A report this morning that some people with ‘mortgage stress’ are living on rice reminded me of those days back in 2007 when Kevin 07 was constantly going on about that and the general financial pressures on ‘working families’.

While of course through bad luck and imprudence there are always some households doing it tough, some of us were always sceptical about Labor claims on financial stress (eg here and here) .

The latest HILDA statistical report on trends in financial stress over 2001-2007 confirms that these 2007 Labor claims were gross exaggerations, and that the overall trend was clearly towards less financial stress.

Continue reading “‘Working families’ not so stressed after all” →