and any government that just stacks on more debt to fund electoral promises to gain power or sustain power is mortgaging the future for their own selfish needs.
Couldn't have been said better......they do that to obtain their own ' agenda ' by Deception ... in another words ' half truths' and lies to the people.
Remember the ' Core ' and ' Non Core ' promises......
Col...
Last edited by FlashDrive; 04-09-2015 at 11:08 AM.
My new 'scope (soon arriving from Germany) has likely seriously blown out the balance of payments. I tried to get one made here...but seems we can't even make Zerodur glass.
Seriously...the lack of vision and policy has been breathtaking. There was a great piece in the SMH today
..showing how countries like Norway have managed their mineral wealth. ...while we've literally pee'd it up the wall. (...again sorry, I was further increasing our foreign debt by traveling there early this year)
Their infrastructure is amazing.....meanwhile back in Oz...they don't see the value in building a rail link to Sydney's long overdue second airport.
The fix?
Have a long hard look in the mirror.
When did you last send a rocket to your local member???
The premium mirror that's now more expensive than last week
Well a tad more....Thankfully it's in Euros.
I fail to see how a low dollar helps one iota.
We hardly value-add to any resource, hence get even less foreign currency
for the oxide-dirt, coal and gas that we do export.
Companies like Google generate billions in revenue, yet pay less tax in Oz than many PAYE taxpayers (eg me!) ....yet the Pollies want the raise the GST????
We hardly value-add to any resource, hence get even less foreign currency
for the oxide-dirt, coal and gas that we do export.
Yeah, baffles me why we aren't using the copious sunshine we have on offer to power the foundries to turn the dirt into its more valuable form, and export that. Surely has to be more value (and jobs) in that
I think it helps as most commodities are traded in American dollars. So for exporters they make more money as they convert back to Australian dollars. Eg gold at the moment is $1100+us per ounce. So at 70c the Gold miners are getting roughly $1600au. Better than 12 months ago when dollar for dollar.
My company employs a team of software and electrical engineers in Australia. We design products which are manufactured in China and assembled in the USA. We sell them in the USA and Europe.
The "low" dollar (more of a reversion to the mean?) helps a lot. It allows us to invest more in the dev team and increases the value of the company and dividends we pay to our Australian shareholders.
Not everybody is a miner or a farmer these days.
Of course, I still cringe when I pay for new astro gear
My company employs a team of software and electrical engineers in Australia. We design products which are manufactured in China and assembled in the USA. We sell them in the USA and Europe.
The "low" dollar (more of a reversion to the mean?) helps a lot. It allows us to invest more in the dev team and increases the value of the company and dividends we pay to our Australian shareholders.
Not everybody is a miner or a farmer these days.
Of course, I still cringe when I pay for new astro gear
Cheers,
Rick.
Sure I can see merit in a low $AUD for those that actually make tangibles...but RBA stats indicate that manufacturing contributes about 7% to GDP (and mining just 8%)
Most of us (57%) are employed in "Services" and simply don't get paid in $USD. I suspect generations of depleting resources or re-arranging the pieces of a pie, rather than making more pies will see Oz sadly end up like Nauru.
Sure I can see merit in a low $AUD for those that actually make tangibles...but RBA stats indicate that manufacturing contributes about 7% to GDP (and mining just 8%)
Most of us (57%) are employed in "Services" and simply don't get paid in $USD. I suspect generations of depleting resources or re-arranging the pieces of a pie, rather than making more pies will see Oz sadly end up like Nauru.
We're making intangible pies (product designs) in Australia and taking advantage of scalability and the size of international markets vs our own. For better or worse, manufacturing is increasingly done in countries with low labour costs or by robots.
Manufacturing being done by overseas is normal hence China's boom.
Mining being such a small amount I find hard to believe. The scale of mining in Australia is absolutely enormous. The scale of the Hammersley Ranges Iron Ore deposits is absolutely enormous.
Some mining infrastructure projects are $12billion all by themselves.
Last I heard mining was 1/3rd the economy not under 10%. I am sure there is a lot of other sideways business that works off it as well.
......For better or worse, manufacturing is increasingly done in countries with low labour costs or by robots.
Cheers,
Rick.
What your Company does is great ( I'd worry too much, China is not very respectful of intellectual property... I digress) but I don't subscribe to the latter mantra.
Mittelstand companies in Germany have very expensive labour yet are "highly focused, achieving unprecedented efficiencies" via excellent products (i.e. not everyone wants cheap and often crappy goods ) and great management.
Australian management are often bleating "high cost of labour". Yet workers given the right structures and products, as the Germans have shown, can be very productive without being in sweatshops.
If I were to put this in a nutshell: selling a tonne of iron for $50 and getting a few grams of it back from foreign shores, in the form of say, a $5000 Rolex
is not a national road to prosperity
We're making intangible pies (product designs) in Australia and taking advantage of scalability and the size of international markets vs our own.
Only problem is we aren't making enough pies, and the pie shops are closing faster than they are opening.
I'm just a dumb engineer, but when i look at the general trend of our trade deficit/economy ( as say a freebody diagram ), i see more money leaving the country than coming in, and it appears to be accelerating. That doesnt give me a warm feeling.
Getting back to the original topic, I looked into a magic crystal ball and made a hand-drawn prediction in PS in regards to the value of AUD vs US currency...
sorry to dig this thread up, but i just thought it was funny that a few weeks later, with a slight turn around in trends, some economists are now predicting an exchange rate of 80c ... i stand by my first comment, no one can predict the future in this regard, they are guessing!
Bought a Tak 7x50 finder with bracket and illuminator the other day, second hand. THOUGHT it was a good deal until I paid... and the conversion put it exactly at what Claude charges NEW for the scope itself (no brcket or illuminator). OUCH!
Look at the price of NEW Tak finders in the USA like Optcorp, TNR - the US price is the same numerical figure as Claudes, UNTIL you convert the US to AUD... then you see a $100 difference!
Bought a Tak 7x50 finder with bracket and illuminator the other day, second hand. THOUGHT it was a good deal until I paid... and the conversion put it exactly at what Claude charges NEW for the scope itself (no brcket or illuminator). OUCH!
Look at the price of NEW Tak finders in the USA like Optcorp, TNR - the US price is the same numerical figure as Claudes, UNTIL you convert the US to AUD... then you see a $100 difference!
PM sent, Re: Tak 7x50 finder
Might as well get in early.
