*but rather that breeding will be sustainable, in part indexed to the base line of the saftey net.*

Explain that one to me DreamOn. I was not aware that we are breeding
unsustainably.

*The reason that liberal party members generally do not wish to invest in training of australians and investment in manufacturing here is becasue it reduces their profit margins.*

So why don't Labour party members invest? I was not aware that
political parties had anything to do with it. There is alot of
investment in manufacturing, just not in consumer goods manufacturing,
because our costs in Australia are too high and consumers want
cheaper products and won't pay the price. You can't run a business
at a loss.

*Buy up big for the years ahead, clothes and toys for the grand kids (100% cotton)and then ship back. You'll have a wow of a time and save a lot of $AU.*

I'm sure you would save and it is understandable. Everything in
Australia is high cost, including marketing. It costs far more
to move a pair of shoes through the wholesale/retail distribution
system, pay for advertising, pay high salaries all the way, pay
high rents all the way, pay GST, then it does to make those shoes.

All those shop assistants in those stores, standing around picking
their noses, as well as shopping centre rents, do not come cheap.
The consumer pays for the lot.

The biggest beneficiaries of globalisation, are actually the poor,
for they can afford much cheaper clothes etc, then if they were made
in Australia.

I suspect that some of your questioning is disingenuous YappY?

The world is growning under the strain of over population. Thousands of children die reguarly. I would recommend say Attenborough, Life on Earth, or say Al Gore's an "Inconvenient Truth."

And mayb, Greens 101 when the alp erects Knowledge Nation on the future optical fibre network.

No excuse for not being able to do an online degree via one of thousands of Knowledge Servers then. I hope that in the future for a bargain basement price, people of all description will be able to log on, register and study whatever they want whenever they want, and not predicated on this pitiful system of only a few get to study this or that based on your performance as a snotty nosed teenager.

Of course, to suggest that guvments aren't involved in the investment process is a high expression of ignorance my friend. A practical example is Bazza Obama et al preparing the legal framework to phase in Green Tech and Phase out pooey, smelly, filthy coal and other antiquated non sustainable fuels and their associated tech.

The problem in Australia is not the price of wages, it is the corporate profit ratio. Things are not priced on the value of the item + costs (wages, transport, sales point) but rather on what the corporates think you can afford. I would estimate that they ramp up the price of imported product by at least a factor of 5 on top of costs.

The middle class balinese may earn less, but they have the same things in their shops and in their homes that we have. Australians may earn more on the one hand, but on the other it is all taken away.

REGULATION - it is but a game of maths.

It costs less than $25,000 to build an exotic villa here in Bali. They are then sold for on avg $n.a.250,000 to silly retirees with more money than sense.

MY wife can buy one (non Indos cannot) for $50,000.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

*The world is growning under the strain of over population.*

Yup it is, for they are breeding like rabbits in parts of the
third world. I agree with Attenborough.

*I would estimate that they ramp up the price of imported product by at least a factor of 5 on top of costs.*

Ah DreamOn, perhaps you are just dreaming on. I remind you that
the profit/turnover figures for such public corporations as Coles, Woolies, Target, K-Markt and many others, are available each year
for public scrutiny. If you are a shareholder, they will send you
an annual report. Net profits usually run around 2-7c in the
Dollar, hardly a rip off. The figures also show the real problem,
ie high costs of doing business in Australia.

But if you think that you can do better, you are free to have a go,
import from China and give the public value for money. You will
have consumers flocking to your door and make a fortune it seems.
Unless of course you are wrong in your estimates, in which case you
would lose the shirt on your back.

OK, we have YappyNomics

well at least you have taken eye off rorting Old Age Pensioners ... for a while

Well, internet ordering is good. Plus combined shipping by the 20 or 40' container load with plenty of super dry.

Say a range of products from half a dozen factories orchestrated by one logistics company, and you include the cost of buying your own container for back and forth, back and forth.

An entire strata title retirement village with everyone throwing in for their personal wish list culminating in a stuff filled container for "ChristMass" should do the trick.

What's the key? Knowledge Nation. ;-)Share your minds and your knowledge for collective benefit and take a step toward West meeting East. Yes, don't run around in the shadows but speak openly of things of import.

Give the agents and other legal parasites a miss, do your study to ensure legal compliancy and viability starting with the guvment web sites (say Customs) and above all enjoy.

1 issue - a lot of countries engage in regional pricing. That is to say, if your australian you pay a higher price for the same thing. Negotiate ..

..

Yappy, seriously? That's called creative accounting. Let's take a practical example. I'm wearing a set of head phones. It cost about $AU10 at the most expensive place on the island.

For the sake of argument, though I suspect about $2, let's say that a big oz retailer purchased a container load in bulk for $5 each. Now, when last in Perth, the retailer was flogging them for $50.

Why don't you tell us where the extra $40 per set went?

1. Additional Legal compliancy = ?
2. Additional Tax = ?
3. Additional Wages = ?
4. Additional Transport = ?
5. Additional Premises = ?

6. ADDITIONAL PROFITS = ?

DreamOn, what large listed companies do is certainly not creative
accounting, or they would be hauled before the courts by the ACCC
and shareholders could sue the auditors for misleading information.

People can already go online and buy electronic goods etc from
China, Hong Kong, much cheaper then they are available here. Many
do, many can't be bothered for much shopping relies on impulse buying.

We already have 2$ shops, dicount warehouses etc, which just sell
for cheap. If people want bargains, they have to hunt around for
them.

But what a large % of people do is head for the nearest shopping
centre, where everything is convenient. Those shopping centres
commonly charge 1000$ per square metre rent per year, plus a %
of turnover, eg 10%. The shop assistant standing there picking
her nose or whatever, has to be paid for. Not only her wage,
but holiday pay, long service leave, sick leave, superannuation,
workers comp, any termination payments, payroll tax etc. Add it all up per
hour, she does not come cheap, even with no customers. All those
costs have to be passed on, or the store is out of business.

So yes, those niche retailers work on high margins, or they don't
survive.