenditure is made across different income brackets, and what amounts are being spent by age group and other factors, because this will indicate how much "wastage" or potential energy is being shifted from the lower brackets to the higher, reducing the opportunity for the lower, increasing the wealth gap to the higher.
An economy is created by economic behaviors, which are the decisions made by the consumers - demand drives supply - and the culture is to demand "fast food" services in all industries, rather than build up generative businesses that create sustainable economic models. While few seem to understand or believe this, it is our own behaviors that have allowed for this shitshow of an economy to be built, because we have chosen to be renters, rather than owners in every thing that matters. This includes the government structures that we choose as our proxies for decision making.
Things can change, but they aren't going to change through relying on authorities to make decisions that benefit us, because their incentive is firmly in the court of benefiting themselves and the higher end. What this means, is that if we want to have better economic conditions, we have to build a better economy, and that includes the structure that works as the governance layer of the economy. This obviously affects other factors too, like the tax laws that allow for the likes of Facebook and Google to dodge their tax obligations locally.
Essentially, an entire rebuild is required from the ground up, but the challenge is very few are really interested in taking part in that rebuild and instead, they will proxy their power out in the same way that they eat out, rather than utilize their own kitchen. As a result, there will be continued slide into economic illness and dysfunction, making the possibility to change the system even harder, because people have less financial literacy to cook for themselves.
Perhaps it is time, we all got into the kitchen and learned to cook for ourselves.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
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Great write up man and something that springs to mind for me is I bet there is also a correlation between the increase in fast food intake and increase in dietetics, Chronic conditions like Ulcerative Colitis amd Crohns disease and heart disease. Western countries like Australia and Ireland have far higher rates in the past fifty years... Over the same period large swathes of the population have moved away from whole foods and exercise intensive professions to fast food, convenience food and sedentary keyboard professions. Society is a bit screwed in that manner, but each of us when aware of it, can make decisions for ourselves and our families - more exercise for everyone, less convenience and fast food and focus on whole foods with proper nutrition and natural goodness.
Nice anology... It's amazing how many people are financially illiterate and these are intelligent people - doctors, dentists, solicitors who are friends of mine. They are happy to leave their hard earned cash in a bank account paying 0.01% to 1% interest or for some with larger sums the bank is actually charging them. Bad enough that inflation is nibbling away at their nestegg, but now they want to pay even more... crazy... all for this perceived stability that a savings account offers.
On the matter of the hyper scalers dodging their local tax obligations, Ireland sees the exact same thing and we have the European HQ of the largest ten tech companiesbin the world based in Ireland and they are all using creative accounting practices to pay a pittance in tax, while the employees here pay close to 50% in various taxes once earning above €65,000 per year approx.
True, but it will never happen, like asking Turkeys to vote for Christmas.
I agree. I have ulcerative colitis (since 16) and I think what triggered it was my change in diet in the two years prior, as I had my own income from work and very high independence with all things. I think that it won't trigger for all, but I think that the type of food creates a kind of "allergic reaction" in some people, likely combined with a gut flora combination, or a bacteria that affects it.
I had a massage the other day and he thanked me for sitting behind a screen all the time. :D
In the past it used to be a kind of "agreement" where the companies get a tax benefit, because they hire locals. But that is not the case now, as the incentive is to maximize the benefit by hiring as few as possible and shifting obligations to cheaper areas through the global network. From a few years back I wrote something where it was on average, Google employees earned 1.7M for the company, but Ford employees were around 200K. That is quite a difference, and is why the tech companies are so highly valued, as with far fewer people, they can earn far more, without the need for that much capital expenditure or equipment.
It is a mess...
If the turkeys are living on the poverty line, perhaps it is preferable :D
The turkeys I'm talk about hardly know that poverty line exists and don't care either. They are over paid senior civil servants who remain in place regardless of which party is the majority in Government with as juicy defined benefit pensions as you can imagine..
I have UC also, since the age of 25, just after I returned from my travels around SE Asia and Oz. Mine surfaced during a stressful time in a job which I think can be a contributing factor too. These ailments are far more prevalent in my more Western first world countries.
Very interesting comparison between Ford and Google, serious difference there in earning potential 😳
Hopefully you are handling the UC okay - I was misdiagnosed until I was 18 and was in a pretty critical condition by that stage and didn't respond to any of the drugs available at the time. Handled it by myself through diet (but it was not ideal) until a few years ago and now get Infliximab IVs every two months to control it.
From a diet perspective, cutting out as much carb as possible helped me a lot.
Ya it's well controlled now thankfully, similar to yourself, infusions every 6 weeks. Thankfully I haven't had to do a round of steroids in a good while... those are awful things! Impossible to sleep on the initial high dose 🙈
I tried the specific carbohydrate diet which was a book I was recommended and it worked well, but found it unsustainable long term, as you want to live too..
Good to hear. I have mine this week - do you get a handful of days of tiredness, headaches and thinking issues after?
"Life without bread" ?
It worked for me, but the carb level I needed was so low, I couldn't maintain it either. But, it did give me the chance to improve it and then control it better. I gave that book to a few people over the last two decades with milder symptoms, and after a couple months of low carb, they could introduce again and it was okay. I think in my case, too much damage has been done for too long.
The steroids almost killed me. It gave me pancreatitis 6 times in a year and on top of that, it was eating through my hipbones due to the high dosage I was given.
I never thought I would make it this far in life. :D
No, I actually dont get any side effects luckily, although I did get sunburnt today which is a bit stupid and irresponsible as too much sun is a no no on the infusions, but I love the pool and beach while on holidays with my three sons..
That's nasty as man... Hate those Pred little devil tablets with a passion, but have not had near the hardship you've had with them hearing that.. They basically blitz your entire gut microbiome... kill all the good and the bad bacteria... fair enough they stop the inflammation, but the collateral damage is horrendous... The Infleximab was a god-send for me..
Perhaps it is time, we all got into the kitchen and learned to cook for ourselves.— spot on! enough of being fed with fishes , it’s time to learn how to catch them.
Whether people actually learn to fish though...
People don't know what they don't know.
Teachers can't teach what they don't know.
How much do people appreciate honest and uncomfortable truths?
What can be done to wake people up from hypnosis so they are aware of what's going on? Do they even want to wake up? It is easier to continue to believe in the lies than admitting you have been lied to.
I would say that they don't. This is why they avoid any information that conflicts with their own world view, even if that view has been conditioned for profit.
I think the entire system needs demolishing, there is no point trying to play around with the crap we have right now. This huge centralisation is a behemoth that must fall.
Ironically those who say it's all Adam Smith misunderstand Adam Smith. He advocated free enterprise within a country, not internationally. He was actually a protectionist who had some huge tariffs on US goods at the time.
I agree. It is fundamentally flawed and so far out of sync, there is little that can be done.
This is part of it - but Keynesian economics has the same flaw - at the time, they didn't predict the likes of google or Amazon - these systems just didn't exist. Plus, "production" was required, whereas now there is so much service.
I agree, if you read some of the leading thoughts of the turn of the last century (1900s), the perplexing problem was with what and how to keep the working classes "busy".
This is why the entertainment industry (sport, gaming, shows etc) has boomed - it replaces the "gladiator contests" of Rome.
That's so true. Most people can't fathom it though. oh well!
Hi Mr @tarazkp
What you are conveying is the complaint of many people in almost all countries.
On the one hand, the time savings provided by fast food is not directly proportional to the financial risks and nutritional consumption that must be accepted by those who spend their money at fast food restaurants.
Actually, it's just a choice. But it becomes very basic in the long term by considering the effects of fast food consumed continuously. They have to accept the risk of obesity and disease complications due to the fast food they consume. In the end, they have to spend more money on medical treatment.
In my opinion, cooking our own food, should be the main and important choice for the health of our nutritional consumption and financial health.
It is more than food - it is with everything we do - everything is now "on demand" and we will pay, rather than create for ourselves. This includes entertainment.
If that includes entertainment, then how much value is "an entertainment" to pay for it. (lol)
...and it's all "on demand," that's what happens in most places—in almost everyone's mindset, right?
Yes - we have been conditioned for this and we allow ourselves to stay conditioned. We can't scrape together a million dollars for a cancer researcher, but don't blink at an NBA or Football contract of 100 million.
Maybe with the pace of life accelerating, the need for out of home meals increases too. I’m not saying that this is a good thing, but actually there are a lot of places that you can enjoy some nicely cooked food, not junk food. Of course cooking at home is more enjoyable to some extent, and it is a lot cheaper too. If these two things matter to you, there’s a good reason to start cooking for yourself.
is the pace increasing? People are creating far less than they did in the past and have a lot more free time on their hands. The pace of consumption is increasing however - but is that life?
I think generally observed, the life has changed for the last decades and the pace has increased a lot. The last downwards wick in the chart resembles the COVID crisis that took place everywhere and whole industries were shut down, including food industries. Well, after the gradual release of the restrictions we see a very fast increase meant in the last part of the chart. Maybe people try to keep up with everything that they missed lately and this results in a very quick uptrend. Furthermore the prices have risen recently with all the military conflicts, and this may result in increasing GDP percentage.
Of course this is not the reason of life. All the people have to rethink what makes them happy. I really miss seeing friends sometimes. It seems that before 5 or 10 years, we used to enjoy meeting with each other a lot more frequently and enjoy various activities. I really miss some aspects of life from the past.
You are right. The best way to make our native country's economy grow is by producing our goods and services locally as well as making our people consume our foods, use our goods and engage in our services.
Enough with enriching foreign countries who don't care about us.
This a very helpful post. As well as a call to every individual to improve on their sides.
Enough of making money for foreigners, and live healthy by making our own food and consume it.
Thanks for sharing
Cheers 🍻
It doesn't work this way though, as much of what people demand, isn't available locally. Just think about the music and shows you consume - how much is local?
It has to begin from somewhere. Am not saying total maybe 70% to 30% that is local to foreign respectively.
This can really change but looking at economic situations sometimes would make them to neglect such change because of the benefits they see with their inflation of price.
People are lazy to do anything for themselves - so will keep paying until they have nothing left.
I think that out of home food has been popular because couples or individuals don't want to spend time for cooking or they are lazy to do especially after work. This is in fact not beneficial for home ec, but might be for food sector.
It is also possible that there are more singles now, where people aren't cooking for themselves, because what's the point...
I have heard that some sites have restaurants that close late for singles.
I think it's just because people's jobs are becoming more specialized around the world. At some point, the time and money involved to save the amount makes it much easier to buy something from a store, and having it picked up or delivered is better. Cooking takes quite a bit of time and I don't like cooking as much as I used to.
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This is part of it and also why there is so much volatility. Entire sectors can be put "out of work" because they are no longer required, but they can't do anything else.
This is unfortunate. But at the same time consumers also are the ones to be blamed for this.
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Consumers are definitely to blame. That is us.
What is scary is that a vast number of victims continue to lean on the abusers as if they were saviors.
We live in a society where the ones in the know are harming people for profit, power, and control.
Stockholm syndrome.
👍
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Greetings @tarazkp _
Nowadays companies are looking to substitute the best inputs and products to generate the vas cheaply and aesthetically visible , regardless of the nutritious.
The most important thing is the economic part and that of better advertising to be able to generate much more.