Post by hardball on Jun 16, 2018 5:07:27 GMT
Jun 13, 2018 7:08:35 GMT @deblovesbeccy said:
leadingedgeenergy.com.au/highest-electricity-prices-world/
Australian power bills are the most expensive in the world today. Cost of living is the 12th highest in the world whereas the US is ranked 21st. I can relate though because inflation here is at its highest in 5 years and our electricity bill is the highest in Asia and the 5th highest in the world. Oh, and our govt also uses the same "privatizing services and utilities will make everything cheaper" line. I guess politicians are the same everywhere.
I haven't been to many concerts, but I can tell you music is definitely big in the Philippines. Arnel Pineda, the new lead singer of Journey, is Filipino. Bruno Mars' mother is half Filipino. Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas is Fil-American. The local music industry is doing good too.
Some of the biggest foreign acts have also performed here. Katy Petty has been here 4 times. Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Mariah Carey, Linkin Park, Metallica, Rhianna have done concerts here. Beyonce had a show here several years ago and 70,000 people showed up.
Madonna's concert in 2016 was the most expensive ever. Tickets cost up to 57,000 Philippine pesos, equal to two months' salary of most Filipinos. But the show sold out lol. Years ago Stevie Wonder held what was supposed to be a one night show, but demand was so high he performed 2 shows. The same thing happened when James Taylor came to town.
And when Michael Jackson had a concert here in 1996, there was controversy because the mayor of Manila wouldn't allow him to hold the concert. This was at the height of the child abuse allegations, I think, but another city welcomed MJ and the show was a huge hit. Michael had a freaking tank on stage.
Back in 1966 the Beatles performed 2 shows and more than 80,000 people watched, but a terrible miscommunication almost got them lynched by a mob at the airport.
www.philstar.com/entertainment/2011/10/09/735189/real-story-about-beatles-fiasco
And one more thing. Filipinos also love classic acts, so Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and other artists from the 60s and 70s and 80s come here regularly. One of the most popular is the Australian duo Air Supply. I don't know how big they are back home, but here they're very popular with both old and young people alike, as Filipinos - most anyway - like love songs. Seriously I think they hold concerts here every year.
Yeah. It is true. We pay the most expensive power bills in the world and the biggest joke is experts are saying we shouldn't but we are being ripped off and our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull and the government always say they are going to do something about it to ease the cost of living on everyday Australians 'cause they know there are people struggling and they feel so sorry for them but the only thing they do is talk about it for a week or two and do nothing and don't talk about it again. They think if they just sweep it under the rug and not discuss it then the problem disappears or it doesn't make them look bad and I wouldn't be surprised if they are getting funded by electrical companies 'cause they are funded by alcohol companies which is why scientists who say bad things about alcohol and politicians who want to put the taxes up on it and have plain packaging like cigarettes are silenced. One of the worst problems here though is the cost of houses in Western Sydney and we should not be paying what people pay for in other countries for mansions for average homes but that is another thing the government said they were going to look into and fix but forgot about while the prices just keep going up all the time. The Malcolm Turnbull/Tony Abbott Coalition government has been the worst government we have had. The only good thing they have done is legalise Same Sex Marriage but that should have been solved with a conscious vote and not a postal plebiscite that brought up a lot of homophobia and lead to many of us facing hate. While Labor and Bill Shorten are not that much better all they have done is lie through teeth since they got into power and everything they claimed the Labor party were going to do in the lead up to the 2013 election they have done and they constantly attacked the Labor party over the Carbon Tax and how families were struggling to pay it and when they got in they introduced new taxes that are twice the amount the Carbon Tax was and slowly put them up every year. I sadly think the world is full of useless politicians and while we definitely have it better than countries like Indonesia and North Korea none of our countries' leaders have been great nor have their parties been. Instead of choosing the best candidate at elections we are often choosing the lesser of two evils or the one we think is at least more competent than the other but we rarely have good leaders which we should and we need to have higher standards for politicians.
Thanks for letting me know about the music scene in The Philippines. I know of Arnel Pineda in Journey and I really liked their 'Revelation' album and 'Eclipse' wasn't bad either and it is a shame they don't release more albums with him 'cause I think he is the best lead singer they have had since Steve Perry and has been better for the band than Steve Augeri and Jeff Scott Soto. I don't mind Jeff Scott Soto and have a number of his solo albums and albums he appeared on with other bands but I think he was kinda out of place in the group whereas Arnel really seems to fit with his voice and sounds somewhat similar to Steve. He can also sing the hits and hit all the notes Steve Perry could and his version of 'Open Arms' on the CD2 of 'Revelation' was really good. I know of Air Supply and my Aunt loves them and I have seen them in concert with her and they were big here in the 70s and early 80s and had a number of hits on the charts but they are not as popular as they used to be now. A lot of people out here like Classic Acts though which is why we often get a lot of those artists and bands touring here but they are just no longer mainstream.
Wow I had no idea property cost in Australia was that bad. I mean I understand that it's one of the most prosperous countries in the world, but paying mansion amount money for a regular house is ridiculous. When did the cost of housing start to go up?
Just wondering, what about the daily cost of living, i.e. food, drink, gas, going to the dentist, clothing, stuff like that? Here in the Philippines inflation has gone up sharply since the gov't implemented tax reforms - sounds familiar right? - to collect money for infrastructure projects. The goal is l audible but people are feeling the pinch.
I did not know there was lobbying and funding by big companies to politicians in Australia. Here the biggest corporate lobbying is done by the oil companies who want to keep prices high. Also our Internet service is being controlled by two companies who force people to pay obscene amounts to get a decent bandwidth.
Pineda is good, but I actually prefer Steve Perry. His rendition of Open Arms and Separate Ways among others, are exceptional. Honestly I'm amazed how much you know about music and the way you rattle off band names and albums. When did you get into this, like buying albums and following news and stuff about bands and artists?