The demise of manufacturing in Australia isn't wholly an Australian problem, most of the (previously) industrialised world is losing its manufacturing to China, India or wherever the items can be produced for a viable price. Detroit auto maufacturing would shut up shop tomorrow if it wasn't for US government subsidies and tax breaks. When Japanese cars are being made in China and much of the worlds electronics made either in China or Korea the plight of Vegemite manufacture going offshore seems a bit insignicent. This has been slowly happening for 50 years but we've all turned a blind eye because in the end we all love a bargain.
Blaming governments and big business might give us something to vent our angst upon but the bottom line is that we're all to blame and it's now way too late to very much to alter the course. Greed wins every time
Now where do I start.....Motomaniac, seeing that you seem to have been offended by a paragraph in my post back on page 2, let me try and break it down a little easier for you.
When I wrote
'Blaming governments and big business might give us something to vent our angst upon but the bottom line is that we're all to blame and it's now way too late to very much to alter the course. Greed wins every time', by '
all to blame' I mean government, big business and us citizens are to blame
as a society in whole. The bottom line is that we all want to pay as little as possible for our commodities. That's the trade off.
To my way of thought the breadown in the manufacturing sector is based on big businesses quest for lower manufacturing costs, our need for a cheap commodity price
and the government's blind eye on letting it go on without much intervention. It's been happening since after WW2, even back then we all complained about cheap post war Japanese imports putting businesses out of the market. One early example I can remember from the fifties was there being a stuffed toy/Teddy Bear factory at Mascot that was owned by friends of my parents that went down the tubes because they couldn't compete with low tarrif Japanese imports. That was fifty plus years ago but it's exactly the same today. Sure governments could have fixed the problem by raising tarrifs and subsidising and/or giving tax breaks to local industry but if that had happened would our mining industry be enjoying the huge profits from selling the ore that feeds the Chinese industries that sell it back to us in the form of those cheap Televisions and consumer gizmo's? Bit by bit this has been happening all over the industrialised western world but nothing much was done to stop it fifty years ago and nothings being done today because everyone's in it for the big buck.....Industry for its low manufacturing cost and high profit margin, government for it's growing tax income and us common folk and our need to have as many creature comforts and consumer gadgets for as little financial outlay as possible.
Do I like what is happening? Nosiree Bob I don't. However I can't see much changing in the next generation or the one after so I'll settle for what I've got and enjoy the riches in my life...a roof over my head, a couple of cars in the garage, a bunch of non essential to life toys and a standard of living citizens in other coutries can only dream about.
That's why I'm content.
Can things be improved? Shit yeah, for one example lets start with improving a health system that's done me no favours in recent times. Having said that, our health system for all of its problems is still a bunch better than many other coutries so I'm content to wait until my turn comes for my needed surgery.
I'm a bit over this negativity. Let's celebrate what's great about Australia instead of continually looking woodworms in the system. To quote the old proverb..... ...Stop and smell the roses.
