What's Left?

[Roverlord off road spares]

All Car manufacturing going,
SPC closing, and many other before are gone
Digging big holes & Minerals going overseas,
Supermarkets pushing their in house brands, food coming in from China. Read the labels
Ultilities privatised and can have foreign ownership?
There is a growing trend for us to be dependent on overseas for most things.
Australia has been sold out.
The building industry is about the only thing left that hasn't been out sourced yet, will they try and bring in foreign workers to close that down also?
The mind boggles.

on another note.
Interesting that a $100 million could be found for a Royal Commission when belt tightening is occurring.
Of course there is payoffs in the building industry, always has been and part of the building culture. Executives award contracts to other companies and get kick backs also. It's not just unions officials
Retired politicians seem to get high ranking jobs from mates is the private sector when they retire...... is this for doing favors whilst in charge of a portfolio. Seems back scratching is involved in all levels.
Lets have a royal commission into jobs for the boys too. We should be able to scrape up some money

[superquag]

Not sure of the dates, but I'm given to understand that the world's activities were divvied up by the Rich & Powerful around the middle of last century or later. Australia was ear-marked to be a primary producer/miner only, NOT a manufacturing one.

Today I read - a small insignificant story - that 2 Senators had spent $11,000 of their own money in trying to persuade the Parliament House dining room to utilise Australian manufacturers for additional present/future crockery requirements. Not interested.

Abbot, Rudd and Bishop were'nt interested either, apparantly...

The current dining sets are made in the United Arab Emirates

There's going to be a lot of excess manufacturing 'experience' available ina few years time.. Pity there won't be the industries to utilise it.

We live in interesting times, wonder how long it will be before even the value of gold turns to ashes...

Edit: The West Australian, p6, first metro edition.

[jx2mad]

We don't repair much these days either. It is a disposable society so no one is employed to do repairs much. What on earth are we teaching our kids re work ethic or service. I wonder how much longer before the fast food industry goes "drive through" only? Save a lot of money there too.

[olbod]

I have a feeling that we, all of us, are responsible for the mess we are in.
We have a live beyond our means mindset.
Look at the wage and benifit structure for starters, for both execs and workers.
I think it is just beginning to dawn on a few that with a small population and such a large country to be serviced we just cant support it at the current level.
Working within Australia, excessive profit margins and greed cannot be supported
We want as much as we can get for ourselves while doing as little as possible to earn or pay for it.

But, she'll be right, eh.
Or perhaps woe is me.

[Mick_Marsh]

Today I read - a small insignificant story - that 2 Senators had spent $11,000 of their own money in trying to persuade the Parliament House dining room to utilise Australian manufacturers for additional present/future crockery requirements. Not interested.
Disgraceful.
They bought the crockery. Australian designed. Australian made. All ready to be laid out on the tables.
We would be better off outsourcing our politicians from India. (Except Nick. He can keep his job.)

[85 county]

Disgraceful.
They bought the crockery. Australian designed. Australian made. All ready to be laid out on the tables.
We would be better off outsourcing our politicians from India. (Except Nick. He can keep his job.)


but Nick is from another planet anyway ?????

[Mick_Marsh]

I have a feeling that we, all of us, are responsible for the mess we are in.
We have a live beyond our means mindset.
Look at the wage and benifit structure for starters, for both execs and workers.
I think it is just beginning to dawn on a few that with a small population and such a large country to be serviced we just cant support it at the current level.
Working within Australia, excessive profit margins and greed cannot be supported
We want as much as we can get for ourselves while doing as little as possible to earn or pay for it.

But, she'll be right, eh.
Or perhaps woe is me.
What a load of rubbish. We need high wages to cope with the high cost of living. You can get a nice 3BR weatherboard for $18,000 in America. How much would a 3BR weatherboard be in Sydney?
The aussie dollar is way too high. Imports are dirt cheap. Our exports are expensive.
Now, to get on with paying my rates bill. Yikes! Almost two grand!

[Mick_Marsh]

but Nick is from another planet anyway ?????
He makes more sense than any of the others. Which planet? We need to outsource our politicians from there.

[jx2mad]

I have a cousin living just our of Coonabarrabran. He lost his house a year ago in the fires. He runs cattle but has no feed and the dams are almost empty. His neighbour lost a lot of sheep in the fire and now what are left of dying from lack of feed and water. This neighbour also lost his sheering sheds etc. These are only two cases of what is a catastrophe for Australia when with decent planning the outback could be an oasis. Look at how much water is lost from the Ord river scheme every day. If Australian workers can build the Snowy mtn scheme then surely we have the know-how to divert water.
But I suppose money drives everything so logical endeavors will never happen.

[THE BOOGER]

Not sure of the dates, but I'm given to understand that the world's activities were divvied up by the Rich & Powerful around the middle of last century or later. Australia was ear-marked to be a primary producer/miner only, NOT a manufacturing one.


You would be thinking of this
HISTORIC HOUSE HANSARD (http://www.gwb.com.au/gwb/news/lima/jones.html)

the lima agreement the only other links I could were dubious but it does exist:)

The Lima Agreement (http://www.fnq.cc/lima_agreement.html)

[Redback]

Blame everyone except yourself, but unless, supermarkets and the public support local products, then nothing will change.

While in Victoria(or any other place we visit and at home) we buy Local as much as we can, one of the reasons we tour a lot, local produce like, honey, jams, wines, beers, fruit and so on and in the area of the SPC Factory (Tatura and Shepperton) we saw two SPC products on the shelf, baked beans and spagetti, no fruits, no jams, no nothing and that was IGA and Safeway(Woolies) if the local towns around the factory aren't going to help support them, what chance have they got??

Shame really, Baz.

[olbod]

What a load of rubbish. We need high wages to cope with the high cost of living. You can get a nice 3BR weatherboard for $18,000 in America. How much would a 3BR weatherboard be in Sydney?
The aussie dollar is way too high. Imports are dirt cheap. Our exports are expensive.
Now, to get on with paying my rates bill. Yikes! Almost two grand!

YES of course Mick.

But why do we have such a high cost of living ?
Why is that 3BR house so much cheaper in America ?
Is their life style so much below ours that that is all they can afford ?

Leaving the "We "out of it, who do usm's blame for the mess we are in ?
Surely it cant be the pollies, corporations or management on their own.
Where do "We " fit in in the scheme of things. Do WE all have blind eyes ?

Imports are dirt cheap. Our exports are expensive !!! Exactly.
We have priced ourselves out of the markets.
Living a little beyond our means perhaps ?

I cant fix it but leaving the THEM out of it I think it will have to be US.
I prefer it not be outsiders like China or sharia law or wall street, thanks.

To hell with THEM.

[VladTepes]

but Nick is from another planet anyway ?????

Where? Western Australia perhaps !

[Mick_Marsh]

YES of course Mick.

But why do we have such a high cost of living ?
Why is that 3BR house so much cheaper in America ?
Is their life style so much below ours that that is all they can afford ?

Leaving the "We "out of it, who do usm's blame for the mess we are in ?
Surely it cant be the pollies, corporations or management on their own.
Where do "We " fit in in the scheme of things. Do WE all have blind eyes ?

Imports are dirt cheap. Our exports are expensive !!! Exactly.
We have priced ourselves out of the markets.
Living a little beyond our means perhaps ?

I cant fix it but leaving the THEM out of it I think it will have to be US.
I prefer it not be outsiders like China or sharia law or wall street, thanks.

To hell with THEM.
How succinctly can I put it

The aussie dollar is high. Imports are dirt cheap. Our exports are expensive.
We are encouraged to buy from overseas rather than produce ourselves.

When the aussie dollar is low. Imports are high. Our exports are affordable.
We would be encouraged to produce locally rather than buy expensive overseas rubbish.

[Bigbjorn]

What a load of rubbish. We need high wages to cope with the high cost of living. You can get a nice 3BR weatherboard for $18,000 in America. How much would a 3BR weatherboard be in Sydney?
The aussie dollar is way too high. Imports are dirt cheap. Our exports are expensive.
Now, to get on with paying my rates bill. Yikes! Almost two grand!

$18,000 for a derelict home in a run down slum of a ruined city like Detroit and others in the former industrial heartland maybe. Try on the price of a reasonable apartment in Manhattan or a tidy older house in LA's Southern Bay Beaches. Not Santa Monica or Malibu but the middle class beach suburbs. Try $2,000,000.

[Mick_Marsh]

$18,000 for a derelict home in a run down slum of a ruined city like Detroit and others in the former industrial heartland maybe. Try on the price of a reasonable apartment in Manhattan or a tidy older house in LA's Southern Bay Beaches. Not Santa Monica or Malibu but the middle class beach suburbs. Try $2,000,000.
She son of a fellow I worked with bought a house on acreage about the same distance out from a major capital city as I am from Melbourne. He paid about $50k US. You'd be paying about $750k AUS for an equivalent property here.
His wages are significantly lower. About $20k US pa. So the average wage here is $300k AUS pa, is it?

[Bigbjorn]

She son of a fellow I worked with bought a house on acreage about the same distance out from a major capital city as I am from Melbourne. He paid about $50k US. You'd be paying about $750k AUS for an equivalent property here.
His wages are significantly lower. About $20k US pa. So the average wage here is $300k AUS pa, is it?

in 2010, aged 69, I was offered a job in Kansas City as a Machinist First Class at US$70,000. Depends what you do and where. Plenty of menial minimum wage jobs available over there if you want to work for nothing and compete with the brown and black people for the work. Where does your acreage friend live? Would you want to live there? Maybe up to your bum in snow six months of the year. All the nice places to live, like here, are expensive.

You pay that $750,000 for a nice house in a reasonable suburb of Brisbane, over a million and well upwards if you want to live in one the better/best suburbs. You can't buy a restored terrace in Redfern for much less than million and anything in the Eastern Suburbs within reach of a beach is near $2,000,000 for a renovater.

[Mick_Marsh]

Just out of Portland i think. Would i live there? I'd live in the same sort of area in Victoria.
Don't forget, there's been a big property crash there.

[mikehzz]

Copying anything the US does is way down the bottom of my list. Gun toting, health care issues, low wages relying on tips, religious fervour, couldn't give a rats about their excessive oil use. It's a good place to be a rich person. There are better places to aspire to. But that's just my opinion. There are lots of good Americans banging their heads against a wall trying to overturn the US mindset. I do admire their position on free speech.

[bob10]

Why are US houses cheap at the moment? Would you want to buy one & live there? This might help, Bob


The Housing Market Crash of 2007 and What Caused the Crash | Stock Picks System (http://www.stockpickssystem.com/housing-market-crash-2007/)


U.S. Housing Crash Deepens in 2008 After Record Drop (Update2) - Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5Mwref21u9A)


Dangers of buying into that market?


US property: the risks of buying a bargain basement (http://www.smh.com.au/money/us-property-the-risks-of-buying-a-bargain-basement-20111202-1obiu.html)

[Roverlord off road spares]

If Australian workers can build the Snowy mtn scheme then surely we have the know-how to divert water.


:D The Snowy scheme was built by 1/3 Aissies and 2/3 rds foreign labour. Italians, Germans, and other european workers, there was a big need for man power and it was sourced from immigrants.
The People

Between 1949, when the first blasting shot was fired, and by 1974, when the physical works of the Scheme were completed, over 100,000 men and women from more than 30 countries had worked on the Scheme. Australians formed the largest nationality group on the Scheme, making up one-third of the workforce, which reached a peak of 7300 in 1959.
Many migrants were escaping the horror of war-torn Europe to begin a new life in a new land. Working together on the Scheme, they became part of the Snowy family with former enemies and allies working side by side.

[akula]

I think politicians should be under the same, if not more scrutiny than those on Centrelink benefits. Perhaps 'politician monitors' could be sourced through a 'Work for the dole' arrangement. This may also solve the omnipresent 'blame everything on those receiving benefits' distractions, utilised so effectively by politicians, and potentially save the taxpayer significant amounts of money. Disclaimer: no offence to those, who perhaps naively, are working in politics in the hope of serving all Australians.

[THE BOOGER]

No scheme like the snowy will ever be :(built here untill its to late the court cases will break any govt

[Fatso]

I shudder to think what our forfathers who fought for and built this country for us would think if they could see what a bloody mess we have made of it . :(

[Ralph1Malph]

WE have to blame ourselves for 99% of whatever it is that ails this country.
WE have been sheep at the ballot box at times and not demanded our local representative exercise our will in the parliament.
WE supported the 'disposable' society concept by removing sewing, cooking, woodwork, metal work etc from school curriculums. That's right, the mandarins of these departments are our own fathers, brothers, husbands etc.
WE banned water tanks and chickens from backyards. Your father, brother, aunt may have been one of those local councillors.
WE are responsible for high tradesmen cost via vicarious 'safety' regimes. One of our relatives supported or implemented draconian rules regarding DIY plumbing, electrical, tiling etc.
WE contribute to consumerism and higher costs by demanding 'full service' including meal on a 2 hour airplane flight, (but not on the 2 hr train commute to work?).
WE are too precious by expecting a seat on melbourne tram but are happy to stand all night at the pub or night club or disco. Remember when melb trams had to remove the 'bum leaning bar thingies' and re install fewer seats?
WE support and expect to have Rights and shout out loud we don't.
WE aren't so vocal about our Responsibilities!

The list goes on but what I am rabbiting on about is that it inevitably distills down to OUR fault. We want the good but not the bad.

Manufacturing is automated, repetitive work involving a degree of meniality at times. We generally don't want to do it. It's not our thing. Let it go.

Ralph

[Bigbjorn]

No scheme like the snowy will ever be :(built here untill its to late the court cases will break any govt

The govt. of the time was philosophically and politically committed to the Snowy scheme. The scheme was unconstitutional and would never stand up to court scrutiny. The government knew this but was committed to the schemes success. The Authority wanted to resume Talbingo Station for a dam. Too bad for them as K.G.Murray, the millionaire publisher, owner of Talbingo also knew. He told the authority he would see them in court and that he had enough money to keep them there for years. The dam height was lowered and Talbingo was still there.

[George130]

No scheme like the snowy will ever be :(built here untill its to late the court cases will break any govt

And that is the problem. Governments work on a 3 year turn around for policy and a large chunk of the population work on a 6 month to a year turn around. We need some major capital works like a national water scheme to catch the abundance of water and spread it to where it is in short supply built over as may years as required.
Same for transport links. Build for the future of our nation.