Re: Brisbane airtrain

[RC <richy@yahoo.com>]

Apologies for the long post - text inserted
Bradley Torr wrote:

> Brown Family <lbrown2@bigpond.com> wrote in article
> <3b24442f.14129234@news-server.bigpond.net.au>...
>
> Because I made a post which made similar points to Michael, and because I
> am a devout protectionist, I would like to answer your post as well.....
>
> > First, I would like to start off by asking Michael what sort of a car
> > does he drive? Are his clothes made here? shoes? computers? Would
> > Michael mind paying 10-50% more to buy locally made? How long would a
> > government last if it bumped up prices by that much? The introduction
> > GST would be like the pimple on an elephant's bum compared to the
> > re-introduction of tarrifs on foreign made goods.
>
> I don't drive, but when I did, I only ever drove Aussie-made used cars. My
> clothes are generally made here, though I will admit that it's often hard
> to find Aussie-made clothes when living on a budget - and what few Aussie
> made clothing there is, was probably made by 'outworkers' working in
> Australian sweatshops in Third World conditions. My computer was
> manufactured in Taiwan, which at least is not Red China, so profits go to
> an anti-communist ally and firm trading partner in Asia.

> <snipped>

Like earlier posters - you are making it hard to run a railway by setting all
these preconditions that the trucking industry don't have - cf all trucks must
be made in Australia - all the fuel drilled here etc Doesn't happen and the
truckies would beat you up if you suggested it

>
> > Price is not the sole
> > factor, especially these days with the A$ as it is.
>
> You are right price isn't the sole factor. Patriotism, community relations,
> brand image and relations with governments are also factors. As for
> technical excellence, Australia has shown that it can compete on this level
> too. For a small and isolated nation, we sure are an inventive lot, read up
> on our history of inventions and technological progresses.... This isn't
> the Third World, we have a skilled workforce and a good education system!
> "I am of the opinion that Australians make the best machines in the world."
> -- Hugh Victor McKay, Aussie entrepeneur and inventor of the Sunshine
> Harvesting Machine.
>

Rubbish and complete rubbish. Australians used to be an inventive lot but they
are not an industrious lot, nor a thrifty lot nor an entrepreneurial lot

We make good films yet they are financed either by Yanks or by our government
(the latter without an eye to profitability).\

We do not save, but borrow most of our finance overseas. Our interest rates
would be in the high teens if we restricted overseas borrowing.

We do not invest using venture capital, we sell our inventions at cheap prices
overseas rather than develop here - this is not the fault of globalisation, in
fact we need
foreigners to survive because we are not a going concern. We don't make good
cars - ask Average Joe would he rather drive a Holden or a Merc. You'll get
some working-class faux snobbery but most know what they'd rather have.

>
> > Most of
> > Australia's motor vehicles are imported and sold at a far higher cost
> > than the local manufacture. Why? For many reasons of which cost is not
> > a major consideration.
>
> What considerations would they be? Are you saying that when you buy a car
> or a major consumer purchase, place of manufacture doesn't play any part in
> your purchasing decisions? You'd rather spend $4,000 less on a Korean made
> small car than on an Aussie made small car to save on money - and tales of
> how Korean manufacturing workers are treated by corporations will make your
> blood boil if you have any sense of social justice - while employment in
> Australian manufacturing disappears and our balance of payments suffers and
> Australian aggregate debt marches inexorably skyward?
>

Korean workers march, set fire to factories, get dictatorships tossed out and
end up with a democracy. When will Australian people stand up to tyrrany - or
is the national apathy a substitute for political passion?

<snipped>


>
> I am one among hundreds of millions of Westerners who says "NO" to
> competition with Third World near-slave labour. You just can NOT compete
> against compliant, non-unionised 50-cents-an-hour serfdom.
>

Can you compete with intelligent Singaporeans - most of whom went to
university, many get paid more than you and some of them
reach world's best practice in their endeavours - and who protects them from
third world competition which is a few hours away by boat?

Can you compete with those Finns whose mobile phones are known the world over -
they pay over $A10 for a cup of coffee so their cost of living is
probably much higher than ours. What use is protection against intelligent
value adding?

What about those Americans whose currency is now worth double what ours is
worth - have we cut back our consumption of Coca Cola (here since the start of
the 20th Century) or McDonalds (which was here long before people spoke of
globalisation) as we now can't afford them?

>
> > Welcome to Global Reality. Get used to it.
>
> Oh, the winds of change can do an about-turn oh so quickly... and they
> will... 'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction' applies
> to politics and social science just as much as it does to physics. And when
> the winds DO change, globalist ideologues such as yourself will be left
> scratching your heads after being swept away in a veritable blizzard of
> anti-global sentiment.
>
> Australians First, mate.
>

The only way you'll get Australians First is let them become as they should be
- intelligent, specialised, productive, thrifty and entrepreneurial. So when
someone says to you "will you lend me $1000 to make a film?" don't laugh - the
West Coast of the USA was built on such ideas.
RC

>
> Regards
> Bradley