I was browsing at the Launceston Examiner today (Tasmania Australia) as a diversion from the current set of crisis and noticed an interesting bit of 'corrosive' editorial.
Intentional or not, a couple of the articles are a not so subtle reminder of a government losing the battle with the economy.
First headline to catch my eye:
Hefty $400,000 for cottage. Okay, it was back in the 1970's when I bought my first cottage in Launceston, larger than this one and barely a kilometre away.
The price tag was under $20,000. True it was a stretch at the time, but the leap in numbers within living memory is pretty bloody dramatic.
But coupled that with the next piece, and it is Sunday over there, that is to say not a hard news day.
WHAT can you buy for 40c these days?
A bunch of bananas? Dream on.
A small bag of lollies. Perhaps.
What about a gallon, or four and a half litres of petrol? Stop laughing.
In context, bananas have previously been noted on this blog as an economic marker downunder. But Australian's are voratious consumers of fruit.
To the 'lollies' or sweets; trivial, but what a powerful subliminal message. What is the first item most people recall counting their pennies for? Every generation can relate to the childhood memory and the adult difference.
AND Gas! This item made up the bulk of the story, with the reflections of a former service station owner and his Ford Anglia in the 1950s.
All simple fair, skewed to memories and a highly effective way of highlighting fears of a worsening personal economics.
I wrote for Tasmanian papers over the years and know their priorities well. The population is still an enomous consumer of the three main dailies, one had an audited 90% readership in its region.
They are popular because they talk the language of their readers, no high flying economic analysis, just 'plain talking'.
If I were on the Dems strategic planning team I'd be looking seriously at exactly this approach. Find those simple, even simplisitic keys, and plug them non-stop.
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