Boaz, I know from your posts that your business is in the thick of this battle, so I'm happy to apply different rules to your posts than those from academics who have never actually worked.

In a company founded on risk capital, that is.

But I wonder if you have fully thought through the implications of your comment:

>>It IS saying, that the practice of outsourcing large chunks of the labor force to cheap Asian countries by businesses who's bulk operations are in Australia should be OUTLAWED !<<

Isolationism is not really a twentyfirst century option, unless we choose to become a pariah state such as North Korea and live by making demands on the rest of the world. You are closer to the mark when you point out, as you have on a number of occasions, that our economy is in for a very rude shock as the cumulative effects of our job export programme come home to roost. As they of course will.

Unfortunately, picking up our ball and going home won't improve anything.

The fact is that there isn't a politician in sight - or even in living memory - that has the intellectual nous to understand the problem, let alone formulate a plan that will enable us to survive without a major and disruptive shock to our collective systems.

The present status is insupportable, but no reasonable alternatives have been proposed. We have our heads firmly in the sand, hoping it will all go away, and that we will suddenly find ourselves living again in the oh-so-simple nineteen fifties.

Shonga has indeed pointed out some important issues. Basically echoing what I alluded to.

The problem in ancient Israel, was that selfishness overode all sense of social responsibility which itself was a byproduct of being rightly related to Yahweh through the temple ceremonial life.

The CEO's of that day went after the 'Baal' and 'Ashteroth' idols, today they are after the latest Jet ski, SUV, Toorak Mansion, or Park Orchards sprawling estate, along with the Holiday places in various locations. They love the gold plated taps and bathroom furniture, and the Pearl handled this or that the private chopper or Learjet etc...
"Same sh*t, different shovel"

Scout,
if I may, yes, in a self centred world, your are right. You don't matter, you and many others are quite expendable. Leave God out of the picture and its every man for himself. None of this 'Do for your neighbour as you would have them do for you'...no..its dog eat dog....(Pericles will disagree with me on this, but its ok)

But in a Christ centred world/community/country, it is this:

"And no one said what he had was his own, but they had all things in common, and shared according to the need" (Acts 2)

We 'lived' this in a protestant interdenominational Mission, 950 members, the General Director was paid the same out of the pooled resources just like the ordinary worker.. mostly $20/week disposable income (after food and lodging)for 8 yrs.

Pericles. Agreed, though I confess its not my own business so much effected by this, though one would need therapy if one thought they could make something the chinese are making and stay afloat. I am, but its on quality, customer service, niche market and that all important thing 'connections' etc

I'm far more concerned by the call centre people, sales, etc.. all the 'phone' related jobs of others. Your right, there are no serious solutions being presented, so I make bold statements "OUTLAW IT" ..hopefully to get some thinking going. I do see a role for selective legislative responses, but which ones, I don't know.

D'you know Boaz, it has always fascinated me that:

"And no one said what he had was his own, but they had all things in common, and shared according to the need" (Acts 2)

is so close in concept to:

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!" Karl Marx

Given that the communist experiment was such an economic disaster, isn't there an inference to be drawn here that an economy based upon Christian principles would be equally catastrophic?

Only teasing.

If it wasn't for the natural greed and venality of man, communism would have worked well.

Just like capitalism would have worked well, but for the natural greed and venality of man.

Coincidence? I don't think so...

Sandy toes - perhaps we are getting somewhere now. Families should be looking after each other and I am sure will find many successful people have had or continue to have good family networks. We shouldn't rely on the government for everything, that is lazy and not cost effective.
Church and community groups are better than governments and I would rather see them helping out more as well.
I would much rather donate my $14,000 tax bill to a charity than to the tax office - it would spread further and get better grass roots results, without the bureaucratic paper shuffling.
I bit off topic I know, but if Sandy thinks these IR changes will reignite familial responsibility, that is another tick in the positive column for mine.

t.u.s.

Pericles,
it would not surprise me if Marx 'plagerised' his saying from Acts.

Your quite right, it did actually fail (to a degree) in Acts.

Soon after that description of social harmony and generosity, we read

'And the greeks complained that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution'.

It was in reality a spiritual problem (selfishness) but the Apostles attempted to remedy it with an administrative response.

"So they appointed so and so, of good repute etc, to make the distribution..." ( an examination of the names, shows they are all greek :)

I actually think they made a bit of a blue there. They probably exacerbated it, replacing 'suspicious greeks' with now suspicious Jews...possibly.

Bottom line, Spiritual renewal is a moment by moment thing. Repentance in the bible usually has the 'present continuous tense' rather than a once of point in time.

Though, I observe human nature to be rather oblivious of 'others' when dutifully looking after ones own.

I see the evidence of a workable 'Acts 2' in our own fellowship where we have a 'food bank' of meals for those in short term hardship, and there are many ways to deal with it. One of the best ways is the 'country spirit' where this is normal practice.

Marxism failed for the same reasons the Fellowship of the apostles also had problems. Human greed. One form of medication I know is a stern rebuke :) though the Bible puts this better.

"Those of you who are strong, should build up the brother who is weak"

"If anyone is found in sin, restore him in a spirit of gentleness"

etc.

I don't mention such things as a 'social policy' but as an ideal to strive for. The closer we are to God, the more we will care about our neighbour.

Whether you people are for or against the IR "reform", none of you seem to realise the real reason the Howard government is doing this.

While we are hearing all of these economic benefits and increases in low-paid, casual job positions, the country as a whole is failing to see the more sinister reasons for the changes. They are...

1. If the Liberals can weaken the unions to the point where they are almost non-existant, then the ALP will lose most of it's funding, particularly at election time and we are then likely to become a one party country with no real alternative. We can then kiss our democracy good-bye and say hello to facism. The Liberal party's ultimate goal it total control.

2. It's the perfect opportunity for Howard to hit the working class where it hurts. Something he has wanted to do for a long time to a demographic that he has nothing but utter contempt for. He has even been known to say "Give 'em f---ing nothing" when referring to the working class while drinking wine with friends and cronies at Kiribilli house.

Why do my fellow citizens want this for their country? Why are we willing to lose our democracy and civil rights to a bunch of right-wing radicals?

I for one have no desire to live in this country anymore.