Tonight a report aired on 60 Minutes in Australia called The Castle.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nce upon a time, kings had castles and the peasants were lucky if they had a hut to call their own. How things have changed. These days, the great Australian dream isn't of a mere bungalow on a quarter acre block. It's bigger, much bigger. In the past 20 years, the average house size has increased by 40 percent. That means the old three-bedroom family home is out. Huge McMansions are in — five bedrooms and more, with everything that opens and shuts. And what's more, they're being snapped up by average, everyday Australians. But as Peter Harvey found, one family's suburban dream can be another's nightmare.
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The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
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The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
by RacerJace » Sun 26 Feb 2006, 07:04:46
Knowing what I do about the consequences of peak oil I was horrified when watching this segment. Sure I pass rows of McMansions squeezed into average blocks of land in suburbs all around the suburb I live in on the fringes of Melbourne every day that I travel to and from work. But when it is presented to you covering all of the major capital cities with the pinnacle of gargantuan housing developments, Surfers Paradise (otherwise known as Brisvagas) I was shocked to think of what will become of it once the inefficiency and waste of it all hits hard like a backhander to the face followed by a kick in the guts [picture marauders pillaging the remains of the once decadent owner of a Castle/McMansion].
In this report there were no references to peak oil as one would expect but it did sound subtle warnings with words like "how long can this go on" and made multiple references to how it's all debt funded.
As of yesterday I contracted a real-estate agent to sell my house. It's been a long and hard process convincing my wife that getting out of debt is the best thing to do; selling up and extracting whatever equity we can now before it's too late. In a few weeks hopefully when the contract of sale is signed I will sigh a great relief.
Since awakening to peak oil some eight months ago I find myself saying on an almost daily basis "What have we done! How could we be so stupid? So short sighted. So selfish. So doomed."
.
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Re: The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
by Jack » Sun 26 Feb 2006, 09:47:07
It's the same thing where I am, in Texas.
There's a certain upscale neighborhood where 4,000 square foot houses with no amenities, houses that are poorly constructed, go for $500,000. If one wants some of the "goodies", the price goes up. At the same time, in the same neighborhood, sales of existing homes is slow to non-existent. Such tactics as replacing tile counter-tops with granite are advocated by real estate agents. As with Australia's housing, all of this is fueled with debt.
When Peak hits - which I think will be soon - it's going to get nasty.
Congratulations on doing the wise thing and getting out of debt!
There's a certain upscale neighborhood where 4,000 square foot houses with no amenities, houses that are poorly constructed, go for $500,000. If one wants some of the "goodies", the price goes up. At the same time, in the same neighborhood, sales of existing homes is slow to non-existent. Such tactics as replacing tile counter-tops with granite are advocated by real estate agents. As with Australia's housing, all of this is fueled with debt.
When Peak hits - which I think will be soon - it's going to get nasty.
Congratulations on doing the wise thing and getting out of debt!
![[smilie=new_popcornsmiley.gif]](https://udev.peakoil.com/forums/images/smilies/new_popcornsmiley.gif "new_popcornsmiley")
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Re: The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
by LadyRuby » Sun 26 Feb 2006, 11:43:04
Sheeze, and I thought the average Australian was a little smarter than the average American. I guess another case of the grass always LOOKING greener...
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Re: The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
by rogerhb » Sun 26 Feb 2006, 16:23:10
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RacerJace', 'I')t's been a long and hard process convincing my wife that getting out of debt is the best thing to do; selling up and extracting whatever equity we can now before it's too late.
Yup, did similar last year, very tough on the family.
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers." - Henry Louis Mencken
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Re: The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
by ubercynicmeister » Sun 26 Feb 2006, 20:22:35
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('LadyRuby', 'S')heeze, and I thought the average Australian was a little smarter than the average American. I guess another case of the grass always LOOKING greener...
Yes, true...there was a time, not all that long ago, when we Australians regarded American Style Clueless Consumerism with some considerable skepticism and suspicion. That has all changed in the last 25 years, thanks to the Economic Rataionalists of both political persuasions.
Now, we have a nation dominated by American-Style Clueless Yuppies, who give their kids names that the kids will feel ashamed of (Janus...no, not Anus, that's Janus with a J); build up debt that they know they cannot pay off; drive ever-larger vehicles in an attempt to intimidate other drivers; demand ever-increasing pay packets for delivering fewer and fewer positive results (if not an increasing number of negative ones); demand ever-increasing prices for delivering fewer and fewer services; purposely and willfully neglect their own responsibilities without the slightest qualm of remorse, yet scream blue murder if one of their own subordinates so much as breathes the wrong way - and inflicting immense punishments for the smallest infraction of the rules; YEP, all very American. Mind you, this isn't the America-that-was - this isn't the America that went to the Moon - or was capable of going there. This isn't the America that did the Manhattan Project. No, this is the Brave New World Of Ayn Randist Thatcherite Reaganomics, AKA Economic Rationalism. And we've imported it wholesale to Australia. More Fool Us.
There was a report a few days ago (I cannot find the link, and I've been searching for it rather purposefully) of having "multi-generation" loans in Australia, because today's Yuppies are knowingly buying houses (and other things) that they know they cannot pay off even if they never retire and spend their entire lives working at a top-paying job. Karoshi - the Japanese word for death from overwork - takes on a whole new meaning, when applied to modern, Western Yuppies.
More Fool They - even if Peak Oil turns out to be nothing more than a blip (I think it'll be a whole lot more than a blip) these clowns will turn into a financial and economic black hole that will suck the life-blood out of their own children's ability to pay...and possibly grand-children's ability to pay for what it is the succeeding generation(s) needs or wants. And those children - who are sub-contracted out to Day Care centres from the moment the parents feel they can get away with it - those children will hate the distant strangers who have saddled them with unpayable debt. Selfish Narcissim is (seemingly) it's own reward.
If this multi-generational debt is brought in (and this looks increasingly likely, following some examples in Japan, I believe), then we'll have re-introduced bonded serfdom on a vast scale, and without nary a whimper of protest. "To the Manor Born" will become "By The Bank Owned". You'll be tied to debt your ancestors signed up for in your name without your prior knowledge or consent. And when the Bills Come Due, you'll be obligated to pay. This drives the employment stakes ever higher and higher. Of course, as Peak Oil starts to really bite & bite savagely, then the bills will start to fall due early. Maybe Peak Oil is God's way of saving future generations from their Yuppie parents? Personally, I'd settle for getting rid of the Narcissistic, Psychopathic Yuppies without Peak Oil, if I was asked.
Another trend (present in America, from where the Aussie Yuppies copied it) is for older "Yuppies" (or those who are older and exhibiting the Yuppie-style mind-set, if you wish) to now boast about "spending the kids inheritance": SKI's. They get their massive pay out after years of working at the same place (that doesn't ever happen for their kids, who have to go from one work-place to another work-place all of their lives) and promptly spend up big, and use their entire life saving's worth to purchase one transient self-indulgence after another.
The only trouble they might encounter is that they'll run outta money before they die. But then, there's a broad push for euthanasia in Australia, so that'll take care of that. Oddly, this push for early termination (or late abortion, if you like) being promoted by someone who seems - I cannot prove this - to have an awful lot of shares in retirement homes. Now, retirement homes get turn-over by making sure the residents die quickly. Thus they get more residents. Thus this fellow will get more income, if there's some way of legally "hurrying up" the process of "increasing turn-over" in his retirement homes.
TLC it seems equals "Total Lack of Compassion".
Like I said above: welcome to the Brave New World Of Ayn Radist "Selfishness-is-a-Virtue" "Greed Is God" Economic Rationalism. And if you can't pay your debts, you'll have the splendid option of early termination, allowing your internal organs to be sold on the Freemarket to rich people who've lead a life of total self-absorbtion and self-serving Consumerism. Oh, and there will be a choice, too: take it or take it.
Peak Oil may prove more merciful than the Freemarket.
.
"To Get Rich you have to:
*Get up early;
*Work Hard;
*Strike Oil"
J Paul Getty
"To Get Rich you have to:
*Get up early;
*Work Hard;
*Strike Oil"
J Paul Getty
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ubercynicmeister - Tar Sands
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Re: The Castle: 60 Minutes Report
by ubercynicmeister » Sun 26 Feb 2006, 21:11:22
Hi Jack (pardon the pun)...what the heck is your picture?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'I')t's the same thing where I am, in Texas.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'I')t's the same thing where I am, in Texas.
And in Australia, and New Zealand
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jack', '
')
There's a certain upscale neighborhood where 4,000 square foot houses with no amenities, houses that are poorly constructed, go for $500,000. If one wants some of the "goodies", the price goes up. At the same time, in the same neighborhood, sales of existing homes is slow to non-existent. Such tactics as replacing tile counter-tops with granite are advocated by real estate agents. As with Australia's housing, all of this is fueled with debt.
Yup - and the quality of housing is appalling, too - there is a still-brewing scandal in New Zealand about such, and it will shortly hit Aussie shores, too. A while back, the Yuppies decided to "cut-back" and "downsize" the housing contractors and builders. For example, these Yuppie builders used to employ carpenters...now they employ "wood-workers". Carpenters knew more, thus they had to be paid more. "Dumbing Down" is a really profitable business, if you ask me. These wood-workers are deliberately kept in the dark, with the various segments of the industry not knowing the other segments.
For example - the design of the houses used to be done by carpenters with local knowledge and experience. Not So Now. This is at it's most evident in the angle of the roof and the size of the eaves. The angle of the roof determines how much rain-fall in a given period the roof can handle. The size of the eaves determines how easily (or otherwise) the house can be cooled in Summer. Air conditioning now takes up more energy than does heating.
Instead of using local carpentes with local knowledge and experience, who because they knew what they are talking about and therefore might have to be paid more, the Yuppies got some fresh-from Uni graduates to design the roof structures for these "McMansions". The roof structures were a mystery to them, so they decided to borrow ideas from overseas, and the easiest place to get info from is the United States. So they were putting together roof structures that suited the lower average rainfall of a warm/wet climate like the United States has in it's North East, rather than the rather more savage Australian climate. Texas, I assume , also has such a climate.
The Yuppies decided to save money by lowering the roof angle - this saves on the amount of wood, and thus they could save money. Problem - if one uses the average rainfall figures for Australia and New Zealand to determine roof angle, then the whole thing works very well in theory and is a complete flop in practice. The average rainfall figure fails to take into account that way that both New Zealand and Australian ( but especially Australian) rainfall tends to happen in torrential downpours, with long, dry spells in between.
In essence, try to imagine an Amazionian -style precipitation figure in one hour - then have several months between each such event.
These modern Yuppie-designed roof-angles are thus not steep enough to handle the amount of water falling upon them, in one of these torrential downpours. The rain builds up on the roof and tries to take the easiest way out - by running between the tiles. The roof timbers thus ends up being alternatively wetted then heated. Add to that the way modern roofs tend not to have the good air circulation of older styles of roofs means that the humidity builds up and up. Perfect breeding ground for the various forms of rot. Sometimes this situation extands down the insides of the walls, too.
Now, that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the Yuppies have also decided that rot-resistant treatments for roofing structures are an unneccesary expense, so they have used UNTREATED timbers to make the roof structures. And the walls. This means that the building's structure rots out within 10 years of the date of construction. And falls in, killing people. This scandal has been brewing in New Zealand for some years now, and it looks like all of the "houses" built after 1988 may be affected in some way or another. The trouble with such "slab-on-ground" structures is the rather interesting inability to repair such structures - if one needs to replace one entire wall, they can't do what they used to do, such as take the wall out, and thus repair it - no, they have to demolish the whole structure, and start again.
Australia has been saved from the scandal so far, by our lower-than-average rainfall figures over the past few years, but when the rain-fall either resumes it's normal patterns or - as I suspect - swings the other way (it's either a drought or a flood, in Australia) then we'll see the McMansions falling to bits.
By that stage they Yuppies who have made squillions will have wound the companies up and be living (in McMansions) sufficiently far away as to make the process fo trying to legally recover one's money almost impossible.
Yep, all in all, a complete lack or remorse and the eradication of all ethics has been the Yuppies - and Ayn Rand's - greatest triumph. Pity about the residents who buy the McMansions and then have them fall apart within 10 years. But then, isn't turn-over what modern business is all about?
.
"To Get Rich you have to:
*Get up early;
*Work Hard;
*Strike Oil"
J Paul Getty
"To Get Rich you have to:
*Get up early;
*Work Hard;
*Strike Oil"
J Paul Getty
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ubercynicmeister - Tar Sands
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