I was reading somewhere that a State in Australia is now fining parents for leaving children unattended. Yeah, I guess that's ok. But when you consider the issue of latchkey kids, I start to get a bit antsy. I was one of them - I'd finish school and come home and just watch tv by myself in between doing homework. Done it since I was 9 and I was fine. In fact, my parents used to leave me at home unattended at night as well, and my siblings would also be out. I saw no issue with it and I have turned out fine. I'm self-reliant! Just engage a bit of common sense and you'll be fine! Child care is so ridiculously expensive ($50 per day for just a few hours of care), while both parents are expected to work to fund these costs (not to mention bills, mortgages and so on). It's not right. We used to be able to live on one income and have a bit to spare, now we've got double income families that are struggling to make it. Where did things go wrong? A market emerged, and the relative value for services and goods increased so much, yet salaries have not met that same benchmark. And it's going to be families and children who suffer for it.
Been reading a fair bit into student debt in the US. I do go on about how it sucks in Australia, but the US has it far worse. It's essentially an upfront loan at inflated interest that you need to pay back essentially straight away. But the job market in the US is so poor, all these students are essentially working menial jobs, just to lose most of it in interest payments on loans. I think it's disgusting that there's a whole market that caters to and preys on students to loan them money to profit off them. That is something no good government that supports education should be supporting. There are some things that the grim spectre of free market capitalism should be kept away from.
On a completely unrelated point, I'd like to raise the issue of bank interest on apparently high yield interest accounts! How silly! The interest rate when I first started work was staggering, and I was earning about $1 per day on measly savings. Now that I've been in the work force for a few years, and with the subsequent drop in interest rates, I'm earning a lot more per day, but relatively it seems measly, especially compared to how much money I actually have in my account.
It's been a fairly busy day today, but I've still made the time to blog, so I'm happy! Haha, it's all down to the wire here!
That's it for today.
Joaquin out.
