Someone shared an article about Australia’s productivity slump in one of the finance forums I occasionally dip into, and the comments section was exactly what you’d expect: half the people blaming migrants, half blaming “LNP cronies,” and a handful of people actually engaging with the substance. The article itself was worth reading. The response to it was a decent snapshot of why we can’t have nice things.

Let me try to untangle some of this, because I find it genuinely interesting, and because the usual political takes on it miss almost everything important.

There’s a particular kind of frustration that comes from paying for something you don’t understand. Not outrage, just a slow, grinding sense that someone somewhere is relying on your inertia.

That’s the feeling a lot of apartment owners seem to be having right now, judging by the conversations doing the rounds online. Someone put up a post about their strata levies climbing 30% since COVID, with nothing obvious to show for it except a slightly better gardener. They’d gone through the financials, found line items like “professional fees” and “legal consultation” with no supporting detail, asked their manager for clarification, and got back “industry standard reporting” as an answer. Which is, let’s be honest, a very polished way of saying nothing.

There’s a line doing the rounds this week from an investment commentary piece that’s worth sitting with for a moment: “They’re not sophisticated investors. They’re policy dependents.”

It’s a clean hit. The kind of sentence that gets screenshot and shared before people have properly thought about whether they agree with it. And I’ve been turning it over for a couple of days, because my initial reaction was “yes, exactly,” which usually means I should be more careful.

There’s a story doing the rounds online that I keep thinking about. A single parent, working full time, goes to auction fifteen years ago. She’s the only person there who actually wants to live in the house. Everyone else is an investor. She wins, barely, but pays more than she should have because a cluster of people with existing wealth decided that her future home was a line item on their tax return.

Reading through an online discussion today about someone moving into a modest trailer home after escaping an abusive situation struck a deep chord. Their vulnerability in sharing their story and seeking advice reminded me of the incredible resilience people show in the face of adversity.

The thread quickly transformed into a masterclass in community support, with people offering practical solutions and encouragement. What stood out wasn’t just the advice, but the genuine warmth and understanding shown by complete strangers. While sitting in my comfortable home office in Brunswick, it made me reflect on how we often take basic necessities for granted.

Reading through an online discussion about a nail polish disaster on rental carpet brought back memories of similar panic-inducing moments that many of us renters have experienced. There’s something uniquely terrifying about accidentally damaging someone else’s property, especially when your bond money is on the line.

The sight of that bright red nail polish on beige carpet would make anyone’s heart skip a beat. But what really caught my attention wasn’t just the stain itself - it was the incredible outpouring of support and practical advice from the online community. From acetone applications to creative carpet-surgery solutions, people shared their hard-won wisdom from similar mishaps.

The latest FCC decision about landlords and internet service providers has sparked quite a discussion online, though I must say the headlines floating around are more dramatic than the reality. What’s really happening is the FCC has decided not to ban bulk billing arrangements for internet services in rental properties - essentially maintaining the status quo we’ve been living with for years.

Living in an apartment complex in South Yarra, I’m quite familiar with this dance. Our building came pre-wired for a specific provider, and while technically we could request another ISP to come in and install their infrastructure, good luck getting that approved by the body corporate. It’s reminiscent of the NBN rollout drama, just on a smaller scale.