Australia doiwn the drain

[FAT-TOY]

Australia down the drain

[/u][/b]

Not written by me ....but not far off the mark.
About 35 short years ago we had Jobs everywhere, we had Iron Ore and great steel industries, we had ship building, Car manufacturing, we built TV’s, radio’s, washing machines, lawn mowers, hills hoists & furniture manufacturing.
We built Car parts and we even made our own tyres! We had fishing ports and cheap Petrol that was made at Stanvac SA, Bulimba Brisbane. Mortlake Sydney Refinery’s from oil brought from Bass Strait, North West Shelf and Timor Sea. We built Aircraft, Boats and Buses.
Locomotive diesel electric trains as well as the tracks and everything was “PROUDLY MADE IN AUSTRALIA”! We had Corner stores and Hardware shops all over the city and country. We had work available as a driveway attendant at all our local Service Stations. And at ALL these places you could find a JOB!!!
We had PUBLIC UTILITIES like Power Stations, Water & Gas which would employ thousand around the Country. Then Government sold our soul and started to Corporatise itself and began to compete instead of Govern.
Then we started going down hill! All our companies started going offshore or closing down because this new corporate government did deals with other countries under free trade agreements that allowed them to totally wipe out our business and manufacturing by selling us their cheap crap.
These Foreign Countries took over our Mineral resources. They drove our Farmers off their land and started selling it to these foreign countries and set up 457 visa’s as well which would let these countries bring in their own workers! These things left our once beautiful Country in tatters!
Then these Politicians allowed Foreign Countries to buy our Power Stations and Ports and then  guaranteed them that they would always make a profit at our expense no matter what.
Now because we have lost so much the Government then realised they don't get much income anymore and have to find new ways to make money so it hits it’s own people further in the pocket.
They cut funding to our Education and over the years led us to import skilled workers because we didn't have any! They cut funding to our Emergency Services, they cut funding to our police and Public housing.
These new Corporate Government Politicians laughed in our faces and gave themselves MASSIVE pay rises and they all pat themselves on the back knowing that we are so dumb and stupid we would not know what is going on! Now they tell us we have to tighten our belts and lose what little we have left to pay back the MASSIVE DEBT they left us all in.
Now I drive the towns and cities and all I see is the empty buildings that once housed all these great manufacturing companies and I begin to cry seeing them all run down or for lease!!!
These over paid governments need more taxes to live on so they are now going to force our elderly (God bless them, for they are the ones that built this Nation) back into the workforce until they are 70. and tell everyone to go out and get a JOB!!
So can someone in this new Corporate Government tell us EXACTLY WHERE THESE BLOODY JOBS ARE??

                Zane

[cyclegod]

Don't worry Australia, when you reach rock bottom you will have New Zealand for company and you can watch 50% of your youth go overseas to work (that's what those empty cities in China are for, plenty of sweatshops and oppressive government there)

[KTMaico]

Politicians usually think about whats good for the next election, Statesmen usually think about whats good for the next generation. I would like to see more people entering into Australian politics with a vision or a quest to right a wrong or make things better, to lead with conviction and not to be swayed by polls and what is said on a daily basis. To be honest enough to actually say I have tried my best to make this country a better place for all. Just a dream.

Kevin

[skypig]

I think so many people are sick to death of ineffectual, out of touch, "politically correct" politicians that we are now seeing the rise of the "unconventional" and "extreme" politicians.

More and more people will resort to voting for hardline partys, due to the politically correct mainstream being unwilling to do what's best for the country that elected them. (Eg immigration based on what's best for the country that the politicians have been elected to run , not what's best for the immigrants or the country the immigrants no longer want to live in.)

Donald Trump would have had zero chance of election a few years ago.

Mainstream European countries are seeing increased votes for frankly extreme parties after they have seen what the mainstream parties immigration policies have done to their countries.

If Australia is having to borrow money to pay for healthcare, education and welfare (inc pensions for people who have contributed a lifetime of tax), I consider it an act of treason to support any form of non productive immigration.

"Rule 303" should apply.

[Mick D]

Politicians usually think about whats good for the next election, Statesmen usually think about whats good for the next generation. I would like to see more people entering into Australian politics with a vision or a quest to right a wrong or make things better, to lead with conviction and not to be swayed by polls and what is said on a daily basis. To be honest enough to actually say I have tried my best to make this country a better place for all. Just a dream.

Kevin

I think so many people are sick to death of ineffectual, out of touch, "politically correct" politicians that we are now seeing the rise of the "unconventional" and "extreme" politicians.

More and more people will resort to voting for hardline partys, due to the politically correct mainstream being unwilling to do what's best for the country that elected them. (Eg immigration based on what's best for the country that the politicians have been elected to run , not what's best for the immigrants or the country the immigrants no longer want to live in.)

Donald Trump would have had zero chance of election a few years ago.

Mainstream European countries are seeing increased votes for frankly extreme parties after they have seen what the mainstream parties immigration policies have done to their countries.

If Australia is having to borrow money to pay for healthcare, education and welfare (inc pensions for people who have contributed a lifetime of tax), I consider it an act of treason to support any form of non productive immigration.

"Rule 303" should apply.

Yes.

[the stig]

  With all the Carnage that is being done at the moment .
  One of the biggest contributors to all this is the Union s
  chasing  Higher wages all the Time which made getting
  thing made over seas look good
   The blame is to be shared by all of them polys unions and
   greedy business people
   One thing i do know we have seen the best of this World .
   Amen

  The Stig

[bazza]

and they reckon auzie house loans could get ugly like usa went threw, loan closures

[80-85 husky]

the country needs to take a haircut and companies going "bust" is as symptom of no haircuts particularly at the top. we are living in boom times and they left five years ago. its not the big disaster to let things like the Whyalla steel company fold.. they have outdated work practices, contracts etc  and as soon as it folds, a series  of smaller smarter companies will spring up. evolution of business, safety and HR have made monsters of themselves and build empires that cost on top so they need to be haircut as well as corporate salaries. unions need to realise there is no cash in the economy for wage increases (I wont tell them that) but governments want to be elected...jobs for no hopers. I hate it when smart people like turnbull get in to power but they get caught up in the machine and cant be effective for the country.

[jimson]

Australia is the biggest slut in the South Pacific. I'm  Australian born & have travelled this great land and it is so sad our leaders have sold us out, while we watch. My kids will never see the country that was mine when I was a boy. It's just some worn out pro waiting for it's next trick. Jimson

[tymes]

The Governments have sold just about everything off and everything that is now privatised costs us more and more and yet they are run with less people and far more efficiently.
We used to own it and we payed for it with our taxes.
Those taxes employed us and our neighbours who then spent our money back into our own economy and round and round it all went. Now when we pay for our privatised and much cheaper running services guess where our money goes.
Tighten our belts, does that mean disconnect from the power grid? or maybe cancel the car insurance? Can going out for parmigiana at the workers Sunday nights and help push the club over the edge?
Just a little thing, who buys the Dick Smith stuff? those products help the little Ozzie guys right from the farm to the shelf. Your money staying at home.

[Nathan S]

and they reckon auzie house loans could get ugly like usa went threw, loan closures

Unlike Australia, Americans can simply hand in the keys and walk away from their mortgage.
That makes us unlikely to face an epidemic of 'bad loans' like the US did.

That said, Australian housing is now far less affordable than it was during the Keating recession,  compared to average income. If interest rates get to (say) 10% in the near future, then a lot more people will be in big trouble than were in the early 90s.
The Aussie level of personal debt (and particularly the property bubble) is going to be a huge problem in the next decade or so. Either it will explode by itself, or it will be ignited by another event.

[Nathan S]

the country needs to take a haircut and companies going "bust" is as symptom of no haircuts particularly at the top. we are living in boom times and they left five years ago. its not the big disaster to let things like the Whyalla steel company fold.. they have outdated work practices, contracts etc  and as soon as it folds, a series  of smaller smarter companies will spring up.

No. What you've described has validity when unemployment is very low, and there's a shortage of labour, but it's actually a disaster when unemployment is rising.

There's nobody waiting desperately for the Wyhalla (or automotive manufacturing) workers to be "liberated" so they can employ them and use them to grow their own business.
------

Australia in the last  15-20 years has traded away the prosperity it built in the first two centuries since colonisation. We've all grown "rich" on low priced imports, while ignoring what it has down to our long term wealth.
Basically, we're surfing the wave of globalisation, where we can be paid developed country wages,  and enjoy developed country society, while paying third world prices for most things. It's simply unsustainable in the long term - we are taking part in a process of averaging out living standards across the world.
Which, for us, will inevitably mean a big drop in living standards.

But hey, let's not worry about that - there's a new dual cab and big screen TV to buy first...

[Tex]

Unlike Australia, Americans can simply hand in the keys and walk away from their mortgage.

Not necessarily. As reported on the ABC recently, banks in the US are beginning to insist that the mortgage stays in place, especially in areas where property prices have plummeted. The banks don't want the unsaleable property nor the cost of maintaining it or knocking it down if it falls into disrepair. Thus poor people are finding that they cannot escape the crippling mortgage even if they're prepared to give up the house.

Tex

[Lozza]

We are still ranked No1 in world living standards. Whinge all you like but you could be a LOT worse off.

[Nathan S]

Some of what you say I agree with, Walter.

But I'm just not convinced that overall, these things will play out as neatly (or as disastrously) as you think. The 'rules' of the economy are not laws of nature. They're human decisions, and they can be changed.
We have been given enough shiny things to keep us entertained, so we ignore what is going on - but it's gone on for so long and become such an obvious, rampant scam that our supply of shiny things is beginning to dry up. And so maybe - just maybe - the rules of the economy may start to change to suit the vast majority of the population.

I look at it like a game of Monopoly where someone goes bankrupt and then tips the board over - if we get to the point that people in a developed country like Australia are going without water due to an economic collapse, then the board will be flipped over.