From $30 parmigianas to $15 pints, can Australia still afford the pub? (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 1 day ago by MHLoppy@fedia.io to c/australia@aussie.zone

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From our coffee addiction to a weekend pub tradition, some of the simple pleasures many Australians have taken for granted now feel like luxuries. But if patrons can no longer afford to visit the pubs and cafes we love, there may be something bigger at stake.

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[-] Seagoon_@aussie.zone 48 points 1 day ago

Wages.

We could easily afford beers and parmas if we had the same wage levels as we had 50 years ago

Australians earn **one third **the real buying power of the 1970s.

We earn ONE THIRD of what we used to

**employers took the difference in value **and stores kept increasing prices

the problem is the wages

**join a union **

[-] Taleya@aussie.zone 29 points 1 day ago

Prompt reply would be "i can't afford to pay the higher wages without increasing priiiceeessss"

The real hydra we need to kill is real estate. When 60% of your business costs are a rent divorced from reality so some over leveraged cunt doesn't get a drop in imaginary worth, we all pay the price.

[-] notgold@aussie.zone 7 points 21 hours ago

100% this. Property prices and business rents have destroyed the good life.

My childhood suburb had nearly 30 pubs and bars when I was 18. Nowadays, half the pubs have been bulldozed and overpriced apartments take their place.

Sad thing is with the size of apartments now, we need pub spaces to share with mates more than ever.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 3 points 13 hours ago

My crew stopped going to pubs due to prices. We now play video games while drinking at home. What cheaper and zero risk of DUI!

Scratches that itch well enough IMHO

Drinking out is now a luxury and I am not willing to feed the parasites with my shit habits

[-] sqgl@beehaw.org 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's a problem in the global west not just Australia: the wealth gap keeps increasing even under Labor here or Labour in UK. Tax wealth not work.

https://patrioticmillionaires.org/

[-] notgold@aussie.zone 0 points 21 hours ago

Too many yank flags and bald Eagles for me to take that website seriously

[-] sqgl@beehaw.org 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

https://patrioticmillionaires.uk/ has none of that. The sister group.

The founder at the top of the "who are we" list, Gary Stevenson, has a current #1 best seller in the UK, gets 1.2m YouTube views per week, and has excellent credentials and has working class roots despite education and luck propelling him to be Citibank's global top trader - he quit after just a few years in disgust.

[-] notgold@aussie.zone 2 points 16 hours ago

This is legible.

[-] No1@aussie.zone 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

For anyone looking for pub and other specials

are your friends. $15 schnitzels, steaks etc can be found. Sometimes you can combine it with a cheaper drink during happy hour.

[-] melbaboutown@aussie.zone 2 points 22 hours ago

For me? lol no

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 2 points 23 hours ago

Beer was the last thing I expected to be bonkers expensive over here. In England you’d have to get a poncy Belgian wheat beer at 15% strength to pay equivalent to 15 bucks.