"Based on a series of empirical studies, former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has concluded that almost all of the increase in America's prosperity during the past half-century is attributable to new ideas."

Unfortunately, many of those ideas have produced massive waste, pollution, global warming, social inequality and will probably, one day lead to planetary exhaustion. Ideas should be connected to how the natural world works. Self-importance does not recognise that one's very being is dependent upon so many other natural forces. We deny these 'other' natural forces at our peril.

If this is Emerson's view he should seek to dissolve parliament or at least remove 95% of all MPs with immediate effect, including himself.

Col and Yabby, I’ve got to disagree with the basic tenet of your posts. I don’t think you should be knocking government regulation as hard as you are. Sure there are problems, but IMO the problems are more closely linked to a lack of resources and uniformity in administering the various regulations than they are to the regs or the bureaucrats themselves.

There is no doubt about it; we need a strong regulatory regime. (this is where Col and I fundamentally disagree…and have head-butted each other over hundreds of times on this forum).

What we need to make sure that all regulations are well understood and uniformly applied is the resources to do the job! As with the police, many if not the vast majority of regulatory regimes throughout government are badly under-resourced.

People need to know where they stand, with confidence. We need to know that if we flout the regulations we will stand a very high chance of being busted. As it currently stands, with many regulations, we think that if we obey them we might be just about the only person who does so, thus putting ourselves at a great disadvantage amongst our colleagues or competitors….and that if we quietly disobey them, no one will notice.

I think it would be a bad idea indeed to free it all up and give the business sector much more open slather. That would just mean that the aggressive and unscrupulous players gain a big advantage, much to our overall detriment.

So this is my big idea for the morning; good regulation and plenty of it….all of which is crystal clear and administered equally for everyone.

But then, as a ‘professional parasite and flunkie of the bureaucracy’, what would I know? ( : > /

Ludwig “lack of resources and uniformity in administering the various regulations than they are to the regs or the bureaucrats themselves.”

One of the responsibilities of management, in private industry is to manage the task. What you are suggesting is the bureaucrats cannot manage their task, in which case they should resign and make room for someone with the ability to manage.
“lack of resources and uniformity in administering “ is the managerial responsibility of the bureaucrats you are defending. If not them then who?

Maybe the best solution is for government to outsource the task back to private industry…

Maybe a better solution is save all the money by making industry self-regulating, with whopping fines when they are caught out.

I disagree with you on this one Ludwig, the regulations and resources define the objective for the bureaucrats and they can either perform or (here is the heresy)

surrender their tenure

and that would be a first !

PS Ludwig, you and I have “head butted” well in the past and I trust we will into the future too… I can happily engage in pursuing our “differences”, as much as I enjoy our many agreements

But I always appreciate that whilst we differ, the difference has always to content and never to character.

Happy Xmas Ludwig.

*but IMO the problems are more closely linked to a lack of resources and uniformity in administering the various regulations than they are to the regs or the bureaucrats themselves.*

Ludwig, you probably see this whole thing from your perspective
and your Dept, but let me tell you from lots of experience,
that is certainly not the case in other parts of Australia and
other Depts.

Firstly the rules are often not written by the most practical
of people. Secondly when it comes to interpretation and
implementation of those rules, its really all about the attitude
and intelligence of some of these people. For some Depts, it
seems to me that as long as they can walk and breathe, thats all
they need to get a job.

Nope, its not about a shortage of money, for usually they charge
us heaps for the joy of dealing with them.

Every one of them seems to think that our whole working life
should revolve around and focus on his/her particular set of
rules and with so many of them seeking compliance, in the end
it becomes overwhelming.

I did tell one particular Hitler type at worksafe, that I was
selling my business and intended to employ nobody in future,
best they all joined his department and police each other :)

*I think it would be a bad idea indeed to free it all up and give the business sector much more open slather.*

What you need is better regulation, not more regulation. What you
need is for some common sense to apply, when it comes to interpretation and compliance. What you need is for Govt to
facilitate, not just be a frigging hinderance.

What you need is good judgement, but sadly that is commonly missing
and its not due to a shortage of money, but a shortage of intelligence.

Oow, I think I got out of the wrong side of the bed this Mundy mornin! Been and gone and done it now – got offside with me two good mates, Col and Yabs. (:>(

Ergh. I think I’ll go bury m’ head under a pile of pillows!

Aah noo I won’t. I’ll…I’ll, I’ll head-butt em… until they see the error of their ways and acknowledge Ludwig’s overwhelming worldly wisdom….or until m’ head cracks open! Oh yeah, I do love a good bit of head-buttery on OLO!

.
Col, you wrote; “What you are suggesting is the bureaucrats cannot manage their task”

In many instances they can’t manage them as well as they should be managed. But the primary reason, in my experience, is the lack of resources put into the tasks in the first place….by our illustrious governments.

This is the bit that peeves me the most – we’ve had boom times for ages, with enormous wealth flowing into government coffers, and yet so many of the basic regulatory services are piss-poor and getting worse as human population pressure increases.

Crikey, if a police officer or a bureaucrat can’t see his or her efforts contributing to a better outcome for the community (and environment), then what do you think is going to happen to their motivation, work ethic and efficiency?

If the resources are there, then the management regime and the efficiency of all those involved is likely to be much better.

Privatising regulatory duties and putting them in the hands of those driven by the profit motive is not the answer. Neither is self-regulation.

The answer is getting government to undertake their duties properly by matching resources with tasks delegated to their public servants.

I appreciate the opportunity to amicably disagree and debate with you Col. This is the essence of OLO.

Happy new year (I’ll just let that silly Xmas stuff slide by unnoticed if I can).