If only we had Betsy to make everyone else's decisions for them, then what a paradise we would have.

Any worker, any person who has to face the problems of the day after day surviving within the limitations of a meager wage, who tries to ‘enter’ the grounds of academic thought, is bound to experience a sense of alienation, of not being.

The ground, firm and factual outside, becomes muddy, swampy and perilous at meeting the ones who live in citadels called Universities, people free from the task of providing for themselves and their families the everyday necessities for survival.

The concerns of these insiders are mysterious, their language full of allusions to shared pre-notions and incomprehensible to the un-initiated

Put simply Sceptic, the holier than thou arrogance covering a fear of the world unknown, churned out as University graduates.

Unfortunately though this group now encompasses Police graduates, nursing graduates among the other hosts of the over-educated.

Once was a time when most kids completed school by the age of fifteen and continued their education in the workplace among normally adjusted members of a society they were being groomed to productively join: Now a way of "traditional" life dead and gone.

Skeptik/Diver Dan,

Anti-education now are we? Move to North Korea and see how it suits you then... This is Australia, though. We are proud of the endeavours made by our academics, the medical breakthroughs that come out of this country are amazing considering our population size. Love it or leave.

Let's not go overboard on this.

These people are kind, well-meaning and concerned citizens. It is not their fault that they see the country through the lens of "if only...", rather than with the benefit of practical, useful experience.

Unfortunately though, the result is that the perceived ailments are reduced to string of generalizations...

"One of the main problems with free market economics is that instead of an economic system it became a full-blown ideology, with all the false promises of utopia..."

Catchy. But essentially useless as a problem definition.

In whose view is it a "full-blown ideology? And where are the "promises of utopia", that the author has determined are false? Sounds very straw-mannish to me.

"If conditions for trade don't suit [international corporations] in one country, they can simply move some or all of their operations offshore. This causes job losses"

Well, errr, yes. If Country A is uncompetitive in a particular marketplace, production in that country will cease, and reappear in a country that is competitive. The solution, I would have thought, would be to determine what needs to change in Country A, rather than pour in (taxpayers) money to ensure that the industry in question remains uncompetitive. Creating a localized cargo-cult is not going to do anything except exacerbate the situation, and ensure a lifelong dependence on handouts.

"Again, one can only wonder what might have been the case if, for instance, a creative solution had been tried where family farms were assisted by favourable interest rates to buy their next door neighbours out."

One can indeed "wonder". At whose expense would these "favourable interest rates" be offered, one wonders. Commercially, it would necessarily be the non-farm cohort of borrowers, subsidising the farmers. Or does the author believe it is the government's business to "pick winners"...?

"Governments fear being seen as "too prescriptive" or "trying to pick winners"..."

Hang on a minute. In the view of the vast majority of Australian companies, the government is already far too prescriptive, and dangerously over-inclined to pick winners. Heaven help Australian industry if they become even more so.

I would really like to see a Government who is capable of really governing, it is too easy for people to get a degree in politics and think that they will make good politicians. Consistent brawling and carping in the house achieves nothing whatsoever, point scoring is not leading or governing, too much energy and time is wasted in hurling insults at each other, and too much firing from the hip to please others. Rather than tell those who discovered the dreadful treatment of the live cattle recently, that they would close it down, without for once thinking of the consequences, ergo the trucking, shipping and meat growers industry. If the incumbent government had given pause to think through the consequences of banning live cattle export, then a better solution could have been sought. A good PM would have investigated these claims before bowing to the Animal Rights Association, (which I do support) activists, instead of costing the taxpayers millions of dollars of income support for those afflicted. Used to be that Prime Ministers took a tougher stance rather than firing from the hip.
NSB