Some quiet acknowledgement from the gallery, s’il vous plait. At last, the mainstream press has started to wake up to the down side of this bloody boom that I have been banging on about for months.

Back in March in my post titled Perth 2007 – More Brass Than Class, and last month in Dark Side Of The Boom I raised concerns about the possible future social consequences of the divide that has opened up – in Perth especially – between those who have prospered from the resources boom and those who have not (which amounts to going backwards, given the spiralling escalations in housing and rental costs and general living expenses).

On news.com.au today, an article entitled Angry renters ‘feeling unloved’, outlines the dire situation in which renters without prospect of owning their own home find themselves today.

Oh, the sweet relief of having one’s views validated, however belatedly. If the mainstream press is saying what I’m saying – well then, I must be right, mustn’t I? Halle-fucking-lujah and, like, hello!

In my post back in April, Perth 2007 – More Brass Than Class, I bemoaned some of the changes this mining-driven boom has brought about in Perth – primarily, the chasm that has opened up between the moneyed and beneficiaries of the boom and the sizeable minority who have been left behind.

At the time of my post, the local media was still gleefully serving up daily stories of wildly escalating real estate prices, as they had been for weeks, months, years. Continue reading Dark Side Of The Boom →