The idea of globalisation, with each country producing the things where it has a competitive advantage would be fine, if there were such things to produce for all countries.

With the stupidity of renewable power generation, there is nothing left where Oz has a competitive advantage. The only one we had was our cheap power. With this advantage destroyed by green ratbaggery, & any advantage in agriculture long gone, all we have left is mining.

Mining although great for balance of trade, is not much use in providing jobs, & most of those are nowhere near where people live, or want to live.

Thus globalisation leaves us either taking in each others washing, dependant on government handouts, or on government make work. The huge expansion in the bureaucracies & academia is no accident. It is to absorb the huge numbers with no productive usefulness available.

Worse still, too many are now happily dependent on this government make work, & will ride the gravy train right up to, & over the cliff.

Globalisation may have worked to some extent with old high freight costs, & high employment in transport, but now we can land a finished product into our Australian store for less than the local cost of the raw materials to make it. In this situation the only direction left for our economy, destroyed by these cheap imports is down. Our collapse is inevitable with globalisation, & free trade deals, it is just a matter of when.

JKJ,

I know that you are more than intelligent enough to understand my post, whether or not you agree with it. I think you are being deliberately obtuse or smart-arsed for reasons known only to you. You out of luck if you think I'm going to rise to your bait. Post your own opinion.

It is by no means obvious which voluntary transactions you are saying should be criminalised or why? Machine tools, gargling salts, electrical conduits, printers inks perhaps? How is anyone supposed to guess what you had in mind?

If I wish to do business with someone, I shouldn't need to sign an agreement first.
Free Trade agreements are just protectionism for the Bilderbergers.

ttbn,

Your assumption that the locally made goods are of higher quality doesn't always match the reality. But even if it did, why should we try to enforce a level of quality that's not appreciated by the customers?

If we are to improve our own standard of living, globalisation must continue. It is silly to devote our resources to the production of low value products that can be obtained much more cheaply from overseas.

We certainly can't hope to help the really poor overseas by denying them the opportunity to work in making things that we want to buy. And denying us the opportunity to by what they make diminishes our standard of living as well.

It is not the progressives who are taking jobs and business opportunities away from the less well off in rich countries, it's those who oppose government deficits.

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Alan B,

For countries with floating currencies, trade balance is self correcting. When trade deficits grow, the currency value declines and the goods become more competitive again.

Energy is one of many significant factors, but if there's any one thing that's key, it's intellectual property. The future will rely more on the value of ideas and knowledge,

RORO ferries may be good for short distances, but shipping containers (with largely automated loading and unloading) make them hopelessly uneconomic over distances as far as Australia to Singapore. Nor are they well suited to rail; rail RORO requires non tidal docks. Submarines are hopelessly uneconomic for any transport application, let alone bulk freight! Nuclear aviation won't be viable this century. And whether air freight is economic depends on the value and time sensitivity of the goods carried.

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Hasbeen,

It wasn't renewables that ended our cheap power, 'twas profiteering at all levels. Indeed renewables could be the solution, as solar energy is one thing we have a great competitive advantage in.

If you really think we're so uncompetitive, why do you think the market has not fixed that by devaluing our dollar?

Chris,

'Tis not globalisation that's turning over large parts of the economy to a small number of large companies. It's a combination of technological change (enabling companies like Apple and Google to expand into areas that were once considered unrelated to their business) with competition laws that only rarely block mergers.

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ttbn,

Apologies of the obvious typo in my previous comment.

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Jardine

ttbn never said he wanted those transactions criminalised. It's far more likely that he wants them taxed; a much more reasonable view (though still one I disagree with of course).

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Armchair,

I think yours is the first sensible comment on this thread! People do often conflate free trade with free trade agreements that are nothing of the sort.

Unfortunately there are so many regulations blocking free trade that some agreements are needed. But we should be wary of complicated agreements.